interview with a 16-year-old working her first summer job by Alison Green on July 28, 2016 My 16-year-old niece, M., has appeared here before — when she was 12, she and her sister helped me answer this letter about a boss who was always making out with his girlfriend in his office, and when she was 14, they helped me answer this letter about a boss stopping up a toilet and asking someone […] Read the full article →
interview with a professional belly dancer by Alison Green on July 7, 2016 Recently a commenter here mentioned that she used to be a professional belly dancer, and I wanted to know more. She kindly agreed to be interviewed, and here’s our conversation. So you were a professional belly dancer! How did you get into that line of work? I started belly dancing classes on a whim at […] Read the full article →
Independence Day round-up by Alison Green on July 4, 2016 It’s the 4th of July and I’m taking the rest of the day off! But here are five posts with an independence theme — 1. In 2011, I published a letter from a reader who didn’t want her coworkers to know that she was living off of food from the employee kitchen. She was struggling financially […] Read the full article →
are unshaven legs unprofessional? by Alison Green on June 27, 2016 A reader writes: I’m just about to start my first professional internship, and I don’t shave my body hair for a lot of reasons I won’t go into. It wasn’t an issue at my last retail position because I was working in a air-conditioned warehouse and could stick with jeans. I could definitely just wear […] Read the full article →
a round-up: noisy open offices, handing over your health data to your employer, and more by Alison Green on June 24, 2016 Three interesting things — 1. I generally stay away from articles that purport to know what millennials want because I think most of what’s written about millennials is ridiculous, but that feeling was trumped by my general love of slamming open office spaces. So I hereby give you this Business Insider piece about how millennials […] Read the full article →
I get bored with all my jobs and don’t know what to do with myself by Alison Green on June 22, 2016 A reader writes: I’m 22, out of school, and will not graduate. I didn’t even like what I was studying in school (art-related) and I’ve changed majors three times now. Besides, I’ve never been good at it, and university has gotten me depressed, which is why I dropped out. The sadder part of my dropping […] Read the full article →
I’m the new work advice columnist for New York Magazine! by Alison Green on June 21, 2016 I am bursting with excitement about this and now I get to announce it: I’m the new work advice columnist for New York Magazine! I’ll be writing a weekly column there tackling bosses, coworkers, and other aspects of work life. In my first column, I answer a letter from someone who keeps accidentally becoming friends with her managers and […] Read the full article →
someone left a bullet casing on my desk by Alison Green on June 21, 2016 A reader writes: Yesterday I went to a meeting at work. After our meeting, I came back to my desk, and there was a bullet shell casing on my desk (see photo). I went straight to our unarmed security. They called our head of security, who advised me to download a security app. HR was […] Read the full article →
a round-up: this employer will pay for your wedding, is “be yourself” terrible advice, and more by Alison Green on June 17, 2016 Three interesting things — 1. Would you want your employer to pay for your wedding? Because that’s now a thing at at least one company, it turns out. You’re likely to love this piece by Aimee Groth about how some companies’ benefits are getting a little more intimate than they probably should. 2. “We are […] Read the full article →
why you should stop doing low-value work, your phone is killing your productivity, and more by Alison Green on June 14, 2016 Over at QuickBase’s Fast Track blog today, I take a look at several big work-related stories in the news right now: why you should stop doing low-value work, how your phone is killing your productivity , and more. You can read it here. Read the full article →