Ask a Manager

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Coworker sleeps too deeply when she’s on-call I work in a job (child welfare) that requires overnight and weekend on-call shifts. We get calls almost every night, but usually those are in the evening hours; true middle-of-the-night emergencies are more rare, but always highly urgent. […]

It’s four answers to four questions. Here we go… 1. A man at our events makes other attendees uncomfortable I’m on a planning committee for an event involving a fandom generally beloved by mostly women, often mothers and daughters. This event is spread over a few days and involves speakers, tours of book/filming sites, etc. […]

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. My employee keeps sighing heavily I have a new person working for me who is doing a good job with the work but is constantly sighing and it’s annoying me to no end. I’m not sure how to approach it because I don’t want to […]

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Exec’s imposter syndrome makes her defensive I chair a board of a mid-size community organization and as part of that role I line manage the chief exec, Flora. She’s a phenomenally smart, talented person with a real depth of experience in the work of the […]

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Survey asked how my boss communicates about her mental health My supervisor at work is participating in a company-run training program aimed at helping managers improve their management skills. As one of her direct reports, I’ve been invited to take an (anonymous) survey to provide […]

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Is the term “junior” derogatory? I recently had a minor dust-up at work that surprised me. I had a contract service scheduled to happen on-site at a vendor. Two of my coworkers expressed interest in attending in person with me to learn how it is […]

It’s four answers to four questions. Here we go… 1. Our communal music is too repetitive I work in a creative department at a fairly conservative company and am in the office four days each week. My coworkers and I share an enclosed space with individual cubicles. Much of my job involves writing. Though I […]

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Employee made a racist comment to her office-mate I work in a fairly small office. We have about 12-15 people in the office. Recently, our company hired two new CSR’s. “Anne” is white and in her late fifties/early sixties. “Leah” is Black and probably in […]

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Is it unprofessional to show chest hair at work? I’m an admin at a large university in the midwest. I wear collared shirts every day, and given the recent heatwave, I unbuttoned an extra button to try to be a bit more comfortable in our […]

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. When I broke my ankle, my mom called my boss’s boss I broke my ankle pretty severely earlier this year (three bones and a dislocation). I was out of it to the point that I didn’t feel in pain; I was cracking jokes with the […]