Ask a Manager

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. My fired coworker left us all a bible quote, a church flyer, and a link to her music

About a week ago, a colleague, “Bridget,” was let go. She was brand new to the workforce and the job was not a good fit. After six months of training with no results, and the teams she was supposed to support working around her, she was let go. This was sad, but after training her myself I could see that she wasn’t really understanding what I was explaining after multiple attempts.

The next morning after finding out Bridget had been let go, I came into the office and saw an email sent at almost 4 AM from this now former colleague. In the goodbye email (that was bcc’d to an unknown number of colleagues), she announced that she had been let go and that she was having a hard time comprehending and processing what happened because it happened so abruptly, and even mentioned that she was writing the email at 3 AM while crying and didn’t know if she would be allowed back in to collect her things while the rest of the office was working. She ended the email with a bible quote and linked her own music.

I was stunned. Another coworker who received the email asked me about Bridget and I struggled to figure out how to explain to this coworker. Personally, if I was let go, I would not send a tearful email at 3 in the morning to former colleagues. However, I was so stunned by it I just blocked it out of my mind and didn’t mention it to my manager, who was Bridget’s manager. I chalked it up to her being new and naive in the workforce and didn’t respond.

Fast forward to this morning, I arrive at the office and there is a little notepad on my desk. I open it up and there is a personal note from Bridget (I guess she came to collect her things), along with a little advertising card from her church. I am not a Christian. I noticed this on other coworkers’ desks who are also not Christian. I was stunned again.

Should I have brought up the email from Bridget with my manager last week? Should I do or say anything about this note and church flyer? I firmly believe these were not the wisest things to do after being let go, but she is no longer with the organization. I’m a more senior member of our job role but I am not a manager and have no real authority here, but this whole situation was incredibly uncomfortable and awkward and put me in situations with other colleagues where they started asking me about what happened.

I think you’re right to write it off to Bridget being new and naive (and sometimes the way someone leaves a job is sort of a continuation of the problems they had while they were in it). I don’t think you were obligated* to report it to your manager, although there’s no reason not to — it’s useful for your boss to know what happened in case there’s any more aftermath. And Bridget’s decision to advertise her church on her way out is so yikes that personally I’d relay it to your boss just based on that factor alone.

* Caveat: You’d have more of an obligation to report it to your boss if you’re seen as anything like a team lead or second-in-command, even if just informally; in that case your boss would rightly expect you’d flag stuff like this for her.

2. Can I offer to pay a coworker’s vet bill?

I am a relatively high earner at my current job. I have a very friendly relationship with an office assistant, who doesn’t earn nearly as much as me (I know because I used to have his job). He has been telling me lately about a cat he has who has been having some health issues, but he cannot afford to take it to the vet. I find this to be very heartbreaking because I also own a cat and can only imagine how hard that is. I want to anonymously do something to help, like either leave an envelope of cash on his desk before he comes in one day, or slip it into his bag when he’s in the restroom or something (though I don’t know how I’d explain this if he caught me — I think I’d look very suspicious). I’d want to attach a typed note like “please use this to take Rex to the vet.”

The biggest problem I’m having is that I’m too worried he’ll figure out it’s me. I don’t know if he’s told anyone else about his cat, and I ask about how it’s doing sometimes. I think this would make our work relationship feel awkward. He doesn’t report to me or anything like that, but the nature of his role means that he assists me with requests I send to him. Also, because I used to have his job, I’m often helping to train him on things if his usual trainers aren’t available.

Side note before anyone says “don’t get a pet you can’t afford,” the cat was a rescue he didn’t necessarily want, but it had no one else to take it and would likely have been put down if he hadn’t taken it in. The previous owner basically left it at his doorstep. He loves it very much and wants to take good care of it. Anyway, what do you think of my idea? Any tips?

I don’t love the anonymous note option. There’s too much chance that your coworker will know it was you if you’re the only one at work he’s shared the situation with — or that he’ll just feel like people around him are judging him for not having taken the cat to the vet. There’s also the possibility he’ll decide he has a greater use for the money elsewhere, and if he continues not taking the cat to the vet despite receiving the money, that’s going to make things weird between you in a whole new way.

Would you instead be willing to be forthright about it? You could say something like, “Would you let me cover Rex’s trip to the vet? I love cats and I’d be so happy to help make it possible.” You could even add something like, “Someone once covered something for me when I needed help with it, and you’d be helping me pay it forward.”

I know this risks being awkward, but (a) some awkwardness in the service of getting a sick cat veterinary care isn’t the worst thing and (b) it could end up being less awkward than the alternatives. It’s so kind that you want to cover the vet bill; just ask if you can.

Read an update to this letter. 

3. Is Mardi Gras OK for work?

I’m originally from a region of the U.S. that goes *big* on the whole Mardi Gras season (fun fact: it’s a whole season!) but am now in an environment that has barely realized it’s happening. I wore some beads into the office today, greeted a coworker with “Happy Mardi Gras!” and brought a king cake for the staff breakroom. I think this is pretty low-key and ok for our work environment. But I’m also realizing I don’t really know how secularized it actually is in much of the U.S.

I am personally atheist, and I know plenty of other people celebrate it totally divorced from its religious roots (cough Sydney cough). For me, it’s a nice way to share my regional-cultural heritage and celebrate joy in a dreary season. But Mardi Gras is at its core a very, very Catholic celebration, and I would never put out a Christmas tree in the office. Or bring an Easter basket. If colleagues wanted to do an organized “give something up for Lent” challenge I would be HORRIFIED.

Should I chill out about the holiday in the office? Or is it closer to a cultural exchange, like a Mexican coworker sharing Día de Muertos traditions?

A cultural exchange is a fine way to look at it. Obviously you shouldn’t insist that people who don’t want to celebrate it should embrace it anyway (as people love to do with Christmas), but it’s fine to observe it yourself (i.e., the beads) and bring in king cake to share.

4. Subpar vendor from my former job won’t stop hounding me

I’ve been freelancing on the side for 12 years and recently left my full-time job of 10 years at Company to freelance full-time. Over the years at Company, I worked with an outside vendor on various products and services. Vendor had a long-standing relationship with Company, especially because the owners were friends and sometimes took international vacations together. It was a relationship I inherited and was encouraged to continue to grow. But after working with Vendor for a while, I determined that they did not provide quality products or services, and managed to move some of their production back in house where we made a far superior product. But Company continued to push me to use Vendor for more and more products and services. As time went on, it became very typical for Vendor to miss deadlines. At one point, Vendor was nearly one year late with launching a website for us! It was a very stressful time; they kept replacing my contact for the project, and kept making promises and breaking them. When I decided to leave Company, although it wasn’t the reason, it was certainly a perk that I would never have to work with this subpar Vendor again…

…that is, until a few months later when several contacts from Vendor started hounding me via email and social media to work together now that I freelance full-time. They are requesting that I send overflow projects to them and pushing to meet up when they are in town next month. I am 100% not interested in ever working with Vendor again, and I don’t know how to decline politely and professionally. To make matters more awkward, I now freelance for Company, so there is a small possibility that I may get pulled into an email with Vendor at some point. I don’t want to make that uncomfortable and potentially hurt my freelance opportunities with Company. But I also want to get better at saying no and sticking up for myself. This is my freelance business, and I only want to work with reliable, quality clients and vendors.

You’ve got a couple of options. There’s the indirect blow-off: “I’m set right now, but I’ll let you know if I ever have a project where it would make sense.” (After which, you can ignore future messages without any qualms.) Or there’s the more direct rebuff: “Thank you but no, the fit isn’t right for my work.” These people sound aggressive enough that the direct rebuff is likely to result in queries about why, in an effort to look for a path past it. Either way, after you deliver whichever type of initial no you choose, you don’t need to keep engaging. If you want, you can send a final “I’m swamped so won’t be able to keep discussing, but good luck with everything you’re working on.” But stop responding after that.

If you get pulled into an email with them later on through work you’re doing for your old company, just proceed as if all is normal — don’t be weird about the fact that you turned them down, since that’s a very normal thing to happen in business. Be briskly cheerful and assume they will be fine with it.

5. Should I wait to give notice until my background check clears?

Would an offer be rescinded because I said I would give notice at my current role as soon as the backgrounds check clears and the offer moves from conditional to firm? I accepted the conditional offer if that matters.

It’s very normal — and strongly recommended — to wait to give notice at your current job until you have a firm offer, not one that’s conditional on background checks or anything else. That’s true even if you’re confident nothing will come up in the background check, since unexpected things can still go wrong.

It makes no sense to pull the plug on your source of income before a new company has firmly committed to employing you. No decently-functioning employer will have a problem with that, and they should have encountered it plenty of times before. Do not budge on this.

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. I’m stuck in a job I can’t quit

A few months ago, my wife and I moved long distances so I could take a management job with a pay bump and better annual raises. The company also paid for the relocation. It seemed like a total home run, even if it meant moving very far away from any of our families.

I had been in a similar job in my industry where I was wildly successful, and respected by my management team, to the point where one pushed pretty hard for me for the job I have now. I was doing so well, my company was stunned that I left, but it came down to money.

The new job has been a disaster and is a bad fit. My managers have pointed out several faults they have with me. Among these: I’m not “vocal” enough, I’m not a “loud presence in the room,” and they like to point out my predecessor “made sure everyone in the room knew he was there.” They have also told me I’m not “assertive” in the way they need me to be.

I have never been a vocal person, a loud presence, or an assertive person. If anyone who knew me asked to describe me, those kind of words would be the absolute last they would use to describe me. I tend to keep to myself as much as possible. I’ve always been that way but it’s not been an issue for any other employer before now. As a painfully shy person who could be considered socially anxious, I am never going to be those things above. My current employer obviously wants someone with a different personality than I have.

It’s become clear my company’s priorities do not align with my strengths the way they did at my last company. More importantly, my bosses have a different vision for what someone in my position looks like, and it’s not someone put together like me. In hindsight, my last job now feels like a senior-level individual contributor role instead of a management role, even though I was part of the management team.

Quitting is not an option because I’d have to pay back what they gave us to relocate, plus steep penalties for breaking the two-year contract I signed. If they fire me, I shouldn’t owe anything but I’m essentially trapped in a job that’s a very bad fit. Because of our rental lease, which my income mostly supports, I need to gut it out here for at least a year. Any advice?

If they’re as unhappy as it sounds like they are, they might be open to a negotiated departure where you both agree it’s the wrong fit and they let you out of the contract and the relocation repayment. It’s worth a conversation where you say something like, “I’m increasingly realizing that you want someone for this role whose strengths are XYZ — which are not mine. I think there may be a fundamental mismatch between what you need and what I’m good at. I don’t feel like I’m in a position to simply move on, given the contract penalties and relocation repayment that would trigger, but if you’d consider waiving those, it could open up some easier options for both of us.”

2. I can see someone having sex from my office window

What’s the best response to a couple having sex very visibly from your office window? This has happened twice now.

I work downtown and my office building faces an apartment building that has floor to ceiling windows in some apartments, including the bedroom. Most apartments have the bedroom blinds closed, but not this one!

I do have blinds, but closing them makes my office feel immediately claustrophobic, so I want to leave them open as much as possible. However, that window is very visible to anyone entering my office, and now I’m grappling with the very real possibility that someone will come in and see this couple having sex behind me.

Am I doomed to claustrophobia? Should I put a large sign up in the window asking them to close the blinds? Mime the inconvenience until they notice?

Also: how do I respond to someone if they’re in my office and do see the couple having sex because I hadn’t noticed before? Thankfully I’m not client-facing, but that’s still not a conversation I want to have with my boss!

Oh my. Is there a middle ground where partly closing the blinds could block the view a bit but without making your office feel so closed off?

Otherwise, you’re stuck choosing between closing the blinds completely or risking some truly distracting stuff behind you when people come in.

Readers, any better thoughts?

3. Should I give unsolicited advice to a job-hopping client?

I am happily self-employed in business services practice. My question for you is about a tax client who, in the decade I’ve prepared her taxes, has had W2s from multiple companies (it’s six or seven over this time), and also had self-employment income from various contracting engagements.

Jane is well-educated and has many accomplishments. However, the constant job movement is, in my eyes, due to some difficult personal qualities. She dominates conversations of every type. Whether in-person or via teleconference, it’s almost impossible to break in and say anything. This even happens when I am responding to direct questions from her. Interruptions are nearly constant. She refers to her specialty (logistics, software support for logistics, documentation for logistical processes) constantly, and often out of context. References to interactions at the C-suite level are not uncommon. Several years ago she was hired by a distinguished local financial institution. When we first discussed this new job, she announced that she’d settled for the position after several months of unemployment and was “managing up” to assist her supervisor. That one lasted about 18 months, just like most of the others.

It must be infuriating for any manager to have such a person on their team. I know that these were qualities that I coached people out of when I managed a staff of my own. My question for you is – should I say anything to the client about this? To be clear, she has not sought my guidance. I see her only during tax season, and briefly. None of this really impacts me. But… it seems to an ongoing problem, with little self-reflection available to address it.

Absolutely not. You don’t have the sort of relationship where the feedback would be appropriate; it would be pretty bizarre for the person she’s hired to prepare her taxes to give that sort of feedback unsolicited. (You also don’t know if she even considers the job hopping a problem!) It would be as a serious overstep.

4. How to turn down fans who want to connect one-on-one

I work on a mental health podcast that’s recently gotten pretty popular. With the increased attention, we also have a lot of listeners private messaging to us for advice and mentorship (we aren’t therapists and that’s not the focus of the podcast, so those regulations don’t enter into the equation). At first, we were so excited about reaching so many people that we happily jumped on calls/made friends/connected with people. That’s no longer feasible with the volume of requests that we get — our host would literally spend every waking hour having one-on-one conversations with fans.

We’re nowhere near famous and I hate the idea that we have to distance ourselves from everyone who makes us successful. We specifically got into this to help people! Do you have a script for turning people down when they reach out? What do you do personally in this situation as someone whose blog has really exploded? Also, we do have multiple lists of resources that we can pass along but many of our listeners have no access to real mental health care because of cost, availability of providers, and long waiting lists (which is infuriating and only makes this harder).

I went through a period where I tried to respond to every single person who wrote me (at least privately) and it was overwhelming. To keep doing it, I would have had to give up most of my leisure time and would still have “go answer more email” constantly hanging over me. So I quickly came to terms with the fact that it wasn’t realistic — and that’s completely okay! When you create something, it’s amazing to know that it resonates with people so much that they want to connect with you in a more personal way … but you’ve got to get comfortable setting boundaries so that you can continue to make the thing that caught their attention in the first place, because (at least after a certain point) you cannot do both.

Don’t look at this as distancing yourself from the people who made you successful; it’s about being clear on what you are equipped to offer (podcasts that delve into mental health that serve a large audience) and what you aren’t (phone calls and other private communication that has an audience of one). That boundary is necessary to maintain your primary product (the podcast), because otherwise you will quickly burn out and then not help anyone at all.

What that means in practice: you need some warm, friendly form letters to field all the requests you’re getting. Sample language: “It means a ton to us that you liked our work enough to reach out. We’ve been overwhelmed by the volume of messages we receive and unfortunately that volume means we can’t respond personally to each one, as much as we would like to.” People will generally get it if you spell it out.

5. How long should I keep old-work-related papers?

I’m working on scanning and shredding my paper clutter, and I have many, many copies of old performance evaluations, as well as other things like letters confirming job offers, etc. Is there any reason to keep any of this? Tax records have published data for how long you should keep documentation, but how about work-related things? I feel like I need “permission” to just shred some of this stuff, like the performance evaluation from my first job in the early 1990s (eeeeeek)!

There are no real guidelines on this, but I’d say keep stuff for at least the last 10 years (but it doesn’t have to be paper copies; it’s fine to scan and store them electronically). You never know when you might have trouble confirming employment (if a place shuts down, for example) and could use an offer letter, etc. to help do it. You’re highly unlikely to need really old performance evaluations, although as a completist I might be tempted to scan those too in case they’re amusing to look back on 20 years from now (but to clear, this would be for nostalgic/entertainment value and not “what if it would ever help to show I excelled at my job in 1992” … and if you do not consider bureaucratic detritus in any way amusing, you can skip it).

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. I’m trying to leave a board but can’t escape

About 10 years ago, I agreed to serve on the board of a small nonprofit organization. The executive director, Sarah, is friendly and gregarious, and because we work in similar industries, we have developed a genuine friendship in the past decade.

I have known I was ready to leave the board for two years, but a couple of years ago Sarah was diagnosed with cancer. This made her job more difficult, diminished productivity, and generally resulted in more hands-on assistance and oversight from board members. I was happy to stay on and help since I care about the organization and consider Sarah my friend.

Her cancer went into remission and things became more stable at the organization. One year ago, after being named the board chair, I met with Sarah and let her know that 2023 would be my last year on the board, with an end date of December 31. Before I had a chance to share this with the rest of the board, another board member also announced she’d be leaving – with an end date three months earlier than my planned exit. As a group, we worked to recruit replacements and I spent a lot of time meeting with prospective board members, helping Sarah prepare for onboarding, etc. Two new board members agreed to come on and have begun attending meetings. In the meantime, the member who said she was leaving in the fall was convinced to stay on through the end of the year but has reiterated that she is out and would like the next board meeting to be her last. None of us have wanted to leave Sarah or the organization in the lurch.

In January, Sarah contacted me to schedule 2024 board meetings. I let her know that I would be able to attend one more meeting and we need to elect a new chair ASAP. She said she doesn’t know who the new chair will be because other longtime members may also be wanting to exit. I reiterated that I am no longer available to serve this organization. She countered by suggesting that I would need to recruit another new board member. In the interest of moving the organization forward, I scheduled the next board meeting and ended the conversation. I also reached out to a contact who I believe would be a good addition.

At the meeting, we did some regular business but ran out of time (I suspect by design) to talk about the chair position. As a result, I have now scheduled the NEXT board meeting as well, and I am certain I am expected not only to attend, but to act as chair.

I am burnt out and exhausted. I feel like a hostage. I believe Sarah is manipulating me to stay on the board because she sees me as an ally and a friend and is not taking my resignation seriously. How do I handle this? Can I simply stop attending meetings and remind her that I gave notice 12 months ago? Do I need to stay on for six more months for a “smooth transition?” Do I need to submit my resignation in writing and refuse all communication after the next meeting? What is my obligation to this organization and executive director when my boundaries are not being respected?

You are not a hostage! You do not need to stay for six more months, or even one more month. You can reiterate that your resignation was supposed to be effective last December, you attended one additional board meeting to help out, but you gave a full year’s notice and are no longer available to continue working. Or, if you’re willing to attend one final meeting, you can let Sarah know that this will be your final meeting, regardless of whether time is included to talk about the chair position and so you suggest that be a key item on the agenda — but either way you’re letting the org know you won’t be available after that. I recommend cc’ing the full board on this message so everyone has the same info.

You can’t be ordered to remain until you find a replacement (unless that was a condition you agreed to when you signed on and even then you could still leave sooner, although you’d want to finesse the language a little more — but it doesn’t sound like it was). If Sarah tries that, you can say, “I’ve already extended my timeline by over a month and I’m really not available after X. I gave so much notice specifically to avoid this, and I do need to stick to it.”

2. Should I tell a student worker the real reason we’re ending her job?

I recently started a new position at a small public university, one of the main responsibilities of which is supervising our department’s team of undergraduate student workers. It’s worth mentioning that this is my first full-time professional job, and I’m not substantially older than the students I supervise.

All of the students need to be occasionally redirected from their phone or reminded to show up to work on time, but none of them compare to one student, Ciara. I have to constantly hound Ciara to not do homework on the clock, her work when she does do it is sloppy, and she’s called off on short notice a couple of times in the past month. I was warned about her disciplinary issues by my predecessor, who said that they’d had to issue written warnings to her a couple of times. Ciara hasn’t done anything truly inexcusable, but it’s obvious that she doesn’t care about working here apart from the paycheck.

In our department, students get a finite amount of funding for the year to work, which they can then petition to extend. Ciara is now a few weeks away from exhausting her funding. This actually happened with all the other students too and they were all able to secure further funding, but for some reason having to do with her overall financial aid package, Ciara wasn’t.

This presents an easy out for me to let go of a less-than-stellar employee. Ciara was told a while ago that it was likely she’d have to leave soon, and all I need to do is sit down with her to make it official. She knows about the funding situation, and she’s aware that her request was denied because of matters outside of her control. Although honestly, I could’ve fought harder for Ciara’s funding to be increased (I did so for the others), but I just didn’t have a lot of motivation to do so.

When I tell Ciara she’s being let go, do I have a responsibility to let her know it’s partly due to her poor performance as an employee? On one hand, I’m very much someone who hates conflict. I’d been feeling incredibly anxious about the prospect of formally firing Ciara, and was intensely relieved that this “easy out” presented itself. On the other though, I do genuinely like Ciara despite her shortcomings as a worker, and I’d feel bad not telling her the whole truth. This could also present an opportunity for her to grow and perform better at her next job, maybe.

Yeah, part of the deal with student workers is that you should expect to have to guide them more than you would otherwise — and that includes giving feedback that will help them in future jobs. If Ciara weren’t a student worker, I’d say that you wouldn’t have any particular obligation to spell out the situation for her — you could if you wanted to, but it would also be reasonable to figure that she should put it together herself, given the written warnings and criticism she’d been receiving. But since she’s a student worker, you do owe her a bit more.

I’d say it this way: “I know you had some talks with (predecessor) about her concerns with your work — things like XYZ— and those are concerns I talked with you about too. I want to be transparent with you that those issues were a factor in our decision: we can’t go to bat to try to keep someone on when they’re not performing at the level we need. I’m not saying this to berate you, but because it’s something that’s likely to come up at future jobs too, and I want to see you set yourself up to do well in the next one.”

Don’t think of this as “conflict.” Think of it as helping Ciara — of giving her guidance that should help her get better outcomes for herself in the future. Whether or not she sees it as a favor in the moment (and she may not!), it really is one.

Related:
how can I stop softening the message in tough conversations with my staff?

3. Can I ask a coworker not to bring her baby into our office?

I’m hoping you can help me decide if I am being reasonable or not. I started a new teaching job in January 2023. In February, I found out I was pregnant with my second child. I announced at work around the 13-week mark. A few weeks later, another teacher in my department announced she was also pregnant, and her due date was the same as mine, in October. This teacher spends most of her time in another department, so I didn’t really get to know her at all.

Unfortunately, I lost my child at 30 weeks, in August. I stopped working, and our country allows you to take paid leave even with a stillborn, so I have only just gone back to work. My colleague had a healthy baby in October.

I was back at work this week, doing some prep work before the students come back, and she turns up at our office with her baby. I started crying, and took myself off to the bathroom. My boss allowed me to go home as it was almost the end of the day.

Is it reasonable to ask for her not to bring her baby into our department office? The office is right next to my classroom, and if I’m teaching I can’t just take myself off, remove myself as I would in a social situation. As I said before, she does spend more time in another department that has an office far away from ours. Can I ask that she just go there? I need to work, and this baby is a really strong trigger for me. She is also on leave until 2025, so there isn’t a real need for her to come in.

I’m so sorry, what a hard situation. For what it’s worth, it’s unlikely that she’s going to keep bringing her baby in; it’s likely that was a one-time (or maybe two-time) thing. But in case it does happen again … you can’t really make an official request that she not bring her baby into your department, but you could certainly have a discreet conversation with your boss (or another mutual contact who you trust to handle it well), explain that it’s difficult for you, and ask if she could kindly and discreetly explain what’s going on to your colleague. That’s very likely to take care of it.

4. Am I being quietly fired?

A few months ago, my position was realigned. My new supervisor was relatively new to the organization and new to our industry. Instead of hitting the ground running, I’ve spent a lot of time educating and training my new supervisor on my work and our industry, and it’s been exhausting.

In recent weeks, I’ve been pushing for greater clarity around role expectations. A more senior member of our team asked if they could help and, after meeting with my supervisor, suggested I draft a detailed description of the projects I’m working on and how I do them. The request is to provide a list of current projects and tasks, explain what goes into completing them, and how long they take to accomplish. Then, share that information with my supervisor to help them better understand the demands of my role. But I can’t help but wonder, am I really managing up or being quiet-fired? Seems like writing a detailed list with instructions on how I accomplish my job would make it awfully easy for them to terminate me. And why not? I prepared them a complete list of all my projects and gifted them the knowledge of my years of experience about how to get them done successfully. So am I really managing up and helping my supervisor and organization be more successful? Or am I preparing instructions for how to carry on my job when I’m terminated?

There’s no way that kind of list could transfer your years worth of knowledge and expertise — and it doesn’t sound like that’s what your colleague is trying for. They’re suggesting that you fill in your manager on the basics — “here’s what I’m responsible for, here’s what portion of my time each takes up, and here are some key details on each so you have a better understanding of what I’m doing.” After all, this came in response from you trying to get better clarity on your role (or to help your boss get better clarity on it), and this is a very straightforward way of doing that. This is basic info on your job that your manager should have.

Nothing here indicates this is in preparation to fire you … but if that were happening behind the scenes, a list like this wouldn’t help them do your job. At most it could help them ensure they know what tasks would need to be covered, but that’s something most managers will be aware of anyway; it’s not info you need to (or even can) safeguard.

5. Is our supplier invoicing me personally?

I work in accounting for an S-Corp. I am not an officer. One of our suppliers recently had a billing software update, and now my personal name is appearing above the company name on the “bill to” on the invoice. I’ve pointed it out, and the supplier indicated it’s one of several issues their IT department will be correcting, but resolution is not a priority. Should I be concerned about this? Could it be problematic for me in any event?

No. It’s understood they’re billing your company and you’re just the point of contact.