"I live in Texas where cannabis, recreational or medical, is enough to get you sent to jail. It also doesn’t help that we’re in a conservative rural town with law enforcement eager to take you down for such a thing. My boss, a mid- to late- sixties woman who’s been ...
...smoking for years, has decided to move her all her gardening, weed included, into the office that I work alone in all day. I’m in my early twenties, and I’m the only one in my family of four who has a full-time job. In short, this job is paying my family’s bills."
We have a good relationship aside from this.
You’ll be better served by being straightforward about it: “I have no problem with weed personally but given the laws in Texas, I’m very uncomfortable ...
...having the plants here — I’m too worried about the legal consequences for us both. Could you take them back out of the office?”
"I am a nonprofit administrative worker. For two years, I suffered from a debilitating condition that kept me unable to work. 18 months ago, I had a successful surgery to treat ...
...it (yay!) and after a long recovery, I re-entered the workforce. Sort of. I am still in my first year of re-entry, and so far it has been a patchwork of contract gigs."
The recovery is short and I would be back at work in a week or less, but significant bruising and swelling around my neck ...
...could last 3-6 weeks, and I’m under no illusions that I could keep it all hidden under makeup or scarves at the office.
Or do it during summer vacation if this contract turns into a permanent position (which is very possible)?
You can keep it pretty vague, but an email to your team saying something like “I’m having surgery that will cause some heavy bruising ...
...on my neck for a few weeks, it’s nothing to be alarmed about” would likely be a kindness and prevent people from worrying about you.
"I am a senior engineer on a small team within a larger organization. When I started five years ago, the reporting structure of my team was flat – everyone reported directly ...
...to my manager, Rosalind. Last year that changed, and now all of the junior engineers report to me, while my two coworkers (Greg and Alex) and I still report to Rosalind."
Last year, I didn’t react quickly enough to Greg’s request and everyone just contributed to the present as usual. ...
...I don’t want her to think that a change in her gift means anything about my appreciation for her as a manager.
Once it’s worked out with Greg and Alex, you could say, “We don’t want the junior engineers to feel any pressure to chip in for a gift because of the power ...
...dynamics, so we’re just doing a card this year. Please don’t read anything into that; it has nothing to do with my/our appreciation of you as a manager!”
"I manage a small team in academia. Most of us are on-site, but I have one employee who works full-time remote in another state. Normally, I like to take everyone out for brunch or lunch a couple of times a year, or bring in a meal, especially around the holidays, as a small “thank you” and an opportunity to connect socially. ...
...Normally, I like to take everyone out for brunch or lunch a couple of times a year, or bring in a meal, especially around the holidays, as a small “thank you” and an opportunity to connect socially. Obviously having one remote person makes this complicated. Any suggestions on what I can do to make sure they feel included?"
"I’ve noticed that some job ads offer “generous” PTO of four or six weeks … and 10 of those days (aka, two of those weeks) ...
...are federal holidays. Is it legal or right to combine federal holidays with PTO? It feels very misleading to me."
Yeah, that’s not how PTO is usually counted in the U.S. (although it does seem to be in some other countries).
Typically “four weeks of PTO” means “you get 20 days off to spend as you please, plus whatever 9-11 federal holidays we’re closed.”