At Work from Creators Syndicate

Overly Nervous Employee Scares the Employee Under Him for 11/05/2009

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Q: I work for a brokerage house that seems to be doing well. I am not yet a broker. I work under someone who is a broker but not in management. He is afraid of everything we do when the compliance officer comes into the room. We are supposed to scan the newspapers for business news as part of our jobs. If I hold the newspaper too high in front of me, he warns me not to hold it so high because & ...

Updated: Thu Nov 05, 2009

Preparing Oneself in a Tight Market for the Future for 11/12/2009

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Q: I keep reading that this is the time to go back to school because of our tight economic situation. An article stated that even if a person doesn't know what to do, it's a good time to go to school. What do you think of that advice?

A: I disagree with that advice. Yes, education is a good thing, but whatever loans you receive — subsidized or private — you must pay them back ...

Updated: Thu Nov 12, 2009

New Graduate Wants To Take Chances at All the Wrong Times for 11/19/2009

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Q: I will be finishing my bachelor's degree this spring. I have lived all of my life in the city where I am attending school, and I would like to get a job in another city that I have wanted to move to. I only know a couple of people there, so I cannot count on using connections to find job openings or to get interviews. My financial situation will not allow me to move first and then start a jo ...

Updated: Thu Nov 19, 2009

Jobs Are Out There, but It's Time-Consuming To Apply for 11/26/2009

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Q: I am a career-level administrative assistant who took eight years off after the birth of my son. I am ready to return to work and am finding plenty of job openings to apply for, but searching for jobs, filling out online applications, writing and uploading detailed cover letters, and making sure my résumé is formatted correctly is exhausting. I still have two children to take care ...

Updated: Thu Nov 26, 2009

Set an Example of a Season of Sympathy and Appreciation for 12/03/2009

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Q: I thankfully work for a company that has not been turned upside down by the economy, though we do feel some of the effects. Several related companies have gone under, and those in the field are applying to our company. We don't have online applications, but we do take résumés by e-mail and fax. We forward the résumés to the company owner, and he responds if he is ...

Updated: Thu Dec 03, 2009

Boss Runs Division Shooting From the Hip for 12/10/2009

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Q: I am a public safety director, and our small department requires shifts 24/7. We have seven dispatchers and work 12-hour shifts.

The problem is the way our boss runs the division. One dispatcher retired and needed to be replaced, but before finding another dispatcher, my boss allowed two dispatchers to take their three-week vacations. We were short three dispatchers, and I worked so m ...

Updated: Thu Dec 10, 2009

Privacy Issues Not Taken Seriously for 12/17/2009

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Q: I work at a small public school in a rural area. The principal is married to one of the teachers. Parents call the principal at home in the evening to register complaints about teachers. When the principal's wife answers the phone, she doesn't get her husband; she takes the entire message, which involves taking the name of the teacher, as well as the problem. How do we tell the principal tha ...

Updated: Thu Dec 17, 2009

Employee Quits After Co-Worker Breaks In to Desk for 12/24/2009

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Q: I was a new employee for a state office and had been given the responsibility of handling two desks because we were short-staffed. I was told to keep my desk locked at all times if I was not present or was working at the other desk. Despite the fact that we were short-staffed, I was allowed to take a one-week vacation, which I did. When I returned, I could not believe what I saw.

A co ...

Updated: Thu Dec 24, 2009

Education and Accomplishments Define an Employee: Don't Hide Them for 12/31/2009

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Q: My husband and I have become empty nesters (our two children are in college) and would both like to return to the work force after years of retirement. We do not wish to find high-profile jobs, but jobs with less responsibility. Our dilemma is that we each have a vocational, a bachelor's and a master's degree — one of those is a master's from an Ivy League school.

Should we omit ...

Updated: Thu Dec 31, 2009

Could the Guilty Party Have a Filing System Based on First Names? for 01/07/2010

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Q: I work for a small company that laid off a few employees last month. One of those employees has the same first name as I do. I just received a letter from our health care provider, along with a COBRA package from the company lawyers stating that I was "involuntarily terminated" and that my insurance coverage has ended. I spoke to our human resources/accounting department and was co ...

Updated: Thu Jan 07, 2010

Pushy Co-Worker Sets Stage for Argument for 01/14/2010

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Q: I work at a small company in which most of the employees pride themselves on their so-called healthy diets, which is stupid because one's diet is for one's own benefit and not something to show off to others. They are a mix of vegetarians and vegans. (I always have considered the vegans to be extremists.) I am neither. I don't talk about food; I especially don't care to discuss what I eat wi ...

Updated: Thu Jan 14, 2010

Neighboring Store Steals Business for 01/21/2010

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Q: Two years ago, I moved to my mom's town to help her with her business and eventually take over. For the past 10 years, she has owned a large consignment store that sells gently used furniture and home accessories. She was doing great during the boom years, but when this recession hit, the business began to struggle, which is when I entered the picture.

I cleaned and renovated the stor ...

Updated: Thu Jan 21, 2010

Regrets Make For Better Future for 01/28/2010

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Q: I taught at a school in a division in which all kids who got suspended were sent. The principal put an incompetent woman in charge. The woman proceeded to "fudge" the records; lie to the parents; make rules and changes without informing teachers; set a bad example for the students; not let teachers see parents' contact information, so the teachers could not inform the parents about ...

Updated: Thu Jan 28, 2010

Ex-Felon Suffers the Penalty 20 Years Later for 02/04/2010

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Q: Twenty years ago, I was convicted of trafficking. I served 4 1/2 years in prison and tried re-entering society as a law-abiding, taxpaying citizen. I thought this was the natural course of the way things operate in America. This was and still is not the case, even after the governor restored my civil rights in March 2007. I answered "no" on applications that asked, "Have you e ...

Updated: Thu Feb 04, 2010

Employee Continued Working After Full-Time Employment Status Ended for 02/11/2010

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Q: I have worked for the same man for seven years, and I am his only employee. Until recently, he had payroll handled by an outside company. He said he would get software to handle payroll himself, but it is months later and he has not done that. Now he and his girlfriend (the de facto office and money manager but employed at another company) have decided that he should pay me by personal check ...

Updated: Thu Feb 11, 2010

Leave or Play the Game When Corruption Goes to the Top for 02/18/2010

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Q: I worked at an international company with 500 locations. Our store manager spent his time fishing, hunting and on his hobbies, with an hour a day on e-mails to make up his "workday." He was so close to his boss that they invested in properties together, so there was no hope in having anything solved by going over the store manager to his boss. When we (the store employees) complain ...

Updated: Thu Feb 18, 2010

Be Positive and Respectful When Pursuing Specific Job for 02/25/2010

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Q: I am a nurse with 20 years' experience at a teaching hospital, but I stopped working 14 years ago, when my husband had an out-of-state job transfer. I have taken classes to finish my degree, along with a nurse refresher course, and have updated my certifications and licenses. I applied at a nursing home (one is two miles from my home) that is part of a national chain, and the director of nur ...

Updated: Thu Feb 25, 2010

Supervisor's Behavior Sabotages Her Employees' Success for 03/04/2010

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Q: I work at a nonprofit organization that pays well, but I steadily am becoming more miserable. There are four of us in our department, but we each have enough work to keep several people busy. I have the largest caseload. Two weeks ago, a co-worker quit in the middle of a busy day, and another co-worker went on vacation. As a result, I fell behind on a monthly project. I updated my supervisor ...

Updated: Thu Mar 04, 2010

Fired Upon Returning From Maternity Leave for 03/11/2010

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Q: When I was on maternity leave, our corporate office eliminated two positions. One of them was the vice president's daughter's position. Within two hours of my return from maternity leave, I was laid off, and she was moved into my position. I went on unemployment. Now, six months later, she is due to go on maternity leave, and I was asked to return to fill the spot temporarily. I don't know w ...

Updated: Thu Mar 11, 2010

Freeloading Brother Works Full Time for 03/18/2010

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Q: I am 67 and work part time. My 60-year-old brother works full time, makes $27,000 a year and lives with my husband and me. My 70-year-old husband is retired. When we agreed that my brother could live with us, he was to contribute his share to the household income, which he did until recently. He met a woman nearly 20 years younger than he is, which was the beginning of his financial demise. ...

Updated: Thu Mar 18, 2010