I manage a team of traders at a Wall Street firm, and one of my star employees recently came to me to confess he was in serious financial trouble because of gambling debt and asked if he might get a large advance on his salary to get him out of...
My boss is a golf fanatic. During the warmer months, he'll sneak out of work early once or twice a week and take a bunch of the guys from the office with him to the local linksBecause I don't golf, I never get asked to go with them. Yet I...
I'm the president of a 200-person company in a small town, and we've been having some racial tensions in our office because of an insensitive email -- featuring a racial joke -- that an employee forwarded to others. That employee has been dismissed, and to help prevent future problems I...
In an effort to be more "green," my company recently began charging employees to park in the company lot as a way to encourage more employees to carpool and use public transportation.I am very environmentally conscious. I drive a hybrid vehicle, and I applaud any effort to reduce carbon emissions....
I head up a branch of a large company, and we have a luxury box for our Major League Baseball team. It's supposed to be used for our executives to entertain clients and as a reward for lower-level employees who do good work. I know that occasionally our execs will...
I joined a firm this winter as the vice-president in charge of recruitment, and part of my job is to screen and select the summer interns. We received hundreds of candidates, including five who are the children of current employees. As I was in the process of selecting the...
I'm the boss of a company that does computer sales, and we installed Instant Messaging on our sales associates' computers a few months back as a tool for them to communicate with their clients. Recently, my senior manager approached me and asked that we ban IM because he felt that...
My boss is a big, fat donor to the Republican party, and he recently sent out a memo saying employees would be encouraged to attend a big, fat party he's throwing for a candidate. For him, encouraged is a gentle attempt at a word. He only deals in required.I don't...
Im the senior vice president in charge of the regional office for a large company. About a year ago, some kids from the neighborhood came into the office and asked if they could ride their BMX bikes on an abandoned stretch of dirt behind the building. I admired the fact...
Our boss assistant is in charge of tracking everyones hours, sick time and vacation days. Yet its clear to everyone in the office that she abuses that power. If our boss isnt in the office, neither is she. And she always seems to be on "vacation."This infuriates everyone, yet this...
Our office has a long tradition of encouraging charity and philanthropy, but it feels as though its getting out of hand. Almost every day, someone sends out an email or comes by with a pledge sheet asking for money for a charity walk of their childs school fundraiser. Recently, a...
Two of my colleagues recently approached me and told me they were starting their own firm and wanted me to join them. I thought about it for a night, realized I liked my current employment, and respectfully declined. When I told them the news, they said that they would expect...
Im sending three of my employees to Japan for a series of tightly scheduled meetings, and theyve asked to extend their trip for two days, with pay, to do some site-seeing. Im not in the business of paying people to be tourists, but I understand that Im asking a lot...
I have somebody in my own team who keeps spreading rumors about the other colleagues. She targets the employees with good track records and good reputations. Say someone is very good at their work and gets an appreciation from our boss, then this lady will start spreading rumors about them....
A female coworker is always showing up late and leaving early because of some "emergency" involving her kids. I dont have any children, and this irks me. I know that having children is a big responsibility, but others in my office make it work. I feel as though shes using...
I was recently promoted to senior manager at a small marketing company, and on my first week in the position I caught one of my employees faking an illness. He had called in that morning to say he had the flu, but I had to run an errand at the...
For several months, Ive been having a secret relationship with another executive at my company. We dont like living in the dark, but our company "frowns upon" office romance. She wants to take our relationship public, but I worry that it will hurt our careers with the company. Wheres the...
I recently saw a document lying on the copy machine that listed the salaries for everyone in the office, and noticed that most of my direct colleagues make considerably more money than me. This is really bothering me, but I havent mentioned it to anyone. Id like to ask for...
One of my colleagues is an attractive young female, and many of the younger guys make inappropriate comments toward her. She doesnt seem bothered by them - I would venture to say that she encourages it - but it bothers me. Is it my place to report this? Wheres the...
Dear Conscience,Im a young female lawyer at a large law firm, and I have been planning for some time to get a large tattoo around my left wrist. I mentioned this to a male colleague, and he lectured me and told me the tattoo would kill my career. Did this...
