It’s 5 solutions to 5 questions. Right here we go…
1. I unintentionally peed on a cloth chair at work
I’m near tears penning this. I used to be consuming some water at my desk and a few of it went down the mistaken tube, which led to a coughing match. I coughed so laborious that I peed. That is the primary time this has ever occurred and I’m mortified. Worse nonetheless, it happed on a specifically ordered orthopedic chair with a material seat. And sure, the urine soak via. What do I do?!? I’m afraid if I inform my manger they’ll be horrified and marvel how I might probably be incontinent. I don’t wish to be the coworker who peed on the chair. Will I completely smash my skilled picture? As a lot as I simply wish to not inform anybody I don’t assume the chair is salvageable and it stinks of urine now. Somebody is certain to note. Do I’ve to vary my identify and reside life as a hermit? Assist!
You do not need to vary your identify and reside as a hermit! You’re a regular human with a standard human physique, and regular human our bodies generally do bizarre issues. You’re removed from the one one that has had this occur. (Right here are some different letters with related tales if it helps!) Anybody who would maintain this in opposition to you is a jerk; most individuals will simply be sympathetic. (In actual fact, it’s totally potential your supervisor or whoever you find yourself speaking to about it should have had one thing related occur to themselves in some unspecified time in the future.)
Discuss to the one who’s answerable for ordering furnishings and say this: “I had a medical incident that sadly ruined the fabric seat of my chair, and I must order a brand new one. What’s the method for doing that?”
2. Why have insurance policies that aren’t enforced?
Having seen this in actual life and studying about it incessantly in your column, I’m curious: from a supervisor’s standpoint, what’s the aim of insurance policies that aren’t enforced and when there’s no intent to implement them? Why have these insurance policies in any respect?
Clearly generally insurance policies are made at a excessive degree that’s indifferent from on a regular basis operations, and managers don’t care about them, and nobody will actually discover they’re not enforced. However in conditions the place managers do have significant authority, what’s this all about? This could possibly be costume codes, WFH vs working within the workplace, timeliness or absenteeism, or any sorts of procedures — conditions the place there’s a particular rule, one thing a supervisor says should or should not be executed, however they freely ignore when the principles aren’t adopted or refuse to implement them.
Affected underlings generally have cynical interpretations of what’s happening right here, however I’m curious what the individuals with authority assume they’re doing.
There’s a bunch of explanations. Typically the coverage was made by somebody aside from the supervisor and so they don’t agree with it, or don’t assume it’s a sufficiently big deal to implement (and might imagine it’s counter to extra essential objectives, like treating good staff properly). Typically the coverage sounded proper when it was made however has turned out to not be a sufficiently big deal for anybody to trouble implementing it, and nobody has gone again to revisit it. Typically they actually must be implementing it, however the supervisor is simply too wimpy or too negligent (these are the identical factor, actually) to do it.
Typically the coverage wasn’t thought out properly sufficient and so it doesn’t include the nuance that the supervisor has of their head — for instance, a supervisor would possibly assume “I want individuals to do X besides in conditions Y or Z” however they don’t trouble to name out Y or Z as exceptions within the coverage, so it appears just like the coverage is simply going unenforced (or worse, being inconsistently enforced), whereas in the event that they’d written the coverage higher their intent would have been clear.
And generally there’s extra of a cumulative facet to it — when you break the coverage a couple of times, it’s not an enormous deal, however when you’re breaking it on a regular basis it’ll be extra of an issue and price addressing.
Associated:
how strictly ought to managers implement firm insurance policies?
3. My supervisor’s mind damage is inflicting issues on our crew
My supervisor had a traumatic mind damage 11 months in the past (workman’s comp). She has gotten therapy (type of); she may be very spiritual and delayed therapy based mostly on her spiritual beliefs. After almost a yr, she remains to be out lots, has reminiscence points, is late, is irritable, works remotely lots, and has lodging that — not less than to our employees — are mysterious and undefined. Early on I stepped up, labored further, helped out and went the additional mile. We had been pals earlier than working collectively. Then about six months in the past, she bit my head off, instructed me I had overstepped, and instructed me to remain in my lane. Superb — I went again to working my precise job and minding my very own enterprise. However she is clearly not okay. Now she flip flops between “I really feel like we’re estranged pals” and asking bizarre issues like wanting to provide me her password for a software program program, which is strictly prohibited by establishment coverage. I’m at my wits’ finish.
That is above your pay grade to unravel! Please speak to HR about what’s happening. To not get your supervisor in hassle, however as a result of these are issues you can’t deal with by yourself, and somebody above you must know what’s happening to allow them to step in and assist (which might embody developing with simpler lodging, connecting her with completely different assist, altering the best way your crew is managed, or all types of different issues).
4. Expertise stipend purchases — my property or the corporate’s?
Two years in the past I accepted a job that marketed, underneath the “Compensation and Perks” part of the job posting and official job description, a $1,500 know-how stipend. In our negotiation emails, the proprietor of the agency stated that the wage supply plus my skilled improvement funds plus this know-how funds “pushes you over (desired wage) for the yr, with a number of room for upward mobility. Plus once you earn X certification, you’ll be eligible for a $5,000 elevate.” I assumed — based mostly on this correspondence and my partner’s earlier experiences with know-how stipends — that I might have a funds of $1,500 to spend on no matter I wished for tech for my residence workplace, and that it will be mine to maintain. There was no point out of returning the purchases at any level. And I did spend it on no matter I wished (no directions or steerage supplied by the employer), which was a laptop computer, monitor, ergonomic keyboard and mouse, and another smaller issues particular to my residence workplace. I submitted receipts for reimbursement.
Quick ahead to final month, once I gave discover. The proprietor of the agency was very upset. He stated many inappropriate and impolite issues to me, however what he didn’t say then, throughout my exit interview, or on my final day, was something in any respect about returning the objects I’d bought two years earlier with this stipend. And I didn’t assume something of it, as a result of I used to be underneath the impression that this stipend had been compensation.
My closing paycheck had an error in it that shorted me about $150. It was a mistake as a consequence of negligence, not something malicious, so after making an attempt to resolve it with the payroll firm immediately, I reached out to my former employer as a result of apparently solely he can treatment the error. A month later, I checked again in to ask if he’d seen my electronic mail, and he replied rapidly to say that he needs me to mail him my laptop computer and monitor, after which as soon as he receives it he’ll Venmo me (?!) the mistakenly withheld wages plus the delivery prices.
I don’t even know the best way to reply. It appears retaliatory for him to be asking for this now (why didn’t he point out it actually at any level earlier?) and it doesn’t match my understanding of the stipend’s phrases (which in fact aren’t written down anyplace). To not point out that Venmo’ing me looks as if a bizarre factor to do — the $150 is meant to be taxable revenue.
What do you assume? Is it value even declaring to him that he’d supplied the stipend to me as a part of my compensation package deal? Would it not be egregious to inform him that I’m unwilling to deal with the packaging and entrance the postage prices myself, but when he sends me packaging with pay as you go labels I’ll ship the objects again?
Some firms with know-how stipends do require the objects to be returned once you go away, however they clearly spell that out so you already know. I believe that’s not how your supervisor meant it since if the plan was so that you can return the objects all alongside, it wouldn’t have made any sense to incorporate it in “pushing your wage over $X” (identical to you don’t embody the price of different work-provided gear in your wage calculations). Plus he didn’t say something about returning it till you requested him to treatment the payroll error and when he was already upset about you leaving.
You can reply to him, “My understanding from our negotiations once I was employed was that the stipend was a part of my compensation, and there was no dialogue of these objects being returned. In the event you documented one thing completely different, I’m glad to try it (though would then ask that you just prepay for the delivery again in order that I’m not protecting that myself). In the meantime, for the payroll error, I don’t assume we are able to Venmo it — it must be via payroll in order that taxes are taken out appropriately and so the state has a file of it. Thanks for dealing with it, I recognize it.”
You may also lookup your state’s regulation on closing pay and when it’s due and what the penalties are if it’s late, simply so you will have that in your pocket when you want it. (Google the of your state and “closing paycheck regulation” with no quotes.)
5. What state do I file for unemployment in?
Federal worker right here. I reside in State A and work in State B. If/when the axe falls, do I apply for unemployment advantages in State A, State B, or (for no matter cause) Washington, D.C.?
You apply for unemployment within the state you labored in.