refusing to work for a customer for moral reasons, a horrendous bathroom problem, and more
Jul. 1st, 2025 04:03 am![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…
1. How can I refuse to work for a customer I have moral objections to?
As a field technician, how do you refuse, professionally, to do work for a customer that you have deep moral objections to?
I work for a company that provides essential building services (think fire alarm, plumbing, HVAC, electrical) and believe that everyone deserves to have a safe, healthy, and comfortable work environment, which I work hard to maintain. Whoever you are, if you have a problem, I’ll do whatever, wherever, to try to fix it. I will always be polite and professional, but I refuse to support, let’s say, customers that kidnap others off the street without due process, or their detention facilities, or logistical support, etc.
It hasn’t come up yet, but it might, and I won’t know until I’m dispatched. I might not even know until I walk in the door. Is this something I should bring up proactively or wait until it happens? What’s the best way to deal with it if I suddenly find myself the very last place I want to be?
In some jobs, you’d be able to talk to your manager ahead of time and say you’re not comfortable serving those clients and ask if there’s a way to ensure you’re not sent to them. In others, that would be a no-go. So it’s going to depend on what your company culture is like, your relationship with your manager, and how much political capital you have there. They might say, “We’ll do our best but we can’t guarantee it; if you’re the one available then, you’ll have to do it.” They also might say, “You can’t pick and choose your assignments that way at all.”
So you might need to decide how firm a stance you’re willing to take — or, more to the point, what consequences you’re willing to accept for that stance. Are you willing to lose your job over it? If so, that gives you a lot of freedom to simply refuse, knowing that you’ve thought through the potential repercussions and are willing to accept whatever they might be. If you’re not willing to lose your job over it and they send you to one of those customers, you don’t have much room to maneuver, unfortunately.
2. Quitting when I work for a (difficult) friend
I work as a front of house manager for a sports bar owned by a good friend. I have previously tried to get out of the service industry, and got sucked back in three years ago when she bought the place and gathered her professional friends to help her evolve and step up the place. We’ve made great progress, but she’s not a manager and I’m tired of hand-holding her and the employees.
I manage the employees with a fair hand. I trust them to do their jobs, let me know when they’ll be late without judgement, actively tell them to not tell me the reason for off days, and help close or serve when busy. She takes lateness personally, has exacting expectations for everything, “helps” by taking over, and there’s a general increasing sense that she doesn’t trust us. I will not be able to change how she thinks of managing, as she has similar problems with parenting her children and dealing with her husband and mother-in-law.
I want to start applying for jobs that are more technical, and step down as manager. I have no current reason to flat-out quit and would enjoy continuing to bartend on weekends. I quit working for her once before when she had a side hustle cleaning houses. She was absolutely livid, not at me, but the person who recommended the job and went to bat for me as a reference. I don’t know how to word stepping down. I want to stay in some capacity, but I’d rather give her a heads-up before leaning into true job-hunting.
Ideally with a friend you should be able to say, “I’m realizing I want to step down from the manager role sometime this year, although I’d be happy to stay on to bartend. I’m going to start looking around and I wanted to give you a heads-up so you can start planning.” But if you don’t feel you can say that to her ahead of time, you’re not obligated to; you can let her know once you have firm plans in place and are ready to formally give notice. And really, if she was livid the last time you quit (even if it wasn’t directed at you), she’s forfeited her right for much advance notice this time. So: do you feel comfortable using language like that? If you don’t, that’s a sign to just wait until you have firmer plans.
Also, be ready to reconsider staying on to bartend if she handles this badly. Some people are better left as friends rather than colleagues, and definitely rather than bosses.
3. My coworker’s bathroom visits are horrible for us all
I work for a small IT company. There are only two technicians, two managers, and an accountant/bookkeeper. My coworker, Chad, claims to have a laundry list of medical issues, and one of them is constant pooping. I don’t know any other way to put it. This man goes to the restroom up to five times a day to poop. For context, we’re in a nice but small building. It looks like a house. The men’s restroom is right next to the back door, which is where we all enter and exit. The women’s restroom is close to the front door and right next to the CEO’s office. The restrooms were previously the opposite. The assigned restrooms were recently switched, which is perfectly fine except for the fact that the CEO switched them so he wouldn’t have to constantly hear loud, violent pooping right next to his open office door. You can hear everything and he doesn’t even try to hold back.
I am the type of person for whom the thought of making any poop noises loud enough for someone to hear makes me want to lay down in traffic, so the fact that he doesn’t take any over-the-counter stuff like gas relief pills or Imodium or anything is insane to me. He just expects us to deal with it, I guess. He even brings up his stomach issues during meetings as a form of updates with good news from his doctor like, “My doc said I’m eating too much fiber, so now that I know my issues should be over!” only to take a ridiculously loud poop right after the meeting and multiple times a day every day after that. I could care less how long he spends in the restroom, and I promise I’m not judging him if this is indeed something he can’t do anything to avoid.
I understand some people aren’t fortunate in health and have digestion issues, and I feel for him. However, I am incredibly uncomfortable hearing the abominations coming from the restroom. It’s distracting and so gross. We even have a couple of white noise machines but they don’t drown the noise out enough. Our manager is aware of the issue, since he reassigned the restrooms to avoid hearing it so loudly, but he can still hear it even after the men’s restroom has changed to the other end of the building. Can nothing be done? I’m really frustrated by this as it’s every single day without fail. I dread hearing him walk to the restroom. What can anybody do in this situation (or should I say shitutation)?
Chad has expressed that he appreciates people being bluntly honest with him, but I am just someone who cannot be blunt to anyone, no matter how badly they get on my nerves. I just deal with them as best I can and hope the behavior stops because I have no backbone and have never been able to stand up for myself.
Oh no, I’m sorry. There likely isn’t anything anyone can do about this; it is sometimes an unfortunate reality of working with humans.
If it helps, I wouldn’t assume that the reason Chad doesn’t take over-the-counter meds is because he doesn’t see any need to and instead is just blithely and explosively pooping away when a gas relief pill would stop it. Especially since it’s clearly something he and his doctor are actively working on, it’s more likely that he’s tried those options and they haven’t helped or there are other reasons why he can’t use them. Obviously you shouldn’t get so far into his medical business that you would know that kind of thing (despite his apparent frequent updates at meetings!) but it’s always useful to possibilities like in mind; often when there should be an easy solution for a medical problem, there’s a reason the person isn’t using it. (And because of that, even if you were someone who did feel comfortable being blunt, I don’t think bluntness would help.)
The one thing that seems like it would help and is within your office’s control is better soundproofing. Since the CEO is obviously aware of the situation shitutation, why not propose (ideally via a group of you) installing better soundproofing in the bathroom?
4. Can you fire someone who physically can’t do part of their job?
I’m curious about the legalities around accepting/denying candidates (in the U.S.) based on physical/health requirements.
I am not in a hiring position but work in an elementary school, and something I have seen come up a lot is hiring support staff (for special education classrooms with students who have significant needs) who struggle with the more active aspects of the job. These are students who sometimes need to be chased or blocked in order to stop them from leaving the school building or behaving in unsafe manners, for themselves or other students. On several occasions, I’ve seen staff members who are unable to do things like chase after runners or help with safety situations due to (from my perspective) age or health reasons. I’ve also worked with a staff member who self-disclosed some form of narcolepsy, who fell asleep multiple times to the point where their students were placed in unsafe situations (leaving the classroom, leaving the building, etc.).
Is it legal to let staff members go when their health or age leaves them unable to perform these necessary aspects of the job (keeping high-needs special education students safe and supervised)? None of the schools I’ve worked at have been overstaffed enough to have extra people to step in when these staff members are unable to perform the full extent of their roles.
When someone is struggling to perform some of the duties of their job for health reasons, the Americans with Disabilities Act requires employers to engage in what’s called “the interactive process,” where both parties try to figure out if there’s an accommodation that will allow the person to perform the essential functions of their job. Employers are required to make those accommodations as they long as it doesn’t cause them “undue hardship” (the bar for which is fairly high). If the task is a minor or infrequent one, the accommodation might be simply reassigning it. If that’s not possible and the task is important, and there’s no other accommodation that would allow them to perform the job, at that point the position would not be protected.
5. Should my resume note that I was laid off?
I’m trying to update my resume and not sure how to represent the time I spent with [Company Name] now that I was laid off. Would it be accurate or appropriate to list the dates as “Dec 2023 – May 2025 (Laid Off)” to provide context?
You can include “(laid off),” but you don’t need to. Sometimes it makes sense to do that if you’re trying to explain a choppy work history, but otherwise there’s really no need — hiring managers who want to know why you left the job will ask.
The post refusing to work for a customer for moral reasons, a horrendous bathroom problem, and more appeared first on Ask a Manager.
Conservation
Jun. 30th, 2025 09:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
This is especially useful with climate change causing more drought. I recommend recruiting all available keystone species to resist the decline. Good examples for Turtle Island / North America include beavers, buffalo, goldenrod, milkweed, oak trees, prairie dogs, redwood trees, salmon, sea otters, and wolves. While not everyone has the resources to house any of those personally, you can still support organizations that aim to promote them.
Primates
Jun. 30th, 2025 09:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Laughter — closely tied to language and a sense of humor — has long been thought to be uniquely human.
But in a new study out of Indiana University, researchers have discovered that bonobos, the closest living relative to human beings, along with chimpanzees, tend to be more optimistic after hearing similar vocalizations during play with their fellow apes.
I imagine that the people who mistake laughter for uniquely human have never had a cat look right at them, shove something of a shelf, and then laugh. Animals I have observed laughing include cats, dogs, horses, goats, and multiple species of birds.
Monday Update 6-30-25
Jun. 30th, 2025 02:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
New Year's Resolutions Check In
Gender
Early Humans
Moment of Silence: Acelightning
New Crowdfunding Project: Land of Eem
Birdfeeding
Today's Adventures
Staying Afloat
Birdfeeding
Philosophical Questions: Morals
Bingo
Poetry Fishbowl Report for June 3, 2025
Birdfeeding
Native American
Follow Friday 6-27-25: Hiking
Hobbies: Stage Magic
Today's Adventures
Birdfeeding
Goblincore
Ancient Life
Ceramics
Artificial Intelligence
Books
Exoplanets
Birdfeeding
Good News
"Philosophical Questions: Looks" has 40 comments. "Not a Destination, But a Process" has 144 comments. "The Democratic Armada of the Caribbean" has 93 comments.
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"In the Heart of the Hidden Garden" belongs to the Antimatter and Stalwart Stan thread of the Polychrome Heroics series. It only needs $40 to be fully funded. Lawrence leads Stan to Criss Library.
The weather was sweltering recently but has cooled off slightly. It's been raining a good deal and drizzled again this evening. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, a pair of mourning doves, a male cardinal, a fox squirrel, and at least 1 probably 2 bats. Currently blooming: dandelions, pansies, violas, marigolds, petunias, red salvia, wild strawberries, verbena, lantana, sweet alyssum, zinnias, snapdragons, blue lobelia, perennial pinks, impatiens, oxalis, moss rose, yarrow, anise hyssop, firecracker plant, tomatoes, tomatillos, Asiatic lilies, cucumber, daylilies, snowball bush, yellow squash, zucchini, morning glory, purple echinacea, narrow-leaf mountain mint, black-eyed Susan, yellow coneflower, wild bergamot, chicory, Queen Anne's lace. Cucumbers, tomatillo, and pepper have green fruit. The first 'Chocolate Sprinkles' tomato ripened and some other tomatoes are showing color. Wild strawberries, mulberries, peas, and blackberries are ripe. Black raspberries are winding down.
Unshelved strip originally published on Fri, 09 Jan 2015
Jul. 1st, 2025 12:00 am![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
This classic Unshelved strip originally appeared on Fri, 09 Jan 2015.

Close To Home: Grist
Jun. 30th, 2025 08:47 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
Have you ever had one of those places you want to go to, but never get around to checking out, and suddenly a year has passed and you’ve still never been? That’s how it was for me and Grist, a restaurant in downtown Dayton that I had heard about from so many people and had been meaning to get out to for literal months. Well, I finally made it happen, and I’m so glad I did.
Bryant and I were going out to dinner, and I asked him what kind of food he wanted. He picked Italian, which, in my opinion, is the hardest cuisine to get around this area. At least, good Italian, that is. There’s always Fazoli’s, and TripAdvisor has the audacity to label Marion’s Pizza as the number one Italian spot in the area, so pickings are slim for Italian ’round these parts. But I wanted something nicer than Spaghetti Warehouse.
Eventually my searching led me to Grist, which was labeled as Italian, and looked pretty dang amazing from the photos provided. Plus, I’d heard from numerous Daytonians in the past that they liked Grist, and I trust my sources. So, I made us a reservation for that evening, excited to try somewhere new.
Located on Fifth Street, it’s just down the street from the Oregon District, and close to the Dayton Convention Center. There’s a parking garage right across the street from it, and some street parking, too.
Upon walking in, the first thing I noticed was how bright and open it is. The large wall of windows let in so much natural light, and you immediately get to see all the baked goods in their glass display case.
I immediately loved the decor and vibe in Grist. It was like sort of rustic but nice at the same time. Like fancy Italian farmhouse vibes? It was really cute.
And there was even a selection of wine for purchase:
I didn’t get a shot of their other indoor dining area or their little patio, but it does have a super cute patio.
Grist has casual service, so you can either place your order at the counter or order at your table using your phone, and they bring the food out to your table. I chose to use my phone because there was a pretty steady flow of people ordering to-go stuff from the register.
Here’s what they were offering on their dinner menu:
It’s basically a law that you have to try a restaurant’s bread. The bread a restaurant offers is a window into all the rest of their food, and also into their soul. So we split the half loaf of rosemary and parmesan focaccia:
Bryant and I both loved the focaccia, and there was more than enough for both of us. The outside was just a little bit crispy and the bread inside was soft and chewy. It wasn’t overwhelmingly herbaceous, and was definitely worth the six dollars in my opinion. The only acceptable reason to not try this bread if you visit is if you’re gluten intolerant.
We also shared the house-made meatballs:
I can’t say I’m like, a huge meatball fan. I don’t really eat them that often and they’re not something I crave regularly or think about all that much. However, these meatballs were really yummy! I was impressed that there were five of them, and they were quite sizeable. I think the portion size is honestly pretty good. They definitely tasted like they were made fresh in-house, and had just the right amount of sauce on them. I would be more than happy to have a meatball marinara sub made with these meatballs.
And our final appetizer was the mushroom pate:
First off, I love how toasty the ciabatta was, it’s like the perfect shade for toast. The mushroom pate was packed to the brim with mushroomy, umami flavor. Total flavor bomb, and a little goes a long way. The pickled shallots added a wild contrast, and there was a lot of interesting textures. It was seriously delish.
To accompany the starters, I decided to try their sweet wine flight, which came with three wines for fourteen dollars:
I can’t remember what the red one was, but the two whites are a Riesling and a sparkling Moscato. I did not care for the red at all, in my opinion it wasn’t even remotely sweet, but I generally prefer white anyway so maybe it just wasn’t my cup of tea (or wine, I suppose). Normally I like Rieslings but this one was kind of a miss for me, too. The Moscato was the bomb dot com though. I loved the bubbles and the sweetness level was perfect. It was so smooth and delish, I ended up polishing that one off but didn’t really drink the other two.
Choosing an entree was pretty dang tough, but Bryant ended up picking the Cacio e Pepe Orecchiette:
I absolutely loved the presentation of this dish, and I’m a huge risotto fan, but I honestly didn’t care for this dish. It just really didn’t taste like much to me, but then again I only had one bite and Bryant said he really liked it, so maybe it was a me issue. I’m glad he enjoyed it!
I opted for the Sweet Corn Agnolotti:
I actually wasn’t sure what type of pasta agnolotti was, but it’s basically just a stuffed pasta, kind of like a ravioli. These little dudes were stuffed with a delicious, creamy filling that I totally burned the frick frack out of my tongue on. They had a great corn flavor, you could definitely tell it was sweet corn. I noticed on the menu it also said it had black truffle in it but I actually didn’t notice any truffle flavor at all, so that’s kind of odd. I really enjoyed my entree, and I think next time I’d like to try the squid ink pasta since I still have yet to try squid ink.
Of course, we had to save room for dessert, and you can’t eat an Italian dinner without ending it with tiramisu:
Funny enough, Bryant’s favorite dessert is tiramisu, so he definitely wasn’t gonna pass this up. He was kind enough to let me try a bite, and I feel confident saying it’s a pretty good tiramisu! It was creamy and rich, and honestly didn’t have any sort of alcohol-y boozy type flavor. No complaints, solid tiramisu.
I went with the apricot and passionfruit tart with pepita crust:
Oh my DAYS! This bloody thing was loaded with flavor. Holy cannoli this thing literally punched my tastebuds into next week! The passionfruit flavor is absolutely bonkers on this sucker. Don’t get me wrong, it was delicious. It was sweet and tart and the crust was awesome and the meringue on top was fantastic and wow. Seriously wow. It took me three separate tries to eat this after I took it home, because I would take one bite and be like, okay that’s plenty for now. But don’t misunderstand me, it is very good!
Before leaving, I simply had to get one of their incredible looking cookies to take home, and I picked the white chocolate pineapple one:
This cookie was dense, chewy, perfectly sweet with pieces of pineapple throughout, and the flaky sea salt on top really was the cherry on top, or I guess it was the flaky sea salt on top (I know, it’s not a funny joke). Definitely pick up a cookie on your way out, you won’t regret it!
Grist is open Tuesday-Saturday for lunch and dinner, with a break in between the two. You can make reservations for dinner but not for lunch, and you can order online for lunch but not for dinner. While I was there I learned that Grist also hosts cooking classes on Sundays, so that’s neat! I’d love to check one out sometime.
All in all, Grist was a great experience. Though we didn’t have waiters and whatnot, the service we got from the people at the counter and from the chefs that brought our plates out was extremely friendly, and also the food came out really quickly. We both really loved the food and the vibes, and I also like the prices. I definitely want to come back and try pretty much everything I didn’t get to this first time around.
Have you tried Grist before? Which dish looks the best to you? Do you have any recommendations for nice Italian places in Dayton? Let me know in the comments, and have a great day! And be sure to follow Grist on Instagram.
-AMS
1SE for June 2025
Jun. 30th, 2025 10:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I can't quite believe how much has happened this month. At least 60 days of stuff were packed into June's 30. And now we're halfway through the year. Dear Time, Please slow down, Love, Me.
Rebuilding journal search again
Jun. 30th, 2025 03:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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Meanwhile search services should be running, but probably returning no results or incomplete results for most queries.
my company says I have to give 60 days notice when I resign
Jun. 30th, 2025 05:59 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
A reader writes:
I’m a senior individual contributor. I’m not management, I’ve never been management, but I’ve been in my field for 25+ years. Recently, the large company I work for gave officer titles to pretty much everyone in senior-level non-management roles. Let’s say I’m now a “corral director” as well as a senior llama reporting specialist.
Today, we all got an email that lists the new officer titles and a required notice period for each. Stall directors, the lowest title, are expected to give 30 days’ notice. Corral directors like me, 60 days, Ranch directors like my manager, 90 days, and so on. This notice ends with vague threats of legal action if these notice periods are not followed.
I’m just a reporting specialist with a lot of experience in the industry. No other company is going to wait 60 days to onboard me if they offer me a job. Is this at all enforceable? I get that if I decide to leave and give the usual two weeks’ notice, I probably won’t be eligible for rehire by this company, given this rule, but can they actually impose legal penalties on me for not giving them quadruple the standard notice? I’m in the U.S.
Ha, no, they cannot. But they’d clearly like you to believe they can.
The only way a company can enforce a notice period is with an employment contract. That’s not what you have, because this info was delivered in an email announcement rather than via a contract that you were asked to sign. They aren’t interested in giving you an actual contract, because that would also bind them to terms like giving you X amount of notice if they ever decided to let you go, or paying you severance in lieu of that notice, and they don’t want to commit to that. They want to keep your employment at-will (meaning they can fire you or lay you off without notice) while making you think that you are bound to give you the exact notice they’re refusing to offer on their end.
They can implement other consequences for not giving them the amount of notice they’re requesting, like saying that you’d be ineligible for rehire. And if you’re in a state that doesn’t require unused vacation time to be paid out when you leave, they can make that payout dependent on providing a certain amount of notice. But they can’t bring legal action against you, because you haven’t entered into a contract agreeing to their terms. (And if they try to say that by accepting continued employment in your job, you’re agreeing to their terms, the law disagrees with them.)
At whatever point you resign, give a standard two-week notice (or whatever amount you decide to give). Don’t say, “I know you asked for 60 days.” Just give a normal amount of notice as if of course that’s a reasonable thing to do, because it is. If they say you were supposed to give 60 days, just reply, “The job I’m moving to was firm on the start date and this was the most I could negotiate.” Done, end of story.
And perhaps consider discreetly sharing this post, or this advice, with your colleagues.
The post my company says I have to give 60 days notice when I resign appeared first on Ask a Manager.
Sunshine Revival
Jun. 30th, 2025 01:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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Birdfeeding
Jun. 30th, 2025 12:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I haven't fed the birds yet, but I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches. They've put a good dent in the thistle seed again.
EDIT 6/30/25 -- I fed the birds.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 6/30/25 -- I refreshed the mosquito dunks.
I refilled the hopper feeder and thistle feeder.
EDIT 6/30/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.
EDIT 6/30/25 -- I picked a handful of blackberries. They're coming in nicely. :D
EDIT 6/30/25 -- I picked a handful of herbs to make a skillet scramble for supper.
I've got a few peas ripe in the new picnic table garden -- enough for a stir-fry maybe.
EDIT 6/30/25 -- I sowed 3 pots with mulberries.
Now it's starting to drizzle again, so I am done for the night.
where do you start when you inherit a bad employee?
Jun. 30th, 2025 04:29 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
A reader writes:
My company has a challenging employee, Norman. Norman has many years of experience, which he takes as evidence that he’s good at his job. But he’s … not. When he works on a project, he gets caught up in weird details — like trying to build features that the client didn’t ask for and that don’t work properly — and then does a sloppy job implementing them. I believe (but can’t prove) that he sometimes skips our quality control process. He has submitted work in the past that is honestly embarrassing. Norman also regularly makes offensive jokes and comments in the office. We tell him when a comment is inappropriate, and he’ll stop in the moment, but then he says other inappropriate things later.
Previous managers have not addressed Newman’s performance systematically, and he has never been on a formal improvement plan. Possibly as a result, Norman does not believe that he has performance issues.
A new manager, Elaine, is about to take over this department. Elaine has previously worked on this team as a peer to Norman (she is being promoted to manager) so she is aware of the issues with him, and she’s committed to addressing them. But where do you start with an employee who has been underperforming for a long time? What does that first conversation look like, and when do you have it? Which of Norman’s issues should she address first?
I answer this question over at Inc. today, where I’m revisiting letters that have been buried in the archives here from years ago (and sometimes updating/expanding my answers to them). You can read it here.
The post where do you start when you inherit a bad employee? appeared first on Ask a Manager.
Monday
Jun. 30th, 2025 07:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Today I have nothing. Next Monday, aqua yoga starts up again. But, today is free. USPS sent me an email of my coming postal mail and there is a letter/bill/something from the company that manages the condo. Maybe it's a refund check - hahahaha. I will need to go down and see when the mail comes.
I quit taking the allergy pills because they quit working but that was a month ago and I am so tired of my nose running so I started up again today. Fingers are crossed but I did add more Kleenex to my subscribe and save order. My ankles are being weird. They are fine right now but this weekend they were very swollen. Not my feet. Not my legs. Just my ankles. They looked like they had a tractor tire around each one. Dr. Google was baffled. Even Dr. AI was scratching his silicone on that one.
I haven't used my feet like I did last week and they are grateful. And they do not hurt. And I am happy about that. I am taking them to the podiatrist tomorrow. Along with all my shoes.
I spent way way way too much money last week. Last month. So July is going to see some cutbacks. I have the money but I don't need any more shit. I really don't and I don't have any place to put it. Even groceries. I'm working hard on eating out of the freezer this week. I'm nearly out of bread and eggs. Maybe a grocery run tomorrow after the podiatrist.

our customer-facing staff keep calling out or leaving work because they’re too stressed
Jun. 30th, 2025 02:59 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
A reader writes:
I work in HR for a community bank with over 500 employees and 50+ locations. Our supervisors are asking for help in navigating the more regular requests from customer-facing staff (think tellers) for mental health days. Or employees arrive for work but ask to go home because they are stressed/have anxiety/simply cannot do it.
In the cases that we are concerned about, it is happening semi-regularly – two to three times per month. If it happened once per year, our answer in HR would be easy – everyone has times when they are overwhelmed by life, and we need to allow an employee a day off without repercussions.
For employees who are eligible and have the ability to provide a medical certification, we go through the FMLA process and provide time off as is appropriate under the certification. We struggle, though, with the semi-regular requests from employees when supervisors feel that an employee is not really trying … and where FMLA does not seem to apply.
We have limited mental health resources, but we do have an EAP with a 24-hour hotline number and our medical insurance covers mental health needs. We provide reminders about these resources regularly, and especially when we are working with an employee who reaches out to HR or their supervisor. As a HR practitioner, I empathize with the employees who are struggling. Yes – sometimes, an employee doesn’t appear to be trying, but let’s listen to our employees and consider that they are truly in a situation that is overwhelming to them at the moment. I also understand how hard it is to staff a branch location when an employee does not report for work and there are customers who need assistance.
We will be offering some training around this issue for our supervisors. This will give us an opportunity to remind them that if the frequency is an issue, FMLA might apply. If FMLA does not apply, we do remind our supervisors that everyone needs grace sometimes. Our supervisors, though are trying to take care of our customers, and they are caught in the middle at times.
Can you help us with some scripting for our conversations with the supervisors? And also for their conversations with employees who are missing work? I have worked in HR for many years, but I am struggling with finding the right balance for these conversations.
First, I think you need to get clear on how many of these last-minute absences you can accommodate when FMLA or the ADA isn’t in play.
A handful of times a year shouldn’t be a big deal. But “I just can’t handle work today” happening two to three times per month is a lot, and past the point most customer-facing, shift-based jobs could accommodate without a legal protection in play.
The conversation to coach supervisors to have with employees who fall in that category is: “We do rely on you to be here reliably, outside of the paid time off we offer. While I fully understand that sometimes something can hit without warning, it’s happened so frequently lately that I want to make sure we’re on the same page about what we need in terms of reliable attendance, so that you can figure out if this is a job that works for you.”
That completely removes the “supervisors feel that an employee is not really trying” part of this. They shouldn’t assume they can assess that with accuracy — but more importantly, they don’t need to. They just need to focus on a clear, transparent conversation of “this is what we need, let’s figure out if this can be a match for our respective needs or not.”
But also, is there something going on that’s behind all these requests? Are employees being overworked or treated poorly (either by customers or managers)? Multiple people “simply not being able to face work” two to three times a month is unusually high, and I’d want to find out what’s behind that.
The post our customer-facing staff keep calling out or leaving work because they’re too stressed appeared first on Ask a Manager.
New Year's Resolutions Check In
Jun. 30th, 2025 02:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
This year I'm trying something new, continuing to track goals at the end of each month. So far it seems to be helping, so that's encouraging. I'm looking at my goal list more often and trying to keep ticking off more of them. The main drawback is that this update becomes more of a chore each month.
These are the previous check in posts:
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 4
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 10
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 17
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 24
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In February 28
New Year's Resolutions Check In March 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In April 30
New Year's Resolutions Check In May 31
( Read more... )
Girl Genius for Monday, June 30, 2025
Jun. 30th, 2025 04:00 am![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)