229
votes
How can I offer my prayers to an atheist colleague facing a serious personal situation?
I am an atheist myself so I'm going to answer it as if you would say it to me:
I'm an atheist, which means that heaven/hell/praying has no value (good nor bad, just void) to me. The act of praying is ...
- 5,633
207
votes
How can I politely get the attention of a coworker who is listening to music?
Before answering, there are a few things I think are important to address.
She then told me it hurt when I pulled her earphone
When you pull your own earphone, you might not be hurt, but the person ...
- 4,687
194
votes
Accepted
How can I avoid coming across as condescending when telling a coworker I can't work on an issue right now?
I think your problem here is the word "luxury." Not only would the line flow just as well if you cut it out, but it's insinuating that the person emailing you isn't as busy as you are. It's probably ...
- 15.2k
192
votes
Accepted
Complimenting a female co-worker without coming across as flirting?
Coming from my experience in receiving compliments from men I didn't know very well, I'd suggest focusing on complimenting the shirt vs complimenting the person wearing the shirt.
For instance, ...
- 22.7k
161
votes
How can I politely get the attention of a coworker who is listening to music?
I pulled her earphones out of her ear and she looked at me really angrily for doing that
Pulling someone's headphones out is a pretty horrible thing to do, I hope you apologized to her afterwards. ...
- 2,611
146
votes
Accepted
How to dismiss intrusive questions from a colleague with whom I don't work?
As a woman who used to tend bar, I've dealt with a lot of intrusive questions at work, mostly from customers. A lot of men want to take home the bartender and many of them can be quite pushy about it....
- 2,371
140
votes
How can I tactfully tell my ex-superior that I don't owe him anything?
As you have already indicated, you do not owe your former employer anything outside of any official contract you have signed. If you look at it from the other perspective, you could certainly not ...
- 4,216
137
votes
How can I avoid coming across as condescending when telling a coworker I can't work on an issue right now?
You need to work on your written communication skills.
Being logical and factual has nothing to do with it. You're implying that you can't be logical and factual as well as tactful in your emails. ...
- 5,045
129
votes
How can I offer my prayers to an atheist colleague facing a serious personal situation?
As Martjin describes it, I'm a more "extreme" atheist, in that I probably would be offended by a Christian offering to pray for me, especially if they knew I was an atheist. So I offer this as an ...
- 2,889
105
votes
Asking a coworker to discontinue his chivalrous acts towards me?
The potential romantic angle is a red herring. Whether or not Bob is interested in you and intends these gestures to be his "moves" on you, you don't want the gestures at all because they suggest that ...
- 16.4k
102
votes
Accepted
How can I politely get the attention of a coworker who is listening to music?
What I've found works best in my own workplace is to either tap on the persons desk, or wave off to the side.
Tapping on a desk/table usually works best because the person in question can feel the ...
- 22.7k
90
votes
Complimenting a female co-worker without coming across as flirting?
Jess K.'s answer is spot-on, but I wanted to add some additional detail.
The challenge is not only what your friend says but how he says it. Body language, eye contact, tone, cadence, and other ...
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87
votes
How to tell boss about pregnancy?
Assuming you're planning on taking a maternity leave and then coming back to work, that is the only thing you need to tell your boss. Bosses like to plan workload and know if people are going to be ...
- 44.9k
85
votes
How can I handle a co-worker awkwardly forcing herself into conversations?
You're basically describing a fairly typical introverts' behavior, so I'm going to try and give some insight into what she's doing, and why. It could be wrong, but since you've described every ...
- 2,260
83
votes
How can I offer my prayers to an atheist colleague facing a serious personal situation?
I am an atheist who recently lost 4 close family members in a very short period. Most of my friends and family are theist and specifically Christian so this scenario came up a lot and I wanted to ...
- 799
70
votes
Accepted
How can I try to get my coworkers to stop their jokes on LGBTQ+ people
I've posted similar answers
to similar questions before, but this isn't strictly a duplicate, so here we go again.
What I find helpful when I have to deal with similar things in my workplace is to ...
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70
votes
How to say no to an extremely pushy friend
I have been told I tend to be a bit passive aggressive when dealing with those kinds of situations, but I like to mask it with a bit of humor. In your position I would reply something like:
我不会来
...
- 5,065
66
votes
A coworker mumbles to herself when working. How can I ask her to stop?
My roommate does almost the same thing. Like everyone, he talks to himself, but at times in a very elaborate manner. He makes gestures, sometimes voice goes up, and sometimes giggles too. It was weird ...
- 907
62
votes
Accepted
Addressing arrogant attitude from a coworker as a teamleader
As a "recovered arrogant person," I may be able to weigh in with a bit of experience. It's in my nature to be a hopeless prima donna, and I am happy to say that I have learned -- for the most part, ...
- 775
60
votes
Accepted
How to politely decline painting requests from co-workers?
If someone ask you to do a painting for them it should be taken as a compliment - they obviously admire your work. So first, take it as a compliment.
However if you don't want to do such a painting, ...
- 2,123
58
votes
Accepted
I don't see why I have to pay for a full bumper paint job. How do I convince her?
Well, having been in a situation where I damaged both my parents' car and someone else's: first of all, show some understanding. You just damaged someone's car, people can be very proud of their cars. ...
- 34k
52
votes
How to avoid answering "what were you sick with"?
Most languages will have a saying akin to "I was feeling a bit under the weather" or something close to that. I would simply say that.
When I am sick and my co-workers ask me about it I usually say ...
- 2,849
51
votes
Accepted
How to tell a classmate I don’t want to give him a contact for an internship?
In your place I would talk to the former tutor and be frank about your impression of the student. Let him decide if he wants to give him a chance or not. They might be in dire need of new employees ...
- 5,065
51
votes
How can I offer my prayers to an atheist colleague facing a serious personal situation?
If this comes off harshly, I apologize. I’m merely trying to state my often discussed (between friends and family) thoughts and opinions succinctly; though brevity sounds sharp.
I’m a Christian, and ...
- 619
49
votes
Polite way to ask how to pronounce name with sounds outside local language?
I'm not sure I will be able to pronounce that correctly, but I would like to try my best. Would you be willing to help me try to get it right?
I've encountered this problem often, and I've never had ...
- 2,841
48
votes
How to say no to an extremely pushy friend
He is not respecting you, so you can be quite blunt.
I recommend writing something along the lines of:
Hey, I feel quite disrespected being ignored. I told you my decision, multiple times, and it'...
- 2,117
47
votes
Accepted
How do I politely turn down requests to show wedding photos?
There are generally 2 reasons why people might ask to see photos:
Asking is the socially expected thing to do.
In this case the expected response would be a non-committal:
Yeah, I'll bring them in ...
- 4,056
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