The Former Intern Turned into a Cool Employee. Then She Made a Joke.

Good Job Photo illustration by Slate. Photo by AndreyPopov/Getty Images Plus. Good Job is Slate’s advice column on work. Have a workplace problem big or small? Send it to Laura Helmuth and Doree Shafrir here. (It’s anonymous!) Dear Good Job, I’m a team manager at a PR agency, and I’ve been inadvertently drawn into a standoff between my fellow manager (“Barb”) and an intern-turned-employee (“Angie”) who works under a different manager. Angie is accomplishing a lot of cool things for her team, but she recently made an off-color joke that sounded like a dig at our team. Barb spoke to Angie’s manager about it, and he said he would resolve it. But now Angie is being very passive-aggressive at the office. I’m talking, like, pretending not to see us in the room and giving us the silent treatment. She even slammed her things around last time we had to collaborate. I personally have to work with her at a big event next week. How should I approach her? It feels embarrassing to have to deal with a bully who was literally an intern until last year! —Not in High School Anymore Dear Not in High School Anymore, I had to read your letter a few times to understand what was happening here, because at first I couldn’t really believe it! Angie sounds incredibly immature—not just for how she’s acting now, but for making an off-color joke in the first place. (Very Boomer of her!) I personally would keep things totally professional on your end and just act toward her the same way you would anyone else you have to deal with professionally. Her response will be telling, and it’s probably worth documenting any passive-aggressive (or aggressive-aggressive!) actions she takes in response. I’m sure you’re not the only person to notice her behavior around the office, and in my experience, people like this either change their ways quickly or are pushed out. We have enough to deal with in our lives without having to navigate this kind of pettiness at work. One thing that I do want to mention that I picked up on in your letter: You mentioned Angie’s former-intern status twice. I have to wonder if there’s a tiny part of you that feels like she hasn’t quite earned her place, and you still think of her as the “intern-turned-employee.” Just something to watch out for! Many years ago I was an intern at a now-long-defunct magazine, In the years that followed, one of the editors I worked under would periodically reach out via email about various work-related things, and every single time he would make some comment about how it was soooo crazy how I had been an intern! Like he just needed to keep reminding me that all those years ago, I had been an intern and he had been an editor. It really rubbed me the wrong way. I could totally be projecting here, of course, but I think sometimes it’s all too easy for people to get stuck in other people’s minds as “the intern” or “the assistant,” even if they’ve left those roles behind long ago. If that’s not at all what’s happening here, great! And either way, she shouldn’t be acting the way she is. I hope your event goes smoothly and she is able to start behaving more professionally, for everyone’s sake. Please keep questions short (<150 words), and don‘t submit the same question to multiple columns. We are unable to edit or remove questions after publication. Use pseudonyms to maintain anonymity. Your submission may be used in other Slate advice columns and may be edited for publication. Dear Good Job, I have an incredible job. It’s well paid, I feel I’m good at it, my colleagues are nice, and it’s fully remote. The rub is that it’s full time, but I rarely need to work more than 20-25 hours a week to get my work done. This has been true for most of my 10 years in the role. At earlier phases of my career, I would have found other projects to take on, but I really love having so much time to myself. Frankly, I think a lot of my co-workers are in the same boat and it’s a don’t ask, don’t tell situation. It probably won’t last forever (I work in an industry which is slowly dying from external factors), but there’s nothing I personally could do to save the business. I fully accept that I’ll need to work very differently at any future job. Am I being immoral by not giving my employer the hours they pay for? (I’m salaried, but I think the job expectation is at least 35 hours/week.) —Reading a Novel on a Tuesday Morning Dear Reading a Novel on a Tuesday Morning, I’m glad you recognize what a unicorn job you have, because you’ve really hit the jackpot—well paid, great colleagues, fully remote, and tons of free time? Hold on to this job as long as you can! To directly answer your question: No, you’re not being immoral. Your employer is paying you to do a job, and they have an expectation of how long it should take you to do the job, but you are doing the job more quickly. That’s fine! Read your novel on a Tuesday morning or any other morning, get your work done, and enjoy this while it lasts. You didn’t ask this specific question, but I do wonder if there’s a way to perhaps use the extra time you have from your employer to help give yourself a bit of a financial cushion for when your industry’s death knell is finally sounded. The job market is not great right now, to put it mildly, and building up your emergency fund in the meantime may not be the worst idea. I’m not suggesting you go out and try to get a whole other full-time gig, but perhaps there’s a side hustle you could take on that would make the inevitable end of this role feel a little less dire. —Doree More Work Advice From Slate I just finished my undergraduate degree, and was hired in a staff position at my same university. Because I’m so young, the students I work with are either in my age group or a few years older than me (there are a lot of graduate students in this department). Well, my department decided to hire a student as a temporary summer employee. He and I got along like a house on fire, and I quickly developed a massive work crush. He recently got rehired for the new semester, and now I see him every day. Never miss new Slate Advice columns Get the latest from Prudie and our columnists in your inbox each weekday, plus special bonus letters on Saturdays. Advice Workplace Jobs