Trade Show Advice

A colleague I've been counting on to finish reports that are his responsibility to complete and send to our client is just not doing the work. I understand he may be overwhelmed and that the work is unpleasant, but it's been several weeks of him promising these two reports are on the way without any product to share. The client is starting to get antsy and wants a status meeting in two weeks. I've told him, he says it's on the way, and then nothing. I realize he's been with us for several months and hasn't had a review yet, but this is becoming a problem for me and standing in the way of my success. I'm not one to go to managers and complain about anyone, but this time, I think I have to. What is the best way to do this without getting the guy fired? I know if his boss tells him to get moving on the reports and finish them asap, he'll know I said something.

I was recently hired as the general manager of a large facility with a small staff (less than a dozen). Most of the staff have been there for years. Two are brother and sister. Two are husband and wife. Many are close friends. I'm an outsider hired into the organization in the top onsite management position. I've been warned by off-site management there will likely be pushback. I truly do want, need, and value their experience and knowledge! I don't have much of a budget to work with, so I cannot just offer them all raises. I'd like to create an environment that SHOWS them each they are valued. I will speak to them all with respect. I will verbalize their importance. But I'm hoping some of my FGB crew has some additional, possibly creative, ways that could help me join the team, as the leader, while making sure they all see that they are valued and respected.

They are suggesting I go to a 28 day rehab. I don't want to get fired from my job. I dont qualify for FMLA since I haven't worked here a year yet. If I don't go to the rehab I will have to move to a shelter somewhere in the area I'm in to be able to get to work everyday. What should I do? How do I tell my boss I need 28- 30 days off for rehab? Or should I rough it out in a shelter for a bit until I can afford a place? I need some feedback. Im indecisive!

I don't know if I should leave my job to look for another, or stay and try to endure. I'm working at a stage 2 company that runs on intern power. This was good for me when I started as an intern and I was kept on as a consultant. I'm a 55 yo Organizational Psychology PhD student about to finish my coursework and start the dissertation. I've been working part-time for this boutique firm, but it's getting hard to bear. The CEO has to approve everything, everything. So, that is a big bottleneck for work. He's also a detail person so his iterations can take hours. For example, I spent until 2 am one night on a client site visit to change the numbering of focus group questions and fonts on an internal document that the client would never see, that sort of thing. I'm supposed to be a Talent Management Consultant, but the Marketing lady left in May and I was given many of her duties and the duties of her intern. Since everyone starts as an unpaid intern and no marketing students are willing to work as unpaid interns, there have been no marketing interns for the last two hiring cycles. So, I'm looking at having to continue doing the intern and the director duties until January at least and then the director duties until May. He also put me over his operations, because I've got operations in my past work history. These aren't my fields. I'm surrounded by 25 year-olds who have no experience managing anything, much less other people. So, one thinks I've been trained by the other, who thinks I've been trained by the one. When I figure out how to do things myself, they get upset if I miss something and tell me I should have known. Last week, I was supposed to be off because of schoolwork commitments and I was supposed to work about 5 hours on this one large client project. I worked 19.75 of my usual 20 hours because I kept getting assigned things. Just now, I've gotten a message from the project manager that the sub-project needs it's own project plan (which will need to be approved by the CEO and go through all the iterations from him). I was supposed to be logged off all next week for a doctoral intensive and now I've got to figure out how to write a plan in line with the company guidelines and get it approved. When I said this was the first I had heard of a sub-project having a separate plan, I was told that it was said repeatedly. When I asked when and where, there was no answer. I asked three or four more times, still no answer. This is typical of the gaslighting I'm facing. I don't know how much more I can take. They say they said things they didn't and then treat me like I'm an idiot. Another example is that we're a BYOD business and about half of us use Macs. They use applications that aren't available for Macs and then act like Mac users are idiots when they can't get the information they need to do the job. It's been so nice to have the extra money for tuition, but I spend about 4-6 hours in frustrated tears over being treated this way and, now that they put me over orientation, seeing others treated this way. It is a job in my field, at least parts of it are in my field, and it will look like my field on my resume. I'm terrified that I not get hired anywhere else.

I am facing increased caregiving responsibilities for elderly parents and some health issues of my own, but I don’t want a request to reflect on my competence in any way. For background, I have excellent reviews, a stellar work record, and solid tenure at this company. There is an upcoming change in client configuration that would make my request manageable without adding extra work for teammates. The company that I work for has a handful of part-time workers, but it’s very much the exception and I haven’t found any documentation or procedures that would guide me. I would appreciate any advice that could be helpful.

I'm not in tech, I'm in consulting.