My Question of the Day: Debbie was too busy to break for lunch. She didn’t ask anyone to get lunch for her, but her coworker, Janice, brought Debbie some food back from the local restaurant when she went out. Debbie thought the gesture was so thoughtful, and she thanked Janice over and over for thinking of her. A few days later, Debbie received an email from Janice that said, “I was wondering when you plan to pay me back for the lunch I bought for you the other day. Thanks.” How should Debbie respond to the email?

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My Question of the Day: Theo didn’t think it was possible for him to really start to have romantic feelings toward Paula, a coworker with whom he’s been working on a particularly difficult project. He has always had a very strict policy of not dating women with whom he works. Despite this policy, he finds himself thinking of what it would be like to be in a relationship with her.

Because they have had to work so closely together, Theo and Paula have gotten to know quite a bit about one another, and Theo is convinced that Paula may be “Ms. Right.” Even though Paula seems to like him very much, he can’t determine whether her feelings for him match his feelings for her. He thinks to himself that she may just see him as a good friend and colleague and nothing more.

Theo wonders if he should tell Paula how he feels and risk the friendship they’ve developed if she doesn’t feel the same way, or should he just wait for her to express more than a friendly interest.

What do you think?

My 2 Cents: If Theo feels that strongly about Paula, he should ease into trying to make his feelings known to her. Obviously, he’s feeling much differently about her than any other coworker he’s dealt with in the past, or he wouldn’t be even considering going back on his policy.

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The commentary doesn’t have to end!

Please feel free to continue to add your comments below.

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3. Please keep your comments respectful. We can agree to disagree without attacking each other.

My Question of the Day: Two coworkers, we’ll call them Andrea Vincent and Brian Paulson, are both up for the same promotion. So far, both employees have been performing at the same outstanding caliber of productivity. Their supervisor decides to have each of them do a 5-minute presentation on the company’s future success to determine who will get the promotion. They have two weeks to prepare.

Even though Andrea and Brian are neck and neck for the same promotion, Andrea is aware that Brian and her supervisor are friends from college, and they spend a lot of time together during off hours playing golf, hiking and attending sporting events. Although Andrea hasn’t witnessed her supervisor showing favoritism to Brian, she’s concerned nonetheless.

While the employees are preparing to give their presentations, Andrea receives a startling email that was sent to her by mistake. It just so happens that the president of the company is named Andrew Vincent (no relation), and the person who was trying to email him inadvertently sent the information to Andrea.

What’s startling about the email is that the information, if included in her presentation, will give Andrea the exact boost she needs to literally guarantee her the promotion over Brian Paulson.

What should she do?

My 2 Cents: The fruits of ill-gotten gains are usually never as sweet as we’d think they would be once we’ve bitten into them.

There’s no question in my mind that Andrea’s integrity is on the line with this one.

She should not use the information.

She should report the incident to her supervisor, so that he will know that she had the opportunity to win with an unfair advantage but she chose not to. That may win her favor when it comes to the promotion.

From the scenario, it sounds like her boss is fair-minded. If he weren’t, he’d just give the promotion to his college friend and that would be that.

Integrity is what we show, even when no one is watching. However, it’s been my experience that someone is always watching; always.

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The commentary doesn’t have to end!

Please feel free to continue to add your comments below.

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RULES FOR COMMENTS

1. DO NOT include links in your post. There is a place for you to include one link when you’re filling out the Name/Email/Website information. Comments that include links will be deleted.

2. If your post is obviously irrelevant to the question at hand, it will be deleted. This is a tactic spammers use to simply show up on blogs.

3. Please keep your comments respectful. We can agree to disagree without attacking each other.

My Question of the Day: You and a coworker are attending a conference. The company has booked a two-bedroom suite for you and your coworker to share for the week. Company policy is to reimburse you for expenses, but you must pay up front. Your coworker has a friend who is attending the conference also and who asks if s/he can bunk with you all after hearing that you have a sleeper sofa in your suite. You agree to this since your coworker’s friend has agreed to pay 1/3 of the suite cost. About a week before the conference is to begin, you receive a call from your coworker who tells you his/her friend will not be attending the conference but your coworker has told someone else s/he can take the spot on the sleeper sofa. You don’t know this person, and with a little probing you find out from your coworker that s/he doesn’t know this person that well either. Your coworker really wants you to agree to allow this other person to take his/her friends’ place because the new person is also willing to pay 1/3 of the suite expenses. What do you do?

(this question was submitted by @tclarkusa; thanks!)

My 2 Cents: This is too easy. I tell my coworker that s/he and the other person can have the suite and work out the expenses amongst themselves.

I get my own room and fill out my expense report to receive the amount the company has agreed to reimburse and write off on my personal taxes what the company will not reimburse.

I’m not sharing a room with someone I don’t know. Knowing me, I would already be reluctant to share a room with a coworker. Truth be told, I don’t know really know my coworker either.

My safety isn’t worth saving a few dollars.

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The commentary doesn’t have to end!

Please feel free to continue to add your comments below.

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RULES FOR COMMENTS

1. DO NOT include links in your post. There is a place for you to include one link when you’re filling out the Name/Email/Website information. Comments that include links will be deleted.

2. If your post is obviously irrelevant to the question at hand, it will be deleted. This is a tactic spammers use to simply show up on blogs.

3. Please keep your comments respectful. We can agree to disagree without attacking each other.

My Question of the Day: A coworker announces his/her engagement.  You give him/her an engagement gift.  Several months later, your coworker hands you an invitation to his/her upcoming wedding.  You give him/her a wedding gift.  Less than a week before the wedding, your coworker sends out notices that the wedding has been canceled.  After almost a month, your coworker hasn’t returned the wedding gift. What do you do?

(this question was submitted by @tclarkusa; thanks!)

My 2 Cents: I’ve never found myself in this situation yet, but I’m glad to have the opportunity to think about what I would do now. I’m going to do like @bbygrl3. The day of the wedding is when the happy couple will get my gift.

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The commentary doesn’t have to end!

Please feel free to continue to add your comments below.

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RULES FOR COMMENTS

1. DO NOT include links in your post. There is a place for you to include one link when you’re filling out the Name/Email/Website information. Comments that include links will be deleted.

2. If your post is obviously irrelevant to the question at hand, it will be deleted. This is a tactic spammers use to simply show up on blogs.

3. Please keep your comments respectful. We can agree to disagree without attacking each other.