1. Poop emoji in a rejection email
I enjoy jokes at work, and am partial to self-deprecating humor, but recently I got a rejection email from a company that has a grinning poop emoji in the subject line.
Am I crazy for thinking that emoji just doesn’t belong in any bad news email — especially one that people can take personally or can be hard to hear, like a rejection? The job market sucks right now.
To be fair, they’re a company that does overtly use potty jokes in their marketing communications and even in the HR materials I read, so I wasn’t wholly surprised to see it, but it seemed, well, tacky. I don’t need an emoji to find the 💩 in that email!
Am I out of touch? Does consistent corporate branding take precedence over a bit of respect? Should I be grateful to even get so much as an automated poop emoji from companies these days? I spent over an hour applying for that job on my weekend!
You’re not out of touch. A poop emoji doesn’t belong in a rejection email. It’s making light of a message that the recipient is likely to take far more seriously and might be deeply disappointed by. It’s just the wrong tone for the message.
It does make it better that it’s from a company that has built a lot of their marketing materials around potty jokes (is this a poop-related company?! I must know) because it’s consistent with their branding — but even so, it doesn’t belong in a rejection email, just like it wouldn’t belong in a message they were sending announcing an employee’s death (obviously that’s much further along the continuum of insensitive messaging, but it’s still part of the same continuum).
To be clear, some people might enjoy it! But enough won’t that whatever’s gained by it is outweighed by what’s lost. 💩
2. Is it rude to ask people to move when hot-desking?
I work for a hybrid organization that hot-desks. Each team has a core day when they must be in the office. Desks are set up in sections and teams usually sit together in “their” section on their core day. Sitting with my team is what makes in-office days valuable because of the collaboration.
Recently I came in on our core day to find someone else sitting in our section, but there was still enough space for my team. Another person from their team came to join them (not enough space anymore) and I asked that person if they could sit somewhere else, since my team would be in and sitting there. They said sure and went over to a different section.
My manager then told me that I couldn’t tell people to move and because my team gets in later in the morning because they have kids, they have to just deal with whatever desks they can get and that she would be really annoyed if someone asked her to move when they got in later than her.
For me personally, I wouldn’t be bothered if I was in a team’s section on their core day and they asked me to move so they’d have enough seats. Am I off-base here? Is it inappropriate/rude to (politely) ask someone to move so your team can sit together when hot-desking?
Important info: I’m at the same level as the person I asked to move. The desks are not all set up the same; our section is set up according to my team’s needs and the other sections aren’t (and we’re told to just request the office managers set them up if we need to use another desk). They weren’t using the specific set-up of our section.
I don’t think it’s particularly rude in a vacuum, but it depends on the culture of your organization. In offices where desks are first come, first served and you can’t reserve desks for others, it might feel rude. In other orgs, it would be no big deal, particularly since the desks you were claiming were set up in a specific way for your team (and particularly if you explained that).
Since the feedback came from your manager, I’d figure she’s probably right about the general expectations in your particular org — although who knows, it’s also possible these are just her personal feelings and most other people there don’t care.
3. Can I exercise at my desk in an open office?
I’ve started to develop knee problems over the last few years, and have been advised to focus on strengthening the muscles around my knees to prevent further problems. Some of the recommended exercises are simple and low-impact enough that I can do them while sitting at my desk (like repeatedly extending my leg straight out from a seated position). However, I’m a bit self-conscious about doing them at work in the open office where the desks are not enclosed. I generally try to do them when nobody is close enough to see to avoid distraction, but am curious whether this is generally considered acceptable since I haven’t seen others doing it. How would you approach this?
The big things you want to think about are (a) whether you’re going to look like you’re not focused on work for long stretches and (b) whether you’ll create a lengthy visual distraction for people around you who are trying to focus.
Something like repeatedly extending your leg while seated should be fine to do, even in an open office (as long as you’re not going to, like, trip someone who’s passing by). If your leg mostly remains under the desk and you’re still in your chair, exercise away. Things that would be more of an issue in many offices: your leg on the desk, you on the floor, martial arts stances.
4. When in an interview process should I ask about working remotely?
I graduated last year and I just landed an interview for a research position I really, really want. It’s a term-limited role for two years, and I’m planning on using it to my advantage when applying to graduate schools if I get an offer. The research fits into the specialty I studied during my undergrad, and as a bonus, it seemingly pays better than other research positions offered by other universities. (That’s not to say it pays particularly well — but this is to be expected for American universities facing funding crises under the current administration.)
The problem is the commute. The commute is 1 hour and 20 minutes one-way on a good day. I was offered the interview so I’ll go, and I’m pretty sure if I get a job offer from them, I won’t get a better one from anyone else because other universities are at a similar distance to me and pay less. (I don’t have any other offers at the moment, so this point is moot.) I felt comfortable applying to this position since it was advertised as a hybrid role, so I figured I could work from home and head in a few times a week, but I learned from the initial phone interview that they plan on making it a fully on-site role in the future.
But regardless of whether the position is on-site or hybrid, a lot of my duties can be done remotely. How and when should I bring this up, and is there a way to negotiate for me to work the schedule I’d prefer? I thought I might have some leeway because it’s a limited role, I won’t get opportunities for advancement because it’s intended for people taking a gap year, and it was advertised as a hybrid role.
I really liked the project manager from the phone screen I had with her the other day, but I don’t want to waste their time in case I can’t do the commute. That’s the only thing that would prevent me from taking this job. I’d move, but at the moment, I have no money since I’ve been unemployed and living at home since I graduated. Do I have any options?
If this weren’t a two-year, term-limited role, I’d tell you it’s a bad idea to try this because even if they agree to full-time remote, they could end up concluding it’s not working for them and you have to come in after all, or it could lead to you not getting the same opportunities and consideration as other people who are there on-site. Frankly, I’d still have some of those concerns; it’s two years, not two months, and that’s plenty of opportunity for things to go wrong. More on that here.
If being on-site is absolutely a dealbreaker, though, you can certainly ask about it. I’d do it sooner rather than later so that you don’t waste your or their time going through their process if it’s not something they can be flexible on. You could say, “I’m really excited about the position but because I’m about 90 minutes away it would be tough to work on-site five days a week. Would you be open to keeping the role hybrid?”
But also … if you’ve been unemployed since you graduated and aren’t feeling great about other prospects, moving closer to this job might be the most practical thing to do.