Business

Q: When sending out the corporate Christmas card, is it appropriate for a company to mention that it has made a donation to a charity, even if this donation wasn’t made on behalf of anyone receiving the card? A: Corporate gifts at holiday time are a time-honored tradition especially to good clients or suppliers.  Most [...]

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Q: I’ve been the supervisor of a small medical clinic for the past couple of years.  Unfortunately, I’m having a problem with a secretary who’s been with the company for two decades.  She isn’t entirely truthful, and often embellishes the severity of incidents and starts office gossip.  Most recently, in talking to another co-worker about [...]

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Q: After being out of work for two years, I finally landed a job in a family-run consulting firm.  The problem is, the family members all scream and fight with each other, and they treat their workers the same way.  One of the family members, who I don’t even report to, recently gave me a [...]

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Q: I work at a hotel, a four-star property where “ladies and gentlemen serve ladies and gentlemen.”  Recently, we got a new general manager.  He was never formally introduced to the staff in a general assembly, not to individual departments and employees.  I don’t believe it’s proper business etiquette for employees to have to seek [...]

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Q: When writing to someone who claims the title “Esquire,” I was taught to leave off the designations Mr., Mrs., or Ms. Also, what is the proper usage of Esquire when sending an invitation to a couple? A: “Esquire” is a professional designation in the legal arena, not a social designation.  When you correspond with [...]

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Q: My co-worker recently moved into a new subdivision in a suburb pretty far out from Boston.  Every Monday, he comes in with a new story of the animal he “had” to kill.  These animals have ranged from ants and mice to birds and foxes.  I’m a person who prefers other options besides killing (options [...]

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