Cowboy Who?

Marfa Invitational has announced dates and events for its 2024 iteration in the West Texas town of Marfa.

The Marfa Invitational Foundation is a contemporary art nonprofit founded in 2018 by artist and curator Michael Phelan and his wife Melissa Bent with the support of Kenneth Bauso, a former investment banker. The foundation hosts an annual art fair bringing artists and galleries from across the U.S. and the world to Marfa. The first fair was held in 2019, then in 2020, the yearly occurrence was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In May 2023, the foundation temporarily lost its 501(c)3 nonprofit status for failing to submit previous years of tax information to the IRS. After this, multiple people involved on the board side pulled back their involvement, and a supporter of the foundation filed a complaint with the ​​Texas Attorney General’s Office, alleging mismanagement of donor funds. In November 2023, the IRS retroactively reinstated Marfa Invitational’s nonprofit status, effective May 15, 2023. There has been no update on the status of the complaint filed with the Attorney General’s Office.

A newsletter distributed by the organization announced that the Sculpture Park will open this May. The five-acre site is home to a permanent collection of outdoor works, including two works installed last year: Matt Johnson’s Sleeping Figure and Rana Begum’s No. 1193 Mesh. The Invitational will host a private viewing at the sculpture park on Friday, May 10 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., followed by public hours on Saturday, May 11 and Sunday, May 12 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The weekend will include artist talks and dinners, as well as the unveiling of the MI Billboard by Camilla Engström and solo exhibitions of works by Jeremy Booth (curated by Ronnie Pirovino) and Ms. Engström. 

Camilla Engström

The MI Billboard is adjacent to and viewable from Highway 90, just east of Marfa. Last year, London-based artist Szabolcs Bozó was the inaugural artist to create work for the billboard. Ms. Engström, who was born in Sweden, draws on nature in her work and is inspired by the art of Georgia O’Keeffe and Hilma af Klint. The solo exhibitions will take place in the Historic Mercantile building, which is west of Marfa, in the small town of Valentine. 

Jeremy Booth, “Watch Dog.”

Previous editions of the Marfa Invitational operated as art fairs in the city’s Saint George Hall and included multiple well-known out-of-town galleries who set up presentations of their artists’ works. Other editions have also included extracurricular programming, such as a lecture by critic Jerry Saltz, and dinners honoring arts supporters. As of yet, no such presentations or programming has been announced for this edition of the event.

Noah Faulkner

For entertainment this year, the organization has announced on its social media platforms that Noah Faulkner (@pedalsteelnoah), a teen musician who has gained recognition for his pedal steel guitar renditions of ’80s and ’90s songs, will be performing.

Learn more about the 2024 Marfa Invitational and purchase VIP tickets for private events taking place throughout the weekend via the organization’s website.

The post Marfa Invitational Announces Details of 2024 Event appeared first on Glasstire.

1. My decision to spend sixteen dollars on these Mason jars would inevitably coincide with a sudden, inexplicable change in my personality, from someone who eats luncheon meat straight from the packet to someone who regularly uses fenugreek.

2. The twenty seconds I used to spend looking for the cumin, I would instead devote to loftier pursuits, like marveling at how easy it is to find the cumin.

3. I would automatically become the best, most well-adjusted and anxiety-free version of myself. An aura of uncluttered calm would radiate from me, bathing my interlocutors in a golden, turmeric-scented glow.

4. Did I mention that I would regularly use fenugreek?

5. The need to alphabetize my spices would compel me to take up calligraphy. Once I had hand-written and affixed all the labels, I would continue to practice calligraphy daily, becoming so proficient that I win several local competitions.

6. I become a home organization influencer—despite deleting all social media.

7. With all the time I save not being on social media and all the money I make as an influencer, I am able to spend hours cooking lavishly expensive food. I then photograph and post the food to Instagram, which I have re-downloaded and then deleted again by the time the photos are uploaded.

8. I would reconnect with old friends I’d lost touch with, all of whom would start keeping their spices inside Mason jars too, because once you’ve seen a pantry like mine, the sight of any edible substance contained inside its original packaging instantly makes you want to weep or throw up.

9. Dinner parties between these friends and me would invariably involve elaborate, twelve-course meals featuring exotic dishes from around the world. We would all compliment each other on our judicious use of ras el hanout.

10. My salt would be massive and pink.

11. My peppercorns would be all the colors of the rainbow.

12. My sleep would be greatly improved by the comforting knowledge that, should I get a midnight hankering, I could run to the kitchen and locate the harissa in mere seconds. There it is, see! Right between the garam masala and herbes de Provence!

13. My therapist would find the Mason jar thing psychologically interesting. She would suggest that it’s not really cinnamon and oregano that I’m obsessively sealing inside tiny glass containers, but my emotions. I would smile and shake my head before correcting her. She would apologize and refund me for the session.

14. I would succeed in all my endeavors, both personal and professional.

15. I would probably make my own muesli.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced the layoffs of 10% of the company’s workforce, stating that the cuts would allow the foundering corporation to “be lean, innovative and hungry for the next growth phase cycle.” What do you think?

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This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.

A reader writes:

A buddy of mine just quit her job, and her boss, a truly evil person, countered with a raise and a promotion. My friend refused, of course, because, truly evil person. But it got me thinking, this isn’t the first time I’ve seen bosses offer too little too late to save a stellar employee, and I wonder why.

Why don’t bosses preemptively think that if they don’t treat their best people well that those people will depart for someone who will? Why do they think that making such an offer only after the employee gives notice will work?

Good bosses are aware of that. Good bosses do proactively think about how to hold onto good employees, and then they do those things. They also ask directly, because while money is one obvious answer, there are other things people want too and sometimes those are less obvious.

But yes, bad bosses often don’t even consider that good employees might leave, and then are shocked when they do. I think it stems from power dynamics — bad managers often have an unhealthy relationship to power that blinds them to the fact that the people working for them have options. (This isn’t a logical worldview! As a manager, you should want to hire people who have lots of other choices because they’e good at what they do. That reflects well on you.)

Bad managers — by definition — also tend not to be thoughtful about management in general, and how to attract and keep good employees, and how to create an environment good people will want to work in, and they’re often not paying a lot of attention to people’s morale and satisfaction. Because they’re not thinking about it a lot, they’re more likely to be blindsided when someone resigns, and then they scramble to make a counteroffer to resolve the immediate problem that’s in front of them (“I must keep this person to avoid disruption”) rather than examining it more broadly (“what drove this person to start looking? were there things I missed?”).

Sometimes, too, counter-offers stem from thinking about pay in a way that doesn’t include much understanding of how humans work — i.e., “we’ll pay this person the minimum we need to pay them until the exact moment that keeping them would cost more and then we’ll increase to that.”

None of this is to say that every counter-offer is the sign of a bad manager. That’s not the case. Sometimes good managers miss things, or they rightly needed to prioritize putting their capital elsewhere, or they’re hamstrung by policies from above them. But definitely any good manager who finds themselves wanting to make a counter-offer should be reflecting on whether they missed opportunities to retain that person earlier on.

Dear valued faculty,

In light of the recent budget cuts, the university administration thought it would be helpful to clarify a few things about our institution and our mission. We are not a “school.” We are a hospital system with a football team. We collect grants from the federal government, payouts from insurance companies, and licensing revenue from television networks. That is our raison d’être.

At our core, we are devoted to learning. Specifically, we want to learn how to extract as much value as possible from everyone and everything we interact with.

Yes, we have an untaxed, multibillion-dollar endowment. But that doesn’t mean we can burn money on frivolities like a classics department. That involves hiring professors and maintaining a library, which, as you well know, does not help our hospital or our football team.

The fine arts are lovely, but do they receive NIH grants? Have you ever seen a cellist on ESPN?

You might think that our vast real estate holdings, on which we pay no property tax, would allow us to expand our language departments. How could you be so foolish? That land can be used for so many important initiatives, like a third football practice facility or a new breakroom for assistant vice deans.

Universities are about community. If we grow large enough, if our star shines bright enough, we will be the only hospital serving this community. That’s how we can give back: through an absolute, unquestioned monopoly.

We like to think of our patients the same way we think of our students. If they can’t pay, they’re worthless.

Now, you might be wondering, what about skyrocketing tuition? Where does that money go?

Once again, we are not a “school,” and our pricing model reflects that. Just like in a hospital, our prices are arbitrary and astronomical. Fifty dollars for an aspirin, fifty thousand dollars for room and board—that’s the beauty of the system. That’s what being a nonprofit is all about.

We hope these clarifications provide peace of mind and spur rich philosophical reflection. As a reminder, all such reflection should take place outside of the Philosophy Department, as that building is being demolished to make room for a new football media center.

Yours sincerely,
The University Hospital Administration

Donald Trump began his trial in Manhattan this week in the case regarding his hush money payments to cover up his affair with porn star Stormy Daniels, marking the first time a former American president has faced a criminal trial. What do you think?

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Today I’m very excited to officially announce a new addition to the BMOW product lineup: the Mac Sync-inator VGA sync converter. I’ve been talking about this project for months, and it’s been available in small quantities while I gathered customer feedback, but now it’s finally ready for the bright lights and prime time. If you own a classic Macintosh or Apple IIgs computer, and have ever struggled to get it working with a standard VGA monitor, then the Mac Sync-inator is for you.

The Sync-inator is an adapter for connecting Apple video sources (DB-15) to VGA monitors (HD-15), with active sync processing circuitry that sets it apart from typical passive video adapters. There’s a built-in microcontroller that analyzes the incoming sync signals in real-time, automatically selects the best adapter settings, and can optionally reprocess the sync signals into a different format for better compatibility with some VGA monitors. You can even view a debug log of diagnostic and technical information about the video signal, as seen by the Sync-inator. For video format nerds as well as for people who want something that “just works” with minimum hassles, there’s a lot to be excited about here.

Sync-inator Benefits

• Three different sync processing modes, for wider compatibility than other VGA adapters
• Automatic sync mode selection, for easy setup
• Sync activity LEDs for quick troubleshooting feedback
• Serial port output of video signal diagnostic info
• Plus all the other capabilities of standard VGA adapters

 
What is this and why should I care?

In short, the Sync-inator makes it possible to use many types of VGA monitors that previously wouldn’t work with your classic Apple video source due to sync compatibility issues. It also removes much of the frustration that’s typically associated with using passive DIP switch VGA adapters, by using a microcontroller to automatically configure some of the adapter settings. It will do everything that common passive Mac-to-VGA adapters will do, plus more. If you’ve got a monitor that stubbornly refuses to work with your vintage Mac video card, give the Sync-inator a try.

Sync-inator is not a video scaler, and it doesn’t modify the video resolution or colors in the RGB video signal. Only the sync signals are affected.

 
What the heck is sync?

The video signal from your computer or video card contains synchronization information which helps your monitor detect the beginning of each new line and new frame. There are several different ways in which this sync information can be encoded. Some computers only support specific sync methods, and some VGA monitors can only handle specific sync methods. If your monitor can’t handle the sync signals from your computer or video card, then you’ll have a problem, even if the monitor supports the video resolution and frame rate.

In the world of classic Apple computers, the two most common sync methods are composite sync and separate sync. With composite sync, the horizontal and vertical sync information is combined into a single output signal. With separate sync, horizontal and vertical information is transmitted with two distinct sync signals. Some computers can only output composite sync, or can only output separate sync. Some computers output one or the other at different times, depending on which specific video resolution is active. Some computers output both composite sync and separate sync simultaneously.

The Sync-inator is able to convert a composite sync signal into separate horizontal/vertical sync signals, using several different methods. It’s also able to analyze the incoming sync signal and make an educated guess about which conversion method is best, although this choice can be overridden if you prefer a different method.

 
What’s wrong with my computer? Is it even working?

The Sync-inator also has two built-in LEDs for debugging and troubleshooting video problems. If your monitor remains dark and no image appears, the LEDs can provide information to determine if the problem is with the monitor, the computer, the choice of video resolution, or something else. One LED will light whenever a composite sync signal is present, and the other LED will light whenever a separate sync signal is present. If neither LED is lit, then your computer isn’t outputting any video, and you’ll need to troubleshoot the source. If one or more LEDs are lit, but the monitor doesn’t show any image, then you’re likely dealing with some kind of unsupported video mode and will need to troubleshoot the monitor itself.

 
Debug Log

The Mac Sync-inator has a serial port where debug logging information is provided. The debug log is an optional feature, and all the Sync-inator’s capabilities can be used without ever looking at the log. But advanced tech nerds may find the log info interesting. To view the log, you can attach a USB serial cable to the TXD and GND terminals at the edge of the Sync-inator PCB, and set your terminal software’s serial port speed to 57600 bps. The debug log lists the current sync processing mode, including the result of the automatic processing mode’s analysis, as well as the period and frequency of the detected sync signals and other technical information. Here’s an example showing an Apple “Toby” NuBus video card running at 640×480 @ 67 Hz resolution.

* BMOW VGA Mac Sync-inator, v 1.0
sync mode: choose automatically
detecting sync signals...
hsync no
vsync no
csync yes
csync horiz period 28.5 us, freq 35.0 kHz
csync vert period 15.0 ms, freq 66.3 Hz
auto-select: convert csync into hsync and vsync
csync: pulse width 9 20 871, period 142 285 1003

 
Get your Sync-inator Now

For details on the Sync-inator, usage instructions, or to make a purchase, please see the main Sync-inator page at the BMOW web site. I hope this new device will be as useful for you as it has been for me!

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.

A reader writes:

I am casual friends with a couple who are both teachers at a public high school. One day while catching up, they told me that they found out one of their recently-hired colleagues (“Jane”) is the direct descendant of a Nazi. I don’t know which Nazi, I don’t know how they found out, and I don’t know if the school knew this before Jane was hired. My friends said that Jane did not volunteer this information and has never mentioned it, and she has never shown any support for Nazi views or any kind of hate.

Even though Jane is a pleasant and competent coworker, they both expressed strong discomfort with working with her because of her familial connections and said they wished that the school district would terminate her employment because of it. I asked them if they thought that no one should ever hire Jane because of this, and they said, “I’m not saying that nobody should ever hire her, it just shouldn’t be here.” I disengaged from the conversation at that point, but my sense is that by “here” they meant both a school where teachers have access to children, and the state where they live which is a bit of a hot spot for white supremacy.

Is it legal to fire (or refuse to hire) someone because they’re related to a Nazi? It doesn’t sound like a protected class to me, but on the other hand it seems a bit unfair that someone should be ostracized solely because they’re related to a terrible person. I know you’ve had letters before from people who have relatives who did horrible things; is this the same or does the Nazi aspect take this to a different level?

I am fully in favor of firing Nazis. (I am in favor of a bunch of additional things worse than firing for them as well, in both their original incarnations and their modern-day ones.)

But we should not be firing people for being the descendants of Nazis. Or the descendants of slave owners or mass murderers or child abusers or Pol Pot. You don’t deny people employment because of the sins of their ancestors.

Legally, no, “related to a Nazi” is not a protected class. But not only would firing them –or refusing to hire them — be unethical and unfair, it would also open up a can of worms about who else we might decide to fire or not hire because we don’t like something their great-grandparent did. And I’m quite confident that if we looked into everyone’s ancestors, we’d find a whole lot of problems.

And look, I’m a Jew. Would I be uncomfortable finding out a colleague’s grandparent or great-grandparent was a Nazi? Honestly, yeah, probably, until and unless they gave me reason not to. (Other Jews might not; we’re not a monolith.) But “I feel a little uneasy around this person” isn’t anywhere near “and thus they should lose their job.”

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Dear Wyna Liu, Editor of Connections:

My morning ritual used to be a time of peace and solitude. A sacred time in which I’d gather up the energy to face the day. I’d brew my coffee and eat my smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel. And then I’d open up the New York Times Games App.

I’d always start with the Spelling Bee. Personally, I like to find the pangram first and then hopefully find enough words for a respectable “Great” or “Amazing.” Not every morning is a “Genius!” morning—and that’s okay!

Then, I’d do the daily Crossword. Not the Mini, the Crossword. A delightful five-minute exercise on Mondays, an hour-long conquest on Sundays.

And if I still had time before my first meeting of the day (and sometimes I’ll admit, during my first meeting of the day), I’d do the sudokus. My personal goal was to solve the easy level in under three minutes and the medium in under four. Just for an extra little challenge, you know?

These puzzles were our brain ticklers, modern man’s solution to the sphinx’s riddle. But you got excited, maybe you got greedy.

You introduced Connections.

It was a simple enough concept. Sixteen words. Four categories. All we had to do was find the four groups of four words. You were merciful. You let us have a few chances to make mistakes and you’d even tell us if we were on the right track.

The first few games were fun. Seductive. Intriguing. Playful.

But then they got sneaky. Maybe you realized it wasn’t all that easy to come up with these puzzles and you decided to get a bit creative. I saw it happen over those first few weeks. And now, every day, I wake up and I see your tricks. The overlapping words across all four categories. The carefully arranged word placement forcing us to see your misleading phrases. I remember the time you gave us the names of three social media platforms and we racked our brains trying to find a fourth that simply didn’t exist. And let’s not forget about the category that was “Words that start with classic rock band names.” Who wouldn’t get that?

Sometimes, they’re not even words. Once, it was just sixteen pairs of letters. Another time, it was emojis.

When I work out two categories and have just eight words left, you’d think it’d be easy. But that’s still seventy possible combinations. Seventy! And do you know how many meanings words have in English? It’s not one of those hyper-precise languages like German where you can keep clumping words together. The word “run” has 645 different definitions on its own. I’m terrified of that word now.

Sure, when I solve the game on the first try, I’m elated. I’m basically bouncing off the walls. But on those days when I don’t solve it… well, let’s just say those are dark days. I don’t sleep properly anymore. I can’t eat. I haven’t had a smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel in months. Those sixteen words haunt me.

So here’s a little puzzle for you, Ms Liu. Let’s see if you can guess the categories:

1. RUINED; DESTROYED; UNENJOYABLE; WRECKED.
2. INSANE; BONKERS; LUNATIC; PUZZLE-CRAZED-BASTARD-WHO-NEVER-LOVED-ME.
3. MY; WIFE; IS; LEAVING.
4. LECHE; LOVAGE; LOGOUT; LATIN.

Yours truly,
A discontented & disconnected puzzler

ANSWERS:

1. My mornings.
2. Things I’ve been called recently.
3. My wife is leaving—also the answer to ‘I; Am; Getting; Divorced’.
4. While we’re at it, words that should be recognized in the Spelling Bee, but aren’t (and these are just ones that start with the letter L). It would be great if you could fix that too.

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.

Big news: the White House has approved a proposal from the Department of Labor to change the rules that govern who must receive overtime pay.

If it becomes law, your employer would be required to pay you overtime (time and a half for all hours over 40 that you work in a week) unless you earn at least $55,068 annually – a big increase (54%!) from the current threshold of $35,568. That means employers would have to either track and limit the number of hours a large pool of people can work or start paying them overtime … or raise their salaries to the new threshold.

In addition, the proposal includes automatic updates to this salary threshold every three years based on wage data.

However, the change is not a sure thing. It needs to be placed in the Federal Register for public comment (and until it’s published there later this month, we won’t know if $55,068 will be the final number; they might tweak it based on more current wage data, which presumably could send it slightly higher).  There will also be court challenges (as there have been in the past whenever there’s a proposal to raise the exemption threshold). In fact, in 2016, the federal government announced it was raising the minimum salary for overtime exemption, and a judge blocked it the day before it was scheduled to take effect … and it stayed on hold until 2020, when it finally went into effect but at a lower salary level. So at this point there’s no knowing whether it will happen or how the presidential election later this year could affect things. But if it does survive, it’s expected to take effect at the beginning of next year.

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. I work in a sleep clinic and some patients want to sleep naked

I recently changed careers and now work as a sleep technician for a well-known medical facility. I’m still a student so I only work part-time until I graduate from my program. Technicians are not nurses, unless they have additional, specific training. We are machine operators who happen to work with patients. My job is to attach electrodes to the patient’s body for the purpose of monitoring and recording the body’s electrical signals during sleep. Nudity is not required for me to do my job, which is partially why I chose sleep.

Here’s the issue: some of my patients do not bring/wear pajamas for their sleep studies. You would think it’s common sense to wear pajamas to sleep in, but, apparently, as I am now learning, it’s not. And some patients report, “No one told me to bring PJs.” The biggest issue for me are men (it’s mostly men who do this) who strip down to their tightie-whities or state they sleep naked. In my opinion, this is incredibly inappropriate. Not only is it creepy, unprofessional , and plain weird (seriously, it’s one night away from home), it forces the workers into a situation that could be easily misconstrued. We techs already record all interactions to protect ourselves from erroneous accusations.

As a newbie in a new field, would it be out of line to ask the lab manager if the night crew could have a package of hospital gowns in inventory for patients who don’t have pajamas with them? I don’t want to hurt my chance to move into a full-time position here, but I also can’t hand off every creepy dude to my coworkers. I don’t know if this matters, but the majority of people at my facility are female-presenting. I think besides a few of the doctors the rest of the staff is over 95% women. It’s rare to have a male tech on crew.

Not only would be it reasonable to ask to keep hospital gowns on hand for patients who don’t bring something to wear, you could also suggest that patients be informed ahead of time that they should bring something comfortable to sleep in “or a hospital gown will be provided.” If the answer is no, then so be it, but asking about it shouldn’t look out-of-line.

If you want extra cover (ha) because you’re new, you could talk to some of your coworkers about it, see if anyone shares your discomfort, and raise it as a group (or have the person with the most influence raise it). But it’s entirely reasonable, and sometimes it takes a new person to see that something everyone else has gotten used to is off and/or could be improved.

2. Upgrading business flights and hotel rooms at my own expense

I work for a nonprofit that requires a decent amount of travel. I am very well compensated compared to others in similar positions in my field, though I could make double or triple doing similar work in the private sector (which I used to work in).

The thing is, I’m independently wealthy. When I travel, I book within my employer’s guidelines for airfare and hotels, but then upgrade myself to first class or a nicer room. I use my personal credit card and then submit for reimbursement, but only for the originally booked expenses within guidelines. I’m probably spending a few thousand dollars a year making my work travel more comfortable. It’s worth it to me and doesn’t impact anyone I work with. If other people from my organization or a partner organization are also on the trip, I don’t do those things.

Is there anything wrong with this? Should I stop? I did tell the admin assistant who processes my expenses that I will sometimes upgrade myself with miles, just so they are not surprised if my ticket receipt shows first class. I have also decided not to get a corporate card (even though it means I may have a few thousand dollars of unreimbursed expenses for two to three months) because I want the points and don’t want to deal with finance.

Nope, you’re fine. It’s not uncommon to upgrade yourself at your expense or using your own personal miles. With nonprofits, you do need to think about what the optics could look like to donors so if you were, like, arriving at a donor meeting in a golden palanquin, that would be an issue. But upgrading your flight and room? You’re fine. (Just make sure to keep documentation of what you’re covering versus what the org is covering in case anyone ever questions it.)

3. How to ask for grace during a personal crisis

You published a letter a short time ago about someone who broke their leg and wasn’t getting sympathy/understanding from coworkers. I really liked the comments suggesting that we should do a better job of self-publishing our challenges so that others have a better opportunity to support us.

Unfortunately, I find myself in need of some support/understanding and I’m struggling with how to share it. I work with a huge number of internal customers who have urgent/time-sensitive requests. It’s already a big source of stress in my life that I can never afford to have an “off” day. It’s a very intense environment where people are often curt with each other, and I thrive in that usually, but some days I just have a lower tolerance.

My best friend died yesterday. I had urgent work so I couldn’t really call out today without burdening others, and didn’t want to sit at home staring at a wall anyway. But I’m also clearly not myself and am not keeping up with some important work.

I also found out that a coworker’s teenaged child tried to commit suicide two weeks ago, and she didn’t let anyone know and didn’t ask for time off. I’m obviously unspeakably horrified for her and rehashing every conversation, panicked that I was less than patient with her at any point, but trying to respect her request that we keep business as usual.

In both cases, I’m wondering how we can explain that we need some grace, without randomly blurting out “something awful just happened to me” to the 50+ people we interact with on a daily basis?

One option: “I’m dealing with a personal crisis so I might not be at 100% right now.” Another: “I’m dealing with a family crisis — just letting you know in case you notice I seem off.” Or if you’re willing to share more: “Someone close to me died this week, so I’m only taking care of the must-do’s right now.”

But also … “a very intense environment where people are often curt with each other” is pretty much guaranteed to be hard on someone most days. At any given point, someone in your office is probably going through something hard that’s being made worse by colleagues speaking to them curtly. It can be challenging to hold that awareness in the front of your mind all the time, especially in a really hard-driving environment, but ideally we’d all strive to.

4. My manager wants “get shit done” meetings

Is it appropriate for a line manager to put GSD meetings on your calendar? This line manager told me they were “get shit done” meetings.

Sure. It’s a term you see in some corners of business space. It’s a little tech-bro-ish, but it’s a term some people use. If it grates on you because of the profanity, you can ask to call it something else.

5. Did I accidentally misrepresent a job on my resume?

I have been unsuccessfully job searching for a few months after a cross-country move. I finally got an offer last week and am super excited about it! Here’s my problem, though. I was filling out their information for the background check, and realized they are confirming employment for all of the jobs listed on my resume. No problem! Except the oldest relevant work experience on my resume was not actually a paid job — it was an assistantship where I earned college credit. Obviously, this should have been noted on my resume, but I put it on there as “relevant experience” when I was applying to my first job in my field, and just somehow never thought to update it over the years. So when the third party background check company checks my employment, I won’t show up as a former employee, because technically I wasn’t. What should I do here? Should I preemptively reach out to HR to alert them and explain? Should I wait to see if it even gets flagged? Help!

This is not a big deal. An unpaid assistantship is still legitimate work experience, and you didn’t do anything wrong by listing it without noting that it was unpaid. There’s no expectation that you’ll flag unpaid internships and similar as being unpaid.

If you’re worried about it, you can include a note in the background check paperwork (or send it separately to them now) to the effect of, “The position at X in 2011 was an unpaid assistantship for college credit so I don’t know if I’ll show up as a former employee or not. If you need another way to verify it, please let me know and I’ll put you in touch with the person who managed me there.” But you could even leave off that last sentence and it’ll almost certainly still be fine.

A nova of the T Coronae Borealis star system is expected to happen at some point through September, and will make it as bright as the North Star for several days.

(Image credit: Conceptual Image Lab/Goddard Space Flight Center)

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.

A reader writes:

I am a long-time manager, but promotions are a rarity on my team. When an unexpected opportunity for a promotion arose earlier this year, there were two obvious candidates: Annie and Beth. Annie was more of a star individual contributor than Beth, and also had more experience covering the open position. But Annie can be volatile, and in particular has a history of butting heads with Jane, who would be her direct supervisor in the new role. So I chose to promote Beth, who has better soft skills and an excellent relationship with Jane (they’re good friends outside work). When I gave Annie the bad news, she said that she had determined that she was not a good fit for the role anyway and did not want the “drama” of the higher level position.

Since then, Annie has continued her excellent work and been scrupulously polite. She does, however, avoid Beth and Jane when she can. She has also stopped going “above and beyond.” She no longer volunteers for the hardest assignments when we’re in a pinch, and has opted out of all social gatherings. The gatherings are not technically required, but I do think that they’re important for team-building purposes. I’m disappointed, although not really surprised, that Annie seems to be boycotting them.

The problem is that a tense unhappiness has settled over the rest of the team. General consensus seems to be that I used Annie to cover the position without a promotion and screwed her over by promoting Beth instead because Beth is Jane’s friend. Beth and Annie’s respective relationships with Jane were absolutely a factor in my decision, but Beth is more than qualified for her new role even setting that aside.

Is there any way I can ask Annie to smooth things over with her colleagues? Can I ask her to tell them that she didn’t want the promotion anyway, or at least encourage her to stop boycotting happy hour? Beth does not deserve the team’s extreme lack of enthusiasm during what should be an exciting and celebratory time for her.

The fact that Beth and Jane are good friends outside of work makes this a real clusterfudge — because of course it looks to your team like that’s why Beth got the promotion despite not being strong of a performer as Annie, but also because you really can’t have someone manage their “good friend.” It’s rife for bias and lack of objectivity, and for the appearance of those things.

Even without the other issues, Beth and Jane’s close friendship should have given you serious pause about moving Beth into that role — at least without a very serious conversation about how their relationship would need to change, and assurance from each of them that they agreed and were bought into that, and even then it would be tricky (depending on exactly what “good friends outside of work” means). That doesn’t necessarily mean Annie should have gotten the job instead (volatility and a history of butting heads with Jane might also be prohibitive), but it might mean you needed to look at external candidates.

As for what to do now … don’t ask Annie to tell her coworkers she didn’t want the promotion. Based on her behavior since she said that, it’s unlikely that’s really true (and it’s significant that she only said that after she knew she wasn’t getting it). And don’t ask her to resume coming to optional happy hours; she’s entitled to decide she doesn’t want to socialize outside of work. She’s also entitled to stop going above and beyond — and I suspect that if you really think about it, you can understand why she has: she’s gotten the message that doing that doesn’t pay off, and she’s not in a place where she’s inclined to do extra favors at the moment. That’s fair. None of that means Annie is a saint, or even that you should have promoted her instead. But it does mean that the way you want to handle this isn’t the way to go.

I’m hopeful that you were transparent with Annie’s about your concerns about her volatility and relationship with Jane, enough for her to understand why those things were an obstacle in promoting her. But you’ve still got this Beth/Jane friendship landmine to sort out, not to mention your team’s reaction to everything that went down. Those aren’t problems that Annie created, and it’s not fair to look to her to solve them for you.

The campaign to amend Florida's constitution to protect abortion rights kicked off in Orlando, attracting voters on both sides of the issue. The ballot question needs 60% approval to pass.

(Image credit: Danielle Prieur)

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Hovertext:
Written after enjoying Children's Fantasy Literature, by Levy and Menlesohn.

Birds have it going on. Many of these winged dinosaurs delight us with their song and brilliant plumage. Migratory birds travel thousands of miles in a display of endurance that would make an Olympic athlete gasp.

We inquire about these daunting migrations and how birds can fly for days without rest. And what can we do to save disappearing species? Will digital tracking technology help? Plus, how 19th century bird-lovers, appalled by feathered hats, started the modern conservation movement.

Guests:

Scott Weidensaul – Ornithologist and naturalist and author of “A World on the Wing: the Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds.”

Kassandra Ford – Doctoral candidate in evolutionary biology at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Michelle Nijhuis – Science journalist and author of “Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction.”

Originally aired May 10, 2021

Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun Miyake

You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!

Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact advertising@airwavemedia.com to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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