"First of all, let me assure you that your intern doesn't have special powers to see into the human heart, but everyone at work has noticed. So now you and your pal have been put on notice that you have to seriously cool it. He is married. While you two are entitled to be friends, holding hands around the periphery of the office, having intense conversations in the hallway, etc., is unprofessional and, as you've seen, bound to catch up with you."
"In response to her crude threat you should do a couple of things. One, create a time-stamped file and document everything this little extortionist has done. Next, go to HR and report that you are being threatened by a former intern. Say her proposal is to get a better recommendation out of you in exchange for keeping quiet about your private life."
Everyone at work has noticed the intense emotional affair, so workplace behavior must be cooled because a married colleague creates unprofessional risk. The intern noticed and is attempting crude extortion by threatening to reveal the relationship unless given a stronger recommendation. The recommended actions are to document the intern's behavior with a time-stamped file, report the threat to HR as blackmail from a former intern, and explain the extortion attempt. Maintain professional boundaries, refuse to falsify or inflate a recommendation to placate the intern, and rely on formal channels to handle threats and preserve workplace reputation.
Read at Slate Magazine
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]