I've got this guy at work who is toubting his candidate for office every time he walks by my desk. He also shakes my chair and chants his candidate's name. He's got banners hanging in his cube too! He's very distracting, annoying and otherwise awful. Since we have an open floor plan in our office, what am I to do? Doesn't this consititute a hostile workplace? What should I do with him? Should I tell him to stop or buzz off or what?

The #1 thing you must do here is to not take it personally. I also agree that your work hours (and maybe your tasks) were inappropriate. Have you ever read the book by Nan DeMars "You want me to do WHAT?" It goes over some of the things you describe (family errands, unreasonable work hours, etc.). Please read this book so that you understand what your role is as an assistant. There are too many bosses who will take advantage of you. Don't let this happen! You are more valuable and more important than that!

Keep your chin up. I hope you find another position quickly and another boss that will appreciate all that you have to bring to the job. :-)

I heard last week on a news show that work hours would be staggered as well as bus and train schedules so that they would not be as crowded so the flu would not spread.

For those of you with kids and schedules to keep, I know this will be hard to change work hours.

When he hired me for the position he said that he wanted me to use my strengths and he even let me work on projects. Now that I have been out sick and was unable to complete the projects (someone did that for me), he's taken me off all projects. It's very confusing for me. At first I knew where I was headed with the company. Now, I feel like a floundering fish.

I have recently graduated with a BS in Technical Management with a concentration in Project Management. The degree took me into the Business Management area. However, my boss will no longer give me any business projects to work on. He seems to think that my title, Customer Support Admin Assistant should restrict me to just data entry and other office duties. I got this degree to specifically branch out at a work and take on new responsibilities. Is this a time to look for another job where I can use my new found training?

As a side note: I was extremely sick last year and missed a lot of time from work. Now, I'm back to full health. Do you think my boss is also a little "gun shy" to give me more responsibilities?