Cubicle Confidential

What’s your comfort level with personal disclosure at work? Do you lean more private or more public? Is sharing caring? Or is sharing TMI? When does a lack of sharing become a problem and when is oversharing, well, just too much? In this week’s episode, Mary Abbajay and Chris De Santis answer listeners’ questions about how to navigate the private-public continuum. There’s a fine line between trans...

This week’s episode is about complaints and complainers. While complaining is a natural part of human communication—knowing how and when to complain is an important piece of emotional intelligence. Our pro tip: Inside of every complaint is a request. Find it and make it. Dealing with the complaints of others can be challenging. Learning how to de-escalate an angry tirade is a skill everybody needs...

In this year’s special holiday episode, Mary and Chris help listeners navigate the Ho Ho Horrors of office life during the holidays. Should you attend the office holiday party? Should you bring an unwilling spouse with you? Should you buy your boss a gift? If so, how much should you spend? In this episode we hear from: Scrooged in Seattle has a husband who is grumbling about attending her law firm...

Do you have to attend meetings that suck? If so, you are not alone. Businesses and organizations in the U.S. hold 11 MILLION meetings a day and 55 MILLION each week. Yet, research shows that over 50% of the time spent in meetings is considered wasted or unproductive by the attendees. An estimated $37B a year is lost due to unproductive meetings. In this week’s episode, Mary & Chris use their c...

This week’s episode features three questions from listeners who are trying to get ahead in their lives or careers. They all seek strategies to find the best path forward. So, whether you want to get ahead, move ahead, or make more money—this episode is for you! In this episode we hear from: Getting Ahead in Georgia needs advice on how to get ahead in her career. While she has had career growth con...

In this week’s episode, Chris has culled a series of listeners’ questions into a mystery theme to see if Mary can guess the theme of the show. What do all these questions have in common? Can Mary guess the theme? Can you? Play along with us and see if you can guess the theme before Mary does… In this episode we hear from: Writer’s Blocked in LA who is frustrated by his writers’ group who keep crit...

In this episode, Chris and Mary share listeners’ thoughts and LinkedIn poll results on various workplace and career topics. Check out this episode to learn what you and other listeners think about office hookups, first impressions, networking etiquette, limp handshakes, and other topics! Show us your love! Please give us a review wherever you listen to your podcasts.  We’re here to help you succee...

Workplace stress appears to be at an all-time high. 55% of Americans report being stressed throughout the day and one million Americans miss work each day because of their stress levels. Working women report higher levels of stress than men and the Millennials and Generation Z reported the highest levels of stress—and the most difficulty in managing their stress. So, it’s no wonder that Chris and...

Do you have a fear of missing out (FOMO)? Do you have career regrets? Do you feel envious when your friends succeed? In this episode, Mary and Chris answer listeners’ questions about FOMO (fear of missing out), career envy,  regret, and one hot mess for cleanup. Rethinking My Life in Minneapolis is green with envy over a friend’s success. Her FOMO is causing her to rethink her entire life. How can...

This week’s show is all about sticky situations at work. Mary and Chris try to help listeners navigate some tough “between a rock and a hard place” types of workplace dilemmas. Help Me Say No in Nebraska has been asked to recommend a friend for a job. The problem? Our listener doesn’t think his friend is qualified for the job and doesn’t know how to handle it… Not Your Secretary in San Antonio is...

In honor of Halloween, this show is all about scary people at work! And a little bit about Halloween…. Ghost Hunting in Georgia is plagued by a ghost boss who is never around. He assigns them projects, and then, poof! He disappears. How can she succeed with a boss that is NEVER around? Stop the Heckling in Houston has a colleague who is a passive-aggressive heckler. Houston is sick and tired of be...

Life and death at work is life and death in life. Yet, all too often the workplace doesn’t address the reality of the human experience. This week’s episode addresses several questions that arise from the circle of life. Silently Saddened in Oklahoma is saddened by the sudden death of one of her co-workers. Nobody at the company seems to want to talk about or acknowledge it. Is there something that...

Travel today sucks. And sadly, so do many of our fellow travelers. In this episode, Mary and Chris share their favorite travel tips, biggest pet peeves, and also make time to answer listeners’ questions about how to have an expeditious and stress-free experience on the road. But the big question is this: do you recline your seat when you fly? Missing Miss Manners in Memphis wants to know how best...

Is Quiet Quitting a real thing? And what does it really mean? Is it a call to action or just an excuse to be a slacker? Is it media hype and should organizations be concerned? In this episode, Mary and Chris attempt to separate hype from reality. I Call Bulls**t in Baltimore thinks “quiet quitting” is just an excuse to be a slacker. Is he right?  Man In the Middle in Milwaukee worries that his com...

This week’s episode is all about promotions. Or, rather, when good promotions go bad. We call this “Promotion Demotion.” What if you don’t want to be promoted? Or if you do get promoted and then realize, that “yikes!” it isn’t the gravy train that you thought it would be? Or, if someone gets promoted that you don’t think deserves it. What to do? What to do? Too Much Too Soon in Trenton got what th...

Authenticity is a huge buzzword in today’s workplace. Leaders are encouraged to be more authentic by being more vulnerable and transparent. Employees want to be able to bring their full true selves to work. But what does it really mean to be authentic? According to Webster's, Authenticity is about “being true to one’s own spirit or character.” But does that mean that we are the exact same per...

Let’s be honest—sometimes other people are just a pain in the a**. In this week’s show, Mary and Chris address a myriad of listeners’ challenges in navigating difficult colleagues and situations.  Feeling Like a Highschooler in Scottsdale is being iced out by her colleagues. They treat her like an outcast. Is there any way she can turn this situation around? Should she tell her supervisor? Confron...

Tell Me More… Listeners write in to learn more about topics such as self-promotion, managing up, and the merits of a four-day work week.  Bewildered in Boulder disagreed with our recommendation to include a professional headshot-type photo in one’s LinkedIn profile. She thinks that including a photo just opens one up to wants to bias and judgment. Mary and Chris stand by their recommendation—and m...

Setting Boundaries What does it mean to set boundaries in our professional and/or personal lives? Are boundaries rules for others or rules for you? How do you even begin to know what your boundaries are? In this spirited discussion, Chris and Mary help listeners learn how to determine and set boundaries. Even in difficult situations…. Making it Happen in Michigan is starting a new job—how does she...

The ability to engage in “healthy” conflict at work is essential for promoting and encouraging diverse viewpoints. But how much conflict is too much? And what if your team doesn’t ever disagree with each other? Is that just as bad? In this episode, Chris De Santis and Mary Abbajay tackle listeners' questions about how to disagree without being disagreeable…   Put a Lid on It in New Hampshire...

Research repeatedly shows that having friends at work can boost employee engagement, productivity, and happiness. In a recent study, most people say having a best friend at work makes work more enjoyable.  We see coworkers nearly every day, collaborate with them on important projects, maybe even share inside jokes about our boss—but do we consider these people friends? Should we? In this episode,...

Are you using common words and phrases that are now considered socially inappropriate? Culturally appropriated or insensitive? Derogatory? Overly gendered? Non-inclusive? Or just annoying and overused? If so, you are not alone. In this episode, Mary and Chris explore words and phrases that are now deemed problematic. We’d love to tell you what they are, but we don’t want to get in trouble with the...

Advice is cheap. And sometimes bad. In this episode, Mary and Chris try to help listeners sort through good advice and bad advice. And one listener writes back to take us to task about our advice!   Damned if You Do in Dubuque took advice from a mentor that backfired. The problem? The male advice giver didn’t consider how his advice to his female protege would play into a gender-biased workplace....

This week’s show is all about recognition, praise, and appreciation. Or rather, when recognition and praise go astray. Have you ever given a gift that was misinterpreted? Or have a piece of praise misfire? Tune in to learn strategies to align your recognition strategies to those being recognized! Yay For Me in Detroit wants to know if it is okay to nominate oneself for an award? Or should she just...

How honest are you? While you might like to think you’re an honest person, statistically speaking we are all liars. Researchers estimate the average person lies a minimum of once to twice per day. But when do those little “white lies” become problematic? In this week’s episode, Chris and Mary explore listeners’ concerns about lying, cheating, and stealing at work! Mum’s the Word in Maryland suspec...