I run an online company with some online friends that I have known for many years. It’s been a lot of fun and been quite profitable. I’ve really enjoyed working with these people and the money has been great. Recently, the head of the company gave his brother and his brother’s girlfriend a job. I was okay with this in the beginning because it meant a little less work for me (or should have) without really costing me anything.

The brother and girlfriend live in the same house with the owner. You would think that they would be able to communicate well being only feet from each other but their lack of communication is really putting a strain on the company as a whole and making the work even more stressful on me. The owner and I have had many discussions about how he doesn’t really want them working in the company either, but they are family and he wants to help them out.

I can’t help but think well, they aren’t my family and they are hurting me as a person and my business not to mention how much this then affects MY family. I want them gone if they can’t communicate or do the work correctly. I don’t know if I should tell the owner that and risk him telling me to piss off or if I should just suck it up and deal with it.

- Angela

This is a really touchy situation you’re in. I don’t think there is a way to settle these issues without some good old fashioned bluntness.

Pull out a fresh sheet of paper. First I want you to outline the Pros and Cons of working for this online company. I want you to think about how the company was before the brother and his girlfriend came along and write the pros and cons. Then I want you to think about the company now and do it again. Really think about what you put down and try to be as honest and detailed as possible because you should really show it to the owner of the company. It’s a good starting point so you can get out your feelings and show him what has changed.

You’re going to have to tell him exactly why you want him to fire his family. While it sounds like he realizes they suck at their jobs, they are still family. So you’re going to have to come up with some serious and real reasons why they are harming the company – not just you. And if you can’t do that, then you need to rethink your plan.

An alternative in this situation is to come up with a better way for you all to communicate. Use everything available – email, instant message, MySpace, Facebook, voice servers like TeamSpeak or Ventrilo. Whatever it takes to get you all on the same page, do it!

Pay better attention to your e-mail. If it seems odd to you that you have received no e-mail at all in a week, don’t just shrug it off. Figure out why! You’re an idiot for not specifically refreshing that folder to double check even if it doesn’t seem necessary.

Now you have a bunch of comments to approve – which is great, but some people are now probably totally put off that you didn’t approve their week old comments. They’ll never want to come back and read your stuff because you didn’t do something as simple as refreshing a folder!

- Sabby

P.S. Go do the laundry

David – California

I don’t even know where to begin. There are so many things wrong with this story.

Okay, okay. First off David… this woman is married. Sure, there are rumors that she won’t be for long but that’s why they are rumors. If she’s still got a ring on her finger, just stay away from her. You could totally make an ass of yourself and worse you could get fired for making advances on a married woman you work with.

Now wouldn’t that suck?

Secondly, you never date someone you work with. Don’t you watch movies David? No? Well go find yourself a non-married woman and take her on a date to the movies. Maybe you’ll learn a thing or two.

P.S. Thank you for being my first male reader. Don’t you feel special.

My boss is constantly talking to me about her newborn daughter. I get that she’s excited, but it’s driving me crazy. My husband and I have been trying for about five years now to have children, so her constant chatter about her new baby is emotionally digging under my skin. How do I tell her to stop without things getting really awkward?

Brynn – Colorado

I don’t think there is a way to handle this without it being awkward. You have a couple of options but it’s up to you which one will suit you best.

You can politely tell your boss the truth. I think this would be the most affective. The easiest way to do this is use her own conversation to gradually bring up your issues with conceiving. Hopefully she’ll feel guilty enough to stop talking about her daughter constantly. Once she realizes she’s been unknowingly rubbing it in your face, she’ll probably stop.

If you try that and it doesn’t work or you would just like to take the more direct approach, flat out tell her that her constant talk about her new baby is hurting your feelings and that you’d like her to stop.

Or if you just feel like being a bitch, talk about your dog or cat constantly. Yeah… be that woman.