My husband’s boss (early 30s) is ignoring him (25)

My husband has worked for a company for 8 months in its marketing department. He is a coordinator and deals with a lot of the detail stuff — like placing ads and ordering company swag. He communicates a lot with the other members of the team, like the graphic designer and copywriter.

Since he’s worked there, I’ve seen how hard he works. He commutes 1.75 hours each way to work and despite getting home at around 8pm each night still answers his email when he’s home and often has tasks he has to complete when he is home as well. I would say that he spends around 5-6 hours a week on top of his 3.5 hr commute and 9 hour workday. He has an enormous number of responsibilities that he has to keep up at all times.

The position is entry level and he was very lucky to get it — we live in a city very saturated with graduates looking for jobs like it. It pays slightly over average for entry level marketing, but this city is also expensive and so we have been taking on side jobs to compensate for my tuition and our expenses.

Recently my husband took a side job that he was so excited about, producing media he was really passionate about. It requires some work, but only a few hours a week, and it pays really well. This side job is perfect for him and sort of a “hobby”. He updated his LinkedIn with his new position at the side job and his boss saw it. She became furious with him because she felt he would not be able to put enough effort into the job he already has. He has made some very minor mistakes in the past, and sometimes issues came up that were not even on his end, and she has been very critical of him in the past.

This happened around 4 weeks ago. Yesterday, I came home to my husband very upset because the graphic designer had sent the wrong file to an ad agency, one that had appeared fine on his computer but was corrupted on hers, and the agency printed the ad with graphic inconsistencies. It was 100% not his fault — he triple checked the ad, and it was the graphic designer’s responsibility to send the right file. But his manager was very angry with him because he’d “put more on her plate”. He apologized profusely and tried to clarify but she refused to listen to him. He told me yesterday that she’d been cold, angry, and acting disappointed toward him since she had seen the LinkedIn update. She is avoiding and ignoring him.

I am really frustrated with her management style but obviously this isn’t a job we can afford to give up. My husband wants to “confront her” and explain to her the circumstances of the ad and his new job, and apologize again. I think he should just maintain professionalism and suck it up for another 9 months, at which point he’ll be looking for a new job anyway.

Any tips or ideas for dealing with his boss?

TL;DR - my husband’s boss (mid-30sF) is avoiding him and being hostile toward him, how to resolve?

Submitted July 11, 2019 at 10:48PM

My husband has worked for a company for 8 months in its marketing department. He is a coordinator and deals with a lot of the detail stuff — like placing ads and ordering company swag. He communicates a lot with the other members of the team, like the graphic designer and copywriter.Since he’s worked there, I’ve seen how hard he works. He commutes 1.75 hours each way to work and despite getting home at around 8pm each night still answers his email when he’s home and often has tasks he has to complete when he is home as well. I would say that he spends around 5-6 hours a week on top of his 3.5 hr commute and 9 hour workday. He has an enormous number of responsibilities that he has to keep up at all times.The position is entry level and he was very lucky to get it — we live in a city very saturated with graduates looking for jobs like it. It pays slightly over average for entry level marketing, but this city is also expensive and so we have been taking on side jobs to compensate for my tuition and our expenses.Recently my husband took a side job that he was so excited about, producing media he was really passionate about. It requires some work, but only a few hours a week, and it pays really well. This side job is perfect for him and sort of a “hobby”. He updated his LinkedIn with his new position at the side job and his boss saw it. She became furious with him because she felt he would not be able to put enough effort into the job he already has. He has made some very minor mistakes in the past, and sometimes issues came up that were not even on his end, and she has been very critical of him in the past.This happened around 4 weeks ago. Yesterday, I came home to my husband very upset because the graphic designer had sent the wrong file to an ad agency, one that had appeared fine on his computer but was corrupted on hers, and the agency printed the ad with graphic inconsistencies. It was 100% not his fault — he triple checked the ad, and it was the graphic designer’s responsibility to send the right file. But his manager was very angry with him because he’d “put more on her plate”. He apologized profusely and tried to clarify but she refused to listen to him. He told me yesterday that she’d been cold, angry, and acting disappointed toward him since she had seen the LinkedIn update. She is avoiding and ignoring him.I am really frustrated with her management style but obviously this isn’t a job we can afford to give up. My husband wants to “confront her” and explain to her the circumstances of the ad and his new job, and apologize again. I think he should just maintain professionalism and suck it up for another 9 months, at which point he’ll be looking for a new job anyway.Any tips or ideas for dealing with his boss?TL;DR - my husband’s boss (mid-30sF) is avoiding him and being hostile toward him, how to resolve?