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Updated: Jan 25, 2022 89 Comments · by

Coffee Break: iRobot Braava Jet 240 Mop Review

Coffee Break |

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Today on CorporetteMoms we're talking about how to handle tasks that neither you nor your partner want to do… and one of the big things that neither my husband nor I want to do is mop the floors.

We've had a regular cleaning service for the entire marriage, so it never quite came up before — but we stopped it in March 2020 and haven't quite found a regular replacement. We've spot cleaned the floors, obviously, but neither one of us cares to mop entire floors on a regular basis.

My solution to this was to buy this robot mop from iRobot. I've had Roombas in the past, and to be honest, wasn't that impressed. I remember them getting stuck under couches and not really working well in a mixed situation with hardwood floors, tile, and rugs. (Plus my husband is relatively obsessive/compulsive about vacuuming (thank goodness), so we haven't needed to do it too regularly.

I got the smaller of the two mops iRobot offered (this was is $150 at Amazon; I believe the other is $350); we've since bought reusable cloth pads that seem to work well. It kind of buzzes in the background while I work, and the floors are markedly cleaner. It's even inspiring me to sweep on a more regular basis so that I can then run the robot mop. It runs out of battery pretty quickly (two hours maybe), but that's fine for the amount of attention I'm willing to pay to it.

Readers, do you have any cleaning hacks you love (or mopping hacks)?

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Comments

  1. Betsy

    Last I paid attention, the roomba mop wasn’t getting good reviews. I am obsessed with my roomba, so if they’ve figured out a good roomba mop I am very excited! Anyone else have this and have opinions?

    • AIMS

      Wirecutter has a pretty decent review but seems to limit the use to kitchen and bathroom.

      • Kat G

        I think that’s what inspired me. Maybe. I’m also wondering if I need a body pillow based on their recent review.

    • Anon

      I considered buying one but the reviews on amazon said it left track marks all over because it drives through the wet areas as it cleans. Still kind of interested despite that but haven’t pulled the trigger.

      • HSAL

        That’s weird. Maybe it has to do with the type of flooring (I have marble and bamboo) but I’ve never noticed track marks.

      • Kat G

        Day 1 I noticed track marks, but not since, so I think it was a testament to how dirty the floors were?

    • Notinlaw

      We also gave up the cleaning service in March 2020. I’ve been meaning to look for someone to restart. I have both a Braava and a roomba. Big fan of the roomba and like the Braava roomba mop okay. The Braava stays off of the area rugs and door mats. I use it with just hot water because I am not a fan of their chemically solution. Certainly my spin mop is better but the Braava does not require that my arm be attached to it. Now, if I could just find a Rosie to dust for me.

  2. Anon

    I am interested in something like this. I’d be interested to hear how they work on a longer term basis, and do they stay off throw rugs? If I could have something auto-mop my kitchen floor and entry hallway every day I’d be a very happy girl.

    • HSAL

      We’ve had ours for close to a year and I really like it. We didn’t regularly clean the floors beforehand and now we run it weekly. It also has a dry setting (basically a swiffer). We only use it in our kitchen/breakfast area (probably 200 sqft?) and it has sensors so it doesn’t go off onto the carpet or steps, and we block off one area with no issues. I will say that if it’s particularly dirty you’ll want to pre-mop, otherwise it looks like the mop just smears it around a little, but that’s only happened once.

    • Kitten

      Yes I’m throwing mine away. I briefly dated an engineer for this company and I have to say I wasn’t impressed by either. I have to deal with the battery and constantly check on whether it got stuck somewhere. It also can’t reach small areas so doesn’t replace mopping for me. It will take care of dust but not anything that requires any amount of pressure. Maybe I’d like it if I had like a huge room with no rugs or objects. But I feel the same about roomba vacuums so your results may vary.

      It takes like 5 minutes to swifter or vacuum my 800 sf apartment.

      • Kitten

        Sorry that was meant for the comment above. Mine stayed off thicker, heavier rugs but would push around or attempt to climb anything low profile.

  3. Anonymous

    Ever since law school, I have dreamed about paying off my loans, saving a modest amount of money (6 month emergency fund type of amount), and doing something in my work time to help a nonprofit or cause. Thanks to an unusually large client settlement, I just hit goals 1 and 2 (SO HAPPY!!!!!!) and now I’m ready to think about what goal 3 might look like. Hoping to get ideas or advice from this board.
    – I’m single, no kids, plan to stay this way. Late-30s.
    – I currently make between 75k-90k/year as a partner in a small firm, city of about 1 million people.
    – My family was very poor and I have no big dreams to travel or drive a different car/move/retire at 40/etc. I want to support myself but also accept that I’m unlikely to hit the millions retirement companies say I need to retire.
    – I have a lot of flexibility in my firm, and I do genuinely like what I do and most of the clients I work with. If possible, I’d like to stay at this firm, work about half time here and half time elsewhere.
    – I’m not sure if I would be practicing law at the other job, or not. I’m open to it. I can’t afford to go half time practice and half time pro Bono – I’m dreaming of a half time law practice and half time nonprofit job.
    – As long as I’m willing to bill 10 hrs/week and self-support if needed, my firm will let me stay on. (I don’t get a salary and we share all admins as it is, we have a niche so conflicts are unlikely)
    – I already get health benefits via the bar association so although I’d be elated to be eligible for benefits at a nonprofit, it isn’t a deal breaker.
    – Is this unicorn idea actually plausible? What concerns would you have if I was your close friend or law partner? Should I try to dip a toe in somehow – do pro Bono work with a specific org, do billable work with that org, etc?

    • Cornellian

      I’d start with your local city bar association and look for opportunities to help with discrete smaller pro bono opportunities. It’ll be a good way to get experience, exposure to litigation if you don’t have it, and knowledge about what kind of work you’re good at/appeals to you. I think a city of one million would have its own bar, but if it doesn’t, I suspect your state does, and they often have online/telephone options to help.

      • Anonymous

        Thanks! My city does have one but it has shriveled during the pandemic, I have thought about the state bar but haven’t made any calls yet!

    • Anon

      I can’t speak to the practicing law side of it, but do you think serving on a non-profit board would scratch the itch you’re looking for? If you’re in a city of 1 mil., there’s probably a nonprofit alliance of some type that could connect you with some boards that are looking for legal services. I know you said you can’t go half and half, but if you’re on a board and your firm is flexible, you may be able to offer more to the nonprofit that way.

    • Anonymous

      I think it would be hard to work part-time at a non-profit and part-time at a firm, but I think it would be completely possible to either stay at the firm and take on significantly more pro bono or to try to develop a practice in an area that you are more interested in—elections, education, etc.

    • Anon

      Your local pro bono project (or other organization that doles out pro bono work) likely has non-profits that need legal assistance. I used to dedicate all of my firm pro bono hours to helping non-profits through the formation process – Articles, Bylaws, policies and procedures, etc. and from there I also sat on a non-profit board and chaired some committees. Then I attended a number of non-profit training courses hosted in my city. It was really helpful to get familiar with non-profit governance and organization and I think it will better position you to work in a director-type position at a non-profit eventually. I will say, though, I don’t know that it would be possible to work part time as both a lawyer and at a non-profit — that sounds like it would be very hard.

    • Anon

      What area do you practice in currently? What are some of your interests? Colleagues at smaller firms take on guardian ad litem, family law, etc.cases if that’s their area. I might start of a board of an organization and see what develops.

    • anon

      Congratulations! To your point about “I already get health benefits via the bar association,” would you mind sharing what bar association? Is it the state bar or something else?

    • Anons

      Yay for people who want to do pro bono work for non profits! We need you ( especially us smaller non profits). Your state or region may have a non profit professional association. You could contact them and ask to be put on a list of lawyers available for pro bono work.

    • Anonymous

      Do you want to work somewhere else b/c passion/you want to help make the world a better place? Or b/c you need an income? Stick with your current job for $ and find passion elsewhere. Yes, travel. Cut back hours spend time with family, do art stuff, exercise. At the end of this life what would you advise yourself to do now? “Get a second job” ain’t it.

  4. Anonymous

    I had a constituent call me a very nasty name today and honestly I couldn’t help but think why am I trying so hard to save the lives of people who don’t want to be saved? Sorry for my callous rant. I’ll go put on my happy face and do the right thing.

    • Anon

      Not that you need it, but you have my permission to take a break and rest for a minute before you go back to doing the right thing. I’m in a somewhat similar position lately and I’m just burnt tf out. I need a break or I just won’t be able to do the work anymore.

    • Anon

      Dealing with the public is a bit fraught right now. Please just take a moment for yourself.

    • Anon

      This is one of the many reasons I left public service a month ago. I will be back, but I need a break first.

    • Anon

      I had to reframe to selfishness to get past this specific phase of pandemic burnout (I have 3 kids under 5, so it’s been a rough 6 weeks).

      So, all of my (appropriate not extreme or risky) pandemic behavior is FOR ME. I am doing it so MY kids can go to daycare. So I get the break. Because, doing things to help the unvaccinated wasn’t working, because I don’t want to help them because they don’t want to help me or my kids! I am mad at them! So I do things FOR ME and it’s helped.

    • Anon

      If it helps, I always try to remember that people are usually talking about themselves, even when they don’t think they are.

      The jealous boyfriend who constantly thinks you’re cheating? He’s the cheater.

      My apparent neighbor who posted a long rambling screed about the “Karen” who complained about his dog constantly barking – who’s the Karen here?

      If that person called you a nasty word, that’s because thats who they are. Anyone who would do that is automatically the asshoke.

  5. Anon4this

    I put this in the boots thread but reposting here b/c it may get more traffic/responses since I forgot that the coffee break seems to be the afternoon thread:

    I have a bit of an interesting work situation I am trying to navigate/curious what you would do. I work at an academic job full-time, making a good mid six figure salary doing something I love but its 40+ hours a week and keeps me very busy, and can be stressful at times. I enjoy it a lot though. Recently, I started a small part-time private practice doing psychotherapy, which I also like, but maybe not in the same way as my academic job (honestly, it’s so different in many ways its hard to compare). I spend ~10-12 hours a week on it, and found myself making the same salary as in my academic job. Recently, I have been very tempted to quit the academic job, work 20 hours a week (to essentially make the same income I am making now, but working 20 hour weeks instead of 50 hour weeks!). From a pure hours/financial perspective, it would make sense (in fact, a lot of people in my life who are familiar with my private practice are asking me why I won’t do this). My thing though is I love my academic job (despite of how stressed it makes me sometimes) and have worked very hard for it, and think there is a lot I would miss that I may not ever be able to get back (the intellectual stimulation, collaborations with academics, my research, my students, it’s a long list…) I am afraid that a psychotherapy practice alone will eventually over the years become boring/won’t be as intellectually stimulating. I do enjoy it a lot for 10 hours a week, I just don’t know if I would for 20 or would miss the academic job? BUT I could also do a lot of other things (exercise, read, spend time with my kids, travel, etc) with the time, and honestly with the childcare stress with covid, my husband working 50 hou+weeks, lack of time with young kids, etc the idea of having a lot more free time is very tempting. WWYD?? Anything I haven’t considered?

    Also to answer someone’s question earlier, I have already started this so the numbers above are income rather than revenue for my business (long story short I charge 300 an hour and have no shortage of clients, likely will increase to 350 soon and academics get paid very modestly!) and take into account the admin work. I am married so, at least now, health insurance is not a concern (although I guess it’s a risk in case of death/divorce that I am considering).

    • Cornellian

      A good problem to have! I’m not in that field, but some things to consider:
      -insurance. are you covered by academic insurance for your private practice? Do you already have your own? what would happen if, god forbid, you needed to make a claim? would your private practice be sustainable?
      -regulation. are you subject to whims of regulators on either side? It’s brutal to build a career and then have it rendered unsustainable due to a regulation change.
      -is it a 100/0 situation? Could you take a leave from academia for a semester? take your course or admin load down?
      -pension? are you covered by one at work?
      -good of the world/soft issues? Do you feel better about one pursuit over the other? I was in private practice as a lawyer and a big pro of my now public job was the public service/feeling like I was contributing to the world aspect (and for like 30% of the pay or so).

    • Anonymous

      You make a mid 6 figure salary in an academic job? So 500k per year? Sounds unusual.

      • Anon

        She definitely means mid100s. Nobody in academia except football coaches and presidents and maybe some people at medical schools makes $500k.

      • anonshmanon

        Mid could be upwards of 350-400k. Medical, business school profs make that much at the big research universities.

        • Anon

          Psych professors definitely do NOT. Source: literally everyone in my family is in academia, with several in psychology in particular. Even in medical and business schools, 400k is more like a dean or assistant dean salary. A regular prof is usually in the 200s. Which is a lot for academia, but pretty different than 400k.

    • Anon

      If you decide to go the private practice route, just make sure you’re taking all of your expenses into consideration. I know you said healthcare was covered but what about your other employer-provided benefits? Retirement, long term disability, life insurance, etc? You will also have to pay self employment taxes and possibly insurance and franchise tax for your LLC (which you should have! protect yourself!)

      Can you keep your academic job part-time so you can keep your foot in both worlds? I can understand how doing private practice psychotherapy would be incredibly informative to your academic work (assuming in the same field)

      I am now self-employed after a long career as a corporate warrior. It’s great! It’s terrible! It depends on which day you ask me! But go into it with your eyes wide open.

    • Anonymous

      Whoa, I’m a poster above and I’m also considering a sort of midstream career switch! Here’s my quick thoughts- 1. is there any way to downgrade what you’re doing in academia – publish/write less/slower? Rotate off aka resign from a committee? – so you could test ramp up your practice and see if you like it? (Goal – not you working 70 hr weeks) 2. Does your school allow an unpaid leave of absence or a sabbatical for a year? 3. Do you have volunteer or other social ties that you could lean on to stimulate intellect/etc. outside spouse or family? 4. Although maybe a step “down,” would you be interested in adjunct roles or teaching part time at a different institution?

      • OP

        That is a very good point! I am very over-achieving and tenure is a joke at my institution, so I am for now leaning towards the publish less/write slower route. And I am also in my heavy semester (teaching 2 classes) and have had around 5 days of childcare this January (thanks covid), so I think the desire comes from that – but I have summers off and don’t teach in the Fall, and get sabbatical every 5 years or so, so I will have time to experiment with this a bit in the future and may be the way to go.

    • Anon

      I think it sounds great. I’m also an academic, so things I would look into before just quitting would be whether you could take a leave of absence for a year or two before resigning (to make sure this is really what you want) and whether you could maintain adjunct or emeritus status if you were still interested in collaborating on research or advising students. This varies a lot from field to field, but my department has a bunch of doctors at local hospitals that sit on student committees and are collaborating on various projects.

    • Anon

      No advice, but just got to say props to getting to mid-six figures (I’m reading as ~400-600, not mid-100s) with any job that can be described with 40 hours even in the same sentence. You must be crushing it! I’m very inspired.

      • OP

        Sorry, I meant to say mid 100s. NOT mid 500s. I wish! I would quit the private practice and keep the academic job :)

    • Anon

      I asked the insurance question on the other thread. I’m absolutely not trying to talk you out of this, just throwing questions out there. If you’re working 20 hours of time you’re able to charge, how much extra time do you think you’ll be working realistically to the non-client work? I’m just wondering if you’ll have the amount of stress and free time you actually want.

    • anon

      Would you mind sharing how you became a psychotherapist? Was there a specific degree required? Or clinical experience? — Signed, a lawyer who would love to become a therapist but doesn’t want to go back to school

      • OP

        I got a PhD in Clinical Psychology. It was a long time in school and huge opportunity cost (I was working in finance before that), and at times I doubted my decision, but being on the other side of it was 1000% worth it. I know some people who have done it with an MSW, or other type of masters degrees (a couple years only vs. 5 in a PhD program). Others have started health coaching practices (no degree required), so that may be worth looking into.

  6. Anon

    How much do I tip Whole Foods delivery? I’ve never really had groceries delivered before

  7. Anonymous

    I just heard about two old friends who passed recently and I’m bummed. First, a former coworker who I think of every time I cut mangoes because she taught me how to.

    Second, my old landlady who, when she met my now-husband, said “I like him – he’s tall and he doesn’t spend money.” (Xmas card returned because deceased.)

    Maybe I’ll have a toast to both of them tonight. Sigh.

    Anyone else want to share little memories of people who’ve passed recently?

    • Anon

      I recently found out someone I knew had died a few years ago. I just randomly googled him because I was curious about what he was up to but hadn’t seen him in 10+ years because he was the friend of an ex-boyfriend and we didn’t live in the same area or or stay in touch after I broke up with that boyfriend since I felt like he was his friend and it would have been weird to try to keep up. I was surprisingly sad when I found out and sort of regretted not having checked in with him at some point. I think of him every time I go camping or hiking in one of the places we had all gone together.

      • Anon

        I have honestly lost track of how many people in my extended friend/distant cousins circle have lost family members due to the pandemic. It’s sobering.

    • anon

      Not recently passed, but this weekend I made a Sunday roast and roasted veg like my “aunt” did as a child. She was the same age as my grandma, from the same diaspora, and never had children. She was the one to take my mom out for her birthday brunch in the city and was there for our concerts and recitals as we were far away from our extended family. Making dinner on sunday – even accidentally over cooking it as she frequently did – made me miss her and realize how much she really was my auntie.

    • Senior Attorney

      I had a friend years ago who was single for a long time, then moved awayk, got married and had a couple of adorable kids in her 30s, was just crushing it professionally, and was diagnosed with Stage IV metastatic breast cancer and died a few years later. I regularly walk by the apartment she lived in when I knew her and always mentally tip my hat to her and send my love to those poor little kids.

    • Anon

      My friend who could make anyone, even the crustiest hardass, bust out laughing. She left behind a teenage son. RIP, my dear friend

    • MND

      I lost a relative who I wasn’t particularly close with to cancer last fall. Her diagnosis was likely delayed – and treatment affected – by the pandemic, although it would likely have been fatal regardless (but likely not as quickly). She was very subtly funny and made excellent brownies.

    • pugsnbourbon

      Not recent, but I once went on a grocery run with my MIL and we went to the ~fancy~ grocery store. They had this amazing bakery case. We debated getting cupcakes to eat in the store and ultimately decided we deserved it. We both got red velvet.
      Less than a year later she was diagnosed with cancer and passed away after only four months. I am really, really glad we got those cupcakes.

    • Anonymous

      I learned that one of my firm’s clients recently passed away – not sure of circumstances. I was really sad to hear of his passing away, because he was good client and understood the value of work my firm (engineering) does. Also, he was fun to talk to during preconstruction site visits since he had a wealth of knowledge.

    • Sloan Sabbith

      My best friend passed away a couple years ago. I was doing yoga last night and thought about the time when she said “Wow, turns out that when you work out you get pretty arms. Never thought it actually worked like that, I assumed some people were just born with hot arms.” Made me laugh.

      • Anon

        i found out that our music director passed. he had serious cancer, conquered it we thought and then passed a year or so ago.

        we had stopped singing right before the pandemic and no one told us son it was shocking and sad

        he had 2 daughters and a huge wonderful personality….

        he was older than me but it really got to me.

    • Another anon

      Not recent, but I grew up far from my grandparents and an older friend of my mom’s was like a grandmother to me. A few years before she died, my then boyfriend and I went to visit her, perhaps 10 years after I had last seen her. We had an excellent visit and went out to lunch, then returned to her house for dessert. She had terrible arthritis in her hands and had already prepared our pre-scooped bowls of ice cream, which were waiting in the freezer for us. Silly memory but I think of how hard that was for her to do and tear up.

    • Ginger

      There was an older guy that I became friendly with at the gym. We were usually there at the same time each morning (pre Covid) and we always chatted for a couple of minutes. I learned about his kids, grandkids, job, vacation and his wife who was battling some illness. He used to be big runner and he gave me some race shirts for my son. I was massively busy with work and at some point over the summer I realized that I hadn’t seen him in a while. My first thought was that his wife had taken a turn for the worse and he was busy with her. I googled him and his obituary came up. What a gut punch. He was hit by a car as he was crossing the street. He lingered for a week or so in the hospital before he passed. Great guy. I can still see his face.

  8. Anonymous

    Does anyone know of a law (even a state law) that requires therapy providers to bill you in a timely manner? Just got a bill for $800 (grrr) from weekly services dating back to June.

    • Cornellian

      Well I don’t know what state you’re in… in Texas there’s SB 1264 but it only applies to folks on state-regulated insurance. If you look for “medical billing” or “patient protection” you might find stuff in your state.

      • Cornellian

        Coming back because I think I misunderstood. I think you’d look for “timely billing”. In Texas that’s eleven months under Ch 146.

    • j

      The No Surprises Act – the federal surprise billing law that took effect on 1/1/22 — has provisions related to timely billing, but I suspect they wouldn’t apply to a service you had last June. BUT it will definitely impact bills like that moving forward.

    • KS IT Chick

      Most providers have contracts with payers for timely billing for services. For example, Medicare and Medicaid require billing in 365 days, while Blue Cross plans generally require billing in 180 days. We have some payers who are as short as 90 days.

      You can check with your insurance company to see if they have any requirements like that. Ask for their timely filing requirements for payers, and if theirs is less than what it took your provider to bill, ask for their help.

  9. Elle

    I need to vent. We’re doing a kitchen remodel and we needed to have a pipe moved. We got three estimates and picked the plumber we felt the best about. He came for about an hour almost a month ago left some tools and then never came back. Every day he texts my husband he is going to come the next day and then never comes. We’re finally at the point where we had to hire another plumber because this is holding up the rest of the kitchen but his tools are still here. I just don’t understand how this can be anyones business model!

    • Senior Attorney

      OMG I’ve had that same experience, right down to leaving the tools. So crazy — who does that?? Glad you found somebody to finish the work, at least.

    • Ses

      I’m doing some construction too, and I have had the weirdest experiences with contractors and subs. Like – I have made multiple emotional appeals to get these guys to get the work done. Money doesn’t do it, so it’s “my elderly mother is going to fall down these #*^%& stairs on the way back from the only functioning bathroom if you don’t get this fixed – do you want an old lady pressing the ‘help me I’ve fallen and I can’t get up’ button because you took a deposit and never came back?”

      • Anon

        late to this party but adding same experiences.

        why can’t i just trade my dollars for someone to come do good work?

  10. Anon

    I am looking at a possible internal lateral move within my large company. The move will be to a product management type role, which is a new area for me. I am hearing opposite views about this role from the hiring manager and a prospective colleague, and am wondering how to weight the two opposite opinions.
    The hiring manager who is trying to draw me into this role (“Michael Scott”) said the role is newly created, and will take away a portion of the work that is managed by another team leader (“Dwight Schrute”). Michael manages Dwight and I would be reporting directly to Michael and working alongside Dwight.

    Michael explained both the strategic (growing the market for the product, adding new customers) and the tactical (fixing issues faced by existing customers) aspects of this newly created role. When I later spoke with Dwight, he straight out asked me “why would you even want to take this role?” and said it is extremely tactical, will be a lot of firefighting and wrangling disgruntled clients, requires a very technical background which I don’t have, and said his team will be happy to dump this tactical work and run far away, so they can focus on their business of growing the market (strategic work) and pitching new customers.
    Overall, Dwight was also quite dismissive and surly – I was pretty put off after this conversation, despite talking to another woman on the team who was warm and welcoming (and who reports directly to Michael).
    In a subsequent conversation, I told Michael I am hesitating to take it out of concern about the role being too tactical, and he responded with saying – don’t believe everything Dwight says, his team can’t handle this work themselves forever, the role indeed has strategic components, and that I should get used to some resistance from Dwight’s team as I carve out this exciting opportunity.
    I am now in two minds whether to proceed to pursue this role or not. Michael is possibly painting a rosy picture in order to draw me into this role. Dwight is possibly resentful at having to give up a piece of it, and maybe this really is a good opportunity. The woman I spoke to said glowing things about being hired by Michael and having her role grow over time into a team leader. There seems to be a lot of drama here and I am fine with my current role and in no hurry to leave it. I also have 4 direct reports in my current role and none in the prospective role, but Michael promises growth and a team soon (and has delivered on a similar promise to the other woman). Any advice?

    • anonshmanon

      Unfortunately, no advice, but this is another piece of evidence that I am not grasping the difference between strategic and tactical. Both words mean the same to me.

    • adjacent product marketer

      I work for a tech company and I sit in the Product Marketing group, but I have a more generalist skillset. If you really enjoy people management and strategy, I’d be hesitant to take this role. A “strategic component” is very different that focusing primarily on strategy, and the fact that there’s no team in place currently suggests that you will need to do the majority of the tactical work for the foreseeable future.

      Did Michael Scott give you a timeline for getting the team and the level of investment they’re making? Because “I’ve asked more for more resources” is very different than “we have 2 new hires approved to start hiring immediately”. At least in my company, it’s hard to get full-time headcount, and often “resources” = contractors or an agency, which is not the same thing.

      Re: Dwight, I would take that gut feeling about him being dramatic and surly seriously. I managed a team where we ended up with a toxic teammate, and it was not pretty. He drained my energy, my boss’s energy, and killed productivity for nearly a quarter across the team with his coup attempts and “new direction” pitches (the new direction was basically to promote him, give him double the team size, and chase this other vision that had nothing to do with the company’s key market). It resulted in a teammate getting fired and another teammate moving to a different team before ultimately leaving the company. So if you already have bad vibes about a key peer, I would want to understand how Michael intends to manage Dwight’s problematic approach before accepting this role.

    • Anonymous

      I’ve been a product manager for close to 20 years. “Strategic” work is almost always considered more desirable than the “Tactical” work as you described. The tactical stuff can be a thankless grind, but is also a good place to get your footing with product management.

      In my current role, I’ve faced a similar dynamic with my own “Dwight” and its never gotten better after 5 years (and I’m now looking at leaving for this reason, among others). Think seriously about where the power dynamics are in the team.

      Drop a burner email address if you want to talk offline.

      • anon

        +1 I work closely with PM teams and would not want to go anywhere near a team with Dwight on it.

  11. Angie

    Corporettes, I have an event I’m going to that I need some clothing help with.

    The event is the annual conference of the Association of [engineering subfield] Professionals, Mountain West Region. I’m a college student (president of our school’s chapter of this organization) attending with some others from my school. It will run three days in June, Wednesday to Friday; the full conference schedule isn’t out yet, but from what is out, I’ll be flying in early on Wednesday and out early on Saturday. I’ll be flying alone and meeting the rest of the group there, so I intend to check a suitcase. Due to the nature of the field, general standard is polo shirt and slacks, even at professional events. My personal aesthetic also tends extremely masculine, so no skirts, heels, etc. This city is notoriously hot, but air conditioning tends to be overzealous, so the temperature range will be wide.

    In short, I need four or five days of outfits that are at least professional enough to pass muster if I run into someone at the airport; I’m assuming jeans and a souvenir T-shirt won’t do. My usual “nice” outfit is a polo shirt or non-graphic T-shirt from Target and these pants https://www.uniqlo.com/us/en/men-smart-dry-ex-ultra-stretch-ankle-length-pants-443688.html in dark blue; I’ve used it for day-trip events for the same organization, so I know it can handle long trips and big temperature ranges, although I’d want a jacket to go with it. Do I stock up on shirts, buy a second set of the pants, and plan to wash the pants daily in the hotel room and let them dry while I’m out? (The shirts are cheap enough, and pack small enough, that I can buy as many as needed.) Also, what do I do for shoes? My usual hiking boots (I have really fragile ankles and need the support) aren’t going to work. I’ve gotten recommendations elsewhere for Doc Martens in a solid black.

    Thanks!

    • Senior Attorney

      Are you asking what to wear on the plane? Nobody cares. If you’d normally wear jeans and a graphic tee, then that’s fine. I wouldn’t think twice about seeing somebody dressed that way in the airport, and that goes double for college students.

      Other than that, your proposed outfit sounds fine and yes, I’d buy a second set of pants (maybe in a second color), as many shirts as necessary, and black Doc Martens sound great.

      Enjoy your trip!

      • Anon

        The docs are good but give yourself time to break them in!

        No one expects a college student to have the wardrobe of a working professional, and I agree with SA that no one cares what you wear on the plane.

    • Anon

      As someone who regularly attends conferences in the IT/engineering field, jeans and a t-shirt (and sneakers) is totally acceptable attire for anything short of a job interview or presentation. Your outfit sounds fine, but actually sounds on the formal side for me if you’re just going to be attending the conference and not presenting or interviewing. You can wear almost literally anything you want on the airport, as long as it isn’t overly revealing. I regularly fly with colleagues in sneakers, leggings and an oversized (covering the b*tt) sweatshirt.

    • Anonymous

      The pants look great, and getting a second pair sounds like a good idea. Whether you wash them, or rest them a day depends on how they wear. If you think you do need a jacket, based on the program, Uniqlo has a couple of styles that would work with the pants and polos. Jeans for the plane is totally fine.

      I think this one would be great:
      https://www.uniqlo.com/us/en/coach-jacket-445041.html

      Or if you wanted a blazer, it could be jersey like this, doesn’t have to be a very formal material to go with how you describe the event:
      https://www.uniqlo.com/us/en/men-jersey-jacket-444556.html?dwvar_444556_color=COL05

      If you do go with a blazer style, maybe not match pant and jacket colorwise, can look like “almost a suit” but something wrong. Layer and combine different neutral colors instead. I think the first style is more interesting, though.

      Have fun at the conference! I really look forward to getting back into professional arenas like that.

    • Fed

      Not an engineer, but a professional in the Mountain West and I can assure you there are low expectations in our area for what someone wears at work, let alone on their own (travel) time. Jeans and an otherwise appropriate graphic t-shirt would be fine.

  12. Anon

    dress how you want to feel.

    a hip design shirt like an asymmetric hem.shirt, dark denim and whatever shoes make you comfortable. blazers (dark or boxy cut if you want)

    being a hip scarf because varying temperature.

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