Byline: Amy Joyce

Washington Post columnist Amy Joyce writes Life at Work on Sundays in the Business section and appears online every Tuesday to offer advice about managing interpersonal issues on the job.

The transcript follows below.

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Amy Joyce: Good morning, all. It's Tuesday, which means it's time to talk about your life at work. In our ongoing series about good/bad managers and then good/bad employees, I have one left to ask you managers: Please e-mail me at lifeatwork@washpost.com with your stories about employees you've had that just did the right thing. What did they do that really helped you, helped their career, helped your organization? With that, it's time to get started. As always, join in with your own advice for your fellow readers...

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Washington, D.C.: Has anyone out there ever had family members not support your career decision or a job move? Any advice on how to get past that? I'm quitting to make a change, and I know it's a risk, but one that I need to take. My family is now giving me just stony silence, and it's really hard to take, especially while in the midst of a huge change when I need support the most!

Amy Joyce: Wow, I'm sorry. When you say your family, do you mean husband/wife, perhaps because you have dependents who need a solid income to survive? If not, then I say ick to your family members who don't support such a major, and really, such a personal, decision. You don't want to be stuck for this one short life doing something that you don't love, every day. I'll throw this one out there. Any one else ever deal with unsupportive family members?

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Alexandria, Va. (satellite office): Hi Amy,

I'm a project manager for a web development firm. Our headquarters, where all of the development takes place, is located in the Midwest. My colleague and I are always amazed at how quickly work gets done when we're at headquarters and how difficult it is to get anyone's attention when were in our home office. Our requests are so easy to ignore because we communicate exclusively through phone and e-mail which can easily be ducked.

Do you or any of the readers have any suggestions on how to get more attention to our needs? Management is aware of the problem but isn't focused on it. (Oh, the irony)

Thanks!