Best of Dear Annie: I’m being micromanaged out of a job I used to love

What is a person to do when their office manager’s new “leadership” style makes their once-loved job unbearable? This was the topic of a recent Dear Annie column.

The central conflict stems from the letter writer’s strained relationship with “Diane,” the office manager at a small dental practice. After completing a leadership development course, Diane began micromanaging every aspect of the writer’s work —double-checking notes, questioning short breaks, and rearranging supplies.

The writer has worked at the practice for eight years, loves the patients, and gets along well with the dentists, but Diane’s behavior has made the environment stressful. A calm conversation with Diane changed nothing, and the dentists avoid office politics.

Now, the writer feels torn between speaking up again