should I quit my job and open a bookstore, coworker was disciplined for sharing info everyone already knew, and more

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. I want to quit my job and open a bookstore

I work in tax accounting. Tax season just ended and the overtime nearly killed me. I love my job but I’m tired of it. I’m also in my mid twenties and more or less feel like I settled down too soon.

I work at a small firm and the owners are the best bosses I’ve ever had. I really enjoy the people I work with and I enjoy what I do. I’m well paid and have good benefits including 100% employer paid health insurance. But I’m starting to get tired of it.

Lately I’ve been fantasizing about opening a bookstore. I’ve planned out the kinds of loans I would need, how I would acquire inventory, etc. It all feels so doable, but I would lose the stability afforded to me by my current job. I’m sure I would make less money, and I fear the bookstore wouldn’t make any money at all. I could switch to part-time hours at my current job, but I would lose my benefits and not make as much money. All that said, the bookstore is still calling my name.

I’m dreaming of a store open in afternoons and evenings for people to shop at after work or school. I’d like to have seating and make it sort of a local “third place.” I’m inclined to think that my community would enjoy it, but I’m not sure how profitable it would be. What should I do?

Write up a formal business plan, including market analysis, sales strategy, start-up costs, and financial projections (including what monthly sales you’d need to cover expenses). You’ll need that anyway, and that process will give you a lot more insight into whether it’s something you want to move forward with.

Look at the American Booksellers Association, too. They have an “opening a bookstore” electronic kit they can send.

But also, you should talk to some bookstore owners! Owning a bookstore is a very common dream, and often what people envision doesn’t line up with the realities of the work — which tend to involve long hours, small profit margins, and often more focus on business than books. That doesn’t mean you couldn’t do it successfully and happily, but you’d want to make sure that you understand exactly what’s involved and what your day-to-day life will be like. In fact, the best possible thing you could do might be to work part-time in a bookstore for a while and see it up close.

2. My company disciplined a coworker for sharing info everyone already knew

I work in a niche field in a town with a handful of businesses in that field. Many of us know each other and have worked at the different businesses over time. In my workplace, there’s a high awareness of confidentiality about who’s applying for jobs, as there should be, but we had a situation come up that I’ve been curious about.

Sally had worked with me at Company A, then went to work for Company B. Some of our part-time staff at A also worked part-time at B. My coworker Lyle and I supervised these part-timers. When we had an opening at A for a different job, Lyle was on the hiring committee. I had previously worked at B, and several people I knew there mentioned that Sally was applying for this new opening at A.

One day, one of the mutual part-timers told us that Sally was applying, and had talked to them about it at B. Sally had been very open about it, and it was no secret, so many of us found out. Later, a different part-time staff person was chatting with Lyle about the position, mentioned Sally, and Lyle confirmed through conversation that Sally was applying. This was overheard and heads rolled! Lyle was disciplined, with the threat that he could have been fired for breaking confidentiality in the hiring process. Normally this would be appropriate, and Lyle probably shouldn’t have been talking about the hiring at all. But it did feel odd, since most of us at A already knew Sally was applying because she’d told multiple people, including people who worked here.

Sally ended up leaving for a third business and is currently applying for a job at the fourth, which I know about through this network even though A isn’t involved at all! Sally habitually broadcasts this kind of information. Of people I know in our field, this actually isn’t uncommon. Anyway, I was reminded of me of this incident, and I’m curious what you think of it.

It’s great that your company takes applicant confidentiality seriously, but threatening to fire Lyle in this particular set of circumstances was a bit extreme. Or at least it was if they actually threatened to fire him. But did they? Or was the conversation more like, “We take applicant confidentiality really seriously and while we know that in this case the candidate was sharing the news widely herself, you still need to be careful because it’s not up to you to decide who hears about it, and there’s too much room for error if you assume you know who already knows. While we understand what happened here, we take the rule seriously enough that breaking it could be fireable, and it’s important that you don’t do it again.”

An acknowledgement of the specific circumstances and an explanation that the policy still applies and why, along with a warning that it’s a job requirement to handle confidential information with discretion and a reminder of the potential consequences, would be reasonable.

3. I‘m getting too many requests for practice exchange

I work in professional services in higher education (in the EU). Two years ago I started to be active on LinkedIn. The goal was to advertise our great services and attract researchers to our university, but I now have a very large presence there.

Recently, I have been overwhelmed with international colleagues wanting to do a study visit to our unit. They want to learn how to build or improve services at their own universities or sometimes even countries. This is a normal thing to do in my sector, but now we get monthly/weekly requests. We are a team of seven, mostly part-time, and my colleagues (who I manage) aren’t keen to host all these people who basically are fans of mine from the internet. Also, I get invited to give talks about our unit as well, so lots of info is already available in recordings anyway.

Nevertheless, I’m having trouble just rejecting everyone. I also went on helpful study trips to the elite UK universities when we built the unit. How many should I accept? What can I offer instead? And how do I tell the people „you’re the fourth person this month to ask me this?”

How many you should accept depends on how much time and energy they take up and how much of both those things you’re willing to invest, so I can’t answer that — but it’s very reasonable to put limits on it. You’re seeing that more people are interested than you can accommodate, so you already know you’ll need to say no to some of them; the question is just how many you can reasonably say yes to. Since your colleagues are involved, too, sit down as a group and decide what’s practical. (And you’re not locking yourself into whatever you decide; if it turns out to still be too many, or if it’s not as onerous as you’d thought, you can adjust that number up or down next year.)

But the fact that you already have lots of info available in recordings is great because you can point people to those.

It’s completely fine to say, “We’ve fully booked the slots we have available for study visits this year (or this quarter, or whatever time period makes sense), but we’ve compiled some information that might be useful” and then link them to it.

4. Is bad eyesight a disability for the purpose of job applications?

I’ve run into this question on employment questionnaires and job applications: Do you have a visible/non-visible disability?

I have pathetic eyesight and wear glasses/contact lenses as a correction. I wouldn’t be able to function properly without these corrections.

I generally don’t think of my condition as a disability, because wearing glasses is so common. But what do I say to answer this question? Technically, I do have a disability, because I can’t function without my lenses. But I feel like I’m faking a label to call it a disability. I don’t know how to answer this question.

Currently, I have been saying that yes, I have an invisible disability (because I wear contact lenses, so nobody knows how bad my vision really is). Am I lying? I am wondering if “invisible disability” is usually referring to a condition that doesn’t have any kind of mechanical aid (for sight, hearing, locomotion).

You can answer this however you want and it will have absolutely no ramifications for you, whichever you choose.

Assuming you’re in the U.S., they’re only asking because companies with more than 100 employees and companies with government contracts over a certain dollar amount have to report the demographic makeup of their applicants and employees to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (in aggregate, not individually). They’re not allowed to consider your answers when they consider your candidacy; in fact, they’re legally required to store the information separately from the rest of your application. (The exception to this is veteran status; in some cases employers are permitted to give preference to veterans.) They’re also not legally allowed to penalize you for not answering, and they won’t check back on your answers to ensure they match up with info they get about you later on. (So if you said you had a disability when you don’t appear to, they’re not going to ask you about it or even notice or care. Same thing if you said you didn’t have one when you do. This is just about collecting info in the aggregate for reporting.)

If you consider your vision issues to be significant enough to be a disability, answer yes. If you don’t, answer no. It will not matter either way!

5. Addressing a federal layoff in my resume and when networking

I’m one of the thousands of government employees who were recently RIFed. I’m searching for jobs (using your resources!) and am unsure whether and how to put this layoff on my resume and cover letter. Technically, I’m still on admin leave, so do I put the date on my resume as July 2014-present or July 2014-June 2025? Do I address this in my cover letter? I can’t decide if people will take pity on me or if it will come off as desperate.

I also struggle with how to address this in networking situations: do I still work there or am I a former employee? It can get exhausting having people tell me how sorry they are when all I really want is to have someone say “let’s get you a job.”

You can do either! “To present” would be accurate because technically you’re still employed, just on leave. “To June 2025″ would also be fine if June is the date when your employment will end. It really won’t matter much either way.

You don’t need to address it in your cover letter at all.

In networking situations, you can say, “I work as a taco handler for the Department of Dinner, but my job is one of the ones being cut.”

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