The good news is that you see this supervisor for who she is. The bad news is that she is an insecure person who might be especially threatened by you, or might just be threatened in general. My advice is to step as far back from this situation as you can. You want to learn this one thing. Set as your goal to learn it. Period. Go into work like a swimmer training for the Olympics or a knight who is about to joust. Don’t think about this boss or spend even a minute more in her head. Once you have taken what you can from this place, quit your job and find another one. You will never succeed in the long run if you work under an ineffective manager. There is just no way around this fact, even if you have a decent lance and a strong horse.

Momsploitation

I’m a 40-year-old mom who has spent the last 15 years raising my kids. Fifteen years ago I received my master’s in public policy but I haven’t worked since. I have been on several boards and done substantial volunteer work at my kids’ school. You can see where this is going. What’s the best way for me to jump back into the work force? Should I be taking unpaid internships with recent graduates or applying for entry-level work? How can I get my foot in the door in the competitive New York City environment?

I feel like the only way I’ll get noticed or hired is if someone takes a chance on me. Plus, I feel like I’m both overqualified and underqualified all at the same time. I’m also considering getting another graduate degree that can more easily lead to a job — although I’d rather not.

— The Bronx

You have also been working in a zoo. But you don’t want to continue in this career track, I take it, because, let’s face it: Once you have gotten used to animals throwing their feces at you and throwing their food at the wall and screaming in your face every morning that you are a poopy-butt-face, well, you’d be pretty well qualified to keep on working in a zoo, or at least in your grown kids’ junior high school.

In other words, momming prepares you to be patient as hell and to keep yourself from yelling and getting bitten on the leg. Unfortunately, such preparations are good mostly for jobs that are thankless and don’t pay because — yes, this is a tautology and totally messed up — women have historically filled such jobs, and so society undervalues them completely.