You put years into your career, sacrificing your own happiness to get ahead, hoping someday to save enough money for an early retirement. You volunteer at work, get to your shift on time, and even take on projects that have nothing to do with your job description or department… what don't you do to make it? Then, one fateful day, the company announced layoffs. That is, if you're lucky. If you aren't, you just show up at work to find your keycard doesn't work anymore. Then the security guard inf…

Your heart is racing as you make your way to your boss's office. The grey walls seem to be closing in on you, and you feel like every one of your coworkers knows exactly what's going on in your mind. You don't know how, but you know they do. Their eyes follow you up until you knock on your boss's door. Ahem, you clear your throat. They look up from their desk, tired, annoyed even. They wave for you to come in, and you take a seat. Then you clear your throat again… ‘I quit', you manage to muster…

The interview process brings about a whirlwind of emotions. It's like buying a house. After sifting left and right through job postings, you finally find a job you could see yourself doing. It checks all the right boxes: perfect location, ideal salary, and matches your experience level. You do your research on the company, and you're sold. If only you could just start working there immediately. But, my friend, the rollercoaster has just begun. Now, you've got to look at your application mater...

Some employees think that the office manager, HR, or whoever organizes the office works for them personally. See, I was an office manager back in the day, and people would leave the dining room an absolute mess. When I opened the fridge, I frequently thought that people were growing fungi there on purpose, by leaving their containers for weeks on end. It was so frustrating that I sent out countless emails, and even held an office meeting regarding the whole thing. Nothing changed, and I eventua…

The interviewing process for a new job is so tedious. Nowadays you have to go through 5 interviews, 3 assignments and need a warm recommendation from the president. Seriously, things have gotten out of hand. Why is it so hard to get a job? The market is absolutely bonkers, jobs aren't paying well enough to keep up with inflation, and recruiters ghost you after ‘being with you every step of the way’ for 2 months. It's exhausting, disappointing, and discourages you from ever finding a job. This c…

People love virtue signaling online, it gives them the motivation to continue avoiding the miserable reality of inflation, micromanaging work environments, and slimy coworkers. Where do they love doing it? LinkedIn, the playground for employees who want to look like they care way more than they actually do, although there is the occasional outlier who actually believes what they post online. LinkedIn is the place where CEOs go to blabber about their new car only to post about layoffs a day late…

As you go through your years as an employee, sometimes, you've gotta learn things the hard way. From work-life balance to advocating for better working standards, we don't always know what's acceptable and what's not when we're new to the workforce. It's good to look back and reflect on how much you've changed since you started working. Maybe you used to try and put on a performance during a job interview, but now you're interviewing the employer, too. Or maybe you used to accept whatever...

There's nothing that will make someone miss you more than your absence, and sometimes, you need to make yourself out of the situation in order for them to fully appreciate you… Especially when that someone is your coworker who has been making you do all their work for them. If you're not around, who's going to do their work? This employee wasn't about to put up with being pushed around for too long, and after putting up with their coworker pushing their workload onto them for the first two mont…

One fed-up candidate who had the privilege of job searching while they still had a job snapped back at an HR representative over text after discovering that a ‘one-way interview’ was part of the screening process. What exactly is a one-way interview? Well, it can vary but it's usually a brief video recording that job candidates send potential employers to aid them in their screening process. You typically answer a few pre-selected interview questions. Awkward, right? Demeaning almost. This cand…

To cut a long story short, this employee's VP removed them from a project in order to punish them, and what ended up happening was that as a result, the firm lost big time. But wait, it gets better. The employee actually quit, began working for the firm's competitor, and salvaged the project once the firm crumbled! Yeah, that's a lot of information to take in, so let's start at the beginning. The employee in question was working as a junior project manager for an engineering firm. They were goo…

HR is infamous for its strange and often frustratingly rigid ways. Their job is to serve the company, which is fair, as that's what they're getting paid to do. On the other hand, they can overlook employee's complaints in the process, or enforce petty rules that nobody really cares about. For instance, what's wrong with an employee giving their coworkers bagels? Apparently, this HR lady did not appreciate being 'one-upped', although it's hard to understand how exactly she felt inferior in the s…

Recruiters are infamous for playing games, not following up, and outright ghosting you. Sometimes you feel like you have no choice but to work with them… Searching for a job on your own is no easy feat. And with the costs of inflation and the lack of transparency regarding salaries in job postings, it can be helpful to have someone 'on your side'. It's always a nightmare to search for a job, especially in today's market, but unfortunately, recruiters aren't always 'on your side', and they often…

It's incredible when your employer thinks they own your entire life just because they're paying you for a small amount of your time. For some reason, they seem to think that giving your time to other interests somehow takes away from your contributions to your work. Almost as if they feel threatened that you have a life outside your career. This probably stems from the fact that their work is probably their entire life, and they probably can't stand being home with their spouse and kids. As a r…

Get your Tarot cards out and crystals ready cause we're out here trying to manifest the failure of every terrible boss we've ever had. Try or not, in a way, we're all manifesting something… I “manifested” two tacos and a side of sweet, sweet guacamole not thirty minutes ago. But, what I've recently consumed isn't really the point here, we're more concerned about accusations of the manifestation of a businesses failure being thrown around like the Salem witch trials.

Walking the walk of your own talk is important as a leader as it shows that you're willing to stand by the words that are coming out of your own mouth. It also helps your subordinates realize that there's no hypocrisy at play and that the rules and requirements you're enforcing apply to everyone equally.

“We are much harder on ourselves. Keep your chin up. It may not have been that bad from their perspective.”