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Boss dangles $250 gift card to employee he fired if he refers new potential employees: 'Every eligible candidate you refer [...] earns you an entry [to] receive a $250 Amazon gift card'

Boss dangles $250 gift card to employee he fired if he refers new potential employees: 'Every eligible candidate you refer [...] earns you an entry [to] receive a $250 Amazon gift card'

Imagine getting let go by your boss over a year ago, only for him to reach back out and offer a gift card if you find him some qualified new employees. Here's the best part: instead of a personalized message, this dude framed his email as if his former employee was part of a “company alumni” group and that this referral process was part of a contest. From our perspective, a personalized message would still have been insulting but it would have been far more effective than this framing was. Stil…
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Clever job candidate outsmarts potential employers who post job listings that don't exist so they can use their assignments, getting them to pay thousands of dollars in compensation

Clever job candidate outsmarts potential employers who post fake job listings to collect free assignments, getting them to pay thousands of dollars in compensation

Finding work is never an easy task. It would be an understatement to say that there are times during the interview process when it feels overwhelming—it appears like a never-ending process that only the lucky few are able to complete. The story that follows centers on a clever lawyer who happens to stumble upon a job posting seeking a research lawyer. The Original Poster (OP), a research lawyer by profession, applied for the job immediately. Upon submitting his application, he was requested to…
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'I cost my ex-employer $500,000': Boss makes employee take on the work of a whole team, rejects his request for a raise, employee makes the company tank

'I cost my ex-employer $500,000': Boss makes employee take on the work of a whole team, rejects his request for a raise, employee makes the company tank

Let this story serve as a friendly reminder to always get it done in writing, folks! Unfortunately, this employee learned that the hard way but was still able to walk away triumphant at the end of this toxic workplace drama. When the Redditor's coworker had to leave a big project in order to take care of his father, their boss asked the Redditor take the lead on the project moving forward. The original poster should have seen this as a red flag in and of itself, as his employer was essentially…
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'They tried to deny my unemployment claim': Top 10+ "HR is not your friend" stories

'They tried to deny my unemployment claim': Top 10+ "HR is not your friend" stories

Let this serve as a friendly remember to never trust that HR has your back. No matter how charming their smiles are or how friendly they may seem when you're making small talk in the kitchenette, do not be fooled into thinking that anyone in the HR department is supporting anyone other than the head honchos. The grim part of this truth is that it may not even be HR's fault at the end of the day. They too are doing their jobs in an already established system. However, some of these stories certa…
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Employer contacts employee 6 months after firing them asking for their password: 'This just makes me giggle'

Being fired from a job has a certain finality to it… Never again will you have to step foot in that place or have boring conversations with your droning boss. Still, despite your employer giving you complete decisiveness that they no longer want to pay you to hang around, there's no guarantee that they won't contact you out of the blue months or years later asking for your help with something that no one was able to handle after you left. It's almost as if your role actually was important and t…
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'Make me jump hoops, I jump ship': Potential hire laughs at manager during scrutinizing interview for a minimum wage job

'Make me jump hoops, I jump ship': Potential hire laughs at manager during scrutinizing interview for a minimum wage job

It seems like no matter what job you are applying for, the interview process is always excruciatingly long. Even if the job is a cashier at a gas station or a simple grocery store clerk, people will treat it like it is the most important job ever, and suddenly you are not even qualifying enough to get it. Is it really necessary for an employer to know a potential hire's weaknesses? If All they will be doing is bag groceries, what difference does it make? This is pretty much the point that this…
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'The original offer was starting at $4000 and up to $5000 per month': Candidate makes it to final round of interviews when HR makes a "slight change" to the salary

'The original offer was starting at $4000 and up to $5000 per month': Candidate advances to final round of interviews when HR makes a "slight change" to the salary

We all knew hiring managers can be shady, but this “slight change” during the interview process was about as shady as it can get. Imagine going through multiple rounds of interviews and feeling excited because you're likely to get this position. You're comfortable with the offer from the job posting and you seem to like all of the people at the company with whom you have spoken thus far. Then, all of a sudden, they pull a bait-and-switch on you. Just before your final interview, you receive an…
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CEO causes mass quitting after requiring dozens of remote hires to relocate to cities for in-person work: 'If you want to work from home, go work somewhere else'

CEO causes mass quitting after requiring dozens of remote hires to relocate to cities for in-person work: 'If you want to work from home, go work somewhere else'

No boss should be remotely surprised when employees expect that the conditions of their contracts will be honored. Changing the circumstances of someone's employment contract should function similarly to negotiations during the hiring process. Everything must be a two-way street and the solution must satisfy both parties. This is why it's particularly shocking in this day and age to see a CEO so out-of-touch when he forced entire teams of fully remote employees to relocate across the country fo…
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'They got rid of the problem, which was me': Guy gets fired for calling out illegal practices, boss reaches out six months later for his password

'They got rid of the problem, which was me': Guy gets fired for calling out illegal practices, boss reaches out six months later for his password

It's a great feeling to know that your boss is going to be absolutely lost without you. If the circumstances with which you are leaving your company were at all contentious, there is at least a sliver of satisfaction knowing your former employer will be totally confused and will have so much trouble finding a decent replacement. Of course, it's much healthier to part ways on good terms and with a sense of professionalism. That being said, if your boss fires you because you were providing too ma…
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Boss demands insanely detailed leave requests before approving leave: 'If we're traveling he wants flight numbers and times'

It's only natural for your employer to be interested in what you spend your time doing while you're at work; after all, they're paying you for your time. Even then, there are reasonable limits to this, and some employers get carried away and happily track any and every bit of data possible to help them prove you're wasting time. It started with mouse trackers, which track the activity of the mouse and keyboard on your laptop; now, programs are even able to track where your eyes are on the scree…
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Interviewee engineers the ultimate jump scare as payback for enduring futile hiring steps: ‘The goal was to get them to turn up the volume as loud as possible’

The hiring process is asinine these days. After 8 rounds of interviews, 4 different cover letters, and losing your will to live, the application to your dream job may still be lost in the trash bin of some flippant hiring manager.
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Job candidate calls out hiring manager for overly excessive interview process, withdraws application in savage email: 'Don't let potential employers waste your time'

Job candidate calls out hiring manager for overly excessive interview process, withdraws application in savage email: 'Don't let potential employers waste your time'

If a potential employer is stringing you along during the application process, nine times out of ten, they will be a bad manager. If for whatever reason you feel targeted by that statement, perhaps it's time to rethink how you go about your hiring process. Of course, we understand that there are certain specific skills you might be looking for and you want to make sure your candidates are serious about the position. However, this is really something you can be crystal clear about from the get-g…
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'He's coming after my pay': Vindictive manager docks overworked employee's pay, employee leaves business in shambles

'He's coming after my pay': Vindictive manager docks overworked employee's pay, employee leaves business in shambles

When managers get frustrated by their own incompetence, it's common for them to blame anyone but themselves. That seems to be the case with this local company, where an employee practically dragged her boss and manager into the 21st century by updating their business and payment structure. Of course, the manager did not adapt well to this change and decided that the reason could only be that his younger coworker was causing all the problems. Now, the other important layer to this story is that…
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Boss cheats employee out of $70K, employee finds a better offer: 'I'll be making double'

Boss cheats employee out of $70K, employee finds a better offer: 'I'll be making double'

Being best friends with your boss almost never ends well. In this case, this friendship plummeted along with their employment agreement. This finance employee stayed at the company after he was given a raise to match another job opportunity that came his way. After choosing to stay, his boss, who was a close friend of his at the time, ended up denying the employee's annual bonus. This was money the employee had been counting on. Furthermore, this felt like a further act of betrayal because it w…
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'I was so unprepared': Job candidate creates fake resume, embarrasses himself in the interview, blocks the recruiter

'I was so unprepared': Job candidate creates fake resume, embarrasses himself in the interview, blocks the recruiter

There is a difference between making slight embellishments on your resume and fabricating entire experiences that never happened. It can be hard to make a sharp career change and to find work with minimal experience in a given field. However, when people say to make adjustments to your resume to better position yourself for a specific job you're applying for, they don't mean that it's time to start making up jobs you never had and skills you do not possess. This thread was posted to Reddit's r/…
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'[I called] her fake quitting bluff': Karen threatens to quit, coworker throws impromptu retirement party, forcing her to actually resign

'[I called] her fake quitting bluff': Karen threatens to quit, coworker throws impromptu retirement party, forcing her to actually resign

Always be careful with what you tell your coworkers, especially if you're the office Karen. Even a small ounce of self-awareness would lead this office Karen (whose actual name is Agnes… even better) to realize that if she keeps threatening to quit, the concept of leaving will soon become a dangling carrot for everyone else. Eventually, her fake quitting shenanigans caught up with her, and one coworker decided to call her out. Well, they didn't exactly call her out. Instead, they informed every…
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