Strict adherence to policy is a double-edged sword; if you demand unquestioning obedience to the rules when it benefits you, then you need to hold that same zealous ideal when things aren't stacked to go your way. Unfortunately, we humans seem to really struggle with this and love nothing more than changing rules, or our interpretation of them, to suit us best—sometimes without realizing we're doing so. After all, we're all the heroes of our own stories, and we have the uncanny ability to hold…

This person got roped into a job that was full of red flags from the very beginning. But when you're a college dropout desperate for work, those red flags might be easy to ignore. You've got to be careful with startup companies . While some are reputable and have bright futures ahead of them, most fail. You've probably heard the old adage that about 90% of startups fail, and that most fail within their first five years of business. That's because some are created by people like Chad, the boss i…

Contracting is a tough gig, yet it is becoming increasingly common as companies seek to shift further towards a low-cost, low-obligation workforce. The thing is, as a contractor, you have fewer benefits and less guarantee of income, but while that uncertainty can be hard to manage, it makes up for that in flexibility. See, when you're a contractor, your “employer” (clients) really can't make you do anything outside of the contracted production they're paying you for. They can't set when or how…

Getting denied a raise stinks, but at least you've left your thoughts and intentions on the table for consideration, hopefully setting yourself up for a pay bump in the near future when the next round of budgeting is finalized. Of course, this isn't always the case, and your employer may go the route of stonewalling you indefinitely—or gaslighting you by dangling the potential of a raise in front of you like a carrot on a stick in order to get you to do more work. Still, in most cases, it's alm…

Yikes… this person has an awkward question for their coworker . It’s not every day you ask someone why they’re married. The answer should be obvious: they’re married because they love each other and want to build a life together. But this worker, sharing their story from a throwaway account, was baffled why their coworker James had ever married his wife. James seems like he’s one of those husbands who “pretends” to hate his wife. He calls her the old ball and chain, and acts like she just nags…

This company got bought out over and over again. It's no wonder the employees who remained had to deal with so many shenanigans from their managers. One of the best parts of working a salaried job is racking up paid time off days . Everyone uses their allotted time a little differently---some people love to take the family to Disney or on a camping trip a couple of times a year, while others take a few days here and there to do weekend adventures. No matter where you go, you come back feeling r…

There's this thing that happens every now and again in organizations where someone, usually high up on the food chain, decides that everything—every decision, order, expense, or report—needs to pass across their desk. They do so severely underestimating the gravitas of what they've just requested, with little comprehension of just how many things they're going to be handling, dependent on their pen stroke to proceed. Of course, maybe not right away, but at some point, things are going to begin…

These bosses picked the exact wrong employee to mess with. Some companies think so highly of themselves that they forget to show appreciation to the employees who make the magic happen. We all know that in today's day and age, the best way to grow your salary and gain extra PTO is by job hopping (aka moving companies every couple years). But it wasn't always like that. Just ask Jimmy, an older employee at a company who stayed at the same job for more than four decades ! That's real loyalty ther…

Award this man as the manager of the year—he’s so earned it. There’s a specific type of person who views eating at restaurants as a sort of challenge. They’ll find any opportunity to complain, no matter how small the issue is. It’s the type of person who ignores the hostess, sits at a dirty table that hasn’t been bussed, and then complains that their table has trash on it. This is the kind of person who demands their milkshake be remade because the whipped cream is melting… even as they watched…

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…

One person's odd fixation is making this retail worker uncomfortable. Retail work can be stressful, but it should never be because of your coworkers. The customers are known to be irritating, and some bosses have quotas that they pressure employees to hit. But your coworkers shouldn't ever be the most stressful part of a retail job, or any job for that matter. If they are, it's time to head to the human resources department, and let them handle the fallout. This person, u/asimplenobody27, has b…

Trying to keep up with an increasing workload on an understaffed team is a lot like trying to drive a car that only has three wheels. It's difficult to keep things moving forward without veering off course; things operate extremely inefficiently, and there's probably a lot of noise and scraping going on. Of course, managing these situations is no easy task—not impossible for a talented manager, but only through a great deal of effort. For this reason, managers who manage to protect their alread…

Why do so many bosses choose to pick on their most hardworking employees? Maybe it's a power thing---the boss still wants to feel in charge, even though they see their employee working autonomously. As an employee in the hospitality field, this person had been enjoying the job for about 18 months before any issues arose. “I am a good noodle,” u/PughpunkBC insisted, adding that they would work nights and never miss their shifts. Their rapport with their boss was all good until the moment the emp…

There are few life experiences that are more humbling than going through a job interview.

If you're in a line of work that frequently deals with emergency break-fix scenarios where you're effectively permanently on call and might be expected (or required) to spring into action at a moment's notice at any time, having an expectation set that you'll never work overtime doesn't really work. Yet, that doesn't stop petty managers from setting petty rules for their frontline staff who are handling these types of situations. But, to be fair, it's not as if they really understand the indust…

No one really wants to work overtime—if you say otherwise, you're lying… or have something else at home that you're avoiding. Who on earth would want to spend a moment longer at work than they had to? Of course, there are exceptions to this—that sweet time and a half pay can be pretty sweet. Still, you'll be rolling your eyes when your boss asks you and weighing up whether or not it's actually worth a better paycheck when you're sacrificing all that time doing things you'd rather be doing. This…