FAIL Blog - Work Life and Social Dilemmas - Employment, Life, Work, Culture - Cheezburger

A mom smiles as she works from home on her laptop, her young daughter standing beside her.

Mom turns down promotion with 30% raise to spend more time with 3-year-old, frets about making the right decision: 'I promised I wouldn't be a ghost in her childhood'

Two young people on a first date

20 Dating App Fails for Sad Singles (October 15, 2026)

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Neighbor Refuses to Ask for Permission to Do Electrical Work on Resident’s Property, Leading Resident to Get Cited by the City: ‘The neighbors are in trouble’

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24 Design Fails Found in the Wild (October 15, 2026)

An employer allegedly made ten weeks of severance pay conditional on signing a non-compete that would ban them from working in the industry for 2 years. They then threatened their unemployment benefits if they refused, claiming they would record their separation as "resignation without good cause."An employer allegedly made ten weeks of severance pay conditional on signing a non-compete that would ban them from working in the industry for 2 years. They then threatened their unemployment benefits

Logistics operations coordinator blindsided by layoff in 5-minute Zoom call along with 15% of the company—then the employer demanded they sign a non-compete to get severance pay, along with this veiled threat

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21 Cooking Fails and Bad Food for Optimistic Home Chefs Learning to Trust the Process (October 15, 2026)

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Boss denies employee a promotion, forces them to do the work anyway: 'I've been dragged in again and again to provide fixes, guidance and steer for the new member of staff'

A college student taking an exam

College student only gets 2 questions correct on a 100 question Statics exam: 'I studied and reviewed the homework.'

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Girl has a date with a guy, but at the last minute, he changes plans and invites her to his cousin's engagement party with his whole family, she doubted but finally went: 'His grandma asked when we were getting married'

An employee looks at his phone while sitting at his desk.

Employee starts logging 15 minutes on timesheet every time boss texts after hours, HR proposes paying him $2100 more to get rid of overtime: 'She said it was a 'stability upgrade''

I suggest that working from home with a flexible working arrangement is definitely the ideal arrangement for both employee and employer, despite the fact that companies pushing Return-to-office mandates seem to think otherwise.

5 of the Top Perks of Working From Home—as Ranked by Someone Who Frequently Enjoys Them

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Mother offers to pay $2000 for her son's wedding, and it was supposed to cover everything, until last minute they changed the party and expected the mother to pay more: 'I didn't agree to a 70-person party, and nobody asked me before they changed it'

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‘9-5, in Office, No Exceptions’: A New CTO Ended Remote Work and Imposed Strict Office Hours, Then He Discovered How Much Work Employees Were Doing on Their Own Time—and How Much the Company Relied on That Mutual Goodwill

employee manager print shop customers process work process Workplace - 47111685

Print shop manager removes ‘Customer Approval’ status to make production numbers look better, only to create more confusion and slow down the entire process: ‘It undermines customer confidence’

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A man looks stressed with his hand to his mouth as he looks at some papers at the kitchen table, his wife looking over his shoulder.

Old employer demands employee pay $60k college debt for leaving job 8 months early, employee resents husband for not paying: 'She really hates her current job'

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Employee gets pushed out of company after being “too honest” about manager on HR survey: ‘The email said all responses would be anonymised ’

Melissa Knudson

A woman sitting on a couch in her apartment

Landlord tells tenant she has 30 days to move out because his son wants to move into the unit, son texts tenant and tells her that his dad was lying: 'I had no idea he was using me as an excuse.'

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Sometimes giving a gift becomes a way of establishing an obligation on another person I’m not saying this behavior is a conscious choice; in fact, I believe it mostly never is. But regardless of whether it’s conscious or not, it still happens, and I think we should all start being wary of it.

22-year-old woman cooks for friend and then takes home the groceries they both paid for: ‘She then proceeds to split every single item in half, regardless if, for my portion; she, for example, used 1 slice of cheese from the 14 bought’

schedule tracking boss employee manager track coworkers spreadsheet workplace company coworker work schedule Workplace - 47113221

Employee discovers coworker is tracking everyone's workplace activity on a spreadsheet: ‘What time they usually leave, what time they get coffee, who they talk to…’