There's nothing like hustling to go above and beyond in your role only to have your new boss turn around and throw some random metric that is vaguely associated with productivity back in your face for no reason. Your KPIs and contributions that are tied to actual revenue for the company are topping the charts, and yet your insecure micromanaging manager is concerned about the fact that your screen was “idle” for a few minutes. This is the problem with modern “productivity” tracking software tha…

Usually, when you name an award after someone, it's done to memorialize their significant contribution to the thing it's being awarded for, and never would you ever expect the person being memorialized to be eligible—lest receive—their own award. Can you imagine if every year the Nobel Prize just awarded every award posthumously to Alfred Nobel? I think the entire process would have a completely different perception.

I'm fortunate not to have a job where I have to be on call during the weekends, so when Friday evening hits, my laptop is closed and stowed away until Monday morning. That should've been the case for this OP too, but unfortunately, it wasn't. He was out on a Saturday night celebrating his friend's engagement when he got a call at 9 p.m. from his boss. Considering she was calling his personal phone, not his work phone, he assumed it was an emergency, so he answered...

Ahh… the holiday season, a time of year best spent with family and loved ones over incredible meals and through the sharing of thoughtful gifts. With images of bright, cheery, rosy-cheeked faces, Christmas lights, and decorations—maybe a little snow and mistletoe—it's a joyful time intended to bring out the human spirit, gratitude, and goodwill. Well, it should be no surprise to any of us that these optimistic ideas don’t meld well with workplaces. Stark grey walls with hard, cheap furniture. G…

Let's be honest: Missing out on a job in the last round of the interview can be tough, especially when you're desperate for a job… but if a prospective employer is using tactics like this, you probably didn't want to work there anyway. No honest hiring manager wants to waste their own time and spend more time recruiting than they have to.

Look, by nature, the interview process is going to require jumping through hoops and putting a little bit of yourself out there—and it's a lot like dating in that respect. The whole thing may seem like an unnecessary performance, but like with a first date, the idea is that setting a basic social exchange with some universal ground rules in place allows each party to assess the other party and decide whether there is any compatibility for proceeding further.

First impressions are important when establishing a working relationship, so important that people tend to read way too far into things during the first interview. It's not unheard of for interviewers to take one single harmless thing you said and extrapolate it into some wildly imaginative reason why you're a risk to hire. Tell the wrong interviewer you like baseball, and maybe they'll decide you're not fit for their team since baseball reminds them of their resentful father who tried to force…

If you have ever worked part-time or seasonal jobs, you know how hectic schedules can get, especially during holidays when most people take time off to travel or be with their family. The open shifts are sadly diverted to the few employees who can still work, leaving them slammed with overtime for their so-called part-time gig.

The burnout from being overworked and from constant exposure to a toxic workplace environment can really creep up on you. One day, you'll think that you're doing fine, under a lot of pressure and stress, but managing it just fine. The next, your composure shatters, and everything you've been enduring hits you like a ton of bricks. Suddenly, you feel the weight of it all. No energy and sinking, you're now struggling to keep your head above the water level of all the tasks you have to complete.

We talk a lot about mutual respect in the workplace, and this doesn't only apply to coworkers; it also applies to managers/owners and their employees. If a worker shows you respect by giving you greater notice than necessary that they will be leaving due to outside circumstances, you will do well to repay that respect by not retaliating. You might get away with it in this instance, but rest assured, after seeing how you treated their teammate, your other employees will never give you notice aga…

While the “Carrot of Promotion” sounds like a great name for a Dungeons and Dragons item, it's not so great when it has been dangled in front of you to encourage you to do more work while working more hours and taking on more responsibility all under the promise that you might one day be compensated for it. Of course, often, employers fail to follow through on this promise and lead employees on for as long as possible before gaslighting them and pretending that this was never in the cards.

Introverts aren't really known for being socially forthcoming. In fact, that's kind of the entire point. Rather than attending parties, drinks, and after-work hangouts, they'd prefer the relative silence and peace of their own company, often preferring only to engage with others over shared interests, activities, and hobbies. Let's be honest: for most introverts, engaging in the required social interactions at work is more than enough, and many won't feel a particular need or even the ability t…

This boss had it coming . The OP practically ran the whole show at the company—hiring, training, fixing things, coming up with ideas, etc. The place couldn't function without him, and it seemed like the boss wanted it that way. Whenever something went wrong, it was never his fault. The OP was getting worn out. Constant calls and texts after hours, always there to fix things. But not this time. When the higher-ups announced wage changes, something the OP had nothing to do with, the employees wer…

Job searching can be a painful process, and trying to stand out from a crowd through an electronic submission is difficult to do, meaning that you'll probably submit hundreds of applications to jobs—most of which you'll never hear back from. In a hundred submissions, you might hear back from a few—let's say 5%—so five interviews per 100 applications, which is a generous estimate. Of these five, you'll actually sit a first-round interview for three, hopefully getting asked to come back by two of…

Certain organizations, especially within certain industries, love to save on labor, and one of the ways they do this is by sending workers home from a scheduled shift when things are quiet to try and keep from being overstaffed. Of course, predictably, as soon as the manager has sent someone home, you'll end up with the biggest rush of customers you've ever experienced, ensuring that the rest of the day is going to be a living nightmare—and no one will be getting any breaks.

While it might be gratifying to send that email you've been desperately wanting to send or to verbally rebuke your boss for wasting your time—as with anything, it's always best to sit on it for a little while… Let that scathing email sit in your drafts until you've had a good night's sleep, and take some time to reflect on what it is you're saying and how other people will perceive it. Maybe, after a little reflection, you won't be feeling so hot-headed and will take a more diplomatic approach…