You find out a lot about someone when they attain a petty position of power, do they take up the mantle reluctantly? Or do they wield their tiny shred of power with impunity? Sometimes you might be surprised to discover how someone reacts , but more often than not the latter category is easy to spot from a mile away.

One company was going through growing pains, and it's workers were feeling the pinch. Most small businesses fail. Perhaps you've heard that old wisdom that nine out of ten startups don't even last more than a year or two. Only the companies that rise above are able to stick around, but even then, not every business is able to scale up. It's something that has to be done with caution. In this case, u/calladus shared that they were working for a company that went from being a tiny privately owned…

There are definitely unwritten rules about using the communal microwave in an office. If you're heating up your lunch during an in-demand time and it's a frozen meal that takes more than five minutes to cook, you might want to step back and let other people use it first. Furthermore, if you're eating something particularly aromatic, consider eating in the break room and not right at your desk. This also applies when you're eating a messy meal. I cannot tell you the number of times I have seen c…

Since humans are creatures of preparedness, unemployed folks will often rehearse potential interview question responses, attempting to put their best foot forward in order to score a new job. But sometimes, an interviewer will throw in a saucy question (or two) into an interview in order to get an honest reaction out of a prospective employee– to which, most of the time, nobody has the right answer.

Think about your team, the grouchy manager (who most certainly did not think of the team himself) bellowed. This was a simple manipulation tactic he liked to apply when employees got a little too 'independent'. What a generation, he must have thought while rolling his eyes. 'Dare ask for one shift a month off back in my day and you would have gotten fired.' Of course, these are all more or less my own assumptions that I am graciously applying to this situation… I don't actually know what was go…

I suppose it's only fair for everyone's spouse to be on the same page. That certainly was this Redditor's mentality when she Googled the contact information of the husband's coworker. The coworker had been flirting pretty aggressively with OP's husband, both during and outside of work hours. Thankfully, the husband was communicative with his wife and told her everything, which we know is not normally what happens in these situations.

If you have ever had the pleasure of being micromanaged by a coworker who thought their presence in the office was a mere blessing, then you know the meaning of the saying, 'I saw red'. I think it's generally impossible to avoid working with at least one person throughout a span of 5 years who has a god complex, but maybe I've just been unlucky. In any case, this story is about a team of employees who were deeply entangled in a work project with such a coworker, and it did not end well… that is…

This story is like that old joke that goes, “How many people does it take to change a lightbulb?” There are a bajillion punchlines and variations of the joke.

How much could one little mistake possibly cost? Quite a lot, as it turns out. Bosses love to hire people for their expertise. Then, once the employee has settled into the role, some bosses start getting into micromanagement mode. Instead of letting their employee do the literal job they're paying them to do, these managers would rather doubt their worker at every turn. Worse still, the supervisor at u/licdb's job doesn't trust her to do a specific type of construction consulting that is her ar…

Struggles of the common man

When you've been loyal to a company for a while, it may seem like a betrayal to put in your two week notice. Even though you're following standard resignation protocol, priceless employees are impossible to replace– thus, throwing your ex-boss into a lurch. You may feel a sting of regret for a moment when you break the news, but if your boss throws an all out tantrum against you for making choices that improve your personal life, it makes it a heckuvalot easier to walk away.

Karma is a beast. What goes around, certainly comes back around one day. For those of us who have ever dealt with a coworker's bad behavior– whether they're bad mouthing other employees, stealing lunches from the communal fridge, or just generally being a narc –it's rewarding to see them fall from graces a bit.

You gotta be careful with your words. No need to tell this dude's boss, who bamboozled himself with his own admission! Companies love to brag about their great vacation time packages while they're hiring you. A popular perk is “unlimited vacation time ,” but it's not as great as it seems. If you ask to take off three months for no reason, your boss still has to approve it, and they can easily just say no to your request. So unlimited vacation time has a huge asterisk next to it: unlimited so lo…

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…

In every office, there is one person who finds an excuse to be absent and to shirk their responsibilities as much as possible. As much as we often praise the folks who find ways to work smart and not hard, in this instance, someone else at the office is often left picking up all that slack. If you're the first kind of person, the key is to find a way to do the bare minimum without affecting anyone else's workload. If you're the other kind of person and you're the people please who has to take o…