Have you ever entered a workplace, friend group, or any social group and been warned to watch out for one particular member? It's an unfortunate aspect of our social nature; we always need a group or individual to be “othered” to feel like we're “in." While it's important to keep an eye out for red flags and not make yourself too vulnerable to possible exploitative behavior from these people (if what people say is true), it's just as important to form your own opinions. You might find that this…

Sometimes an inappropriate action deserves the appropriate response; it's the simple laws of cause and effect acting out their parts. This is how it was when worker u/elena247 's coworker decided to execute the clever ploy of bringing their dirty dishes to work to have others wash them. When u/elena247 discovered what their coworker was up to, they decided the appropriate response was to introduce the dirty dishes to the trash can. Sounds like a reasonable course of action to us. It's hard to i…

Everyone wants to think they have all the answers… but sometimes you don't know even half as much as you'd like to think. We would all do our best to listen to other people's thoughts and opinions before assuming that we have the best and only answer. This student and part-time waiter made the asinine assumption that his method for charging guests was superior to the method devised by his coworker. After claiming that her methods were making it more difficult for him, he insisted that they reve…

Getting roasted on your own Reddit post is a sure sign that you have messed up somewhere. You have every chance to twist the entire narrative of a chain of events in your own story to suit your own ends… and somehow, you still manage to turn everyone against you? It's certainly not something we see every day, and if it happens to you, you need to go home and rethink your life. This worker and Reddit user shared their story to the r/MaliciousCompliance subreddit, thinking they had a clever story…

Doing your own job is tiring enough without having to do your coworker's job too. Unfortunately, the reality is you'll often find yourselves having to make up for your coworker's chain-dragging—hey, at least those group projects in school prepared us for something … right? Another unfortunate reality comes in the realization that most managers will be slow to do anything about this. Even if they say they're looking into it, you can bet on a sloth to show more urgency and keep a greater pace. No…

Idiots can become a huge problem in the workplace when the “Peter Principle” takes effect and elevates them into positions they should never have held in the first place. From their positions of authority, they wreak havoc with their wider-reaching idiocy, making ill-advised decisions and unleashing their stupid wrath on competent workers. Luckily, that same double-edged sword of dimwitted confidence that got them in the position in the first place can also be their downfall; all it takes is th…

Management doesn't have any idea what you do; let's just get that out of the way. Sure good managers might be great at that higher level of planning, business relationship, and organizational-navigating junk… but when it comes to the actual production? When it comes to what you do ? It's all just numbers and words on a spreadsheet. And let's be real; it doesn't matter— nothing really matters in a modern company, so long as the money machine goes brrrr, that line on the chart goes up and investo…

What should you do when a client passes you, an esteemed partner of your business, a set of Super Bowl tickets to give to their account manager as a warm thanks for their work? Hand them to the employee as instructed—right? No! What could you possibly stand to gain from that straightforward and ethical decision? Instead, regift them to another client in order to bolster that business relationship, who could care less what your sniveling subordinate thinks—they're never going to know anyways. Oh…

Sometimes, you just aren't good at something, and that's okay; not everyone is going to excel at everything they try, and that's just the way it is. We're all individuals with different skills who might find certain things more or less challenging. Still, it's important that we keep our egos in check and not lash out at others for our own shortcomings—for displaying grace in the midst of one's failings will determine how others will perceive your character. Some people don't seem to get this an…

What is it about the workplace that causes grown-ass adults to lose all common sense? Sure, they probably don't want to be there—but none of us do either, and we're not going around making life more intolerable than it already has to be. The similarities between what you experience in the workplace and middle school classroom are just a testament to the fact that most people never mature; instead, living their lives in the same perpetual state of petty behavior and hatred as they did when they…

The ability to listen and follow directions is often important when it comes to your performance in the workplace. The last thing an employer wants is someone who is going to go rogue and take matters and process into their own hands. Of course, if your job is to be creative and think of new ideas, you'll usually be encouraged to do so, but I'm willing to bet there are still processes and guidelines to follow. The problem is that process is never ironclad unless you're building something like a…

The job interview process can be incredibly arduous and time-consuming; applying for a new role can be like working a second part-time or full-time job. This is made all the worse by how long it takes most organizations to conduct their interview process; it can be multiple weeks, even months before you know whether or not you have gotten a position you have been interviewing for. Of course, you'd like to think that you have some security once you've signed the contract and are awaiting the sta…