You messed with the wrong lunch

When maintaining million-dollar machines is the singular focus of your work, you'd hope that your manager would leave well enough alone and trust you to know how to do your thing. Alas, when it comes to new management, leaving well enough alone is something that is never in the playbook, a “one-size-fits-all” approach taking precedence over logical reason. This machine operator worked at an aerospace manufacturing company, executing an efficient routine by starting work early to ensure that mac…

Who's next to walk the plank?

Many times in life you should be careful what you wish for. Especially in business, foolish ultimatums that you think your subordinates won't be able to rise to may only inspire them to call your bluff and look elsewhere for employment. Being underappreciated in your work really is frustrating, especially since it usually goes hand in hand with being underpaid. Employers often will downplay your contributions, whether consciously or subconsciously, instead attributing the company's success to t…

Being consistently overloaded with work in an organization where the expectations are completely out of touch with reality is a soul-sucking experience… always falling short, no matter how much time and effort you put in. Let's face it: if your team is “understaffed” for a long enough period of time, it's pretty safe to say that your employer has no intentions of hiring anyone else, and they consider it to be an ideal staffing level. It's only when productivity and customer satisfaction start s…

A not-so-gentle approach to mitigate a lack of parenting

Getting rejected or passed over for a promotion that you've been promised for years is always going to leave a bad taste in your mouth. You might believe the words of your employer when they tell you that your efforts will one day lead you to a higher role. And, yet, every time the opportunity presents itself to promote you, they go with someone else, and you're faced with that, no matter what their intentions might have initially been, they're dangling a carrot on a stick out in front of you t…

A transplant from the sales floor thought that he could out-IT the tech team.

Startups... amirite?

It's surprising how many businesses seem to be able to continue to persist despite the fact that a light gust would blow them over, being consistently and continuously mismanaged to the point where one single mishap would cause them to cease to exist. This employee worked for a horrendously mismanaged manufacturing company that was seemingly on the verge of collapse. The management team that had employed them was suddenly fired soon after they were hired, which caused them to be understandably…

Going above and beyond should earn you praise and commendation. Unfortunately, it's more likely that all it will do is increase expectations. Showing your superiors what is “possible” and setting a new baseline for yourself. When this worker went above and beyond in their contributions to their workplace, creating and sharing video content for

There's no motivation in life like receiving a hard-earned reward—our brains are literally wired this way. When it comes to work, you might hope that that reward would be increased compensation that matches your increased contribution and efforts. But, unfortunately, at a lot of organizations, showing a willingness to take on more work is only showing that you're willing to be paid less for it, leaving you with more to do in the same amount of time with little to no increased compensation. Let'…

Obsessive control over situations and circumstances does net results—and that's part of the problem. This early, immediate, and measurable success creates the validation necessary for managers—and really anyone in a position of authority—causing them to fall further and further into the pitfall that is micromanagement. Other than the fact that it ruins morale and generally makes everyone you're working with miserable, micromanagement presents some problems: namely, you'll reach a point, a limit…

Become unSUITable

A dress code? At work? Y'all are lucky I'm even here.

Having a job generally means that you do that job and get paid for it—simple, right? Like, it doesn't really take anyone telling you that to figure it out. But what should you do if you do the job that you're being paid to do and it doesn't take you nearly as long as your employer expects it will? This happens all the time, and depending on the job—and the person—and the place, and the time, your approach to this situation might be different. The more motivated among us who couldn't simply stan…