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…

Some people want to have their cake and eat it too—this employer wants to put their cake out on the street with a sign that says “free” and then sue you after you come along and take that perfectly good cake home. Except cake we're talking about here is a human being If you wanted further evidence that some employers think they own their workers, look no further than the fact that this employer thought that they could lay a worker off and that they were just going to come back on their knees be…

There's a reason why businesses only offer services once an ironclad contract has been signed and reviewed. It's because they know “good” business is conducted on what you can legally get away with—maximizing your own cash flow by separating someone else from theirs—and that it's not conducted on verbal agreements, vague promises, goodwill, or moral quandary. Yet, they expect their workers to accept doing more work, working more hours with the vague expectation that it might one day lead to a r…

Some have been calling this a “bait and switch” and while it is arguable that something along those lines is happening, there seems to be more of an erosion of expectations happening. It stands to reason that

When this restaurant worker was running late for their shift, their manager reached out to ask if they were coming in, probably not realizing that the simmering heat of anger that had been bubbling below the surface was about to boil over. After a series of unmet promises, unrealistic expectations, and even being cheated out of pay, this restaurant worker was more than happy to call it quits. The reason they were late to their shift in the first place was that they had actually been interviewin…

Surely most, if not all of us, have fantasized at one point or another about quitting our jobs on the spot, getting up and just walking out, either silently slipping out an exit door never to be seen again or adding a little fanfare to the occasion and going out with a touch of bravado by telling your boss and coworkers what you really think of them. Yet, for most of us, these fantasies will remain exactly that. When it comes to employment, there's too much at stake, and when you burn bridges,…

You wake up every day and drive into the office to do your job… and there's a comfort in that dull mundanity, a consistency. You've got a mortgage to pay and a family to feed, so you're happy (enough) and more or less resigned to the arrangement. Yet, as time goes on, you find yourself doing more and more work, your coworkers are leaving, and no one is being hired to replace them, leaving their workload split up amongst those remaining. The company is floundering—that's easy enough to see—and u…

When you go out of your way to attend an interview, no one really owes you anything, but you might expect that you'd be treated with a little common decency—and that a little thing called decorum would be followed. Sure, there's nothing in writing, and no commitments have been made, but by going out of your way—and out of pocket—to put a vote of confidence in them and their process, you'd hope that you might actually get to sit down in a room with them… Not receiving a cancellation via text and…

Certain things in life bring with them a certain finality… Like getting fired, signing up for a mortgage, or having kids. But it's important to note that they also bring with them opportunity... Opportunity for new pathways and new experiences—even if those experiences are more mundane than the ones that came before. The reality is that when one door closes, another one opens, and you'll likely find that you end up in the right place eventually, even if you really wish that that initial door ha…

It's pretty safe to say that forcing out the only worker in your company who knows the contacts and data for all of your suppliers would be—well… not a great idea. It would be common sense to, at the very least, tactfully make sure that you understand the ins and outs and inner workings of their role before you decide to force them out of the company. But, if you're the sort of manager or employer who is willing to use this strategy as a management tactic, it's probably safe to say that critica…

It should be no surprise to any worker in this day and age that companies usually have a far greater hiring budget than the budget for retention and raises for existing workers. Hiring and filling positions is a priority, and there is little consideration of the fact that they fail to offer competitive rates and incentives to their workers to encourage them to stay, which is the reason why they need to hire so many new workers in the first place. It makes logical sense when you quickly lay it o…

"Comfort equals laziness" is an attitude that is pervasive throughout certain industries, with the idea that a comfortable employee is an unproductive one and that relative comfort is somehow offputting, prompting employers in these industries to treat their workers with cynicism and hostility.

You'll never be appreciated in a toxic workplace until you're gone. Even then, instead of being grateful for everything you've done, they'll take to blaming you for all their own mistakes the moment you're out the door, making you a scapegoat for their own mistakes and incompetence. The problem is the remaining coworkers and friends you left behind in that toxic environment will keep their mouths shut for fear of drawing unnecessary attention to themselves, leaving your name tarnished and yours…

Every member of a team brings with them their own unique traits, abilities, and experiences. No two people will be exactly the same or have the same perspective. Even on a single issue, it's surprising just how different different people's perceptions of that thing can be. In this same vein, it's important to accommodate other members of the team ; maybe they don't have the skills or even physical capabilities that you do, so it might make sense for you to pick up more of those tasks that you'r…

It's pretty confusing when your employer is losing workers faster than it can replace them and doesn't seem at all phased. Sometimes, you can chalk this up to general incompetence. Still, it's more likely that there are over-inflated egos involved, with key members of the company refusing even to consider that they, their policies, and the way they treat workers might be the problem. Other executives and HR play along, worried that if they acknowledge the situation, the entire company might imp…