Remember that scene from The Matrix where that kid with the spoon is all like, “There is no spoon,” when there's clearly a spoon right there in front of Neo's face? Yeah—well, it turns out that kid is now managing a team, except now, instead of “There is no spoon,” it's “There is no snow.” as if they somehow know more about the situation than what their subordinates are currently witnessing outside of their own window.

Walking the walk of your own talk is important as a leader as it shows that you're willing to stand by the words that are coming out of your own mouth. It also helps your subordinates realize that there's no hypocrisy at play and that the rules and requirements you're enforcing apply to everyone equally.

One of the most horrible realities that slowly dawns on you as you settle into your working life is that political standing and social status have far more bearing on your career than aptitude, skills, or results ever will.

They say the customer is always right, even though that's usually not the case; this time, however, the customer was very right indeed when they put a manager in their place who was being impolite to their staff in front of the customers.

Working is all about time: clock-in, clock-out, lunchtime, break time, taking a ten, filling in a timesheet, etc., etc. Still, while you might think a watch would be a great gift for keeping track of all of that time… It depends on the watch, and whatever watch your company gives to you says a lot about how you feel about them… Is it a Rolex? Timex? Seiko? Patek Philippe? Or is it just some random piece of junk they got from the bargain bin at the dollar store? One thing's for sure, if you're g…

"I have altered the deal… pray I don't alter it further…" is a great quote when it's being spoken by one of the greatest movie villains of the 20th century, but is not something you want to hear coming from your boss—especially when the thing they're changing directly affects your upcoming pay.

Fantasizing about quitting a job that you hate is one of the few things that can get you through a shift. Fueled by caffeine, pure hatred, and the dream of one day leaving this wretched place behind… you find the strength to go on. And, on that note, nothing is more likely to make you want to quit your terrible job than a horrible boss. As we've learned many times, people don't usually quit jobs; they quit their boss. This overworked and underappreciated IT worker, who works in the notoriously…

There's no feeling like constantly being behind the ball, especially when that ball is a heavy boulder that you're being forced to push eternally uphill only to have it roll back down, forcing you to start over. The Greeks regarded this tortuous task as suitable eternal punishment for violating the rite of hospitality and killing guests in your home, along with a long list of other crimes that included cheating the personification of death himself. Nowadays, we just call that “employment." The…

Nothing shows you how essential you are to the business like taking a vacation. If your boss or team can't handle a week without things going off the rails, then that's saying a lot. The thing is, the types of bosses who insist on being able to contact you during your “vacation” are the same bosses who try to tell you how expendable you and your role are, negging and gaslighting you to keep you in your place. This worker went out of the country in order to visit their family for the holidays, l…

If there's one thing your manager probably hates, it's having more work to do. Whether they're just lazy or already have too much on their plate, chances are pretty good that they won't want to be spending hours combing over your work in addition to what they're already working on. Even the most micromanaging sort will quickly grow tired of the additional work if you can manage to reflect their time-consuming processes back onto them.

In shift work, particularly in locations that rely on staffing part-time workers to handle annual increases in foot traffic and trade, it's pretty common to have workers list their availability, determining when they're available to work and be scheduled. This allows for part-timers to keep a second job, attend class, look after their kids, or whatever other life obligations they might have. Usually, some indication of your availability will be given and negotiated upon during the interview pro…

Sometimes, you really can't help but wonder if people even listen to the words coming out of their own mouths or if they're so out of touch that they hear and even believe the wildly out-of-touch things that they are saying. The reality is that whether we love, are passionate about, and believe in what we do—or not—is really a moot point. We work for money to provide for ourselves, to put a roof over our families' heads, and to put food on our table. The service, skills, and time that we provid…

One should never give an exit interview, particularly if their employer has demonstrated a complete inability to listen to advice or honest feedback—and especially if they've shown a willingness to retaliate against someone giving that feedback. Even if you complete an exit interview and provide feedback with the best of intentions, you may just be burning a bridge you had no intention of burning once they've had some time to think about it.

The practice of necessitating and checking job referrals during the interview process creates a system in which an employer can provide feedback about a worker's performance and contribution during their time in the company's employ. Sure, the candidate themselves often needs to volunteer the points of contact, but when certain key periods of employment are omitted in a candidate's references… it's easy for a hiring manager to read between the lines. So what, then, is an employee able to do to…

It's not uncommon for those in petty positions of power to vastly overestimate the reach of that power. Whatever the words of the message, the point this manager is trying to convey is clear: we know that you need us more than we need you, so we're going to see how far we can manipulate the conditions of your employment in our favor and you're just going to have to deal with it.

The great thermostat debate in office workplaces is extremely common and practically without a solution. It's almost like a real-life sort of “Trolley Problem” in that whichever side you take, there's going to be someone losing out. Some people run extremely cold and have poor circulation, preferring to live in literal infernos like some kind of demon lizard person. On the other hand, you have folk like myself who are the literal inferno and generate far too much heat as if we're a human nuclea…