There's this thing that happens in the earliest levels of grade school where you're required to notify your teacher that you're going to be going to use the “facilities.” Really, this is just for the sake of accountability and so that the adult responsible for your care knows where you are, that you'll soon be back, and that you haven't just wandered off to explore the world through the dreamy lens of your undeveloped prefrontal cortex. Even at that age, it's weird when the adults decide to mak…

HR is infamous for its strange and often frustratingly rigid ways. Their job is to serve the company, which is fair, as that's what they're getting paid to do. On the other hand, they can overlook employee's complaints in the process, or enforce petty rules that nobody really cares about. For instance, what's wrong with an employee giving their coworkers bagels? Apparently, this HR lady did not appreciate being 'one-upped', although it's hard to understand how exactly she felt inferior in the s…

Being a manager is all about knowing people, and believe it or not, in order to be a good manager you also have to care about people. Of course, you have to protect the business interests too (if you want to keep your job) but there's a balance to be struck here—and the best managers strike it true. See, the thing is, having a motivated and cohesive team is actually the best asset a company can have—heck, even if your morals are based on a balanced checkbook, it stands to reason that the best i…

One of the best things to come out of the train wreck that was the last four years of existence globally was the newfound discovery that working remotely was indeed possible for many jobs. Of course, this was something that workers everywhere had been trying to tell their bosses for years, but the top brass, afraid of upsetting the status quo and sending their companies into a tailspin—and wanting to maintain every last ounce of control over their workers—insisted that it just wasn't possible.…

When we usually think of “quitting the gym,” it's usually nothing like this waking nightmare…

Why does IT always get blamed? Employees always expect them to read minds, to predict the future… But they're humans with a lot on their plate, and they don't bow to snobby managers from various departments who are trying to cover for their incompetent employees. One such employee approached OP (who was working in IT) after she failed to receive emails. OP immediately began troubleshooting and found the problem relatively quickly. The issue was a rule that she had set up, and OP pointed her to…

Being unexpectedly fired has to be one of the worst blows you can receive. Luckily for this employee, he already knew his state rights as an employee and chose the perfect time to execute them. In the story, the OP was fired for not following the company's new policies, which he believed would cause the company bigger issues. But unfortunately, the company's policy was already established by higher authorities, and there was nothing he could do about it. As a result, the OP was fired. During th…

People, and particularly the woefully ignorant, generally only listen to what you tell them if it costs them something in some way, particularly if it's your boss and the thing being costed is their own money. Thankfully, there's nothing to teach common sense quite like the wasted money of a stalled production line with a bunch of workers standing around waiting to be told what to do by their boss who is stuck in a pointless morning stand-up meeting. In this story posted to Reddit's r/Malicious…

It's not that getting put on hold is fun, but it's also not the end of the world. Wait a few minutes, or ask the person on the other end to call you back, simple as that. But there are Kens and Karens in the world who would beg to differ. They think that others would worship the ground they stomp on. On that note… One demanding guest was absolutely furious after they were told by an employee to wait a moment. The reason the employee (OP) couldn't talk was because they were working a short-staff…

You're going to get sick. It's just going to happen—even those of us with an immunity of iron are eventually going to catch a stray bug that puts us down for a couple of days. Undoubtedly, even when the business moguls of the world manage to replace us with a bunch of robots, they're going to be sorely disappointed when those robots have glitches, bugs, and viruses that cause inevitable downtime.

Getting fired from your job stinks—there's really no way around it. Even if you hate your job with a burning passion, the sudden loss of employment and security is nearly impossible to get past easily. But, while getting fired already isn't an ideal scenario, being asked to train the person who is sure to become your replacement is undoubtedly worse. When you're suddenly asked to write a process to document the ins and outs of your position, or your company suddenly hires or promotes someone to…

Some people refuse to listen until there's a real and tangible consequence staring them in the face. Things like “knowledge,” “experience,” and “common sense” mean nothing to them once they've made their mind up about something. Take, for example, this boss who told her worker that they were no longer allowed to question her and told them very impolitely to just do as they were told. This, of course, led to disaster when, a few hours later, a printing job came through from a customer, and the b…

If there's one thing employers hate, it's benefits; even the greatest employer or boss has likely at one point begrudgingly approved a PTO request or ticked off additional PTO for their staff. And I'll admit, as a manager, when you see a PTO request, sometimes your intrusive thoughts kick in… “Do they really need this week off?" “How about the next one?” “Can't your brother just reschedule their wedding?” Obviously, this is ridiculous, but show me a manager who hasn't had these thoughts and I'l…

Being told to just do your job is kind of fair; it is your job, after all, and the reality of the world is that at some point, it's going to be necessary for you to step in line and let someone else call the shots. Still, is it really fair to “just do your job” when it's not really your job in the first place, and someone else has decided that your job is to do their job too? There's a reason why your boss is paid more to go along with the responsibility that has been handed to them, and handin…

It's incredible when your employer thinks they own your entire life just because they're paying you for a small amount of your time. For some reason, they seem to think that giving your time to other interests somehow takes away from your contributions to your work. Almost as if they feel threatened that you have a life outside your career. This probably stems from the fact that their work is probably their entire life, and they probably can't stand being home with their spouse and kids. As a r…

Being injured stinks... and that's something that doesn't even need to be said. There's nothing like being injured to make you appreciate all those times you weren't before. And that's just in your personal life… Chances are your employer isn't going to be particularly understanding, even if you have all your bases covered and have whatever doctor's note your employer requires and covered; legal protections are provided in your area. Yeah, depending on the duration and severity of the accommoda…