Cooperation, teamwork, and the ability to collaborate are important skills in any instance where you're seeking to achieve a common goal. So, when it comes to the workplace, there's a reason why so much emphasis is placed on this when it comes to the selection of candidates and the interview process. Successful organizations will foster a culture that encourages this collaboration and encourages individuals to communicate openly and respectfully. After all, all it takes is one bad egg—one stick…

Visiting an old workplace is a weird experience. Seeing old friends and coworkers still bound by the same toxic policies and stresses that once held you stirs rippling memories like a stone skipping across a pond's still surface before coming to rest in waters that were better left undisturbed. While you attempt to make small talk and reconnect, you can't help but detect feelings of resentment from the old comrades you left behind; while once you suffered together, now you're free from this par…

While it's often said that the early bird gets the worm, for some reason—in the workplace—it's often the loudest bird who gets the worm. While yelling at worms isn't necessarily a great career move, it stands to reason that one should always advocate for themselves and their work whenever possible. After all, everyone's going to be doing the same thing, and if you don't add your voice to the worm-yelling narrative, the rhetoric may turn against you—or at least out of your favor. It's a bird-eat…

This bakery owner kneaded a reality check, and—well… he sure got one. Trust some small business owners to think that their power over their workers is absolute and that they own and orchestrate every part of their lives. Unfortunately, in communities where jobs are scarce, this can literally be the case. Whilst traveling and working in cafes in small towns, I personally witnessed a local cafe owner, an absolute demon of a woman, torpedo the job prospects of a single mother who worked for her. A…

The owner has bought a second home, the VP has a new Porche in their garage, and the company is turning money hand over fist—enough to the point they're expanding by buying up actual real estate that's being claimed back under operational costs. Meanwhile, inflation has increased by 6% in the last year—you might have even taken a pay cut during the pandemic—and you're finding it hard to make ends meet on your current salary. The company is doing very well, your contributions have been increasin…

Yes, the schedule. The cornerstone, the Monolith, of shiftwork… Obey the schedule—lest you find yourself at odds with some angry shift manager who quotes its existence at you like scripture. Managers love a good schedule, and they also like complaining about that schedule and blaming the schedule for all of their problems—even when they're the ones who made it. If they schedule you for a shift you couldn't normally work, all of a sudden, it's “It's on the schedule,” “I've posted the schedule.”…

Making your workers prove themselves by jumping through hoops in order to get a raise—like a monkey, giraffe, or any other suitable hoop-jumping animal—is a surefire way to ensure your monkey starts looking elsewhere for a new gig where there aren't any hoop-jumping requirements. In that same vein, it has often been said that your work (and your monkey's work) speaks for itself. That is true… until you corner your boss about a discussion about a long overdue raise. Suddenly, the work you've don…

We all have that one coworker who just gets on everyone's last nerve. There are many reasons for this, and the people replying to this question have some great examples. One Redditor had a question: “That annoying coworker --- what does he/she keep doing?” More than 15,000 people wrote in with their own answers, and some of the funniest and most entertaining are included below.

You're great at your job and you know it, so don't let your boss tell you otherwise. These inspiring workers know their worth. While other countries have excellent protections and rights for employees, America does not have that for every citizen. Most states allow employers to fire their employees for basically any reason, at any time, without any warning. In general, most of us don't want to be fired, since it's a stain on your work history, and your boss might not want to be a reference for…

Your first day at a new job is nerve-wracking and awkward, as you're just getting used to your new surroundings, and meeting a ton of new people that may or may not end up making your life difficult. Getting along with new coworkers is a hard task, because you haven't quite made your name yet in the office or industry you're working in, and people can take advantage of the fact that you're new. My own anxiety only begins to wean once I'm a few months in, and less embarrassed to stand up for mys…

If you've been living under a non-computer-generated rock for the last six months, AI is everywhere, and the implications of it being trained to plagiarize creative work and regurgitate something slightly different are reshaping workplaces. It's like we're living in a fever dream based off of a “ Can I copy your homework ” meme. Anyone who wasn't a straight-A student has probably done that at some point, bumming answers off our more organized and motivated friends who would promise to let us co…

We're not always going to be successful at everything we do or attempt to do, and—whether our failure is actually by our own standards or someone else's—that's ok. Similarly, (my fellow people pleasers, please brace yourselves) —you're not going to be loved by everyone you meet… Heck, not everyone is even going to like you. Some people, even within your own family, may not be able to tolerate you—and it might not be because of anything you've done, or that you can change or control. And that's…

We've seen a lot of incompetent bosses during our time browsing the internet… but have you ever heard of a boss who was so fiercely incompetent that they weren't even capable of firing a worker who was doing everything in their power to themselves fired? The situation this worker found themselves in sounds maddening and—yet, at least you know, somewhere, deep down, this boss knew that they were totally reliant on their reluctant babysitter to maintain the homeostasis of their business… That alo…

As a manager, you're going to have to make hard decisions sometimes — you might even have to fire people from time to time. If you've ever been on the receiving end of being let go, you know it's one of the worst feelings in the world. Losing your job is incredibly personal; aside from making you feel bad about yourself, it means that you now have to scramble to find income to feed yourself and pay the rent. It's like the floor opens up underneath you, and you're free falling until you find the…

When you've been stuck in the interview process for too long, it starts to get exhausting. Slapping a new smile on everyday, answering the same 3 questions, and thinking of how to spin your greatest weaknesses into positive, work-related gibberish feels futile. Sorry Patricia, my greatest weakness is not my overly strong work ethic… my weakness is an entire box of Little Debbie Shortcake Rolls.

If you were to be laid off from your job, only to be contacted a year later asking for vital information that it was your job to keep safe, that's pretty much your employer admitting how much they actually needed you in the first place. All we're saying is, make sure to take that into account when you set your new terms, and if they're bringing you back on a temporarily contracted basis, be sure to charge accordingly. Of course, it's more likely that, if things ended badly enough, you'd prefer…