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'In the first week alone, the local facility lost 3 jobs': Longtime electrical engineer loses vacation privileges, HR absentmindedly agrees to his drastic new schedule changes

Serious workers don't play about their vacation time . It's not like most of us just love working ourselves to the bone. To be fair, a lot of people love their jobs, and many will stay at the same company for decades. It's great to get into a rhythm of working until you start to feel those signs of burnout, and then having the luxury of taking a week or two off . Those two weeks can make a huge difference: spending time with family and friends, traveling, or even just relaxing and sleeping in c…
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'He shorted himself': Electronics specialist inadvertently gets petty revenge on new entitled boss when he corrects him in front of a big wig, boss gets transferred

'He shorted himself': Electronics specialist inadvertently gets petty revenge on new entitled boss when he corrects him in front of a big wig, boss gets transferred

“[New boss] was transferred to the warehouse and [big wig] became our interim manager. I finished the project ahead of time and received a pay bonus.”
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'We're just gonna go ahead and sell you the property you've stolen': Construction head faces off with persistent client

'We're just gonna go ahead and sell you the property you've stolen': Construction head faces off with persistent client

Construction work shouldn't have to be quite this complicated. Too bad that one city inspector kept bothering the workers over typical excavation complaints, like making too much noise or “killing their grass.”
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Know-it-all engineer asks machinist to fabricate a technically impossible part: 'The machinist was to machine a 12-inch part down to just over 13 inches shorter than it started'

Time, in a sense, is a resource that we spend doing different things, which is why when we talk about “spending time” on something, there's a literal sense to it. Through the sheer course of its slow march, the way we spend our time through the things we do, the things we think about, and the way we prioritize our responsibilities and personal interests goes on to shape who we become, what we know and what skills we possess. It might be a facile generalization, but for those familiar, I like to…
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'I saw red, but then I had an idea': Woman engineer punishes her coworkers by agreeing to "get coffee" for them

'I saw red, but then I had an idea': Woman engineer punishes her coworkers by agreeing to "get coffee" for them

If you do something badly enough , you might not get asked to do it again. In the workplace, you've got to do this strategically. You want to mess up some basic chores in order to get out of them, but you also don't want to be viewed as being bad at your job. This is common in many workplaces. Even though we all do dishes every day, in the office, everyone conveniently “forgets” how to load the dishwasher. Other people will pretend they can't figure out how to work the printer, and someone else…
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'Knock ‘em down a peg!’: Estimator for a niche construction manufacturing company puts his micromanaging managers in place with one ‘car-less’ mistake

'Knock ‘em down a peg!’: Estimator for a niche construction manufacturing company puts his micromanaging managers in place with one ‘car-less’ mistake

If you're going to be a micromanaging kind of manager, then you should at least do it with correct grammar…
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‘Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me’: After blaming an inexperienced design engineer, sales rep gets hit with karma and loses his job

‘Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me’: After blaming an inexperienced design engineer, sales rep gets hit with karma and loses his job

The business environment is competitive. Individuals often prioritize their own advancement over the well-being of those around them when climbing the corporate ladder. They are dedicated to achieving their objective and will do whatever it takes to get there. That being said, how would you react if you found out that someone on your crew attempted to sabotage you in order to protect themselves? The story that follows is that of an inexperienced design engineer who is picking up the rules of th…
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'At this point... we’re making pure scrap': Industrial engineer begs to boss not to run trial with sticky materials, boss insists and costs company thousands

'At this point... we’re making pure scrap': Industrial engineer begs to boss not to run trial with sticky materials, boss insists and costs company thousands

What the customer wants, the customer gets. That's the rule of the land at one company, but this person's boss had them take that idea way too far. Companies make their employees go through the hiring process . They read their resumes, make sure they have a college degree, and reach out to references. Then, when that highly qualified employee actually does start their job, the company doesn't care about their qualifications one bit. It must be infuriating, especially for people who are talented…
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‘He knew the score’: Senior electrician claps back at a power-tripping newbie engineer after getting his seniority insulted, using a power-washer to maliciously comply

Consider his bubble burst.
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'They lost': Engineering firm removes employee from project to punish them, replacing them with inexperienced project manager who runs project into the ground

'They lost': Engineering firm removes employee from project to punish them, replacing them with inexperienced project manager who runs project into the ground

To cut a long story short, this employee's VP removed them from a project in order to punish them, and what ended up happening was that as a result, the firm lost big time. But wait, it gets better. The employee actually quit, began working for the firm's competitor, and salvaged the project once the firm crumbled! Yeah, that's a lot of information to take in, so let's start at the beginning. The employee in question was working as a junior project manager for an engineering firm. They were goo…
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'I guess I'm not working at all, then': Engineer gets 3 days off work after micromanager demands he provide a ‘doctor’s note' to work from home

'I guess I'm not working at all, then': Engineer gets 3 days off work after micromanager demands he provide a ‘doctor’s note' to work from home

This story is about (drum roll, please) new management and the silly demands they make in order to make a statement at a workplace. They stroll in, head high, title in check, scanning employees to see who will break the easiest. Who can they push around, and who will fight back? Well, one employee was not having it with their new boss. The employee was an engineer for the company, and they had one mandatory team day at the office. OP wasn't feeling well, so they informed their boss that they wo…
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‘Update my website!’: Client calls IT support after engineer's report doesn't match the facilities description of their website

‘Update my website!’: Client calls IT support after engineer's report doesn't match the facilities description of their website

People working in technical support have seen a lot of funny cases over the years, and this case is definitely one to remember for the IT manager involved. OP was working for a large pub company based in the UK, in which their chief role was second-in-line support for retail applications. One client opened a ticket after an engineer had come and checked the facilities of their establishment, only to send out a faulty report, leading to the website displaying a facility that the establishment cl…
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‘We are leaving’: Administration cripples company by denying employees raises, leading to mass resignation

‘We are leaving’: Administration cripples company by denying employees raises, leading to mass resignation

Almost every time a company goes into administration, which is a term to explain when an independent person takes control of a company, things collapse. Call it fate, call it karma, call it whatever you want, but the facts are red, loud and clear. This story, as told to us by u/Toraden, was a classic case of ‘Mess around and find out’. In other words, OP's company went into administration, and things slowly went downhill. How downhill exactly? You can read all about the petty managers, denial o…
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[We put it] right between two of the bases in the baseball field': Engineer told to blindly obey boss's orders, obliges, obstructing client's baseball infield

There are those managers out there who think that they know everything, refusing to listen to anything their workers tell them to advise the decision-making process and blindly following the corporate narrative or their own uninformed decisions to their downfall and folly. Workers placed in these situations might try to fix the mistakes of their superiors, repeatedly shielding their bosses from any blowback or repercussions for these decisions and even reinforcing their incorrect perception tha…
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'I pulled up the screenshot': Boss tries to blame poor executive choices on his software engineer; gets ousted when their CEO discovers who actually lost their biggest client

Screenshots are king. These are the only irrefutable evidence that can shut down any argument in the blink of an eye– there's no need for anymore he-said/she-said, we've got all the proof we need right here. Usually in people's love life, screenshots can demolish a toxic relationship in an instant, but in the workplace, a well-timed screenshot can save your hide… and your career.
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‘He chucked it into their pool’: Retired engineer uses skills to get even with neighbors after reaching neighborly limit

‘He chucked it into their pool’: Retired engineer uses skills to get even with neighbors after reaching neighborly limit

These residents underestimated their neighbor, a retired engineer. As shared by u/soulslop, their father, who was the retired engineer in question, was not one to be messed with. So when his neighbor committed multiple neighborly mishaps, he got creative. This story certainly gives engineers a petty name, in the best way possible… and definitely will make people think twice before they throw their grass clippings into their neighbor's backyard. You never know who your neighbor really is… what i…
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