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Horrible Bosses

Employee quits, then orchestrates an audit to get former boss fired three years later: 'She couldn't prove that she didn't misuse funds'

Employee quits, then orchestrates an audit to get former boss fired three years later: 'She couldn't prove that she didn't misuse funds'

Imagine putting a toxic work experience behind you and thinking you've completely moved on until the opportunity to get your boss back conveniently arises. Sure, you may have transitioned to bigger and better things in life, but you cannot help but admit that you still harbor a little resentment from those horrid years you endured under such problematic leadership. This Redditor put in her notice after her bosses accused her of doing zero work despite all the evidence proving otherwise (meanwhi…
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Efficiency consultant "experts" advise firing the wrong employee cost the company their biggest account: 'Business went from $200k to zero'

A surprising amount of experts and analysts get hired to improve the efficiency of businesses that they know nothing about, putting more effort into marketing themselves and trying to ensure corporate clients than into ensuring their analysis offers any actual value—or that their statistics hold any actual significance. At the end of the day, all they care about is that they're able to give the client some result, a result that the manager who hired them is going to take at face value since the…
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Entire team asked to take 70% pay cut after incompetent boss messes up contract negotiation: 'Virtually nobody is accepting this insulting offer'

Entire team asked to take 70% pay cut after incompetent boss messes up contract negotiation: 'Virtually nobody is accepting this insulting offer'

Imagine your boss getting your entire team together and then casually asking all of you to take a massive pay cut. It's possible that you've been in a similar situation, where you have been encouraged to “take one for the team,” so to speak. But here's the truth: taking a pay cut is far from taking one for the team. It's taking one for the boss, who likely has not been asked to do the same. In this specific instance, how could you be taking one for the team if the entire team is getting hurt by…
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Employee figures out toxic boss is watching their every move and no one else, plans payback: ''The camera is pointed directly at me'

Employee figures out toxic boss is watching their every move and no one else, plans payback: 'The camera is pointed directly at me'

It's easy to feel like your boss is always watching over you like a hawk, and nine times out of ten, they have more important things to be doing than monitoring your every move. However, every so often, you may find yourself in a sticky situation where your greatest suspicions have been confirmed, and you are stuck in one of those toxic work environments that everyone writes about on the internet these days. When this happens, the key is to immediately start thinking about ways to protect yours…
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'Sorry, boss. I got other plans': Boss confronts employee about not attending weekend work party, employee tells boss to reschedule work events for the actual work day

'Sorry, boss. I got other plans': Boss confronts employee about not attending weekend work party, employee tells boss to reschedule work events for the actual work day

Socializing with one's coworkers is important, but why does it have to take up so much of one's personal time? Sure, these events are typically not in the office. They might be at a bar, a restaurant, or the boss's home, which is ten times nicer than anything you could ever afford. The reality of the matter is that regardless of location, you're still networking with your coworkers. You're still on the job. It doesn't matter if food and drink are on the company because your time is actively bei…
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'You really can't win with her': Top Infuriating Coworker Stories of the Week (June 9, 2024)

'You really can't win with her': Top Infuriating Coworker Stories of the Week (June 9, 2024)

Every office has an infuriating coworker, and they can really be the difference between a perfectly average day at work and the worst day of your life. This week, we have a variety of difficult team members that range from the entitled to the chaotic. The entitled ones tend to boss you around even when they are just slightly senior according to the company hierarchy. The chaotic ones, however, can be even worse, as these stories will show. Sometimes, you actually befriend your chaotic coworker,…
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Employee skillfully complies with micromanager's demands for complete access to personal schedule by erasing everything from calendar before granting access

Employee skillfully complies with micromanager's demands for complete access to personal schedule by erasing everything from calendar before granting access

We somehow muster the strength to report to work every day, seven days a week. We work very hard at our occupations so that we are capable of a fair standard of living. Thus, it may be said that even though their justifications may differ, the employer and employee have a common goal in mind: producing high-quality material. The story below is an account of a frustrated employee. The dispute between the original poster (OP) and his micromanager is discussed. After the micromanager started track…
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Boss denies employee's request for resigned worker's accounts, assigns to coworker, then begs original employee for help when coworker struggles: 'Every part of me wants to tell them to pound sand'

There's nothing worse than trying to voice your opinion and stand up for yourself at work, only for the conversation to be one-sided and your boss to ignore your concerns completely. That's exactly what happened to this employee. After one of his coworkers resigned, he went to his boss to say that he was capable of taking on his coworker's accounts. He had been working at the company for a while and was ready to prove himself. Only for his boss to pass him over and give all the accounts to anot…
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Video content creator gets unfairly fired, hatches plan to trick boss into a year's worth of pay: 'My former manager was so desperate'

Video content creator gets unfairly fired, hatches plan to trick boss into a year's worth of pay: 'My former manager was so desperate'

Here's a rule of thumb: try not to unjustly fire someone with the specialized skills you so desperately need. That's what this manager learned the hard way. She hired a video content creator to be a one-man team for all of the social videos for an entire university. Despite numerous attempts to convey to his manager that the KPIs she and the director had set were unfair, this employee was not listened to in the slightest. In fact, his manager was convinced she could get someone better to finish…
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Boss declines pregnant employee's requests for accommodation a week before her due date, HR steps in and grants her leave immediately

It's often said that HR is never on your side, but is merely there to maintain an equilibrium that will prevent the organization from opening itself to vulnerability or liability. They are there to manage the “human” resources of the company, and—well, that's you . Still, in instances where you're dealing with someone in the organization—be it a boss, coworker, or other party—who is so incredibly off base with their actions or reasoning, then it just makes sense to go to HR and help them see yo…
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'He can't justify giving me a raise': Two-faced boss gives employee glowing mid-year review, then denies him a raise for not going "above and beyond"

'He can't justify giving me a raise': Two-faced boss gives employee glowing mid-year review, then denies him a raise for not going "above and beyond"

Duplicitous managers may praise you one moment and then come up with every excuse under the sun to not give you a raise the next. We've all had managers like this. You know, the ones who don't seem to understand that giving someone a raise means that they have been performing their primary responsibilities well. It does not mean going above and beyond and doing extra, unpaid labor. That wouldn't necessarily be a raise, then. It would be overdue compensation for responsibilities that are already…
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Worker told they can't take their leave the day before they're set to leave, they take it anyway: 'I'm ignoring the fact that the leave isn't sanctioned now'

We work to earn money to support ourselves and our families and to give ourselves a chance at a life of better comfort and the space to pursue our individual interests. Sure, some of us might be lucky enough to reasonably enjoy our work and even find fulfillment in it, but it still serves as the means to an end. In short, you work so that you can better enjoy the time spent not working. And in some sort of weirdly depressing poetic sort of sense, the two are permanently at odds with each other.…
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New boss flexes muscles and enforces strict break schedule, team compliance causes public complaints: '[It was] a week of utter chaos'

New boss flexes muscles and enforces strict break schedule, team compliance causes public complaints: '[It was] a week of utter chaos'

Every new boss likes to demonstrate their particular way of doing things to their team, but blindly enforcing those rules can lead to unexpected consequences. If you're new to any company, whether you're in a position of power or if you're in an entry-level position, you have to take time to learn and adjust the current system before making suggestions that would radically change things for everyone else. Sure, new voices can be instrumental for productive change, but it's pretty self-involved…
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CEO pushes junior staff member for more productivity, they start working their scheduled hours: 'I worked exactly the hours I was paid to, instead of coming in 30 minutes early and staying 30 minutes longer as well'

It's ironic how the cubicle was the symbol of working-class oppression in the 80s, 90s, and 00s, with countless references in popular culture using it to establish the character's insignificant overlooked place in society. The cheap grey carpet and the temporariness of the fabrication reflected how the organizations viewed their lowest productive workers—too expendable to bother placing in an ordinary office.
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Boss makes employee put blazer back on in boiling hot weather because of his tattoos: '[I'm] so done with this place'

Boss makes employee put blazer back on in boiling hot weather because of his tattoos: '[I'm] so done with this place'

Let's talk about unnecessary dress codes. Sure, there are certain jobs where the clothing you wear is important. Healthcare workers and firefighters are a couple of professions that come to mind. Uniforms can signify that the person who is about to perform a job is the right person to be doing it. However, in most workplace environments, uniforms are less necessary and more performative. For instance, do all finance bros need to wear a jacket and tie for their jobs? Absolutely not. It should al…
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Overworked truck depot worker calls boss's bluff after being reprimanded for working their scheduled hours like they were told: 'Clearly, you're not going to fire me. You have no one who can do my job'

Being overworked and understaffed, working long hours at odd hours, is no way to live your life. Still, many of us are doing so in order to eke out a living in this wild world. It can even seem manageable while you're in it, grinding out the hours to keep up with an ever-increasing workload to keep the bossman happy while seasonal demand runs its course or to cover for that vacant role that they've yet to see fit to fill. The reality is, by trying to do the right thing and keep everyone happy,…
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