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Horrible Bosses

'Do not work for free': Employee pressured by Karen coworker to come in early for unpaid work, employee refuses

'Do not work for free': Employee pressured by Karen coworker to come in early for unpaid work, employee refuses

Sometimes doing what's convenient for a coworker is not necessarily what's fair to you. It's time to stop adjusting your needs to the needs of folks around you, especially when you gain nothing from adjusting said needs. This employee was recently encouraged by her boss in a team meeting to show up five to ten minutes early to shifts so that the handoffs from one coworker to the next would be smooth and easy. Luckily, this change didn't affect the employee's schedule very much, so it was an eas…
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'Lol I quit': Boss shames employee for getting sick, claims coworkers were mad at her, employee catches boss in a lie and quits

'Lol I quit': Boss shames employee for getting sick, claims coworkers were mad at her, employee catches boss in a lie and quits

It doesn't matter how your employer feels about it. Getting sick is literally part of what it means to be human. It's part of life and it's completely out of our control. There is a reason why employees are given a number of mandated sick days, and it doesn't matter if your boss is the King of the World; you are entitled to taking those sick days whenever you need to take them. This boss shamed her employee for not giving enough advanced notice when they took their sick day. The employee shared…
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'He's got... 20,000 tickets to close': Boss ignores employee's simple solution to help desk issue

'He's got... 20,000 tickets to close': Boss ignores employee's simple solution to help desk issue

A small issue ballooned into a big one after a few days. That's what happens when you ignore a tiny issue — it can just compound and expand until it affects your entire job.
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'First day on the job, gave another coworker a wet-willy': 20+ stories where people got fired on day one

'First day on the job, gave another coworker a wet-willy': 20+ stories where people got fired on day one

Getting fired on your first day is no easy feat. Like many things in life, you have to work at it. You have to be so aggressively unsuited for your position or so unbelievably unprofessional that you're leaving your managers and everyone in HR with no other choice. Usually, people are very forgiving on the first day. Perhaps you did things differently at your old company and need some time to readjust to the standards of your organization. Perhaps you're not particularly well-versed in all the…
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'You are not allowed to clock out': Micromanaging boss chews out employee for clocking out early, employee maliciously complies and gets extra pay

'You are not allowed to clock out': Micromanaging boss chews out employee for clocking out early, employee maliciously complies and gets extra pay

Micromanagers need to be careful about what they wish for. In theory, they tend to demand things from their employees that are conducive to productivity. However, most of the time, it's really about asserting authority for no good reason other than some good old-fashioned ego-stroking. This manager chewed out an employee for allegedly not getting approval before they clocked out, even though of course, the manager was incorrect and the employee had done everything they were supposed to do. But…
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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'm firing you on the spot': Employees demand raises after seven years with the same pay, boss responds by firing all of them

'I'm firing you on the spot': Employees demand raises after seven years with the same pay, boss responds by firing all of them

Imagine working at the same company for seven years and getting fired the second you bring up the topic of a raise. Talk about a complete lack of respect for the loyalty these employees have shown to the company by staying all this time with no financial incentive to do so. The employee who filmed this video of his boss's tantrum shared that he and his coworkers merely asked politely for a meeting after learning that new employees were receiving higher wages. That meeting led to the conversatio…
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'Now I want to quit even more': Boss ignores employee's PTO request for family emergency but makes her perform other tasks

'Now I want to quit even more': Boss ignores employee's PTO request for family emergency but makes her perform other tasks

Let's talk about the bureaucracy of requesting PTO and how it really shouldn't be a bureaucracy at all. When you sign a contract that entitles you to a certain about of time off, that should be the only bit of documentation involved in planning your personal vacation time. Other than that, you should be able to just send an email announcing that these are the days you're taking off. There should be no “requesting" process. There should be no waiting period between your request and your approval…
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'Early is on time, on time is late': Boss accuses employee of being the 'queen of tardiness,' employee stands her ground

'Early is on time, on time is late': Boss accuses employee of being the 'queen of tardiness,' employee stands her ground

Bosses who are annoying about promptness should be focusing their attention on far more pressing matters. Whatever happened to focusing on their own tasks and responsibilities? Whatever happened to ensuring that the employees on their team are supported and fulfilled (well, as fulfilled as they can be given the circumstances of work)? Whatever happened to minding their own dang business? In work-related matters such as this, we often go back to our mantra that if the work gets done and gets don…
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'I made a spreadsheet that tells me when to stop working': Hotshot employee vows supreme mediocrity as payback after getting punished for going above-and-beyond

Some employees strive to be incredible at their jobs, while others slack off. Managers are supposed to be the corrective authorities who praise folks working hard, while reprimanding the mediocre bunch, but in some cases, upper management gets confused. Bad managers are so detached from the workplace that...
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'My colleagues are all 8am until 5:30pm. My contract is for 9 to 5pm': HR makes a mistake with new employee's contract, employee refuses to let them change it

'My colleagues are all 8am until 5:30pm. My contract is for 9 to 5pm': HR makes a mistake with new employee's contract, employee refuses to let them change it

If HR makes a mistake like this, that's on them, not the employee! Employees are expected to be diligent in their paperwork, so shouldn't we expect the same from our managers and HR staff when they're drafting our employment contracts? There are so many instances as employees where we are expected to own our mistakes and stick with them. Let this story serve as a friendly reminder to all the horrible bosses out there because folks, it's a two-way street! This thread was posted to Reddit by u/Ex…
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'No talk of raise, promotion, or even when they'd get a replacement': Coworker gets denied promotion, employee asked to take on their work without a raise, quits

'No talk of raise, promotion, or even when they'd get a replacement': Coworker gets denied promotion, employee asked to take on their work without a raise, quits

Let this story serve as a cautionary tale: always be sure to get the raise before you take on the extra work. This employee and their coworker learned that the hard way, though the coworker had a much harder time. Once upon a time, their team of three was a well-run machine. It was just the two of them and their manager, the work was well-divided, and everyone enjoyed a healthy separation between their job and their personal life. Eventually, their manager left for a better opportunity. Rather…
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Top Ten ‘HR Is Not Your Friend’ Stories

Top Ten ‘HR Is Not Your Friend’ Stories

We know that the HR team members are humans too, but that doesn't make us friends! You might be one of those working folks who has managed to successfully form friendship bonds with your coworkers. Perhaps you have a work spouse. Perhaps you occasionally grab a drink with your team outside of work hours. Perhaps you text each other memes and pop culture news every day. Obviously, this kind of friendship is necessary. You're spending more time with your coworkers than with most people in your li…
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'Don't believe I have the flu?': Night shift worker forced to come into work despite illness, maliciously complies and gets sick in front of boss

'Don't believe I have the flu?': Night shift worker forced to come into work despite illness, maliciously complies and gets sick in front of boss

Some toxic work environments have got to amend their sick day policies. Here, we have an employee who was told that he had to come into work to be assessed about whether or not they were truly sick enough. The Redditor explained that as a night shift supervisor, there were instances in which this kind of assessment was important. However, when it came to illness, it's better for everyone involved if employers just took the employee's word for it. Not only is it best for everyone involved health…
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'I am fed up': Boss's girlfriend rejects the way employee does her job, employee maliciously complies and quits

'I am fed up': Boss's girlfriend rejects the way employee does her job, employee maliciously complies and quits

It's one thing for your boss to boss you around, as it is literally their job to do that. It's quite another when the person bossing you around is your boss's girlfriend. This bookstore employee came up with a system to manage customer orders that involved a little extra double-checking when each order was processed but ultimately meant fewer phone calls confirming orders to customers, as repeat phone calls were clearly bothering the customer base. Sounds like a pretty good system and the emplo…
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'It’s now 15 days late': Ex-boss refuses to send final paycheck to former employee, employee considers filing class action lawsuit

'It’s now 15 days late': Ex-boss refuses to send final paycheck to former employee, employee considers filing class action lawsuit

One of the joys of the Internet is the ability to learn all about someone's problem and see how they handled it and what their options were so that if you were in a similar situation, you would know exactly what to do. This is especially true of workplace drama, where social taboos around money and work can keep employees and coworkers from communicating with one another when something is up. But that's where the Internet steps in, and in this case, we have a Reddit story that maps out just wha…
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