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…

Imagine your boss announcing to the whole company that you're leaving them when you're not. And imagine your boss did this after you put in more effort than anyone else on your team on this new upcoming project, only to be replaced on the project by unqualified coworkers. This Redditor was completely blindsided by their boss and was taken aback when their apparent “departure” was announced at the company meeting. It turns out that it wasn't even an unceremonious firing at all. The reason why sh…

Never count on your boss to give you the emotional support that you need. This employee was having a particularly difficult time working with another manager, who happened to be responsible for numerous staff members quitting. When the Redditor finally had enough as well, they decided to give their notice to their boss, with whom they normally have a healthy and professional relationship. However, when that meeting finally happened, OP was disappointed to see that the boss did not seem to care…

We all know how hard it is to advocate for yourself in the workplace. It's so easy to take on more responsibility than what your job typically requires of you, and before you know it, you've set a precedent that you can take on all this extra work for no extra pay. Eventually, you burn out, and you realize that there is not much you can do to salvage the situation unless you talk to your boss directly about your workload and your pay. You finally psyche yourself up to have this meeting. You wal…

This sounds like any job candidate's worst nightmare.

Well, which one is it? Useless or essential to the business? Contrary to what some managers believe, you don't get to have it both ways. If you treat your staff poorly, they're probably not going to have your interests—or the interests of the business—close to heart. Conversely, treating staff with decency and giving them agency will help you maintain a thriving and successful business. No one likes to have their hand held, no one likes to be micromanaged, and certainly, no one is going to reac…

If you're hired by a client or employer to pick apart their business operations and identify inefficiencies and issues—do you give them an honest answer? Even if it's an answer that they're not going to want to hear? Even if the problem is—well… them? No one would disagree that keeping a boss or client happy is a good idea. After all, these people are paying all or part of your livelihood—and if you were to be fired or dismissed for telling them something they didn't want to hear—even if it's t…

People don't quit jobs; they quit bosses… Most of the time, at least. This saying has echoed off of the walls of this site a thousand times, and yet it remains just as true as in its first utterance. Too many jerks out there have ended up in a position of workplace authority—either by starting their own business or through the power of the Peter principle—and find themselves wondering why they can't keep staff, not realizing that the answer is looking at them in the face every morning when they…

Whether we like to remember them or not, we have all been in toxic work environments. Perhaps you were at the start of your professional life and you were concerned that all workplace environments and dynamics were like this. Perhaps you were working under a new boss who spent far more energy enforcing ridiculous rules and disparaging the work of their employees than fostering a strong working atmosphere. Perhaps you didn't say anything to your boss before you left the company and you desperate…

This Karen was actually the manager until the employee she fired got her booted too. That's what you get when you were the one who messed up and everyone saw it. No matter how powerful you think you are, if you've gained enough enemies, it will bite you in the butt, which is exactly what happened to Carol. Carol was the assistant manager of a restaurant that employed a high school student who wound up working approximately 60 hours each week (when did he find time to do his homework is the real…

These workplaces found out the hard way that you can only push your employees so far before they snap.

This story will be familiar to anyone who has worked in service or retail, with both entire industries being plagued by employers who require you to show up early—without being paid for it—or finish tasks after closing after being automatically clocked out when the doors locked. Managing these businesses isn't much better, earning only moderately better pay while being made to work more unpaid hours that actually pushes your earning back down to (or below) minimum wage. Combine this with chroni…

$14/hr for a medical professional whose job is saving other people's lives? If that's not cause for concern, I don't know what is.

Being a team player can mean a lot of things. It can mean being a communicative collaborator. It can mean taking on tasks that are normally outside of your primary responsibilities in order to further a collective goal. One thing it does not mean, however, is taking a pay cut. Unfortunately, in this economy, that seems to be one of the latest tactics employers are using to avoid mass layoffs, but one has to wonder if the executives at the top are making the same sacrifices. In fact, one should…

They always say they can't give you a raise but nine times out of ten, the truth is they can. This employee had to jump through hoops in order to get a 0.75-cent hourly raise. Despite finally achieving this small win, he knew that he was worth more, as most employees are. So naturally, he started looking for other work and eventually received a job offer that paid $2 more per hour than his current position. Once he brought this fact to the attention of his manager with the intention of quitting…

Did anyone else have a crazy dream job as a kid that led to some serious disillusionment as an adult? You could have had the aspiration to be an astronaut, to be president, or to be a pop singer. I'd be lying if I denied that my since deleted first email had the words “movie" and "star” in it. It's a common occurrence for kids to dream big, and this is by no means a suggestion that they shouldn't. The disillusionment that comes with adulthood is inevitable, but we can all do a better job at pre…