Getting fired from a job is never a fun experience; it can be a major blow to your self-esteem, and the often sudden disruption to your daily routine, along with a sudden loss of income, can cause significant undue stress. Almost always, it feels like a major step backward, like someone has plucked you up out of your life and placed you down somewhere else entirely. What's more, there's this sense of failure and embarrassment that you feel follows you into each ensuing job interview, hampering…

Just because the journey's over doesn't mean it has to end. Every ending is a new beginning and offers a chance for reflection on the experiences and lessons learned along the way. Of course, when you're quitting a dead-end job that you've been stuck in for the last ten years… you might not find all that much to reflect on. And the things you've experienced? They're probably best forgotten... What with the unnecessary meetings, micromanaged lunch breaks, egotistical leaders, and general toxic a…

It's no secret that some employers think they own your soul just because they pay you for your work. Somewhere between now and the 15th century, they got lost in time and mistakenly thought they were feudal lords. Unfortunately, there are more comparisons between peasant working conditions in medieval Europe and today than we would care to admit. This viral thread was shared to Reddit's r/antiwork community by the worker, u/InfiniteMaf. With a bewildering level of forwardness, the company's HR…

This underpaid IT professional waited years for fair treatment from his bosses. The work doubled and then tripled, but the pay never reflected his efforts. He wouldn't prove how essential he was to the company until he left… and cost them $40 Million. Redditor u/slw_motion_trainwrck shared this story on the r/antiwork subreddit. u/slw_motion_trainwrck's story centers on their experience working for a factory in the Southern United States. The factory was based in "a very small farming town of a…

This worker shared a lengthy exchange that occurred between themselves and their boss over availability to cover shifts for an already published roster. Things started off rocky, with the boss sending passive-aggressive and immature responses to the young worker's level-headed reasoning. It wasn't long before the conversation escalated into threats of termination. The fact that the worker appears to be a minor makes the conversation that much worse; the fact that the boss's lack of maturity is…

This boss threatened their teen worker and accused them of job abandonment after they sought urgent medical care for a serious infection that couldn't be ignored. There's this thing about the presence of the word “urgent” when it comes to seeking urgent medical care, which denotes a certain pressing need to take care of a medical need that can't be delayed. That means that it doesn't matter what obligations or other engagements you might have, your health comes first, and you owe it to yourself…

Many people don't handle rejection well, but when it's part of the job and has been (at least partially) brought about by your own decisions—well… you'd best be professional about it. Unfortunately, many managers and business owners struggle with this. They're perfectly content with any arrangement as long as they're the ones who have the upper hand, but as soon as they lose that edge, the mask comes off, and their ego reveals their desire for control… over you. That's the most plausible reason…

Trick a worker into quitting their job and joining your organization, then they're well and truly trapped when you cut their pay by 50%… talk about a cunning trap. That's exactly what this worker shared experiencing in a post shared to Reddit's r/antiwork subreddit community. In a post titled “50% salary decrease…” they discussed the situation. “My new job just cut my salary by $30k, only a couple months into the job." the post begins, " It's safe to say that you probably wouldn't stay at that…

When your business is essentially employing people who could be easily contracting for themselves (without the need for your siphoning off their earnings), it's probably best to treat them with a bit of respect. This goes doubly if they're your best performer and highest earner. Sure, by employing them, you're providing them the security they might not otherwise have, but as soon as that security is compromised, they will start questioning their situation. Sometimes reducing wages may be a nece…

Treat others how you would like to be treated: the golden rule. Regardless of your religious beliefs or affiliations, it stands to reason that this is a good principle to follow in order to build a moral foundation for one's actions. This “golden rule” or sometimes “ethic of reciprocity” appears universally throughout civilizations and cultures, dating back as far as 2000 BCE in Ancient Egypt. Despite its ubiquity in philosophy and religion, small business owners somehow seemed to have missed t…

It's 2023, y'all, it's time to not take any crap from your employers. Oh, they're yelling at you and gaslighting you and making everything your fault even though they have been nothing but unhelpful, disrespectful, and just right out a jerk? Well, you stand up and GTFO of there. Stand tall, say your goodbyes, and walk on out with your head held high. You deserve better than selling your soul to a person who sees you as gum under their shoe. Sometimes it's better to work at a Chipotle with cowor…

Dating a co-worker has never worked in the system. If you have experienced this, then you know, it always tends to get messy. But when you are married, working with your hubby doesn't seem too bad. As long as you aren't driving each other nut in the office, then it could work. Until it doesn't. A happily married couple that are also coworkers are now on the bring of divorce because of the actions of their boss. Both the hubby and wifey work in upper management and felt confident in their jobs.…

When you're in charge, it's important that you lead by example, setting the tone for how others should behave, conduct themselves, and work towards the business's goals. At this point, you're probably picturing a stoic, strong, silent, and hardworking; those are the qualities that society has taught us a leader should possess. But the reality is that a lot of “leaders” are lazy, petty, vitriolic, and prone to emotional outbursts. They're not in charge because they're a knight in shining armor a…

Caring for other people's kids can be an enticing career for those who like working with children; the only downside is that—well… they're other people's children. This means that you have to deal with the often inaccurate perceptions of other adults, who hold tight to their wildly inaccurate beliefs, with these same adults also holding the final say over what goes with their children, no matter how damaging their decision might be. When working as a nanny, these problems intensify. Long and of…

Giving someone a punishment that prohibits them from doing something and then subsequently expecting them to still do that thing is downright insane. The entire point of suspending an employee from the workplace is that they have committed or exhibited some type of behavior that the employer has deemed unacceptable for the workplace. Hence, it's a way of having them temporarily not be there to either cool off or so the employer can figure out the next steps. Expecting the employee to show up wh…

There's an ethical quandary that presents itself sometimes in your working life… if your job description essentially requires you to help hire and train a replacement, do you do it? It's something that comes up more often than we realize, with countless stories popping up online where people realize they have been asked to outline their job for the purpose of hiring a replacement or find themselves training a mysterious new “team member” to do their job. The problem is that This thread was post…