Too many organizations prioritize the willingness to do what you're told without asking questions over any actual leadership skills. Should you find yourself in one of these workplaces, get out as fast as you possibly can. In that same vein, it's startling h ow many organizations and managers are willfully negligent about the legalities of the areas where they operate, and it's surprising that feigning ignorance actually allows them to get away with a slap on the wrist. Imagine if you tried to…

Attaining proper compensation for your contributions is a tricky and delicate subject . On the one hand, you want to be paid properly for your contributions, and it's important to be sure that you are, as this will help you to progress in your field and remain properly motivated. On the other hand, you must be careful to maintain good internal politics and not give your employer any reason to put a target on your back. This worker initially secured a substantial salary increase when starting th…

Having a solid relationship with your boss doesn't always mean that the both of you are always going to be completely rational or always get along. Like with any of the best sorts of relationships, there's going to be some give and take and a little irrationality involved—although you won't find this in sterilized American corporate environments that specifically discourage you from showing any personality in the workplace This worker shared their story with Reddit's popular r/MaliciousCompolia…

There are a lot of reasons to get fired from a job: being late, failing consistently to do basic tasks or meet KPIs, and being difficult to work with are some of the most common. However, you probably wouldn't expect to lose your job for expecting a client to follow basic common courtesy and for expecting your employer to respect your basic safety requirements. The thing about our pets is that while we love them to death and they can do no wrong to others, they're just another unpredictable ani…

If you're free to work, you'll work for free… At least, that's what a lot of hiring managers these days seem to reason. If it's not asking you to develop a new sales vertical and make actual cold calls, it might be asking you to use your marketing expertise to develop an actual campaign—all with the assurance that you might get the job.

Some people are convinced that other people are plotting against them at every turn—continually suspicious that everyone else is constantly scheming to swindle them out of petty cash. Really, this is probably just an admission of their own thought process—as they say, your reality is a mirror reflecting your inner world… and the reality probably is that these people constantly anticipate underhanded tactics because they wouldn't hesitate to use them themselves.

The interview process is unique because of the high stakes involved for both parties; the implications of ending up with a dud candidate can be disastrous for an organization or workgroup of any size, and a candidate ending up in a job that's not the right fit can be a huge misstep for them as well in their career. Likewise, the interview process is hugely resource-consuming for both parties, so wasting the other party's time with missed or rescheduled interviews and misleading promises or expe…

Getting written up for a bogus reason in the workplace can be unfair, and being written up for a family emergency that caused you to miss a shift (that wasn't even yours in the first place) really fits the bill. Unfortunately, in most circumstances, you'd probably be stuck in the role for quite some time, especially if your life was already at a precarious point due to the aforementioned emergency. In fact, your power-tripping boss is probably counting on it.

Employers are determined to replace workers with machines, and, sure, automation and specialized machinery lead to more efficiency, but it's not like the productive workers see any of that increased cash flow anyway. While employers might hope to one day replace certain roles with automation, AI hasn't come that far yet. Just ask anyone who has gotten stuck talking to an AI on a “customer care” line or ended up messaging a robot that has no idea how to solve your problem and keeps redirecting y…

It's nice to know that you're needed and appreciated both in your work and in other areas of your life. But when appreciation is out of the question… a frantic phone call from your (very) recently ex-employer's HR department, proving your necessity, will do. It's not uncommon for those prone to giving into their anger to make unwise decisions in the midst of that anger, and that can put you in some unfortunate situations when that person is your boss—or holds some other form of authority over y…

Sometimes, it's just easier that things happen without your involvement, even if—no— especially if you're in charge. See, the more areas of the business you're in charge of, the more people there will be working within those areas, and while you want some insights and updates into their operation, if you need to be involved in every little detail, the entire operation will come to a standstill while everyone waits for you frantically comprehend every facet of the business to approve every decis…

Divulging personal aspects about yourself in the workplace can be a pathway to forming stronger bonds and close-knit relationships—or it can be used against you the next time your performance review comes around. The reality is that your work time is for work, and your own time is—well, your own. But, in a modern “always online” world that's fueled by instant communication and where some employers want to squeeze their workers for every last drop of productivity, this line becomes increasingly…

Rules usually exist for a reason. Generally, they come into being because someone did something and learned the hard way that the way they chose wasn't the way that it should be done, so it's decided that this way should never be attempted again by either them—or those surviving them—depending on how poorly their attempt went. There is another type of rule, though, and these rules are generally made up by a bored busybody middle manager on a random Wednesday afternoon because they need somethin…

Being accused of doing something nefarious when you've turned up to help out really isn't an ideal situation, especially when that person won't let you get a word in edgewise to clarify the situation. That's why it's hard to fault this worker for up and turning around at the first chance. This supermarket worker used to work for a large supermarket chain and would occasionally head off to other locations to help them with staffing issues when they were asked. But, one day, they were asked to wo…

In a cold sweat, you wake from your sleep, flailing wildly for your phone. Light is peaking through the edges of the curtains, and birds chirp pleasantly just on the other side of the window behind them. You feel rested—suspiciously, well-rested for the amount of sleep that you should have gotten. You must have slept through your alarms… but surely not. After all, you set five of them. Yet, all the indicators are there… and you should have been up long before the birds if you were going to make…

They say the best revenge is achieving personal success, but sometimes it's more than that… It's the pathway to it. After all, performing well above requirements isn't always going to win you friends and is more likely to put a target on your back for everyone who is just there to earn a paycheck and who you're making look bad in comparison. See, when you prove what's possible to an employer, they start wondering why everyone else isn't being as productive as you are and are bound to start aski…