You don't know a good thing until it's gone: a phrase that is applicable to so many areas of life. And it fits quite neatly in the sense of employers This media designer slowly found themselves, over time, burdened with more and more responsibilities that were unrelated to their own actual role, over time eventually taking on the equivalent roles of “at least” four people. Finding themselves on the hook for their own materials and equipment as if they were a contractor despite, you know, being…

More often than not, when someone isn't pulling their weight on the team, you'll find that your team leader is remiss and unlikely to do anything about it. Preferring to let their weight be shouldered rather than attract the attention of the higher powers. See, it stands to reason that, in most organizations, no attention is the best attention; as soon as the powers that be set their sights on your team, it can be impossible to shake it off, with their increasing scrutiny and weight bearing dow…

Getting rejected or passed over for a promotion that you've been promised for years is always going to leave a bad taste in your mouth. You might believe the words of your employer when they tell you that your efforts will one day lead you to a higher role. And, yet, every time the opportunity presents itself to promote you, they go with someone else, and you're faced with that, no matter what their intentions might have initially been, they're dangling a carrot on a stick out in front of you t…

It's surprising how many businesses seem to be able to continue to persist despite the fact that a light gust would blow them over, being consistently and continuously mismanaged to the point where one single mishap would cause them to cease to exist. This employee worked for a horrendously mismanaged manufacturing company that was seemingly on the verge of collapse. The management team that had employed them was suddenly fired soon after they were hired, which caused them to be understandably…

Going above and beyond should earn you praise and commendation. Unfortunately, it's more likely that all it will do is increase expectations. Showing your superiors what is “possible” and setting a new baseline for yourself. When this worker went above and beyond in their contributions to their workplace, creating and sharing video content for

There's no motivation in life like receiving a hard-earned reward—our brains are literally wired this way. When it comes to work, you might hope that that reward would be increased compensation that matches your increased contribution and efforts. But, unfortunately, at a lot of organizations, showing a willingness to take on more work is only showing that you're willing to be paid less for it, leaving you with more to do in the same amount of time with little to no increased compensation. Let'…

When you've been entrusted with the care of children, it's a little difficult to do your job without telling them what to do. Adult input to keep things moving in the right direction is essential to their safety and happiness, and it's kind of impossible to get anything done without it. With that considered, you'd be foolish, as the parent employing said child-carer, to tell that child-carer that they were unable to give your children instruction and “parent” them. As if—what? You just expect t…

Obsessive control over situations and circumstances does net results—and that's part of the problem. This early, immediate, and measurable success creates the validation necessary for managers—and really anyone in a position of authority—causing them to fall further and further into the pitfall that is micromanagement. Other than the fact that it ruins morale and generally makes everyone you're working with miserable, micromanagement presents some problems: namely, you'll reach a point, a limit…

Some people assume the worst of others, declaring everyone else to be lazy, foolish, or otherwise plotting and scheming something nefarious. But let's be honest, they're probably doing so to deflect from their own shortcomings—which are probably the exact same things they're accusing others of. Having one of these people as your boss or employer is, of course, going to ensure you a terrible time during every moment you're at work, with constant accusations of slacking, skiving, and even stealin…

Office drama really hits differently when it's the new hire stirring the pot. In this story, we've got a pretentious new hire who thinks the world revolves around her . And when it doesn't, she makes sure everyone hears about it. She asked a coworker to ride with her to a celebratory work dinner because, apparently, driving alone is just too much for her. (It makes you wonder how she manages to commute every day, doesn't it?) The coworker, who already had plans to ride with someone else, polite…

There's a lot to complain about in this world—if you go looking for it… but who wants to live their life like that anyway? You're far better off putting that time and energy towards something productive and just getting on with it rather than falling into that line of thinking. Regardless, you're determined to find something to take issue with… the size of your toast probably isn't one of them worth worrying about—there are plenty of other things that should take priority on the list Who knows.…

Having a job generally means that you do that job and get paid for it—simple, right? Like, it doesn't really take anyone telling you that to figure it out. But what should you do if you do the job that you're being paid to do and it doesn't take you nearly as long as your employer expects it will? This happens all the time, and depending on the job—and the person—and the place, and the time, your approach to this situation might be different. The more motivated among us who couldn't simply stan…

Getting slower internet speeds than you're paying for is quite a gear-grinding, to say the least—especially when you're paying through the nose for the highest possible speeds and still just receiving the lower speed 80% of the time. The internet service providers (ISPs) basically figure that we won't notice the difference, and to be fair, most of us wouldn't. That or they don't actually have the infrastructure to support and deliver the speeds they're selling, so they throttle speeds, especial…

Living, working—merely existing in a negative environment is enough to cause you a miserable existence. Over time, the repeated accusations and insulations of wrongdoing eat away at you, eroding what optimism and willpower you have remaining to make positive changes for yourself. The problem with this is that it includes sapping the energy you might have to leave the toxic situation yourself, creating a vicious cyclical feedback loop that drains you of your life force. Though it might not seem…

Sometimes you can't just tell people things—they won't listen. It takes actually experiencing the negative result that you were warning them about for them to admit they were wrong. Predictably, this happens all the time with unreasonable egotistical bosses who are eager to prove themselves… This developer, working for a financial services company, developed various tools and scripts to compensate for the company's other shortcomings, sometimes inadequate customer solutions. This saw them worki…

Moving up the chain in any workplace comes with a certain amount of sacrifice, as you get more responsibility, your ability to simply log off and not worry about the fate and trajectory of your work slowly decreases. Sure, you might get less productive work done every day due to all the oversight and meetings, but the responsibility rests a heavy weight on your shoulders all the same. Of course, you get paid more, too, and that has its own benefits. But, there reaches a point where more and mor…