When you demand that your workers adhere strictly to a schedule, you shouldn't be surprised when they continue to adhere to it even after you make a mistake in planning their schedule. After all, if you're insisting on micromanaging them, then you had better be prepared to micromanage, ensuring that you're feeding a constant stream of tasks if you want them to have any productivity at all. Of course, no one likes to work in these conditions, so you're always going to end up with a team of miser…

These lawyers found a clever workaround to a bagel issue. U/Ars-Torok shared an excellent malicious compliance story about the time they worked as a chef. Chefs start their work days while most of us are still in bed. This dude started his workday at 4AM , and only had to work until about 10AM. You never really get used to working nights, but that shift sounds so ideal. Even if you have to wake up at 3AM, you'd finish work and still have the entire day to do whatever you want! Plus, I'm sure yo…

Working while in university is an interesting experience. Every time you're at work, there are people trying to convince you that the smoothie and salad shop in which you're working is the most important thing, more important than that test you need to study for to pass the class that is going to get you the degree you're actually working for. “That's all well and good, but there's no way my minimum-wage job is the most important thing in my life right now,” you tell yourself. It's only five ye…

This story serves as proof that politics, politicians, and political parties are silly wherever in the world you go—and also that politicians are completely incapable of listening to expert advice. In general, for some reason, people are particularly unwilling to listen to A/V guys , thinking that because they set up their home sound system and know how to use a TV remote, they know all there is to know about running an event as a sound engineer. For some reason, stories like this consistently…

It's unfortunate when loyalty isn't repaid in kind, especially in a long-standing relationship in which mutual trust and reciprocation should have meant a better result. Sure, circumstances change, and it might “just be business,” but there's always a personal aspect involved when a relationship has lasted this long. Plus, treating your long-standing employees well is just good business. If you're seriously thinking about firing your oldest employee unceremoniously just to save a few dollars… w…

You should always be careful with ultimatums, particularly when you're really just on a power trip and bluffing… Sooner or later, someone is going to call you on your bluff, and you're going to be left standing there with your hands tied, looking pretty silly. Still, this is a favorite tactic amongst toxic managers, who relish the idea of threatening their workers with firing more than J. Jonah Jameson. There's nothing they enjoy more than putting a proverbial gun to your head, putting your fam…

When your bosses change policies in such a way that results in them being overwhelmed with more and more paperwork, you can't help but think that they brought it on themselves. Furthermore, you should not necessarily feel bad if you decide to follow their rules, knowing it will make their lives more difficult. After all, they were the ones who insisted on the policy change. They were the ones who didn't have the intellect to foresee how this would only make things worse. This employee and their…

If you're ever hiring to fill a position, be careful what you say to prospective candidates because your comments just might come back to haunt you one day. This thread was posted to Reddit by u/ReneeStone27 , who had applied to interview for a position despite living a couple of miles outside the desired area. Still, she came to the interview prepared only to be rejected and told that the position had been filled. The hiring manager went further to chastise OP as if it was their fault for inte…

Okay, be honest: what's the worst way you've ever answered an interview question ? This topic could unite us all. No matter how long you've worked, no matter how qualified and prepared you are, every person gets nervous going to job interviews. It's a universal fear, and for many people, it's just one of those things you have to do every few years in order to advance your career. For every five or ten interviews you do, you might get offered the job one time---or not at all. It's brutal out her…

'When you're one whistleblower away from being caught, the sensible thing to do is to NOT antagonize people', said one commenter on a post by u/Agreeable-Key3914, who shared a story that happened many years ago, back when they were working at a pizza shop in college. People have all kinds of college stories to share, but this one is nothing like the others… I bet not a lot of people can say that they have done what this OP did. It definitely takes some courage to call welfare officials on a cow…

One of the benefits of working in a particular industry is that you get key insights into how things work, learning all kinds of insider information from working behind the scenes. Often, though, all this insider information does is lead back to the fact that the entire thing is just an elaborate charade. This knowledge is, of course, a double-edged sword because often you joined that industry in the first place due to a personal interest, and now you have to live with the knowledge that the en…

Some employers try to hide the red flags that come with a certain job; others basically wave those flags for every prospective candidate to see. Before you give those employers any credit, this is usually not coming from a place of honesty or transparency. It's usually coming from a place of sloppiness and ignorance. Many employers are still completely tone-deaf to the fact that some of the demands put upon employees back in the day are backward, outdated, and a serious overstepping of boundari…

Some bosses don't believe in excuses. They have a zero tolerance policy for latenesses or absences, as if they're managing robots, and not human beings. If you've never worked in the food service industry, let me tell you a secret: snow days are often incredibly busy times at restaurants of all kinds. It seems counterintuitive---after all, if the roads are closed and temperatures are in the negatives, who's going to want to go out for a burger? What happens, though, is that people lose power an…

Getting passed up for a promotion when you know you are deserving of the role is rough. Probably the only thing worse is being asked for help by the person who got the job and has no idea what they're doing—proving definitely that you should have gotten the role in the first place. But, it's not uncommon for these types of things to happen in the workplace, where politics, corporate narratives, and other misguided decision-making processes often override actual logical reasoning. Unfortunately,…

Do the horrible bosses of the world not realize that when they give tone-deaf lectures to their employees, they are increasing the likelihood of receiving resignation letters? The two are about as directly correlated at this point as good weather and happiness. The more your horrible boss asserts their backward sense of authoritative power and control, the more people will up and leave. This Redditor worked in college admissions and created boundaries between their work and home life. For the c…

Some managers just show up, take their paycheck, and leave. Why bother actually doing your job if you don't have to? This teen was working as a “waitress/server/cashier” at a chain restaurant where she could have really used some extra support from her managers. She writes that she, a new girl, and one other employee were at work with a manager who was being totally useless. Some managers who've worked their way up the ladder feel entitled to their new “good life.” If you've worked in a restaur…