Startups will make up any excuse to be unprofessional, unreasonable, and so unserious. This job candidate found themselves in an interview with an arrogant, toxic boss who made work-life balance seem like a lazy outlook on life. Thankfully, they had enough experience in the startup world to know that when everyone is asked to work overtime throughout the weekends, there is a good chance that they are not being adequately compensated for that extra hard work. So when the candidate asked the inte…

At certain times in your life—particularly when things have gone sideways—it's important to take ownership of the fact that your own actions and decisions are the things that got you there. Unfortunately, most of us struggle with this and, as a matter of self-preservation, will seek to displace blame towards anyone or anything that we can point a finger at. Sometimes, this displacement is plausible, reasonable even, but at other times, it can get unreasonably ridiculous… Tell me again, Carl, ab…

Many years ago, in a land far away, I had a coworker who I had beef with. She gave me a rough time, and I certainly didn't spare her from my snappy attitude. If I ever got the chance to reject her application for a job, I'd probably do it. There aren't many people I don't forgive, but she is the exception. In this story, a nurse manager who we'll call OP uploaded a post describing how she got back at a former coworker who had gotten her in trouble back in the day. They had been working at a hos…

Why does IT always get blamed? Employees always expect them to read minds, to predict the future… But they're humans with a lot on their plate, and they don't bow to snobby managers from various departments who are trying to cover for their incompetent employees. One such employee approached OP (who was working in IT) after she failed to receive emails. OP immediately began troubleshooting and found the problem relatively quickly. The issue was a rule that she had set up, and OP pointed her to…

A job interview is a great chance to gauge the work environment of your new potential workplace, and many people forget this. You may feel that during the interview, you have to put on a performance showcasing yourself in the best possible light in order to secure the job. When in reality, you should be interviewing the company as well. You want to make sure that you can thrive in the work environment, not just get the job. With that said, it's a lot easier said than done.

While all customer service is tough due to the challenging task of dealing with the unpredictable members of the public, delivery drivers have it particularly rough, owing to the fact that they have to consistently interact with these same people whose absurd entitlement is amplified by the proximity of their homes. If you thought that Karen was a doozy to deal with at the customer service desk at Home Depot, just wait until you see how she treats the poor bloke who has to deliver something rig…

Working in any industry for some time can be a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, you come to understand the ins and outs of said industry. On the other hand, sometimes understanding the ins and outs of an industry is not all it's cracked up to be. Because then you have to live with that knowledge for the rest of your existence and that could certainly change the way you go about your business. For instance, when I learned what goes into managing a box office for an entertainment venue, I g…

Recruiters are infamous for playing games, not following up, and outright ghosting you. Sometimes you feel like you have no choice but to work with them… Searching for a job on your own is no easy feat. And with the costs of inflation and the lack of transparency regarding salaries in job postings, it can be helpful to have someone 'on your side'. It's always a nightmare to search for a job, especially in today's market, but unfortunately, recruiters aren't always 'on your side', and they often…

After an 80-hour work week with nothing to show for it but bags under your eyes and a dusty, unchanged salary check, overworked employees can start to unravel, like the worker in our next story.

Being unexpectedly fired has to be one of the worst blows you can receive. Luckily for this employee, he already knew his state rights as an employee and chose the perfect time to execute them. In the story, the OP was fired for not following the company's new policies, which he believed would cause the company bigger issues. But unfortunately, the company's policy was already established by higher authorities, and there was nothing he could do about it. As a result, the OP was fired. During th…

This new boss was surprised that some older employees knew better than he did. That was hardly a surprising outcome to the employees, but new managers often feel like they have to make a good impression by bossing everyone around. After all, if they're hired to lead, they think that the most visible way to demonstrate that is to make changes to their workplace immediately. In reality, if they just spent a few minutes talking to their most dedicated employees, they'd probably find out which chan…

These posts are awkward, cringey, and weirdly motivating.

This worker shared a day in the life of their job as a library assistant . Though it seems like a whimsical job, there's apparently much more to working in a library than meets the eye. This person writes that they had jobs at two different library branches. One of these jobs was a piece of cake, while the other was home to some rather haughty trustees. As u/localanimenerd shared in their malicious compliance story , they've realized that one trustee in particular seems to dislike them. The sto…

This boss confused everyone by writing up her employee for “overperforming.” If your boss doesn't like you, they might let you know it in a bunch of little ways. Maybe they try to embarrass you by pointing out if you're 30 seconds late, or they might try to get you to work late by guilting you into it. Other bosses start to micromanage your work.

People, and particularly the woefully ignorant, generally only listen to what you tell them if it costs them something in some way, particularly if it's your boss and the thing being costed is their own money. Thankfully, there's nothing to teach common sense quite like the wasted money of a stalled production line with a bunch of workers standing around waiting to be told what to do by their boss who is stuck in a pointless morning stand-up meeting. In this story posted to Reddit's r/Malicious…

When faced with the dilemma of health and safety concerns in the workplace, employees have to look out for each other– because their boss certainly isn't.