Merchandizing is one of the oldest professions—wait, maybe that's not the right line… but the trade certainly does teach you a lot about the comings and goings of the working world. Show up on time, take some pride in your work, and you'll do just fine. Add managing unruly clients and battling tyrannical backroom managers to that, and you've got some solid real-world experience.

Working for a small family-owned-and-operated business is either going to be the best job you ever had or the worst by a considerable margin… there's no in-between—and whichever one it is depends wholly on the people who are running it.

When a customer gets too excitable, retail workers know the drill: call their manager over to handle it. Each customer is different, and they each have their own intentions when they enter a store. Of course, most shoppers arrive at a store with a list and just go around and gather all the items they need. But others require more assistance than that. Maybe they have a return that they waited too long to bring back, or perhaps they're looking for a really specific thing and can't find it. You c…

Maybe leaving their job was for the best. From the way this maintenance worker describes their work environment, it seems like they were way better off elsewhere. We all grow and change in life, we can't help it. Things you once needed turn into things you've outgrown. That happens in careers, too. U/ProjectShadow316 shares that they realized they needed to move on from their job after about two years. It seems like a lot of people hit their limits around that time. Perhaps that's the time fram…

If you have ever worked the phones at any job , then you know just how nutso people can get on the other side. It's almost as chaotic as trolls on the internet. That essence of anonymity that talking through a phone creates a “no-shame" mentality and now you have people asking you questions they would be way to embarrassed to do face-to-face. Just because you're talking to someone at the Walgreens pharmacy doesn't mean you are talking to your doctor, so why are you telling them about the weird…

It's important to take your job seriously, but these bosses have lost sight of why their employees show up every day. It seems like some managers are so obsessed with their jobs that they think everyone feels the same way. They want their employees in the door at 7AM and leaving at 9PM. They want the employees to work weekends or work at the drop of a hat. They'll take advantage of their workers as much as they can. What these bosses are forgetting, though, is that although you can be passionat…

Fantasizing about quitting a job that you hate is one of the few things that can get you through a shift. Fueled by caffeine, pure hatred, and the dream of one day leaving this wretched place behind… you find the strength to go on. And, on that note, nothing is more likely to make you want to quit your terrible job than a horrible boss. As we've learned many times, people don't usually quit jobs; they quit their boss. This overworked and underappreciated IT worker, who works in the notoriously…

Usually, helping your team is considered to be a positive trait and one that your employer will look for when they first hire you, to the point where including somewhere that you're a “team player” is pretty much a default part of a CV. Seldom, if ever, would you ever expect to be told to leave well enough alone and ignore your overworked teammates, leaving them to their fate.

Sometimes you just have a feeling that you can't ignore. A sixth sense or a premonition will creep into your mind, and you decide to listen to your gut. Maybe you have a strange feeling about going on a date with someone new, or perhaps you get a chill down your spine and decide to take a different route home just based off your feelings. These people shared their stories of times they had a feeling that their jobs weren't going to work out, so they just quit. No need to go through months of tr…

There's no feeling like constantly being behind the ball, especially when that ball is a heavy boulder that you're being forced to push eternally uphill only to have it roll back down, forcing you to start over. The Greeks regarded this tortuous task as suitable eternal punishment for violating the rite of hospitality and killing guests in your home, along with a long list of other crimes that included cheating the personification of death himself. Nowadays, we just call that “employment." The…

This customer was determined to get the exact meal she wanted. She really should've picked another restaurant . Every now and again, people get a craving for a random food they've had before. They might not always recall what restaurant it was from, though. For example, if you're meeting some friends at a restaurant and someone else chooses the location, you might forget the name of that place by next week. Then you're left craving a quesadilla or a burger from somewhere that you can't remember…

This person found themself living every worker's dream: being instructed to work less. Speaking of following your boss's directions to a T… this person cost their company millions by allowing frozen food to turn to “boiled mush.”

This small business knows how to handle their most demanding customers. As a small business , you face unique challenges and have advantages that big chains don't always face. Especially in family-run businesses, the working conditions can be much friendlier to staffers. Corporate chains with hundreds of employees may seem cold in comparison---there's no way they can keep track of all those people. But at a small company, employees can have a little more leeway when it comes to their day-to-day…

Nothing shows you how essential you are to the business like taking a vacation. If your boss or team can't handle a week without things going off the rails, then that's saying a lot. The thing is, the types of bosses who insist on being able to contact you during your “vacation” are the same bosses who try to tell you how expendable you and your role are, negging and gaslighting you to keep you in your place. This worker went out of the country in order to visit their family for the holidays, l…

If there's one thing your manager probably hates, it's having more work to do. Whether they're just lazy or already have too much on their plate, chances are pretty good that they won't want to be spending hours combing over your work in addition to what they're already working on. Even the most micromanaging sort will quickly grow tired of the additional work if you can manage to reflect their time-consuming processes back onto them.

This person realized their job wanted them gone, and they decided not to go out without a fight. That's partially thanks to their union, which had their back through the entire debacle. One worker found themselves at an uncomfortable crossroads. They really enjoyed the work they did, and found that they were learning so much from the varied types of work. But then a new company bought them out, and the OP realized, “They didn't have a ready-made place for me to fit into.” The company tried to b…