This pool salesman has been on the job long enough to know that some customers can't be convinced to buy the products they need. Customers often like to think they know everything about a product just because they own it. In this case, the owner of a pool was pretty sure he knew everything he needed to know about his swimming pool. How hard could it be to maintain one little pool? All you have to do is fill it and empty it seasonally, and put in some chlorine or salt. Right? Surely there's noth…

What would we ever do without receptionists ? These people keep the world running by doing all the organization and planning that keeps businesses afloat. CEOs and CFOs get the fancy titles and get to spend their time taking clients to glamorous lunches. They aren't the ones truly running the company, though. They may have the look of a person in power, but you know who's really in charge? The person who unlocks the doors each morning, keeps the office full of food and coffee, handles phone cal…

This story is a peek into the a life of a DMV manager and her least friendly employee. If you've ever been to the DMV before, I'm so sorry. They're usually one giant room full of chairs and workers behind numbered desks. As a customer, you show up ready to renew a license or passport, and then it's time to wait. It's best to bring a book or a crossword puzzle and just expect that you may spend several hours there.

Interns are allowed to make mistakes over and over and over again. It's kind of just part of the job. As a young person in college, you want to get some valuable experience in your career field with an internship. But since you are still in college, and have probably never worked in an office setting before, you're just bound to mess things up. At least at this point in your not-yet-existing career, you're allowed to make a few mistakes in the name of learning and gaining experience. This perso…

Some people don't like to be told that all their work is wrong, even if it's the truth. We have all been there in some way or another, whether it was in school or at home or at work. At some point, some more knowledgeable person probably took a look at all your hard work and pointed out an error that effectively rejects all the hours of time and effort you put into the project. It's an inevitable part of learning and growing up, and it can be especially hard to take this news if you lead with y…

Common sense isn't gifted to every person. Sometimes things will seem so crystal clear to you, and so obvious, that you can't understand how anyone could mess it up. But without common sense, people do dumb things. This woman in particular had a bone to pick with her neighbor, and I bet you can guess why her neighbor was refusing to mow her lawn for her. While some people really dislike mowing the lawn , others find it cathartic. If you can listen to music or a podcast over the crazy loud sound…

Signing a lease for an apartment sight unseen is taking quite the risk. But this person, u/aalilyah, was living in Los Angeles, and couldn't get to New York to see the place before moving in. The OP then realized their new home wasn't as great as they'd hoped.

These auto body workers were surprised that one customer was throwing a fit over a pretty minimal fee … it was just $5. Depending on who you ask, $5 could be almost no money, or it could be quite a lot. If you're trying to buy a meal for your whole family with $5, it won't get you very far. But if you've lost your wallet and a bus ticket home costs $3, that crumpled $5 bill in your pocket is a life saver. Plus, in the grand scheme of things, spending an extra $5 at an auto body shop is just a d…

Rallying family members for group gatherings can take more mental energy than taxes, apartment hunting, and scheduling your next doctor appointment combined. Everyone has that one family member who makes planning these kinds of social occasions way more difficult than it needs to be. It's like rallying a whole troop of soldiers, except really you're just rallying one infuriating human who has no regard for other people's time and schedules. I'm all for moving at your own pace, but not at the ex…

There is nothing like a technical problem at work that allows you to have the whole day to yourself until it's resolved. Whenever a situation like this arises, it's important to luxuriate in the moment. This means you can finally get your act together. You can vacuum the apartment, do laundry, and cook yourself a nice meal. Or you can lie down on the couch for hours on end and finally binge the new episodes of The Crown . Who cares? The world is your oyster, and it's not like you're shirking an…

This lawyer cares much more about their clients than their bosses do. Unfortunately for u/TheRealJohnGalt22, their bosses feel the opposite: forget about the clients, just run cases through as fast as humanly possible. In this work environment, partners at a law firm told one lawyer that they should take a “quantity not quality” approach to the complaints they needed to file. We all want to feel valuable and important at our jobs, and no one ever wants to hear that kind of language from a boss.…

This doctor was trying to buy a car , but she ran into an infuriating issue at the dealership. Buying a new car is a huge decision. You have to think about everything you'll be doing with your new vehicle, from taking the kids to soccer practice to loading up the truck with groceries and everything in between. Will you be filling your car with friends to go off-roading, or do you mainly just drive to the mall or the library? There are a lot of questions to ask yourself… but “Am I allowed to tes…

This bank is not banking. You'd think the one thing banks would know how to do is to hold and distribute money , but you'd be mistaken. If you've ever worked in retail or food service, then you probably know that needing more change for your cash register till is an ongoing thing. Especially on the busiest days, cashiers need refills on their quarters and dimes fairly often in order to avoid giving customers like $.65 in pennies and nickels . Even in a world where lots of people pay for almost…

One company was going through growing pains, and it's workers were feeling the pinch. Most small businesses fail. Perhaps you've heard that old wisdom that nine out of ten startups don't even last more than a year or two. Only the companies that rise above are able to stick around, but even then, not every business is able to scale up. It's something that has to be done with caution. In this case, u/calladus shared that they were working for a company that went from being a tiny privately owned…

This story is like that old joke that goes, “How many people does it take to change a lightbulb?” There are a bajillion punchlines and variations of the joke.

How much could one little mistake possibly cost? Quite a lot, as it turns out. Bosses love to hire people for their expertise. Then, once the employee has settled into the role, some bosses start getting into micromanagement mode. Instead of letting their employee do the literal job they're paying them to do, these managers would rather doubt their worker at every turn. Worse still, the supervisor at u/licdb's job doesn't trust her to do a specific type of construction consulting that is her ar…