“It's just business,” people (often your boss) love to spout… and it always is until it's personal. You can rest assured that anyone using this canned clamshell phrasing is probably using this to dismiss situations where they're exploiting you and are going to take it very personally should things one day not go their way. It's the same sort of tactic that is used when you're told by a notoriously toxic employer that “We're all a family here.” The hope is that you'll buy into the thin words the…

Who here works a full time job and is not interested in making any money? Nobody? No takers?! Exactly. The majority of the workforce isn't driven by passion, work-ethic, or altruism– we're driven by cold, hard cash. Anyone who says otherwise is either delusional or a professional recruiter. Although usually head hunters like to swoon their prey with pretty words and shiny pay-days, sometimes there's that dime-in-a-dozen recruiter that has the audacity to...

In a cold sweat, you wake from your sleep, flailing wildly for your phone. Light is peaking through the edges of the curtains, and birds chirp pleasantly just on the other side of the window behind them. You feel rested—suspiciously, well-rested for the amount of sleep that you should have gotten. You must have slept through your alarms… but surely not. After all, you set five of them. Yet, all the indicators are there… and you should have been up long before the birds if you were going to make…

Oftentimes, when starting a new role, it doesn't end up being quite what you'd imagined. Delusions of grand inspiration fade like a mirage in the desert in the face of the reality of menial tasks and repetitive labor. After all, as we're consistently proclaiming, an interview is a two-way street, and the company is trying to sell themselves to the most desirable candidate they can get—often for as low of a price as possible—just as much as the candidates are trying to sell themselves to the com…

Usually, when we negotiate leave dates when starting a new job, we'd expect those dates to be honored—not thrown to the wayside as soon as we're locked into our employment. After all, that's all part of the bargaining process, and once a bargain is struck, every agreed-upon detail becomes the foundation for the rest of the relationship. This worker shared how their extended family goes on a trip every year, this time with a significant personal reason motivating the trip, and they've already bo…

If you have ever worked in the service industry then you know that the best part of it are your coworkers. You all trauma-bond and get super tight when you have to deal with all the Karens and entitled customers. Literally, I'll never forget having to quit my restaurant that I had all throughout college, it felt like I was breaking up with someone I still loved. But managers in restaurants know that their staff tends to come and go, so if it's a healthy workplace, they'll be excited for your ne…

A small-business employee is worried about what a coworker's sudden departure is going to mean for them. When you're on a small team, every absence is noticeable — someone's going to have to pick up the slack. But this guy wants to take things even further, by telling the boss what their coworker is planning. This person turned to r/AmItheA**hole before putting this plan into place. U/DPP_Toku is in an awkward position at their job. Their coworker, “G," is about to leave the company, but for so…

Training new employees, teaching them the terrain, and getting them used to their new work habitat is often like taking toddlers to a playground and explaining how a slide works, or monkey bars. New hires are either energetic, upbeat, and willing to learn, or they are lazy, entitled, and demanding. Let's assume the latter, and let's imagine you report your new hires' lack of care to upper management. Let's go one step further and say that upper management couldn't care less. What would you do?…

If you've never gotten fired, have you even lived? I remember the absolute shame and frankly, heartbreak (I was 16, and very dramatic) I felt when I was called by a manager and promptly fired after being accused of fighting with his wife on the job. The story goes as such: I was looking for a job while I was in high school. I was not a very good student and didn't attend any of my classes, so there were weeks I would stay at home, instead of going to school, and boy was it boring . Eventually,…

Coworkers talk. And I am a firm believer that this is a good thing. It's your right to keep your salary to yourself, but I think there isn't anything wrong with sharing how much you make with fellow coworkers. Companies should have to deal with the repercussions of giving one employee way more than another, despite them both having the same qualifications. In this oh-too-familiar case, OP found out that they were making a whopping 16 THOUSAND dollars less than one of their coworkers, who was wo…

The owner has bought a second home, the VP has a new Porche in their garage, and the company is turning money hand over fist—enough to the point they're expanding by buying up actual real estate that's being claimed back under operational costs. Meanwhile, inflation has increased by 6% in the last year—you might have even taken a pay cut during the pandemic—and you're finding it hard to make ends meet on your current salary. The company is doing very well, your contributions have been increasin…

Making your workers prove themselves by jumping through hoops in order to get a raise—like a monkey, giraffe, or any other suitable hoop-jumping animal—is a surefire way to ensure your monkey starts looking elsewhere for a new gig where there aren't any hoop-jumping requirements. In that same vein, it has often been said that your work (and your monkey's work) speaks for itself. That is true… until you corner your boss about a discussion about a long overdue raise. Suddenly, the work you've don…

Your first day at a new job is nerve-wracking and awkward, as you're just getting used to your new surroundings, and meeting a ton of new people that may or may not end up making your life difficult. Getting along with new coworkers is a hard task, because you haven't quite made your name yet in the office or industry you're working in, and people can take advantage of the fact that you're new. My own anxiety only begins to wean once I'm a few months in, and less embarrassed to stand up for mys…

If there is one thing worse than an annoying boss, it's an annoying coworker. This coworker in particular got promoted, presumably because they were related in some way or another to upper management. That wouldn't be so terrible if they had any work morale whatsoever. Ten years ago, OP was working in a company that did salary packaging. The service that the company offered was basically collecting mortgage statements, rental agreements, credit card bills etc., and then advising their clients'…

People often wonder if they should quit, dreaming of greener pastures, or in other words, more money, better work conditions, and nicer coworkers. Also, let's not forget the most important thing of all… a good boss. Quitting your job can be easy, or hard, depending on how much you enjoy it. Once upon a time, I was working as a waitress, and let's just say that it wasn't hard at all to let go of rude customers, not great pay, and long nights cleaning bathrooms. But hey, I had some pretty legitim…

The anti-work movement has been going on for a while now, and contrary to what it sounds like, it's not that people don't want to work. Rather, people want to get paid appropriate, reasonable amounts for the work they do, to be appreciated, and not be micromanaged. That is apparently too much to ask for, nowadays, at least. People are fed up with working conditions, with their bosses, and with their coworkers . Companies try to convince you to 'give your all' to them, to work hard, for you 'wil…