Thinking that you can trust someone, that they're your friend, and confiding in them only for them to turn around and stab you in the back—throwing your confidence back in your face—has got to be one of the hardest lessons to experience. You never know when a new friend or friendly coworker is actually going to turn out to be another rat racing up the ladder to the top, gnawing every rung they climb as they go to ensure that others are unable to follow. This administrator was blindsided when he…

It's pretty safe to say that forcing out the only worker in your company who knows the contacts and data for all of your suppliers would be—well… not a great idea. It would be common sense to, at the very least, tactfully make sure that you understand the ins and outs and inner workings of their role before you decide to force them out of the company. But, if you're the sort of manager or employer who is willing to use this strategy as a management tactic, it's probably safe to say that critica…

Sometimes, your petty actions go much further than you had originally intended, and without realizing it, you're pulling on a thread that will continue to unravel, causing a cascading effect that knocks over the first domino in a chain that "Rube Goldbergs" into a house of cards and sends the whole thing crashing down. Well, it turns out that when you accuse your terrible neighbor of being a serial cheater, sending anonymous messages pretending to be his mistress, that might be pretty upsetting…

Meddling pedantic coworkers who consider them to be a step above the rabble, despite being in exactly the same position as this “rabble," are a one-way ticket to a hellish workplace. The problem is that managers usually leave these busybody coworkers alone and may even regard them as proficient workers because they're making the manager's life easier by doing their dirty work for them. To be fair, the managers are also probably afraid of these people, seeing as they usually memorize the technic…

It must be exhausting always rooting for the ant-y-hero… but here we find ourselves rooting for this ant-y-hero whose origin story started when he exacted delicious revenge by honey soaking his target's shoes in a sugary syrup. Do you want ants? Because that's how you get ants! Without a doubt, you know you've really messed up when you caused someone at a Buddhist retreat to lose their chill. The entire point of these places is to give you an environment where you can enter into your zen and to…

There's something about driving vehicles that gets that “monkey rage” part of our brain all riled up, just simmering there, ready to do unspeakably feral things as if we're suddenly no more socially developed than a caveman during the caveman days… If you ask an expert (I'm not one), they'll probably tell you that it has something to do with the degree of separation we experience when we're cruising around in the relative safety of our own two-ton metal box that is continually propelled by a se…

Simple problems require simple solutions, and sometimes, that solution need not be any more complex than sitting on top of (or just beside) the problem. Some background knowledge for those unacquainted: the airline mentioned in the story does not have predetermined seats, and seats are determined like a massive game of musical chairs and are based on who can get to the seats first. Honestly, we have no idea who thought these free-for-alls were a good idea. It's crazy to think that something as…

Student meal halls are a pretty strange aspect of the university experience; while they're not really a scam, they're obviously designed to take advantage of students' funds suspiciously like one—as if you weren't paying enough already. See, usually, you have to pay a set amount at the start of each semester based on how much you think you'll spend at the student dining hall. Usually, this will come in the form of paying real money onto your student card in exchange for fake credits or some oth…

Good teachers are sticklers about things, and the ones you learn the most from are the ones who are insistent upon correctness to an absurd level. That said, every teacher isn't always going to be correct about everything and may wind up insisting on something that is wildly incorrect —like that time when your 6th-grade teacher told you that you couldn't start a sentence with a conjunction. But, further down the line, you later probably came to find that that wasn't really true or a grammatical…

It's amazing how some people get away with being completely incompetent, inexplicably failing upwards, and succeeding due to sheer circumstance until they find themselves in positions of authority that they never should have been allowed near. They'll succeed for as long as their luck holds, but eventually, the entire house of cards will come crashing down… This original poster claims that their revenge really isn't that substantial, but considering the fact that they pushed the first few domin…

Having roommates who use your things without permission is always frustrating, especially when there's a complete lack of appreciation, reciprocation, consideration, or at least acknowledgment of the fact that they're doing so. Still, sharing is an important way to build relationships, as mutual trust and reciprocation are key components. So, while people using your things is annoying, being overly zealous about people not touching your things is never going to fly either, and getting overly pe…

Entitled and self-serving people flouting simple rules and common courtesies rarely go unchecked. While you might wish that karma would intervene, it's important to keep in mind that any time you come into contact with someone who is behaving in an unpredictable or antisocial way, the best thing you can do is not engage with them for your own safety.

Working a bad job can be literally bad for your health, with chronic stress from being overworked and mistreated causing all sorts of untold medical issues.

It only takes one perceived slight for some people to reveal their true nature, their carefully crafted persona of a sane and calm individual slipping and revealing the chaos and hatred underneath. To be fair, a lot of people are wound pretty tight by their jobs and are often covering their mounting stress with the placid exterior of their working persona—but that still doesn't excuse this supervisor's extremely vindictive behavior retaliating against this worker for handing in their notice as…

There is no shortage of dishonest people in this world, a fact that becomes readily apparent as soon as you get in even the most minimal of traffic collisions. There are honest people, too, but you're hardly going to remember the time you got into a traffic collision with the nicest guy on earth, are you? At that point, you're exchanging information and going your separate ways, and while inconvenient, it becomes kind of a non-issue. People don't like owning up to accountability, and to be fair…

Trying to work your way up the ladder by climbing on the backs of those you've betrayed, mistreated, or taken advantage of is a bold strategy… which is why it's often only attempted by imbeciles, psychopaths, and sycophants. The rest of us are burdened by heavy things called "morals," thanks to the constant nagging of our conscience urging us to do the right thing. Still, it's surprising and disappointing how far this strategy will get you. Even the barest sense of company politics and “playing…