Have you ever had that one coworker who will manipulate every situation and use every tool and any loophole at their disposal in order to make sure that things always go their way? If you haven't, good for you, and please let me know how you've managed to avoid them for so long. These coworkers—Gary, let's call them Gary… Now, Gary is no dull blade; the ability to gaslight and manipulate your way through a team of people takes knowledge, brains, and skill. But Gary is often lazy, looking to avo…

Sometimes it's important to take a step back and take a look at why you're doing something—especially when it negatively impacts other people. If you can't come with anything other than “because I want to” or “because it's better for me personally” then maybe you should reconsider and not do that thing. For one, you should never have the audacity to think that you can think that you have the authority and skill to rewrite an entire policy by yourself overnight… Add the incompetency of this empl…

Increased responsibility deserves increased compensation. Usually, if you're being given more responsibility, it comes with more stress and added workload, which you have achieved by displaying competency, aptitude, and adequate experience—at least in theory. Unfortunately, at times an employer might try and tell you that they're doing you a favor by bestowing increased responsibility upon you, and why should a favor get you a higher rate of pay? If anything, you should be paying them —they'd a…

Whenever someone is confidently incorrect, sometimes it's better not to argue with them. Instead, make sure you cover your own rear and let them do their thing… and watch the chaos unfold—just as this worker did when they got a micromanaging new boss. This thread was posted to Reddit's r/MaliciousCompliance subreddit by the worker, Reddit user u/BrightRick. u/BrightRick explains that they worked for a catalog in the 80s. What's a catalog, you ask? Well, see, before the internet, people who were…

The usual decorum for interviews is that of subtlety—and for good reason. The fact that you're looking for other work is one that you'd probably prefer your employer wasn't aware of. Their gut reaction could very well be to fire you and secure the future of their business and the security of their company. Now, jobless, the job you were applying for now has much higher bargaining power over you than they held previously. For this reason, it's usually an unspoken rule that an interviewer As an a…

Working overtime is basically your employer admitting they haven't hired enough people. Thankfully laws that require increased compensation for overtime end up forcing a win-win; Employers get extra coverage in peak times, and employees get better compensation for working longer, often unscheduled hours. That is, if you're not a salaried worker and don't live somewhere where these laws don't exist. This worker, luckily, was in an industry that mandated strict overtime for any hours worked over…

Just like Daenerys Targaryen “kind of” forgetting about the iron fleet… these bosses forgot that this guy was included in their group chat, using it as a means for discussing firing the worker in three weeks' time, once they were caught up with the delivery workload.

There's a reason why you're forced to show your work in math class. It's important that you can prove how you reached a conclusion to show that you comprehend the reasoning and aren't just blindly following the rule. Unfortunately, the same requirement is not translated well—or consistently—from the classroom to the workplace, with too many managers blindly following rules that they don't understand to the point of sociopathic cruelty. This issue also isn't helped by the fact that there are a l…

As human beings, we all develop interesting ticks and facets of our personalities that can manifest into very strange behavior. Often our desire to feel “good” and avoidance of feeling “bad” can cause us to make a series of consecutive decisions that see us walking too far down a particular path and becoming something we might never have anticipated. Take "Disney Adults" or any fandom as a prime example of this. You get exposed to something at some point in your life, say, Disney media and it m…

One of the worst parts about working in the service industry or retail is “blackout” dates—where no one is able to take days off—these always line up with precisely the days you'd want to take off. Holidays, long weekends, and anytime between Christmas and New Years—pretty much any time you might want to see family or friends (who are all off work.) These have all been deemed as days where all hands are needed on deck due to high volumes of trade. But the worst part about blackout dates?.. Hypo…

It's often said that you'll only be truly appreciated for your work long after you've left the job; this is owing to what little visibility upper management has into your work or what little understanding they have about what it is that you actually do. Unfortunately, rather than being missed or celebrated, it's more likely that you'll be blamed for things that had nothing to do with your role (or even happened after you left.) In most workplaces, your boss will be shaking their head and mutter…

The blocking of gas pumps is one of those everyday entitled behaviors that, while relatively innocuous, tips over into mildly infuriating levels of moderate frustration. These people probably are the same ones who cut up an empty turn lane or shoulder to dodge traffic. Their behavior isn't illegal in any sense, but it defies the sensibilities of us more civilized and compassionate folk. These truckers had had enough of people (including other truckers) blocking fuel pumps by taking their 30-min…

Dealing with changing expectations from your boss or colleagues requires a strategic approach; after all, having all your t's crossed and i's dotted ensures that you have covered yourself when things inevitably hit the fan and they go looking for someone to blame, aiming to hang their own failure's of leadership on the neck of an unprepared scapegoat. Despite all of this, Hanlon's Razor still shines through; it's not as if these people are necessarily aware of what they're doing, and it's not a…

Unnecessary rules and processes must be followed to the letter—because some manager who has never actually done the job decided it must be so. As long as they only waste your time, they'll remain in place indefinitely as you're hounded mercilessly about the resulting drop in productivity (thanks to these new processes.) However, as soon as these processes infringe upon the time of the manager who made them, it's miraculous how quickly they can disappear, which means the easiest way to get rid o…

There's something inherently risky about hiring someone to create undoubtedly the most important promotional tool for your business, only to turn around and refuse to pay them once you've accepted delivery of the product. It's almost like screwing someone over when it's something you don't understand is a bad idea… Who knew? Stories about developers getting back at clients who refuse to pay are deeply satisfying; there's this classic aspect to it of someone (the client) thinking they're holding…

Quitting a job is stressful and can lead your imagination to anticipate a myriad of possible terrible outcomes. The worst case scenario would probably be your current boss being secret best friends with your new one, prompting them to call your new boss and tell them not to hire you before firing you on the spot. Yes, it's unlikely can happen while working in small towns and close-knit industries—or when you're leaving a company to work for their major supplier. Still, despite wild imagination,…