There's this thing that occasionally happens in workplaces, universally, across every industry, when management takes a look at their books and realizes how much they're paying workers in overtime. Commence initiative: Overtime approval—requiring workers to endure ridiculous approval processes to beat them into submission until they don't bother reporting overtime that they're working. The extra work still gets done, and costs don't increase. Job done. The perplexingly confounding thing about o…

When your Karen coworker has it out for you, you have to watch your back.

When someone is harassing and bullying you at school, you can tell an adult. When someone is doing that to you at work, you go to the human resources department, aka HR. If HR is the bully… Then you can try telling your boss, but they hired HR so they didn't have to deal with that kind of stuff, so good luck! Unfortunately, that is what happened to one employee that turned to Reddit to share her story. She does her job well and all of her coworkers, and even her boss and upper management, respe…

Interviews are a two-way street: the candidate is trying to figure out whether or not they want to work for the employer just as much as the employer is trying to figure out if they're interested in the candidate. Still, often there are multiple candidates but only one position; this can create a power imbalance and desperation on the part of the candidate that leads to only one direction of the street being walked. As such, candidates may miss major red flags from the interviewer or dismiss th…

We all have daydreams about screwing over our former coworkers, right?

If there's one person you don't mess with… It's the person who is in charge of the books. This person has the capability to rock your world in ways that you really don't want it rocked. This was especially true in a time before the internet when there wasn't a thing called a “digital backup,” and often, backups weren't a thing at all. Even if the documents were important enough, were used, and did exist—they'd be at another physical location and would have to be mailed, which could take weeks .…

This IT guy was working for a large firm as a contractor for their IT department. His experience was one that people often have within a giant, bloated corporate behemoth: The managers were unreliable, the expectations were too high, and the company had an odd culture that tried to give you more work, as congratulations for a job well done, rather than pay you fairly. That sounds like something that the owner or CEO thought of one day when they were sitting on the toilet, and all the "Yes Men"…

This job seems to check all the boxes of a toxic work environment.

A nefarious plot by the CEO to lay off all workers at a big-box electronic store triggered a rebellion by the store's manager that would send the corporate entity reeling. Is this a plot line written by George RR Martin? Or a modern retelling of Robin Hood? You be the judge! When the employees of the store accidentally learned of this plot, it was a free-for-all. The manager was angered and made use of his discounting privileges to provide all employees with a once-in-a-lifetime shopping spree…

Toxic workplaces love “fake” promotional roles—used to saddle workers with more responsibility and workload with a little-to-no increase in pay. They serve as an effective method for What stands out here is the impossible situation of being stuck in a terrible employment arrangement and being unable to find an exit route. People forget how much energy it takes to look for other work. When positions are limited in your sector, you can find yourself working what is essentially another full-time j…

It's pretty simple at this point: if you can't live up to your own expectations, then you're less likely to fill the position.

Certain companies have a knack for treating their employees in embarrassing and dehumanizing ways—toxic policies ensuring that you hate every second you spend on their premises. Checking bags and searching for personal belongings is one of these policies. There's no reason for it unless you're dealing with high-security clearance. Why are you so worried that an employee is going to steal a pair of sneakers that were produced at literal slave wages?

Some things stand out to you immediately as being out of place—like feeling the skin suddenly crawling on the back of your neck when you're walking through the park at night. We're primally—well… ‘primed’ for picking out when things are potentially dangerous; that innate survival instinct works wonders for picking up when things aren't quite what they seem. However, some people are cunning and practiced in their duplicity, and chances are you might miss the subtle hints that things really aren'…

Smokers often attract the attention of their coworkers due to the obscene number of short breaks they take to “step outside” for a moment and satisfy their addiction. If this worker only managed to accrue $200 worth of stolen time—well, they might be one of the most responsible smokers in the workforce. But let's be honest here—how many of us are guilty of taking small breaks from our work to browse Reddit. . . . For more,

"It's not personal, just business." companies love to say when enacting or enforcing an unpopular policy with their workforce—but it's incredible how personal it can get as soon as you hand in your notice. It turns out that power and control are actually a big part of what these employers love about their relationship with you… and they don't relish being told to relinquish that power.

Without people like this, companies will only continue to exploit their workers.