Employers should learn to be careful what they wish for more than anyone else. This old adage is something we tend to teach our kids in preschool. We've heard it over and over again on television, in nursery rhymes, and in countless mediocre school productions of Into the Woods . Yet still, it seems that our managers and bosses have forgotten what things might look like if their wishes come true and the ridiculous demands they put upon their employees are met. This thread was posted to Reddit's…

There are several no-nos when it comes to what you should not reveal in a job interview, but discussing your enjoyment of Star Trek should not be on the list. Now, I myself am not a Trekkie, and while taking off from work to attend Star Trek-themed events would not be the way I elect to use my PTO, I certainly would not disparage someone else for wanting to use their much-deserved time off in this way. This job candidate was interviewing to be a last-minute replacement while this Redditor was o…

It's not fair that only the students were allowed to enjoy this historic moment! Meanwhile, those of us in the working world including the educators of said children were forced to work during the solar eclipse. For those of you who are teachers out there, did you all get to enjoy the moment? Or were you like this Redditor and forced to stay inside in a windowless room to attend a lame professional development workshop? Thankfully, this teacher saw it coming and planned well in advance, so she…

Being particular about something is all well and good… to a point. You can want something done a certain way with good reason, but overly inflicting your pedantic ways on other people isn't going to make you any friends, and when you're managing a team, it certainly isn't going to win anyone over or inspire loyalty. No, it's always better to have a little flexibility and give your team members agency over their respective roles; letting people do things they're responsible for in their own way…

This totally unethical manager is about to go down. Not only was it against policy for the employer to participate in the tip pool among the other servers at the restaurant, but matters were also made worse when the manager suggested that tipping was a “privilege.” Essentially, she threatened to stop allowing her servers to receive tips at all, as if that is not the majority of the money these workers rely on to pay their bills. This thread was posted to Reddit by u/mddnaa , who decided that it…

Always be careful what you tell your soon-to-be former employer before you get out. Otherwise, they might make things harder for you, as this boss did. Sure, this might be a cynical take. In an ideal world, your boss will understand your desire to move on to a different opportunity, but if your manager is among the many selfish employers in the workforce, then leaving might not be so easy. This Redditor was not even necessarily looking for better work until he was poached by a different company…

Let this serve as a friendly reminder that sarcasm doesn't function well in the workplace. Every so often, maybe twice a year, this Karen manager decides to lose her mind and accuse everyone of doing everything wrong. She runs a small but always moderately busy convenience store. Well, the other day, she decided it was time for her tantrum. Her employee had just finished restocking and cleaning the store and had returned to the register when his Karen boss came storming and sardonically told hi…

Don't you just love it when you ask for something completely standard and are then told that you're being unprofessional? That kind of manipulative response from an employer is not only frustrating and unprofessional in and of itself, but it can also leave the employee spiraling and genuinely considering if they were in the wrong or not. It's a classic way to shirk responsibility and reflect blame right back onto the employee, and it's upsetting how common this management tactic seems to be. Th…

Why can't people just take “no” for an answer? Sure, this applies to many aspects of life from relationships to friendships to family dynamics. However, it also applies to one's professional relationships. This part-time worker politely turned down an offer for a full-time position, and her General Manager simply would not have it. An hour after the meeting, he followed up over email apologizing for pressuring her in any way, but of course in sending said email, he was doing the exact opposite…

This boss had a whole lot of audacity asking his already underpaid top employee to take a 30% pay cut. One has to wonder if the boss himself was willing to cut his own pay too. Somehow, we doubt it. Clearly, this dude should not be running a business, starting with the fact that he spent a large sum of money on business consultants who told him nothing particularly innovative about the state of his company. Unfortunately, his top employee had to suffer the consequences of his boss's total misma…

Some people thrive on red-eye flights, while the rest of us are left trying to figure out how they do it. Personally speaking, I have never been able to get enough sleep on long flights especially red-eyes. Part of that is because for whatever reason, I am always seated next to a bathroom, a screaming child, or a sick passenger who will not stop sneezing or coughing. The fact that this boss thought it was a good idea to force his employee to take a red-eye says a whole lot about how he values t…

Imagine quitting your job, moving to an entirely different city, and then two years later, hearing back from your former employer that you've been fired. Come again? If you were expecting anything from this guy, it was probably a message wishing you well, or perhaps even asking for recommendations or requesting a personal non-work-related catchup. Instead, of all things, it was a letter of termination on the grounds of "job abandonment." The Redditor mentioned that their former boss was a bit d…

Scheduling appointments during the work day can be difficult to navigate depending on how flexible and understanding your boss is. Most folks understand that it isn't exactly easy to schedule a doctor's appointment after work hours or on the weekends. Sometimes, you have to take what you can get. Furthermore, most employees understand that if they do have to leave the office early for an appointment, they will make up for lost time before or after. In short, it really should not be an issue wha…

Sometimes, being a stickler can backfire majorly. This manager learned that the hard way after calling out an employee for expensing a mere $1.02 more than the usual limit. She was given a stern “talking to” despite the fact that she rarely spends anywhere close to the $30/day amount when she travels for work. Well, that all changed quickly when the Redditor decided to maliciously comply following her manager's unnecessary tirade. She shared her story via this thread on Reddit's r/MaliciousComp…

It's remarkable how frequent these shady job postings are… Look, if job candidates are expected to be transparent and honest in every aspect of their resumes and applications, then we should at the very least expect the same transparency and honesty from the folks for whom we might be working. It should not be novel to be asking for this. In this case, we don't even have a company being intentionally vague in its outlining of job expectations and responsibilities, which is certainly another fre…

We all know that company surveys rarely result in any meaningful change, but perhaps it's a good idea not to say that directly to the head of HR. In fairness, this employee did not realize that the strange man in the suit whom he had never seen before was technically the head of the Human Resources department. This alone is a tell-tale sign that this company was a toxic work environment. It's not the employee's fault if the head of HR is so mysterious and unknowable that no one recognizes his p…