Managers better have a good reason for denying someone's PTO request. Otherwise, they're practically asking for conflict. In fact, the number of legitimate reasons is quite minimal, considering that employees are granted the right to take their vacation days when they sign on to a company. In this instance, the employee was actually trying to take off days that were mutually convenient for both her and for the school in which she worked. However, her department head decided to make an issue out…

Let this serve as a friendly remember to never trust that HR has your back. No matter how charming their smiles are or how friendly they may seem when you're making small talk in the kitchenette, do not be fooled into thinking that anyone in the HR department is supporting anyone other than the head honchos. The grim part of this truth is that it may not even be HR's fault at the end of the day. They too are doing their jobs in an already established system. However, some of these stories certa…

If you feel like your bosses are taking advantage of you, you're probably right. When this realization occurs, it's always a good idea to write out the pros and cons of your current position, to think honestly and critically about the added value you bring to the company, and to assess whether or not your current employment status (salary, benefits, job title, etc.) accurately reflect the hard work you have put in over the course of your time at the company. This project manager worked his way…

Working a job can open your eyes to all sorts of things that you'd never even imagined were possible. Unfortunately, most of these—at least the ones that stand out in your memory—will make you never want to use that service or buy that product ever again. Once the curtain is lifted, it's impossible to close your eyes to the reality of the world as you now see it. Having previously worked in fire alarm maintenance in another life, you'd be horrified how many buildings are non-compliant to local…

We all knew hiring managers can be shady, but this “slight change” during the interview process was about as shady as it can get. Imagine going through multiple rounds of interviews and feeling excited because you're likely to get this position. You're comfortable with the offer from the job posting and you seem to like all of the people at the company with whom you have spoken thus far. Then, all of a sudden, they pull a bait-and-switch on you. Just before your final interview, you receive an…

There are few life experiences that are more humbling than going through a job interview.

Let this story serve as a friendly reminder to never work for a business off the clock. If your company requests that you carve out any extra time outside of your regularly scheduled hours, you are well within your right to request that you be paid for that time or, at the very least, that a negotiation process can take place. Let's be clear: the higher-ups at your company are fully aware of what they are asking of their employees. If the topic of payment for that extra did not cross their mind…

No boss should be remotely surprised when employees expect that the conditions of their contracts will be honored. Changing the circumstances of someone's employment contract should function similarly to negotiations during the hiring process. Everything must be a two-way street and the solution must satisfy both parties. This is why it's particularly shocking in this day and age to see a CEO so out-of-touch when he forced entire teams of fully remote employees to relocate across the country fo…

You never know when speaking a foreign language comes in handy. Sure, it's useful when you're traveling to another country or when you're trying to communicate with someone who doesn't speak your primary language. However, it can occasionally save you from unexpected problems. Here, we have a Serbian employee in an English-speaking office who accompanied their boss to a meeting with a Serbian business. The employee overheard the businesspeople speaking in their language about how they were esse…

It's a great feeling to know that your boss is going to be absolutely lost without you. If the circumstances with which you are leaving your company were at all contentious, there is at least a sliver of satisfaction knowing your former employer will be totally confused and will have so much trouble finding a decent replacement. Of course, it's much healthier to part ways on good terms and with a sense of professionalism. That being said, if your boss fires you because you were providing too ma…

Discovering your manager's failed attempt at disciplining you has got to be satisfying. Not only was this employee already over it and clearly prepared to find another job, but he also found his manager's write-up about him because it was left in the company printer. Let's just say that this so-called write-up was about as unintentionally comical as it could get. First of all, it was full of typos. Second of all, it was full of malapropisms. For instance, when the manager wrote, “I called HR to…

It should not be revelatory that the number of hours one spends at the office is completely separate from the amount of work one completes. Productivity and efficiency are relative to the individual worker, and there is something to be said for leaving employees alone when it comes to how they get their work done, provided that no other team members are negatively impacted by their process. This thread was posted to Reddit's r/MaliciousCompliance subreddit by u/Fun-Pin9061 , whose boss insisted…

When someone at work decides they don't like you for no reason, there usually is not much you can do to change their mind. You can try to reason with them or find common ground, but nine times out of ten, these are unreasonable people with a high school mentality. If they meet you with pettiness, sometimes the only thing you can do in return is to be petty right back. This thread was posted to Reddit's r/pettyrevenge subreddit by u/MercerAcolyte42 , who discovered her coworkers' complete distas…

Working at a company with a newly established HR department can lead to the establishment of many a shady policy. We're talking about people who don't really understand what it is to be professional and well-managed steering the ship. If you work at a company like this, you certainly cannot expect a smooth sailing experience. Rest assured, there will be bumps along the way. Here, we have an employee who took five days off at the end of last year at the request of their boss after the loss of th…

Note to self: never be the person everyone rolls their eyes at in the office. We're talking about the person who says whatever the boss would like them to say and would throw someone else under the bus in a second if it meant they got extra points in the boss's book. We're talking about the guy who is always scheduling unnecessary meetings just to make it seem like he's busy. Going out of your way for brownie points may impress an egomaniac, but it's always how to annoy and frustrate your cowor…

Be careful what you wish for, boss! It's common for bosses to have strange rules and regulations; nine times out of ten, they are tied to a bizarre superiority/inferiority complex. However, we often find that bosses misinterpret perfectly normal behavior as disrespectful, and that's when this becomes an issue. It's rarely insubordination; in fact, most of the time, employees are so laser-focused on their tasks and responsibilities that they do not have their boss's emotions at the top of their…