If you're not getting properly paid during mandatory company retreats, it doesn't matter how many free meals you get during said retreat. That time is time spent away from home and instead, it's time engaging with colleagues. In other words, that is time spent working. It doesn't matter how seemingly recreational the activities may be. If the purpose is team bonding, then the purpose is work-related. This means that employees must ensure that they are compensated properly for that time. If it f…

One of the most important lessons I've learned as a professional is to protect yourself when you're working with incompetent people. Otherwise, they will sink the entire ship and you will sink with it. Otherwise, you may be the one to have to take the fall for their inability to get things done well. Otherwise, you will be seen as the incompetent one. This may sound like a cynical approach to collaboration, but it certainly doesn't apply when you're dealing with normal colleagues. It's just the…

People seemed to be divided about who was in the wrong here. This candidate had applied to a lot of jobs and finally got a phone call from a potential employer. During the conversation, the Redditor asked over the phone if they made this inquiry about the position today because they couldn't quite remember. That became an immediate turn-off to the employer, who not only told the candidate that they wouldn't be a good fit for the position (an awful and overused phrase), but the employer also blo…

Managers often never listen to who actually knows best. Instead, they tend to make executive decisions not based on facts or awareness, but rather based on what's ultimately convenient for them and their sense of authority. This applies to all toxic work environments from restaurants to law offices, but in this case, we are dealing with a tech company. This Redditor often had to push long Friday meetings to the following Monday because they always ended up having to fix bugs in the system on Fr…

There's a moment in everyone's working lives when you suddenly become disillusioned and everything else becomes crystal clear. It's like the reverse of the moment in The Wizard of Oz when the world goes from being black-and-white to full technicolor. Instead, your rose-colored lenses disintegrate and everything becomes, well, bleak and cynical. After five years of working to the bone at the same company and repeatedly being denied a promotion, this Redditor was able to get their boss to basical…

Every office has that one coworker who thrives on gossip, but what if that coworker has an even more worrisome ulterior motive? It's one thing to form a friendship with your other coworker and to engage in mild and meaningless gossip about office dynamics. After all, when you're spending eight hours a day and five days a week working with the same people, it's inevitable that cliques will form, tensions will occasionally arise, and rumors will spread. Even if you have no desire to engage in tha…

Some people are convinced that other people are plotting against them at every turn—continually suspicious that everyone else is constantly scheming to swindle them out of petty cash. Really, this is probably just an admission of their own thought process—as they say, your reality is a mirror reflecting your inner world… and the reality probably is that these people constantly anticipate underhanded tactics because they wouldn't hesitate to use them themselves.

Imagine the thrill of getting hired at a new company only to be shamed on the very first day for having to recline a certain way because of health issues. This Redditor had a known disability that required them to recline on the job, but given their role and several years of experience in the field, it really should not have been an issue. Her seating position had absolutely no effect on the job she was performing, but of course, in the eyes of her traditionally-minded boss, her appearance came…

Sometimes, the opportunity for getting payback on your awful coworker does not arise until many years down the road. In this case, Jessica (said awful coworker) got this Redditor fired after they had called her out for doing nothing on the job. Of course, the wrong person was punished and everyone secretly knew this, especially the Redditor. However, while it seemed that the story ended badly for them, the opportunity for payback arrived years later when OP found themselves at a bank where they…

HR might not be your friend, but they can certainly hear and see everything. Let's take a moment to consider the good HR reps out there and to think about all the unnecessary drama they have witnessed. Most of these folks do not take any pleasure in cleaning up everyone else's mess. Sometimes, these messes can be a result of tension among coworkers; other times, they can be physical messes. These ridiculous and cringeworthy stories have been compiled from this r/AskReddit thread, and they certa…

People on power trips are just asking to make enemies in the workplace. Nine times out of ten, it is almost always easier to just be kind. To those of you who have previously fallen privy to the psychological effects of being in a position of power within the workplace hierarchy, do not doubt that everyone around you knows that you're in charge. There is no need to assert your authority any further when everyone already knows. It's not only redundant, but it's a waste of time, energy, and often…

If they say they can't promote you or give you a raise but then they keep hiring full-time employees, it's time to get out of that toxic work environment. Because whether or not you're ready to admit this to yourself, the truth is they are never going to promote you, especially if you keep bringing it up and they keep doing next to nothing about it. If they were going to promote you, they would have done it already. Instead, they seem to want to squeeze as much underpaid labor out of you as the…

Divulging personal aspects about yourself in the workplace can be a pathway to forming stronger bonds and close-knit relationships—or it can be used against you the next time your performance review comes around. The reality is that your work time is for work, and your own time is—well, your own. But, in a modern “always online” world that's fueled by instant communication and where some employers want to squeeze their workers for every last drop of productivity, this line becomes increasingly…

Throughout the course of the working week, you spend roughly 40 hours in the presence of your coworkers . This can be an incredible way to form tight bonds with other like-minded individuals. Throughout your adult life, it's more likely you'll make friends at work than from any other place, unsurprising given you're often spending more time with them than with your own family. But while you'll make some friends, it's more than likely that you'll be spending a lot of time with people who grind y…

There is nothing more frustrating in a job search than being dragged through an entire interview process only to be given a ridiculously low offer in the end. You would think this scenario could be avoided if the job candidate is transparent from the start about the kind of salary they are currently making and the kind of salary they would like to make in the new position. However, that is exactly what this Redditor did and they were still completely fooled by their recruiter. Of course, in thi…

The fact that this employee has managed to pull off this arrangement for over a decade is a remarkable achievement for slackers everywhere. Seriously, if he continues to make this situation work out, this dude might retire nicely one day after collecting a paycheck for doing nothing for the majority of his professional life. That might not be everyone's dream. Heck, it might not even be my own. However, you have to hand it to this guy for coming this far. At this point, you may be wondering wha…