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toxic-workplace

'I just sent that to my entire team': Employee photoshops boss's face on photo of his entire family as a joke, then accidentally sends it to the whole team

'I just sent that to my entire team': Employee photoshops boss's face on photo of his entire family as a joke, then accidentally sends it to the whole team

There are some people in this world who would save themselves a whole lot of embarrassment if they just didn't have phones. Today, we're talking about the technologically incompetent folks who accidentally send the wrong message to the wrong person. These are the people who accidentally spoil surprises or reveal their true feelings to the very person they are insulting. We feel that this is a relatively common phenomenon that we can discuss freely and openly, especially considering that yours t…
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'[My boss] was walked out by two cops': Thieving fraudster retail manager gets arrested when their employee finally gets even

What do you do when your manager is a thieving fraudster, and their boss refuses to listen because, on paper, your manager is getting good results? This is something you'll likely come across during the long course of your career, and you might be dismayed to find yourself powerless in the position. Heck, most bosses will be willing to look the other way for someone who is performing high in whatever KPI upper management is currently prioritizing… Just as long as things look good and people are…
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'Sorry boss, that's a managers job': Boss tells employee not to take on extra work, employee maliciously complies and boss's incompetence starts to show

'Sorry boss, that's a managers job': Boss tells employee not to take on extra work, employee maliciously complies and boss's incompetence starts to show

Sometimes, bosses become so reliant on their employees' contributions that they don't even recognize how hopeless they'd be without them. This boss clearly became threatened by how much extra work her employee was taking on regularly, so the two had a meeting where the boss told the employee not to take on any manager's responsibilities. Normally, this would actually be great advice. There is no need for an employee to work that hard and not get paid extra for it. However, that's not exactly wh…
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'I will be filing an ethics complaint': Boss wants healthcare worker to work overtime, doesn't want to pay for it

If only there was some way that I could get more work from my employees without having to pay them for it… A thought that every employer has apparently had at some point during the operation of their business. Of course, the simplest solution to getting more work done without increasing costs would be just to find some way to get your employees to work more hours without paying them. After all, more hours equals more productivity… If only those pesky employees didn't expect to be paid! While yo…
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Update: 'I will not be following up': Boss asks employee to write impossible report before he leaves the company, employee proves it was a bad idea

Update: 'I will not be following up': Boss asks employee to write impossible report before he leaves the company, employee proves it was a bad idea

Most employees hope to be appreciated and valued while they're happily employed at a company, but the unfortunate reality of the working world is that employers often don't understand that value until they're about to lose you. When that happens, all of a sudden your contributions to the company seem so important that your bosses become increasingly afraid of what the workflow will be like in your absence. As we said, it's a very self-involved line of thinking, since you've been hoping for vali…
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'You are too expensive': Boss fires employee, employee forces boss to compensate them for a full year and gets job at the competition

'You are too expensive': Boss fires employee, employee forces boss to compensate him for a full year and gets job at the competition

If this employee's boss thought he was expensive before he got fired, well, it turns out he was even more expensive to fire. There has to be something gratifying about proving to your boss that they made a mistake, and in this case, making it far too late for them to back out of their poor decision-making. It all started after this Redditor's boss pulled him aside one day and told him that they needed to have a discussion during his next coffee break. When OP walked into the meeting and saw the…
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'I got laid off saying I wasn't necessary': Employee develops startup for two years, was promised shared, gets laid off right before the company launch

'I got laid off': Employee develops startup for two years, was promised shares, gets laid off right before the company launch

Imagine developing a startup for two years only to get fired right before the company is officially registered. As upsetting as this situation may be, we've seen employers behave this way before so we cannot say that we're surprised by this. When it comes to startups in particular, we know this kind of shady behavior is pervasive. What's especially upsetting, in this instance, is that the developer seems to be integral to the success of said startup. In fact, his work was not only an integral i…
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'I remind him since he hasn't sent me the contract I don't work for him yet': Former boss tries to squeeze free labor out of ex-employee

'I remind him since he hasn't sent me the contract I don't work for him yet': Former boss tries to squeeze free labor out of ex-employee

Bosses never know what they've got until you're gone. This dude was one of those non-profit employers who assigned the amount of work a salaried employee would complete to an intern without paying them properly. That intern eventually pursued a career in a similar field and would go on to receive a graduate degree years later. Seven years following that joke of an internship, his former boss reached out and asked for his help with some grant writing. Now that OP worked regularly as an independe…
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'I got it in writing': Manager demands BBQ cook clock-out early to cut their hours, their kitchen goes uncleaned and work goes unfinished

Employers regularly have this idea that they need to save money on the cost of labor to decrease their bottom line. This usually comes about when there has been some quarterly meeting about what the company can do to increase profits. Rather than coming up with anything new, some bright-eyed manager will boldly propose that the company reduce the cost of labor—thinking themselves to be the first to ever do so, making them, therefore, a business genius . To be fair, reducing the cost of labor is…
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'I should get a bump in pay too': Boss pays new hire 20+% more, denies employee the same rate, employee gets a better job elsewhere

'I should get a bump in pay too': Boss pays new hire 20% more, denies employee the same rate, employee gets a better job elsewhere

Bosses should never underestimate their employees' ability to get the pay they want somewhere else. This dude not only denied their overworked loyal employee the raise they deserved, but they also had the audacity to tell them that the only way they could negotiate a higher salary is if they got a competitive offer at another company. Either this guy wanted his employee to leave (and his team's productivity level to implode) or he really underestimated the Redditor's ability to find a better jo…
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'I stopped doing their work for them': Company experiences huge losses when developer stops doing her coworker's work for them, exposing them

Pulling far greater than your own weight at work—or in any team—is a common frustration to experience and can make you feel like you're carrying an incredible burden on your shoulders. What's worse, it can make you wonder whether any effort is even worth it… Why bother working so hard if your coworkers are just going to refuse to do their fair share (and get away with doing less) anyway? This is something that you first encounter in grade school in the form of group projects, with some members…
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'Ted was cast aside to make room for the owner's son': IT employee with 40+ years of experience gets fired and replaced by inexperienced nepo baby

'Ted was cast aside to make room for the owner's son': IT employee with 40+ years of experience gets fired and replaced by inexperienced nepo baby

Is this business owner trying to run his company into the ground? It would almost be a better decision on his part to make his inexperienced nepo baby son his co-CEO. Whoever thought that firing the IT guy with over 40 years of experience on the job and promoting the owner's son instead should be, well, fired! What happened to Ted, whose story was shared by a coworker via this Reddit thread , is unfortunately all too common. Ted was given a generous severance package in exchange for a promise t…
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'[I] threw it in a dumpster out back': Employee throws out coworker's smelly sweater, coworkers conducts formal investigation, gets fired

'[I] threw it in a dumpster out back': Employee throws out coworker's smelly sweater, coworkers conducts formal investigation, gets fired

There are various ways to deal with your coworker's annoying quirks and eccentricities. Taking their supplies and throwing them in the trash is certainly not the most adult way of handling things. That being said, this employee seems fully convinced that what they did was the only way. In short, this Redditor confirmed that the strange odor they were smelling was emanating from their coworker's sweater, which he always kept at the office and therefore never washed. When OP asked the coworker ab…
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'I was told I'd be making $15/hr, flat': Housekeeper blindsided by employer at resort after salary keeps changing

'I was told I'd be making $15/hr, flat': Housekeeper blindsided by employer at resort after salary keeps changing

How many red flags does one need before it's time to quit and run? Imagine going through an interview process and being told an hourly rate that you're comfortable with should you get the position. Then, you get said position and you're told the exact same number as you sign the contract. Now that the contract is signed and you're beginning to schedule your training, you're told a wildly different number by someone else. You contact your boss and they tell you not to worry about it. You move fo…
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'It cost the casino anywhere between $250k-500k': Casino manager makes workers stay after shift to work unpaid hours, costs company big in massive payout

Every now and then, you'll come across some dense manager who thinks that they're a business genius for coming up with business strategies that no one else is using… and for implementing policies into the business that they're surprised aren't already being followed. All too often, there's a good reason why these strategies and policies aren't more commonplace… because—well, they're illegal. Still, laws and reason won't stop some people, who are either too stupid to realize they're breaking the…
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Salesman lets truck get hailed on in order to follow boss's rules

'I am forbidden from driving my truck even a few feet': Salesman lets truck get pummeled by hail in order to follow boss's strict rules

At this company, there is zero room for error when it comes to driving the company trucks . Employees can never use the trucks for personal use, so if they don't like it, there's the door. This salesman clearly values his job, so he followed the rules to a T. Some companies are extremely strict with their property. Whether they're monitoring every keystroke you type into your computer, or keeping an eagle eye on the company van's GPS, it can put every employee on edge. Businesses like this almo…
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