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toxic-workplace

'I deny work from all of my managers': Employee with three different bosses keeps claiming he's swamped with tasks, ends up doing no work and collecting checks

'I deny work from all of my managers': Employee with three different bosses keeps claiming he's swamped with tasks, ends up doing no work and collecting checks

Clearly, this company has a management issue, but this employee will be the last person to complain about it. He has found himself in the unique situation of having three different bosses from three separate departments. These departments have very little crossover, which helps the employee immensely when he claims that he has been overwhelmed with tasks and responsibilities from other departments. This is how he has managed to avoid getting any work from all three of his supervisors. Instead,…
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Freelance worker fired after asking to be paid for extra work: 'I got a termination email claiming disrespectful conduct'

Freelance worker fired after asking to be paid for extra work: 'I got a termination email claiming disrespectful conduct'

Freelance workers deserve better. Despite not being salaried and not having benefits, most of these workers are forced to deal with a nebulous set of expectations that can at times be more intrusive. For instance, freelance workers may not have a set number of hours, but that does not mean that they have to be subjected to constant emails, calls, and texts from their supervisors during off hours. For some reason, the work-life boundaries for freelance workers always seem to be more nonexistent…
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30 funny job postings filled with typos: 'Get paid to become a science!'

30 funny job postings filled with typos: 'Get paid to become a science!'

One has to wonder who wrote these job postings! Perhaps they are the ones who should be out of a job and looking for work. There is nothing quite like the pain of scrolling endlessly on job posting sites and looking for the right opportunity, one that you're potentially qualified for and genuinely interested in pursuing. It can feel impossible, at times, to find the right mix of both of those extremes in one employment opportunity, and yet, you continue to hope for a better day so you keep on s…
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'Is he trying to get fired?': Employee photoshops picture of boss's family and sends it to the wrong chat, boss plays mind games to get even

'Is he trying to get fired?': Employee photoshops picture of boss's family and sends it to the wrong chat, boss plays mind games to get even

Some people should simply not be allowed to text. This employee made the egregious error of sending the wrong message to the wrong person: his boss. He had been joking around with a coworker and decided to photoshop a photo his boss sent to their whole team of his unfortunate-looking family. The employee superimposed his boss's face onto the faces of each member of his family in the photo as a commentary on their employer's bad genes. He meant to send it to his coworker only, but of course, the…
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Employee told by boss to move surgery to Christmas break despite having 300+ hours of PTO saved: '[I] should be able to take this time off'

Employee told by boss to move surgery to Christmas break despite having 300+ hours of PTO saved: '[I] should be able to take this time off'

Imagine feeling the pressure to use the 300+ hours of PTO you saved on recovery from surgery and then hearing from your boss that you should consider pushing the surgery back to Christmas break. First of all, using vacation time for a medical emergency is already a sign of a toxic work environment. Secondly, the fact that this boss would rather have their employee delay their surgery so they can be available before the Holiday season says far too much about how much they value the well-being of…
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Small company gets bought out, new CEO demands employees to look busy, cue malicious compliance: 'We're basically creating a public perception of busy without actually doing too much'

Small company gets bought out, new CEO demands employees to look busy, cue malicious compliance: 'We're basically creating a public perception of busy without actually doing too much'

It's a tale as old as time. You have the perfect job at a small company, everybody manages their workload well, and things are going smoothly. Then, the company finally gets bought out by a larger one, and a new CEO enters the picture. What follows is a seismic cultural shift with new expectations, responsibilities, and rules. This thread was posted to Reddit by RevolutionFriendly56 , who shared their side of the story after their new CEO decided to lecture everyone about loyalty and staying bu…
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'I'm not okay with this': Partner advocates for location tracking of all lawyers in the firm, associate refuses

'I'm not okay with this': Partner advocates for location tracking of all lawyers in the firm, associate refuses

We all have paranoia about sharing our locations with friends and family indefinitely. What if a friend finds out I'm at a party they weren't invited to? What if my mother sees that I'm home and therefore thinks it's ok to pop by? These are all valid concerns that are worthy of strong consideration before agreeing to share your location with someone in your life. Now, imagine that the stakes were higher and the person requesting that you share your location with them is your boss. Wouldn't you…
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'We have to fire you because you are too expensive': Employee gets fired, demands compensation for a full year then starts working for competitor

'We have to fire you because you are too expensive': Employee gets fired, demands compensation for a full year then starts working for competitor

Imagine getting told by your boss that you're too expensive for your job and then costing them way more money to fire you. Let this story serve as a warning sign for some of the higher-ups out there that firing someone just might end up with more expensive consequences than keeping that person onboard. Here , we have a Technical Director at a company in Southern Europe who managed to get full compensation for a year after his dismissal before signing on to work for his former company's biggest…
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Candidate shares nonsensical job application from toxic recruiter: 'Are you normal?'

Candidate shares nonsensical job application from toxic recruiter: 'Are you normal?'

No, potential employer: none of us are “normal.” Here is yet another example of why recruiters and human resources folks should simply not be allowed free rein to ask whatever they like. In an ideal world, job applications should be solely about one's resume and qualifications, and there should be an equal exchange of information. That means that on the other side, there should be transparency about expectations, salary, benefits, and workplace culture. I suppose the fact that the question of “…
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Nurses are denied OT but then find a loophole to infuriate their micromanager: 'Don't want to pay me 7 minutes of overtime? Mmmkay, pay me an hour'

Nurses are denied OT but then find a loophole to infuriate their micromanager: 'Don't want to pay me 7 minutes of overtime? Mmmkay, pay me an hour'

Going out of one's way to deny healthcare workers overtime pay seems pretty outrageous, right? Well, it seems to be happening, thanks to the operational management of this hospital , where a group of overworked nurses were expressly pressured not to clock out even a minute beyond the end of their shift. Does it matter if they need to finish processing important paperwork? No. Does it matter if they should be responsible for checking up on a few more patients before the end of the day? No. Does…
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Fast food worker's hours cut after violating company policy despite manager's mistakes: '[I] threw my manager under the bus'

Fast food worker's hours cut after violating company policy despite manager's mistakes: '[I] threw my manager under the bus'

This mistreated employee managed to find a loophole that worked in her favor! She had been in an on-and-off relationship with her manager , which of course, was not the wisest of ideas but it happens. The biggest issue here is that she was the one who was unfairly punished while her manager had yet to receive any ridicule for his behavior. According to company policy, relationships among employees need to be disclosed to upper management. However, this was a two-way street and it was just as mu…
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'I was the one who actually did a lot of the work': New lieutenant embarrasses incompetent boss during important meeting after doing the bulk of the work

'I was the one who actually did a lot of the work': New lieutenant embarrasses incompetent boss during important meeting after doing the bulk of the work

There is nothing quite like the satisfaction of seeing your incompetent boss embarrass himself in front of everyone. This kind of scenario applies to virtually every industry, even the army . Here, we have a new lieutenant who was frequently tasked with enforcing unnecessary drills and tasks. On top of that nuisance, he was also doing the bulk of the work in preparation for an important presentation to the higher-ups. When this meeting finally happened, the lieutenant's direct report stumbled,…
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'I forwarded boss's own email back to them': Boss tells employee not to cover for two coworkers to avoid giving him another raise, backfires when both coworkers are out

'I forwarded boss's own email back to them': Boss tells employee not to cover for two coworkers to avoid giving him another raise, backfires when both coworkers are out

Defining an employee's core responsibilities is a key and careful task that can backfire or protect you depending on the situation. Here , we have an employee who occasionally covered for two of his coworkers if they were off at the same time and had brought up to their boss that he was the only person at work who was capable of doing so simultaneously. This helped the employee when he was negotiating a raise, but after the raise, his boss told him that he should focus on his core responsibilit…
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Awful boss gets comeuppance after employee writes essay to entire staff about his poor management: 'My toxic work environment has just worn me down'

Awful boss gets comeuppance after employee writes essay to entire staff about his poor management: 'My toxic work environment has just worn me down'

Sometimes just quitting isn't enough. If you have been working in an unfair, unjust, and just all around unprofessional work environment for a long time, merely saying “Sayonara” isn't going to give you the satisfactory exit you deserve.
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Job candidate rejects recruiter's request for free, unpaid work during interview process: 'I was asked to produce a full list of tasks for [free]'

Job candidate rejects recruiter's request for free, unpaid work during interview process: 'I was asked to produce a full list of tasks for [free]'

Why is the interview process so unnecessarily drawn out these days? If you get to the point of an interview, it should not take long for a recruiter to understand if your resume, cover letter, and initial application match well with the actual person interviewing. It should also not take long to see if it's a “personality fit.” In other words, cards should be on the table from the get-go and that goes both ways. This means that salary expectations and benefits should be clearly explained before…
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'You want a phone call EVERY time? Will do!': Employee puts in tons of overtime to maliciously comply with micromanager's demands, gets him fired

'You want a phone call EVERY time? Will do!': Employee puts in tons of overtime to maliciously comply with micromanager's demands, gets him fired

Getting caught in between the demands of different authority figures within the same company is not always easy to navigate. Not only are you catering to the needs and requests of your direct supervisor, but now you have found yourself having to cater to the whims of the person who signs your paycheck and your micromanager's paycheck. That is the conundrum that this Redditor found himself in and it triggered a lot of insecurity from his direct manager, who insisted on getting an extensive updat…
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