Leading from the front is important for any leader—you need to walk the walk that you talk… but when it comes to sales and commission, you don't want to be competing with your own team to make the wage that you should be earning anyways for managing the business. Anyone who has ever worked in a retail environment that heavily prioritizes sales probably has encountered the subject matter of this post. For those who have never worked on a sales floor for commission, if the environment isn't manag…

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you… The “golden rule," which has appeared in many forms across human history—is also sometimes called the “ethic of reciprocity.” Whichever religion or cultural norm you associate this with, that religion or culture probably intended the “ethic of reciprocity” to work in a positive way and encourage people to do good things to other people in exchange for receiving goodwill from others in return—you know, the kind of behavior that encourages founda…

Working overtime is basically your employer admitting they haven't hired enough people. Thankfully laws that require increased compensation for overtime end up forcing a win-win; Employers get extra coverage in peak times, and employees get better compensation for working longer, often unscheduled hours. That is, if you're not a salaried worker and don't live somewhere where these laws don't exist. This worker, luckily, was in an industry that mandated strict overtime for any hours worked over…

Some people want to have their cake and eat it too. But it's really not so much about the cake itself as it is the control over that cake; they want the cake to submit to their authority and stop questioning it all the darn time. The thing is, this cake-haver probably isn't qualified to tell the cake what to do, which is why they're so darn insecure in the first place… I don't really know where this is going or what this metaphor is supposed to mean, but people aren't cake—and you shouldn't try…

Contractors have a certain reputation, and while that might not be fair to all contractors and may have more to do with the complicated challenges of sourcing the correct materials in reasonable timeframes, this stereotype exists for a reason. Everyone has had that experience or knows someone who has had that experience with a contractor who repeatedly fails to meet deadlines, fails to communicate, and sometimes just plain fails to show up when everything is already ready to go. Some contractor…

Sometimes your actions to prevent something can bring it into existence as if you're unknowingly fulfilling a prophecy of your own making. That's what happened to this boss, who attempted to keep their workers from taking sick days by demanding they get a doctor's note only to have the doctor recommend them to take more time off than they would have in the first place. This is a common experience we've all probably had ourselves or witnessed at some point in our working life. A lot of organizat…

Remember when your parents used to confiscate your cell phone for not answering it? Thus leaving you with no cell phone to answer their subsequent calls with. You might not have been able to text your friends either, but not being tied to a requirement of constant communication and surveillance was freeing. It turns out that experience is not lost to the past, and you may be able to relive it (without clocking 88 miles an hour in a DeLorean.) All you need is a boss who is more concerned with ma…

Scientists were astounded when a new material was discovered that is even denser than osmium: This boss's thick skull. This thread was originally posted to Reddit's r/AmItheA**hole subreddit by the boss, who was resoundingly put in their place and declared completely wrong by everyone who responded. Commenters were so shocked by the boss's callous willingness to renege on promises—and so impressed with the worker's decision to quit on the spot—that one commenter cross-posted screenshots of the…

Giving someone instructions that you don't actually want them to carry out is foolish and bound to make you look like one when they follow through with your commands. It's crazy how common power-tripping bosses use this tactic, thinking their power is absolute over their subordinates. They risk everything on a single ego-fuelled order, daring their workers to call their bluff, only to be surprised when they do. This worker shared their experience working for a boss who frequently would wield th…

There's nothing worse than being uncomfortable at work; that's why you'll never catch me in a suit and tie. That and the fact that copywriting isn't really the right field for dressing to the nines. So I'll rephrase: That's one of the reasons why you'll never catch me in a suit and tie. Imagine being told that you can't do something because “the policy” or SOP only to come to find that it's not actually a written rule at all. The hilarious thing that happens here is how quickly something gets c…

Everyone watch out!.. The fun police are on patrol. We all expect to have to maintain some degree of professionally at work, but we're all still human beings, and part of being human is wanting to—you know… enjoy things. We're already trading a significant portion of our existence for the means to eat and keep a roof over our heads, so is that really too much to ask?

It's nice to feel valued for your work and know that your employer understands that you're important to their business, though you might hope it wouldn't take handing in your notice to find that out. You might also prefer that this was communicated to you in a way other than through your old boss calling your would-be new employer to accuse them of “poaching." Alas, some people just don't know how to communicate properly. Maybe they never learned, maybe they just don't care… maybe they aren't e…

When managing a business, it's best to ensure you understand how things go before making any big decisions. When your subordinates point out that your amazing shiny new idea isn't … you'd do well to listen to them and not let your ego push you into what could be a huge mistake. This thread was posted on Reddit's r/MaliciousCompliance subreddit by Redditor u/Absurd-n-Nihilistic, who shared their story with the popular community. They tell how their new manager had joined the company from a diffe…

If you have to claim that you are or aren't something, it's incredibly likely that you aren't or are that thing. It's like having that one friend who tells you that they hate drama, yet whenever drama happens, they're right there in the thick of it. So, when your boss tells you that they aren't demanding while they're in the middle of being demanding, it's likely their ego is just deflecting. This discussion came to the forefront when an employee received a text from their boss asking them to c…

A lot can happen in 16 years. It's likely that in this time you would gain a wealth of knowledge, insight, and experiences. Heck, if this worker had had a child, they would be in high school. Still, you gotta love a trier—although it's a shame that this employer is probably one of the one's running around telling anyone who will listen that “nobody wants to work”

Backpacking through a foreign country while working on a holiday visa puts you in some strange situations in some strange places with some still stranger people. That's part of the joy of the experience; reflecting back on these situations with slightly rose-tinted glasses and wondering just how the heck you managed to get through it gives you a kind of “second-degree enjoyment.” Plus, you'll have