The proverb “A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush” postulates that you're better off with what you have or are able to get now rather than what you might be able to get in the future. Reson being that While working for an emergency telecommunications company, this worker fell into the all-too-common trap of taking on additional work with the promise that it would eventually lead to more pay. Spoiler alert: It didn't. With the proverbial carrot dangling just in front of them indefin…

We thought the titular contests of the “Hunger Games” series were just some SciFi hoopla, yet here is this eerily similar real-world equivalent: competing for the privilege of working so that you can continue to support your own survival. In fact, “Hunger Games” is a fitting name given the fact that the arena for this real-world analog was in a restaurant. Everyone who has ever worked in the service industry or retail knows that customer reviews are a total grab bag, you can do nothing exceptio…

A double-edged sword cuts both ways, and you could probably get a paper cut from a double-sided print job, too. Cutting costs might seem like a good idea, but really, you're probably just going to slice right through other important things like customer satisfaction and, by extension, your company's profit. After all, as the old saying goes…You gotta spend money to make money. Overly inflexible policies are almost certainly a double-edged sword. When you demand rigid adherence to rules, leaving…

Is it really even petty revenge when you revoke your recently ex-employers' access to your personal software that you paid for and were only using for your work out of goodwill? At that point, you're just reclaiming what was rightfully yours, to begin with, and since the company had been effectively leasing your software license, you might as well go ahead and send them a bill for however long they had been using it, too . It's not your fault if they can't properly invest in the resources neede…

When maintaining million-dollar machines is the singular focus of your work, you'd hope that your manager would leave well enough alone and trust you to know how to do your thing. Alas, when it comes to new management, leaving well enough alone is something that is never in the playbook, a “one-size-fits-all” approach taking precedence over logical reason. This machine operator worked at an aerospace manufacturing company, executing an efficient routine by starting work early to ensure that mac…

Many times in life you should be careful what you wish for. Especially in business, foolish ultimatums that you think your subordinates won't be able to rise to may only inspire them to call your bluff and look elsewhere for employment. Being underappreciated in your work really is frustrating, especially since it usually goes hand in hand with being underpaid. Employers often will downplay your contributions, whether consciously or subconsciously, instead attributing the company's success to t…

As a part of our professional lives, we're almost obligated to be amiable to our coworkers, clients, and associates, even if we can stand them… with every fiber of our being. The reality of life is you're not going to get along and vibe with everyone, nor should you, without distilling your personality and trying to people-please so as not to offend anyone ever. While getting along with coworkers and working well with them is an obligation… where does that obligation end? Once you're out of the…

Being consistently overloaded with work in an organization where the expectations are completely out of touch with reality is a soul-sucking experience… always falling short, no matter how much time and effort you put in. Let's face it: if your team is “understaffed” for a long enough period of time, it's pretty safe to say that your employer has no intentions of hiring anyone else, and they consider it to be an ideal staffing level. It's only when productivity and customer satisfaction start s…

You don't know a good thing until it's gone: a phrase that is applicable to so many areas of life. And it fits quite neatly in the sense of employers This media designer slowly found themselves, over time, burdened with more and more responsibilities that were unrelated to their own actual role, over time eventually taking on the equivalent roles of “at least” four people. Finding themselves on the hook for their own materials and equipment as if they were a contractor despite, you know, being…

More often than not, when someone isn't pulling their weight on the team, you'll find that your team leader is remiss and unlikely to do anything about it. Preferring to let their weight be shouldered rather than attract the attention of the higher powers. See, it stands to reason that, in most organizations, no attention is the best attention; as soon as the powers that be set their sights on your team, it can be impossible to shake it off, with their increasing scrutiny and weight bearing dow…

Getting rejected or passed over for a promotion that you've been promised for years is always going to leave a bad taste in your mouth. You might believe the words of your employer when they tell you that your efforts will one day lead you to a higher role. And, yet, every time the opportunity presents itself to promote you, they go with someone else, and you're faced with that, no matter what their intentions might have initially been, they're dangling a carrot on a stick out in front of you t…

It's surprising how many businesses seem to be able to continue to persist despite the fact that a light gust would blow them over, being consistently and continuously mismanaged to the point where one single mishap would cause them to cease to exist. This employee worked for a horrendously mismanaged manufacturing company that was seemingly on the verge of collapse. The management team that had employed them was suddenly fired soon after they were hired, which caused them to be understandably…

Going above and beyond should earn you praise and commendation. Unfortunately, it's more likely that all it will do is increase expectations. Showing your superiors what is “possible” and setting a new baseline for yourself. When this worker went above and beyond in their contributions to their workplace, creating and sharing video content for

There's no motivation in life like receiving a hard-earned reward—our brains are literally wired this way. When it comes to work, you might hope that that reward would be increased compensation that matches your increased contribution and efforts. But, unfortunately, at a lot of organizations, showing a willingness to take on more work is only showing that you're willing to be paid less for it, leaving you with more to do in the same amount of time with little to no increased compensation. Let'…

When you've been entrusted with the care of children, it's a little difficult to do your job without telling them what to do. Adult input to keep things moving in the right direction is essential to their safety and happiness, and it's kind of impossible to get anything done without it. With that considered, you'd be foolish, as the parent employing said child-carer, to tell that child-carer that they were unable to give your children instruction and “parent” them. As if—what? You just expect t…

Obsessive control over situations and circumstances does net results—and that's part of the problem. This early, immediate, and measurable success creates the validation necessary for managers—and really anyone in a position of authority—causing them to fall further and further into the pitfall that is micromanagement. Other than the fact that it ruins morale and generally makes everyone you're working with miserable, micromanagement presents some problems: namely, you'll reach a point, a limit…