There's always a bigger fish… No matter how big or small you are, you can almost take solace in the fact that there's always going to be someone bigger or better than you at something and will soon come to take your place. This is a real worry to the big fish out there who are desperate to maintain their status as top dogfish. In this way, sometimes being the smallest fish is beneficial because all the other fish are so much larger than you that they consider you to not be a threat or even wort…

"Cause and effect" or "action and reaction" is typically a predictable concept—bounce a ball on the ground at your feet, and you'd expect it to come flying straight back at your face. Still, when the factor of human perception motivations is included, you can end up with some interesting reactions that you might not have considered. Take for instance, this worker who injured themself during their lunch break while working from home, leading to their boss's ending of their workplace's flexible w…

If you’ve ever worked a job where your work site was off-site, then you know exactly how this goes. It’s not unusual for some superior, probably your boss’s boss or boss’s boss’s boss, to make important decisions about the manner of your work and instate policy that makes very little sense in the reality of your working conditions. Almost always, they're sitting behind a desk in a city a long way away and entirely disconnected from the reality—even the context—of your job. The problem is that t…

This is something that comes up now and again that anyone offering specialized services to clients will certainly resonate with. It's amazing how often a person or an organization will pay for services, products, and the expertise that comes along with them, only to refuse to accept the advice that they're paying for. And with ego-fueled hubris, they suddenly decide that they know what's best. The old adages might tell us that “The customer knows best” and that "The customer is always right in…

The last 50 years have brought an unprecedented amount of technology and reform to the way we do business. Those writing Science Fiction around that time might have predicted that we'd either be living in a utopia where we no longer needed to work to live or we'd be living in a dystopian world where few oligarchs, like the fictional Eldon Tyrell, hoarded wealth from the masses like dragons sitting on a pile of gold, while many struggled just to survive in a world of decaying infrastructure amid…

It's always important to be weary when money is involved, and the fact that everyone has heard a tale or two about a scamming or dishonest mechanic adds to their apprehension when facing a service bill. The problem with thinking everyone is trying to get one over on you all the time is that you'll blame everyone for everything and find yourself constantly at odds. Typically, these types of demands from customers are a way of avoiding footing the bill or in the hopes that you might knock somethi…

The age-old workplace practice of requiring workers to go to the doctor after missing a day of work to get a sick note feels a little strange; it's infantilizing in the sense that the only other thing like it in our lives is when we had to bring a note from your mommy into grade school after missing class. If your boss wants to treat you like a child, you might as well act like one and act like you don't know a thing. The real problem comes in the form of the fact that it's impossible to get in…

Working in modern workplaces can be exceptionally exhausting. Constant distractions due to open-plan offices tear employees away from their work. At the same time, success is attached to social and political status with heavy reliance on the “optics” of busyness rather than employees' actual effectiveness in completing their tasks. The reality is that we all work differently, and forcing all staff to work what you perceive to be the “appearance” of hard work will result in a performative cultur…

You've probably heard that old adage about the new hire who goes in for their first day of training ready to do everything by the book but is instead surprised and maybe even disappointed when they're instead taught all of the shortcuts that the experienced grizzled employee has developed over the years, cutting out the parts of the process that are superfluous and unnecessary. The problem is that by learning and only using the shortcuts in the first instance, they're never going to understand…

Giving honest feedback is tough, but the only thing harder is receiving it. Especially when the content or implications of that feedback catch us off guard, we might think we're doing everything right and are contributing far above our pay grade and described role, and yet, the visibility of our contributions may not be what we think it is… and we might have fallen afoul elsewhere within our supervisor's expectations. See, it all comes down to perception, which never quite matches up with the r…

Being told that there's absolutely no way you can or should possibly be paid more for your work when you've taken on the responsibilities of not one but two vacant levels of management above your actual role is disappointing for certain. It's almost more disappointing, though, when you get another job offer for 32% more than your current pay, and when you tell your employer the news, they're more than willing to give you the money you originally asked for and more. As always, in situations such…

It's important to remember in any circumstances where you want to circumvent security and gain entrance to somewhere that you're going to need to get out as well… and the same thing applies when you're trying to get back into somewhere you've gotten out of. Anyone who ever snuck out as a teenager knows exactly how this goes: getting out is pretty easy, but getting back into your room in the wee hours of the morning without waking anyone is exceedingly more difficult. Mom, if you're reading this…

“ Most employees don't quit their jobs....they quit their bosses!” This phrase has been bandied about in internet employment discussions for some time and remains steadfastly true. Any job—well, almost any job—is tolerable to a certain level just as long as you enjoy the people you're working with. Even the most grueling work at odd hours can be managed as long as you have solid, reliable leadership and coworkers whom you enjoy. In these types of workplace cultures, the work itself is almost se…

If workers aren't being paid for their time, the real charity is the business itself… Businesses love to “contribute” to charity almost as much as they love using pizza parties as a band-aid solution for morale. For one thing, it's a great look for the business after the marketing team gets its hands on the photos taken on the day and then makes a bunch of social media posts grossly exaggerating the company's involvement and contributions. Even more importantly, almost all expenses involved in…

When it's your job to ensure important information is protected, and someone insists that you delete it, even if it's the client themself, you'd be right to pause for a moment and reassess the situation if something doesn't sound quite right. Clients tend to woefully overestimate their abilities in the matter they're contracting you to handle, so they may be asking you to do something they don't fully understand the implications of. This tech support specialist worked for a small organization,…

If you've ever worked in an industry with technicians or mechanics, you know there is one rule that must be followed: Never (NEVER) touch their tools—or tell them how to organize and manage them. This is true even if the company provides the tools, but it is especially true if the mechanics buy and use their own toolsets. As one commenter cleverly pointed out on the original thread, this story was shared: Asking a mechanic to organize or tidy their tools so that you can borrow them is like your…