It's not often that the villain wins in the end—unless it's the second part of a trilogy, and you need to set up the third part so that our heroes are fighting back from the brink of defeat… a la Star Wars' second (fifth) installment The Empire Strikes Back . See, ending your story with a conclusion where the villain wins usually doesn't provide a satisfying story structure—unless things have been leading there the entire time, and that's the point the story is trying to prove. [SPOILERS: No Co…

This waitress wanted to share a story about a family interaction at her job, but commenters took the customers' side! The OP has a few memorably cringe lines. If a waiter ever handed me water and in the same breath told me about how it had “came out of the dinosaurs years ago. [It's] just filtered super well," I'd hesitate to eat there. What a weird thing to say about a fresh beverage! Perhaps one of the worst ways to make water sound appetizing is to remind the customer of how water filtration…

What's the opposite of a work wife or work husband? It's a work nemesis, as these poor professionals can attest to. If you have friends you're starting to not get along with, you can stop texting them or inviting them over. But with your colleagues , even if they're really annoying or irresponsible, there's not a whole lot you can do to avoid them. Maybe you and Dave from finance don't see eye to eye on politics, but you'll still find yourself working on a spreadsheet with him while rolling you…

As nerve-wracking as it can be, starting a new job can also be an exciting experience. New challenges and opportunities await… Unless the job you've been hired for isn't actually as advertised. See, there's this thing that can happen where all optimism you had for the new role evaporates as you slowly realize that the job you've been hired for doesn't actually exist in the way you thought it did and the organization you're working for has no idea how the job they hired you for should function.…

There is something to be said for creating a healthy distance with your coworkers. Most folks understand this choice. The ways in which people choose to draw boundaries between their work and their social lives are personal choices. However, as much as you would think everyone would understand those choices, some folks simply don't get it. Like the coworkers who keep inviting you to events that you continually turn down…

There are so many red flags to look out for in corporate culture these days, but having to produce a sick note in order to work from home for more than two days has to be at the top of the list. In this case, we have a sick employee who had to go to the hospital numerous times for a rare cold/flu that was not easy for the doctors to diagnose. Obviously, we know what you're thinking. This illness sounds like your worst nightmare or the beginning of a horror movie. Instead, the horror story reall…

We're nowhere near the Holidays, and yet we already have employers being awful about time off on Christmas. Here, we have a single parent who works as a dietary aide at a medical facility. We trust her when she says this is not exactly an environment she is comfortable bringing her kid to work in on any day, especially Christmas. When she recently learned that the daycare where she sends her kid would be closed on Christmas, and she realized she had no other alternative but to request time off,…

When you're the go-to person in your workplace, continually asked to step up or fill in for your boss when they're away and taking on their excess work when they're overloaded, you'd probably expect that you'd be the next in line for promotion, a shoo-in, essentially having already displayed an aptitude for that level of work. You might especially expect this if you had worked in similar roles in the past and had taken a step down when moving into your current role for reasons not related to pe…

How bold of this company to take a few minutes of every employee's day for free! U/afazihdob had a great workplace tale to share from their time working in retail. The OP laments that although they worked at numerous retail chains in their career, their bosses at one store were notoriously strict about latenesses. If I were ever a manager at a retail or food place, I wouldn't be able to take clocking in seriously at all. I just don't think it's the end of the world if an employee is two minutes…

Your boss might be more internet-savvy than you know. While going through the hiring process, it's crucial to ensure your social media presence is squeaky clean. Maybe you remember a few tasteless tweets from ages ago, or you have a few hot takes that shouldn't have been shared to Facebook. Even if those posts are old, they aren't harmless. Anyone who knows how to do control+F, allowing you to search a webpage by phrases, can find any salacious information on your profile. Even a quick Google s…

As much as getting fired stinks… at least there's a certain finality to it. Hey, you no longer have an income, which will soon affect your ability to afford food and a roof over your head, but at least you no longer have to get up at 5 a.m. every morning just to put on stuffy clothing, grab a hurried breakfast on your way out the door, and sit in traffic for an hour. Only to sit in traffic again on your way home after sitting in a noisy “open office” for nine hours.

This employee may have had enough with his company, but in the end, his toxic boss had no one to blame but himself. After all, it was the boss that went on a ridiculous rant in the first place. He gave an intern a hard time for asking to leave early because she was going to have to put down her cat at the vet's office. The boss had absolutely no remorse for her situation and decided to yell at her because he thought he could get away with it. This Redditor saw the encounter in plain sight and s…

So, our friend (the OP) has been working at a hotel for nearly four years and is about to move on to a new job. The trouble? His manager is causing quite a ruckus during his final days. This manager has a history of making life difficult for our OP, and it all hit a boiling point when he put in his notice. From unusual write-ups to some eyebrow-raising demands, it's safe to say this isn't your typical farewell. The latest twist? An approved day off has turned into a potential face-off.

These people had a sneaking suspicion they weren't going to like their new job . So they quit ASAP---many of them quit right after their first shift. There are a lot of clues that can tell you if a company is a good place to work or not. For example, if you go through the interview process and the steps are clear and the company is communicative, that's a good sign. But imagine you show up to an interview , and there are dozens of other people there. Hmm, that's the first sign. Then, you and al…

It's hard to imagine how many times I've written this sentence in various different ways… but you really should not overestimate your knowledge when joining a leadership role in a new organization. Take some time to integrate yourself and learn the ins and outs along with the important players before even considering making changes. If you make changes too soon, wielding your ego with ham-handed fury, you'll soon find the organization crumbling beneath your feet.

Applying for jobs is never a fun time, but there are a few rules people don't really talk about that will make the application process slightly more bearable. For instance, if you're one of those people constantly clicking “Easy Apply” on LinkedIn or Indeed, you're not making anything easier for yourself. The first job search hack on this list provides a far more direct solution: apply directly on the company website. You would think this is self-explanatory, but so many of t