There is a time and a place to start a squabble with your manager. There are moments when things have gone way too far and you feel like you'll have to stand up for yourself or else you'll be going down a dangerous path, one where you'll be easily manipulated and unfairly mistreated. When those situations arise, you'll know in your bones that it's time to speak up. However, it's important not to confuse these important moments with meaningless ones, and being asked to switch off a light after y…

There will be times in the workplace when you'll really enjoy what you're doing, tasks seem effortless, time flows seamlessly, and results are rewarding. There will also be times when the exact opposite holds true, and every moment spent at work is excruciating. Sometimes, you'll relish the tasks your boss hands to you, whereas other tasks will make you want to gouge out your own eyes. But occasionally—rarely—throughout the course of your career, there will be tasks you'll be asked to complete…

This is what you call a ‘big-brained move’… After all, your employer can't fire you for being late if you don't show up at all, and if you've played your cards right, there's always that sick leave you've got piling up that needs to be used. The only way to face draconian workplace policy is to fly in the face of it. By definition, these policies and the organizations that impose them often have had a singular use case in mind built around a certain behavior the organization is trying to brutal…

Verbal reprimands are usually a sign of a toxic workplace… with screaming, yelling, or explosive tantrums from your boss being a sure sign that you should start looking for a new place to work. Now, that doesn't mean that every piece of feedback falls under this category. Sure, it might not feel great when your boss tells you you've made a mistake or that you need to up your game… even if the Chief Executive answers to someone and feedback is literally just a part of the job. It can get confusi…

This prof is seeking opinions about how to handle a strange work situation. After all, sometimes it's hard to tell if you're just complaining about something annoying at work, or if it's a real issue that needs to be addressed. As if teachers don't have enough on their plates, this professor is carrying an extra large burden. U/Different_Pianist756 had a question for the internet users of the world: what would you do if you knew your coworker was doing something wrong? And not something small,…

This is one of those rules that is so obtuse, it hurts your head to think about. Every job has some rules that make no sense. But some jobs, particularly retail work , have rules that are jaw-droppingly inane. This is especially silly when it comes to the "customer is always right” types of rules. Because, as it turns out, the customer is not usually right at all, so why should they get to determine the rules? For example, if you want your store to close at 2AM each night, you should have a rul…

Sometimes, it's hard to tell as an interview candidate if you're potentially stepping into a toxic work environment. People tend to present the most performative versions of themselves when they're interviewing someone. Everyone seems to be extra smiley and people only seem to be talking in euphemisms. Direct answers to direct questions are hard to come by during the interview process unless you force their hand. And because everyone's being the best versions of themselves, it can be difficult…

This employee decided to call their boss's bluff, writing that their boss “thinks she's won.” It's not every day you hear about a boss this overbearing. U/Nerdfury83 shared a story about their new manager at their job---her title really should be “micromanager.” The OP works at a phone job, taking calls that have recorded logs. The OP's boss is so strict that she is literally counting the seconds that OP isn't on a call! While phone jobs are notoriously strict about the time employees spend on…

Being a young and inexperienced worker entering the workforce for the first time is a harder experience than most of us are willing to admit—or even remember. For one thing, your lack of demonstratable experience and the lack of perceived skills that go with it will often leave you drawing the short stick when it comes to your tasks within the team, regardless of your actual capabilities. I can't help but feel that the biggest change that happens as you age is that other people perceive you dif…

Sometimes, the best way to get payback at work is to wait to quit until it's the perfect time to do so. What does that mean, exactly? Well, quitting when you haven't yet made everyone know how valuable you are is definitely not the move. You want them to know what they are missing when you leave so that it's all the more dramatic. You also want to wait until the perfect opportunity has come along so you won't have any dark nights of the soul where you regret your decision and try to convince yo…

It seems that farm machinery does not go very fast. Although it would be so sick to see a tractor flying by at 90 miles per hour, today we've learned that they max out at about 15 miles per hour. Just think how much more efficient farm work could be if we gave these tractors a boost. Picking fruits and veggies at slow speed is so last year, instead, let's see how many you can harvest while you're at maximum speed. This person didn't really care about their job, where they'd often drive farm mac…

This certainly won't be the last time a selfish boss makes an outlandish suggestion. This employee has been working at the company for nearly four years and has saved more than 320 hours of PTO, yet when they were scheduling their upcoming surgery for January 2024, their boss suddenly took major issue with this decision. First of all, let's all remind this Redditor that no matter how much control it may seem like her boss has, she is not your doctor and she has no right to make suggestions abou…

You want to learn the hard way? So be it. When you first begin working at a customer service job , you want to help every customer, and help them have a positive experience at your store. Once you've been there a while, and talked to a Karen or 3, you begin to realize that many people simply cannot be reasoned with. You might be a perfectly logical person, with a perfectly reasonable answer to the customer's queries, but they will not care. Customers will still blame you for things that aren't…

Whether you have a kid or not, parents deserve your empathy. Just ask any parent, and they'll tell you--- raising kids is hard, but it's worth it. When your children are little, they require attention basically 24/7. You are always on call, feeding them, soothing them, putting them down for naps, playing with them, and keeping them safe. Parents will also tell you that breaks are few and far between. Since it is such a big responsibility to have kids, some employers look down their noses at par…

Calling an employee's sick leave into question is one of those toxic workplace traits one would hope would have been eradicated by now, but unfortunately, you can't stop horrible bosses from being horrible. This thread was posted to Reddit by u/BigJhed , who had been working as a civil engineer when he had to request three months off on sick leave while recovering from an unfortunate car accident. By the end of this period, his supervisor informed OP that his paid sick leave would expire at the…

Oftentimes, when starting a new role, it doesn't end up being quite what you'd imagined. Delusions of grand inspiration fade like a mirage in the desert in the face of the reality of menial tasks and repetitive labor. After all, as we're consistently proclaiming, an interview is a two-way street, and the company is trying to sell themselves to the most desirable candidate they can get—often for as low of a price as possible—just as much as the candidates are trying to sell themselves to the com…