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workplace-stories

'Boss made a rule... and soon changed his mind': General manager instructed to carry 2 phones and "not mix things," boss soon regrets it

'Boss made a rule... and soon changed his mind': General manager instructed to carry 2 phones and "not mix things," boss soon regrets it

Do you remember the days when jobs would provide you with a work phone? Some still do: instead of using your personal phone, your workplace might provide you with a phone just for work . People feel different ways about this. Some love the separation of work and personal life ---not to mention that they'll never accidentally text their boss something that was meant for their spouse, or send a sensitive email from their personal account. Other workers don't like carrying multiple devices, and le…
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'I tried quitting and my employer rejected it': Employee tries to quit their job, boss says "no"

There are a range of reactions you might expect from an employer when you quit your job: they may be upset, get angry, or pretend like they don't care at all, whereas the jobs you are actually sad to leave will probably want to celebrate with you and congratulate you on your continued growth—even if they're a little mournful about it too. However, the reaction to your resignation you'll probably never expect is a flat “no” as a response. There's not
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‘She stamped her foot and left’: Karen throws a tantrum at grocery store after she is $10 short of her purchase, her husband calls her out in front of entire store

‘She stamped her foot and left’: Karen throws a tantrum at grocery store after she is $10 short of her purchase, her husband calls her out in front of entire store

Whenever one hears about a story that features a Karen, it often makes you wonder how these people go about their day, and who are the unfortunate souls that have to deal with them on a daily basis. Most Karens usually have husbands and kids, and they surely are aware of how she behaves in public. So how do they deal with her? Are they just as crazy, or do they know how to calm her down and make her see reason? This Reddit story answers these questions for at least one Karen, and boy were the a…
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‘There was never a job offer’: Server successfully completes a 3-hour trial shift at restaurant only to be rejected from the job and told they just wanted free labor

‘There was never a job offer’: Server successfully completes a 3-hour trial shift at restaurant only to be rejected from the job and told they just wanted free labor

Although there should definitely be a law against it, in some countries, an unpaid ‘trial shift’ is an accepted way for employers to examine their candidates' abilities. While it is understandable that this is a good way to test if a candidate has the required skills for the job, it is still unlawful to then not pay those who don't get the job. Besides, knowing that this type of action is legal, must mean that many workplaces take advantage of that and bring people in to work for free when they…
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'I annoyed... him every time he set foot in the office': Bookstore worker forced to work in the dark after lazy boss won't replace broken lightbulb

This boss is quite literally not the brightest bulb. He seems like the kind of person who cuts costs at every possible moment, which as you can imagine, is not making the employees very happy. A lot of workplaces operate on a tight budget, but some managers take this way too seriously. They'll either say there's no money to fix workplace issues , or they'll wait until the issue can no longer be ignored before they finally decide it's worth looking into. This person, u/MillyHughes, shared that t…
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'A $200k mistake': Employee gets fired, costs their boss and the company $200k, employee is rehired with a raise and promotion

We're all going to make mistakes in the course of our lives, but it's pretty safe to say that we'd all hope that our mistakes not be immediately able to be quantified by a dollar value on a price tag directly attached to our error—and certainly not one equating to many (many) thousands of dollars. Still, usually when your superiors are the ones making a mistake like this, it's not often it works out in your favor, the typical response is for them to bury their heads further in the sand and cont…
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woman is wrongfully fired from nursing home for being late and reporting unlawful practices at the facility, despite nobody else being written up: infers it's because of whistleblowing

Employee is wrongfully terminated from assisted living facility after reporting them for not following regulations, despite being one of few assistants who actually does their job

“It looks like retaliation for whistleblowing.”
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‘I got cheated out of my raise’: Employee gets snubbed by boss who refuses to approve their raise, they go over boss's head and report him as payback

‘I got cheated out of my raise’: Employee gets snubbed by boss who refuses to approve their raise, they go over boss's head and report him as payback

Unless you work directly under the company's actual CEO, it is always helpful to remember that even your boss has someone to answer to. It is quite comforting to know that if something unlawful or even unfair happens with your boss, there is always someone you can turn to. The person who wrote this Reddit story definitely remembered this piece of information, and used it, when they felt like their boss was doing something they should not be doing. OP (original poster), got this performance revi…
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'I've finally decided to break free...': Coworker's witty and honest resignation goes viral

If you hate your job, you've probably fantasized about doing exactly this. Letting everyone know exactly how it is and saying the quiet parts out loud—finally declaring that the emperor has no clothes once and for all. Of course, while your coworkers will whisper This coworker's resignation went viral after they sent an email out to all staff at their company outlining, in a humorous way, everything that they despised about their time working for the company, doing so with a levity and sardonic…
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workplace discussion employment issues antiwork workplace-stories jobs employment-discussion job work workplace Horrible Bosses employment in the workplace - 36327173

Manager repeatedly schedules employee when they're not available, leaving them confused as what to do: 'I can't even work that day'

Obey the schedule… Managers love to preach the importance of “the schedule”
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'You are a micromanager': Housekeeper calls boss out on ineffective leadership and unsafe working conditions in epic resignation email

'You are a micromanager': Housekeeper calls boss out on ineffective leadership and unsafe working conditions in epic resignation email

Very few folks have the guts to stand up to their micromanaging bosses. Even when you have nothing to lose, something still holds most people back from really going there like this housekeeper did. Along with the rest of the cleaning staff, they were tasked with unrealistic expectations from their boss while working in difficult and unnecessarily harsh working conditions, from rules about working in complete silence to not having sufficient supplies (and, in many cases, having to purchase their…
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Customer demands refund for 20 minutes of internet downtime caused by their own mistake, customer service rep maliciously complies: '[That's] a little under 2 cents an hour'

Dealing with an endless stream of customer complaints is no way to live your life... Repeatedly pushing that boulder of someone else's problems up to the tip of the hill only for it to roll down again every time the ungrateful person on the other end of the line hangs up. The futility and thanklessness of your efforts is only rewarded by statistics on a screen that you hope are high enough to keep your micromanaging supervisor off your back. Of course, the beauricratic inertia that customers fa…
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Employee's wedding PTO is denied in favor of older coworker's time off request, boss presents an ultimatum: ‘Either reschedule your wedding or you're fired’

Employee's wedding PTO is denied in favor of older coworker's time off request, boss presents an ultimatum: ‘Either reschedule your wedding or you're fired’

In a perfect world, when a couple gets engaged, they each get to take time off their jobs so they can plan their dream wedding. Then, after they get married, without having to even think about work, they would go on a long honeymoon to enjoy their time together as newlyweds. Only after they return from their vacation would they also return to work, where everyone would welcome them with open arms and congratulations. This world is not a perfect world, in fact, it is far from it. We live in a wo…
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Long-time employee fired over Zoom after 40+ years, owner pretends he resigned and promotes son to replace him: 'Ted was cast aside'

Long-time employee fired over Zoom after 40+ years, owner pretends he resigned and promotes son to replace him: 'Ted was cast aside'

Never become too attached to your job. Unfortunately for Ted, his loyalty to the company would never be rewarded. Instead, despite working at his company for more than 40 years, he would be unceremoniously fired over a Zoom meeting. To make matters worse, Ted was given a nice severance package, but only if he went along with a fabricated story his boss concocted that he had actually resigned to pursue other career opportunities. As the Redditor recounts in their post, everyone was distraught af…
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Cable company keeps charging for disconnected service, customer gets even by making 8 repeated callouts to his residence on their dime: 'After 8 tech support visits, finally they got the message'

Some organization's customer service departments are appalling for information to call into. Every time you call in, you're starting from scratch, telling the same story and documenting the same requests until you have the entire thing rehearsed down to a science. I've personally encountered this a few times in the last couple of years and it feels like it's only increasing in frequency with the rise of reliance on automated “AI” customer service systems.. After getting stranded in Houston last…
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'No work-related errands at lunchtime? OK': Employee complies with boss's demands about ordering office supplies, delays multiple company projects

'No work-related errands at lunchtime? OK': Employee complies with boss's demands about ordering office supplies, delays multiple company projects

Some employers don't know how good they have it. Here, we have an employee who routinely ordered office supplies during lunchtime out of generosity. This was not part of his job description; he just did it knowing it would help with the general workflow in the office. One day, after doing this for years, the errands took a bit longer than expected and the employee was chastised for taking a “long lunch.” From that point onward, the employee was instructed to only order office supplies through c…
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