FAIL Blog
Advertisement

workplace-stories

‘You're not my boss, don't question me’: Micromanager accuses employee of undermining his authority after they ask for help, employee quits and walks out mid-shift in response

‘You're not my boss, don't question me’: Micromanager accuses employee of undermining his authority after they ask for help, employee quits and walks out mid-shift in response

‘You’re not the boss of me' is normally a sentence you would hear a child tell their parents or friends. You would not expect to hear this sentence in a workplace when a boss tells it to one of their employees. Yet, there are managers out in the world who behave like literal children in their workplace, and nobody bats an eye. They love their power, hate relinquishing control, and sometimes just bully their employees for fun. Take the boss in this Reddit story for example. OP (original poster)…
View List
workplace workplace-stories jobs revenge petty revenge petty-revenge-reddit revenge-stories-reddit revenge-stories malicious compliance Retail customer service customers customer customer support

Visitor refuses to clear entry with storage facility security, finds themself locked in and unable to leave: 'He had to wait until 4:30 AM to get out after my shift'

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…
View List
Advertisement
'This has to stop': Manager tells team in group chain not to discuss wages, employee claps back with receipts

'This has to stop': Manager tells team in group chain not to discuss wages, employee claps back with receipts

Let this story serve as a friendly reminder to always remember your rights as workers, people! Here, we have a manager who genuinely thought they were entitled to enforce rules against speaking up among your coworkers about wages. Luckily, this team had a brave individual among them who shut down this manager's nonsense by informing them directly, and in the very public group thread, regarding their right to share said information. Based on the manager's subsequent response, they were immediate…
View List
workplace discussion workplace-stories jobs job malicious compliance work workplace workplace malicious compliance employment in the workplace - 36664837

Boss repeatedly asks employee to work shifts while they're on leave to enjoy the birth of their first child, employee quits instead: 'How about I take a permanent vacation...'

“ 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…
View List
customer support customer service karens workplace-stories entitled parents job malicious compliance retail karen-customer work customers customer karens in the wild workplace entitled karen entitled people - 36662021

Karen demands baker go to the butcher's shop next door to sell her some meat: 'I don't see why you can't just go and get it for me'

It's particularly perplexing how some people manage to survive in this world when they're living in such a peculiar version of it. Of course, you seem to encounter people like this all the time when you're working in retail or the service industry. I suppose it's a “monkeys with typewriters” type of situation; by sheer chance, if you meet enough people in a day, you're bound to bump into a few with unique understandings and perspectives of the world. Still, you'll continually be surprised by so…
View List
Advertisement
‘Always take your PTO’: Employee quits while having 100 hours of unused PTO, expects to receive payout in last paycheck, only to get paid $1 per hour

‘Always take your PTO’: Employee quits while having 100 hours of unused PTO, expects to receive payout in last paycheck, only to get paid $1 per hour

For some unknown reason, there are employees who do not feel the need to use all of their PTO. They are fine with their PTO just sitting there, not being used for what it is meant to do – give people a break. I am a firm believer that PTO is there to be used, and I don't think I ever let a year pass by in a company without using all of the time off I am entitled to. For one, because how can a person go through an entire year without taking time off? And second, because letting it just sit there…
View List
'I'm normally never this petty': Employee receives mediocre performance review, responds by keeping track of everything to prove her boss wrong

'I'm normally never this petty': Employee receives mediocre performance review, responds by keeping track of everything to prove her boss wrong

Everyone gets a little anxious before their next performance review at work. Even if you know you complete your responsibilities to the best of your ability, there is a part of you that fears you may not receive the validation you deserve. Here , we have an employee who not only received a poor review, but she was also largely blamed for improper management. Essentially, her boss claimed she never completed all of her tasks, even though said tasks were never clearly written out for her to execu…
View List
‘I have a big mouth’: Hardworking employee gets denied a raise so they inform boss of quiet quitting, only to get fired on the spot instead

‘I have a big mouth’: Hardworking employee gets denied a raise so they inform boss of quiet quitting, only to get fired on the spot instead

Having a conversation with your boss asking for a raise is something employees should seriously prepare for, and not take lightly. One should come with receipts and proof of all the hard work they've been putting into the company, while also providing data that supports their claim for more pay. The more prepared you are for this conversation, the higher your chances of actually getting what you are after. Even so, many employees get denied when asking for a raise, and then they have to decide…
View List
Advertisement
work workplace employment Job workplace discussion in the workplace employment issues antiwork Horrible Bosses workplace-stories jobs employment-discussion job employee employees overworked-employees

Business tries to pay employees in pizza for representing the company at local charity: 'Asked us to do paid charity work then changed it to unpaid at the last minute'

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…
View List
‘Cool, great start…’: Job candidate ghosts business owner after he sends them unhinged texts about the position and accuses them of being unprofessional

‘Cool, great start…’: Job candidate ghosts business owner after he sends them unhinged texts about the position and accuses them of being unprofessional

Your first interaction with the people you intend to work with says a lot about the workplace you are about to enter, and it should not be ignored, no matter how much you need a job. If you sense that a job, or more specifically, a manager, interacts with you in a matter that raises red flags, you should definitely reconsider your position there. Luckily, the person who wrote this Reddit post was in a position where they could say ‘no’ to the position they were being offered. After receiving a…
View List
Vindictive manager gets what's coming to them after he berates employee and doesn't back up his promises, employee finds new job offer and considers making a scene while quitting

‘So I switched my LinkedIn back on’: Employee signs remote offer right before RTO mandate is enacted, gets unicorn job offer and considers loud-quitting to spite vindictive manager

"I’ve accepted (pending paperwork) so I’ll be the second lead this company has lost in as many years due to this same person."
View List
Advertisement
'Karen is speaking as though she is my supervisor...the board members [are] giving strange looks': Company troubleshooter agrees to let new hire take over, business soon begs him to return

'Karen is speaking as though she is my supervisor...the board members [are] giving strange looks': Company troubleshooter agrees to let new hire take over, business soon begs them to return

Don't you hate when everything's going perfectly at work, and then the new hire has to ruin your workflow? No one knows that feeling better than u/ACFF, who got a new coworker and was presented with some genuinely shocking orders from the boss. After that, check out these TVs that are just hung up way too high, like one person who “couldn't keep a straight face when the client told me where he wanted the TV. ”
View List
work workplace employment Job workplace discussion in the workplace workplace-stories jobs malicious compliance workplace malicious compliance Technology tech support talesfromtechsupport

Major client foolishly insists tech support delete all data, tech support refuses to comply saving the client's business: 'Their entire company basically shut down for an afternoon'

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,…
View List
employment Jobs workplace discussion employment issues Horrible Bosses workplace-stories jobs employment-discussion job malicious compliance workplace malicious compliance employee mechanic mechanics

New "nepo baby" boss strong-arms lead mechanic into organizing his tools for the boss to use, mechanic locks up his tools and leaves: 'I am currently sitting in my car [...] browsing job listings'

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…
View List
Advertisement
workplace-stories jobs malicious compliance workplace malicious compliance Jobs employment issues antiwork Horrible Bosses employment-discussion job employee employees overworked-employees

Manager insists all personal phone calls be directed to them in an effort to stop employees needing their phones at work, predictably backfires: 'No phones allowed at work, tell them to call me directly!'

There is just a certain degree of oversight that doesn't need to occur in any situation. Sure, you might like to keep a tight lid on operations and your staff, but you can guarantee there are certain things that you don't need—and probably don't want—to know. At any rate, there reaches a point in your career where enough is going on underneath your level of authority where requiring any one thing to pass across your desk will result in an amount of work that you can't possibly keep up with. You…
View List
Boss tells assistant to stop chatting with coworkers, she maliciously complies by giving everyone the silent treatment: 'You told me to stop talking to people [...] So I did'

Boss tells assistant to stop chatting with coworkers, she maliciously complies by giving everyone the silent treatment: 'You told me to stop talking to people [...] So I did'

Being a Chatty Cathy is a blessing and a curse in the workplace. On the one hand, people do tend to enjoy the humorous personality in the office as well as the person who's simply easier to talk to than most. That being said, if you're the type of person who cannot read social cues or understand when a conversation should end, your coworkers are going to avoid having to chat with you at all costs. We feel for this Chatty Cath y because it does not seem like things were entirely her fault. Other…
View List
Advertisement

Hot Today

Advertisement