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workplace-stories

'We played chicken and won': Startup employees rise up against CEO's new office hours

'We played chicken and won': Startup employees rise up against CEO's new office hours

The new CEO of a startup had a brilliant idea: why not make every employee work from 9 AM to 6 PM with no exceptions? There are benefits to working hourly and for working salaried . With hourly jobs, you better make sure you're on time, down to the second. Lots of retail or restaurant jobs depend on their workers being there on the dot, and there are consequences for clocking in too late or too early. But the good side to that is that when you clock out, you're done. Many places literally won't…
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New boss experiences consequences when multiple members of their team quit simultaneously: 'I'm giving my notice the next day I work'

There's no surer sign that you might need to reassess your leadership "style" than having multiple people opt out, in quick succession, of being under that leadership. After all, as the old adage famously goes, “People don't quit jobs; they quit bosses.” There's no telling the level of miserable or monotonous job conditions some people will put up with just as long as they enjoy working with the people in their immediate team—especially their managers. Good managers are hard to come by, so when…
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Clever employee beats micromanager at her own play of power, micromanager caves to employees request to work from home

Clever employee beats micromanager at her own play of power, micromanager caves to employees request to work from home

There are a few key elements to take into account when searching for a job. The salary is undoubtedly the first, followed by the employees in second place, and the boss in third. The story below is an account of a frustrated and underappreciated employee. The Original Poster (OP) had worked for the same business for a considerable amount of time. OP enjoyed his job and loved his manager. However, as luck would have it, OP's manager resigned to pursue greater opportunities, and the manager appoi…
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'You dug that hole yourself’: Contractor works on resident's property without permission, creating damage that costs $100,000

'You dug that hole yourself’: Contractor works on resident's property without permission, creating damage that costs $100,000

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. So if one messes things up, one is probably going to have to face the consequences, that is simply how the world works, although there aren't many people who actually live by those rules. Many people in this Reddit story had to face the consequences of their actions, and not all of them did such a great job. First, there was the terrible neighbor who started the whole drama simply by being a terrible neighbor, but also because he ordered a contra…
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'They lost the $1.2M funding too': Fired employee asked to write instruction manual for their future replacement with "zero experience," so they write it in insultingly simple terms

In writing, both for entertainment and for technical purposes, it's important that your reader be able to comprehend the meaning of your words. For example, if you happen to be writing a snazzy and engaging introduction to a discussion about a story that someone shared online, it would be foolish to begin using words that your reader is likely not to understand. In fact, it would be perspicacious for the author to eschew using a myriad of archaic verbiage that obfuscates the meaning of what the…
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Mechanic bulldozes entire field, taking down army infrastructure after commanding officer orders him to level field 'no matter what'

Mechanic bulldozes entire field, taking down army infrastructure after commanding officer orders him to level field 'no matter what'

It is crucial that you communicate your expectations to everyone around you. Having said that, as someone who always says what they mean and means what they say, in the event that you were given an order by superiors, would you simply follow it without question or would you make an effort to comprehend the reasoning behind it to prevent future annoyances? The story below tells the tale of a clever transport officer who, although fully aware that he is setting himself up for failure, opts to fol…
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'I'm being singled out': Boss ‘quietly fires’ employee after they report upper management for taking their tips

'I'm being singled out': Boss ‘quietly fires’ employee after they report upper management for taking their tips

If there is one thing that employers cannot stand, it is their employees speaking up for their own rights. You should be as quiet as possible in the workplace, and never ever even consider raising issues that are related to your work and/or your employers. An employee who does this kind of thing will probably regret it later on. Much like the employee in this Reddit story, who thought they were doing the right thing, but their employer definitely did not agree. OP (original poster), noticed tha…
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‘That’s not how bonuses work': Employees refuse to accept bonus after boss announces they would have to put in extra hours to get it

‘That’s not how bonuses work': Employees refuse to accept bonus after boss announces they would have to put in extra hours to get it

A quick message to any employer who might be reading this–if you want to make your employees feel appreciated, rewarding them by making them work more is never the right answer. Never. Don't even try to think about it. Instead, try and reward them with the only thing that is actually considered a reward for any working adult… money (shocking, I know). Simply give them a nice bonus or holiday treat or whatever you want to call it, because trust me when I say that the only way your hardworking em…
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 'You won't make a fool out of me': Client gets even with contractor who ripped him off for $2000 by sending him to job sites that don't exist, costing contractor $15,000

'You won't make a fool out of me': Client gets even with contractor who ripped him off for $2000 by sending him to job sites that don't exist, costing contractor $15,000

Each and every action has consequences. Because of this, you should think twice before intentionally betraying someone else because you never know when or how it can come back to haunt you. The story that follows is the account of a petty client. The story is relayed by the Original Poster (OP), who provides readers with a detailed explanation of his motivations for starting the years-long payback plan. To put things in perspective, OP hired a contractor a few years ago in order to finish some…
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Employee given the chance to decide whether or not their ex-boss and coworker will be hired, blocks their applications: 'My new boss basically just tossed both [their] resumes out the window'

There's this old adage that takes many shapes and forms but usually goes somewhere along the lines of this: You should always be kind, or at least decent, to the people you meet as you never know when even the smallest act may have far-reaching consequences. You've probably heard of or read one of these stories before, and it's one of the oldest tropes for teaching the morale of being kind to others. Where old stories involved a frail old woman or man asking for assistance from a character, onl…
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'Keeping up with inflation is not a raise': Employee quits after getting a 50 cent raise, then finds a job that pays double, leaving company in the dust

'Keeping up with inflation is not a raise': Employee quits after getting a 50 cent raise, then finds a job that pays double, leaving company in the dust

Every young adult who has a job these days, in this economy, has realized how impossible it is to keep up with inflation. No matter how many graphs have been published showing how much the cost of living has risen in the past 20 years, compared to the average monthly pay, the gap just keeps on growing. So when an employee asks for a raise in their pay, after being a top performer and doing an exceptional job, raising their salary to keep up with inflation, doesn't actually count as a raise. It…
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'I made the mistake of going back': Guy quits job, gets lured back with enticing offer, only to be let go six months later

'I made the mistake of going back': Guy quits job, gets lured back with enticing offer, only to be let go six months later

It's always a better end to the story if you quit your job than if you're let go. Unfortunately, this overworked, underpaid, and undervalued employee had quit what he believed was a toxic work environment. However, after some time away, his old boss reached out and lured him back in with the promise of the promotion he likely always wanted. In fairness to the employee, he likely felt flattered that they seemingly needed him so much. Unfortunately, that flattery only went so far. A mere six mont…
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'She spouted all types of lies to HR': Threatened manager tries to push out star employee, employee exposes boss's incompetence

'She spouted all types of lies to HR': Threatened manager tries to push out star employee, employee exposes boss's incompetence

Picture this: your manager is incompetent, you do most of their work for the better part of the year, and then, she tries to fire you! That's right. You would think the final part of that journey would be a well-deserved raise or promotional opportunity. Perhaps some acknowledgment of all this hard work and going above and beyond would have been nice. Instead of gratitude, all this manager felt at the end of the day was threatened. This Redditor shared how she managed to come out of this toxic…
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Retail job candidate reports their power-tripping interviewer to HR: 'I hope she calls me back so I can decline'

Bad experiences are a dime a dozen when it comes to interviewing for a retail role; in no other line of work are there so many desperate interviewing managers looking for such a high level of effort and experience for such minimal pay. Usually, if an interviewer takes issue with you, there's no coming back from it, no avenue of recourse; after all, they're the ones doing the judging, and you hold very little control over the situation outside of your ability to walk away. Yet, sometimes, a hidd…
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'I'm quitting tomorrow': Employee discovers her boss planted a hidden video camera, bails without notice

'I'm quitting tomorrow': Employee discovers her boss planted a hidden video camera, bails without notice

You know that feeling everyone occasionally gets at work that you're being watched 24/7? Well, what if you suddenly discovered that this was actually the case? Sometimes when you have a micromanager for a boss, you get the feeling that someone is breathing down your neck and following your every move, as if they are just waiting to point out an error or give you a hard time about the way in which you go about fulfilling your daily responsibilities at work. This obviously does not make for a ple…
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Entitled boss furious when employee doesn't come in for work after instructing employee to stay home: 'I was joking'

Typically, when your boss tells you to do something, you do it. Even if they say not to come to work, you'll (gladly) not come to work. That's exactly what happened when this entitled boss told her employee not to come to work the next day. She was reading off everyone's schedules in person at work the day prior and then told the Original Poster (OP) not to come in, so the OP obliged, as anyone in that situation would. That is, until the next day rolled around, and her entitled boss started b...
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