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workplace-stories

'HR didn't want to have an awkward conversation: One employee's bad habit causes human resources to create brand new rule

'HR didn't want to have an awkward conversation': One employee's bad habit causes human resources to create brand new rule

One employee's bad habit was starting to impact everyone at the company. There are two types of workplaces: the kind that punish you severely for being even a minute late , and the kind where people routinely stroll in 20 minutes late without a care in the world. Lots of places that are strict about tardiness are retail places or other places that do shift work. Meanwhile, lots of offices allow their salaried employees to come and go as they please, so long as they're getting their work done. W…
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'I don't need your input. Just do what I say': New manager flexes his muscles with warehouse temperature policy, employee tries to warn him, malicious compliance ensues

'I don't need your input. Just do what I say': New manager flexes his muscles with warehouse temperature policy, employee tries to warn him, malicious compliance ensues

Don't you just love it when the new manager makes things exponentially worse for everyone else? It's a common mistake that these horrible bosses tend to make. They come in and immediately feel like they know a better solution to the current system. Without properly hearing out all the employees' voices, they decide it would be more impressive to flex their muscles and insist that their solution is the proper one. Well, time and time again when this happens, the new manager stumbles. Either the…
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‘CEO sends dozens of emails every day’: CEO demands employees responds to all the emails he sends, leading to office dispute when employees can't get any work done other than answering emails

‘CEO sends dozens of emails every day’: CEO demands employees responds to all the emails he sends, leading to office dispute when employees can't get any work done other than answering emails

Are you familiar with the saying 'This could have been an email'? For those of you who don't, this saying refers to times when employees are asked to attend a meeting that could have definitely been avoided by simply sending an email about the topic. Well, as much as that saying can be true on some occasions, the amount of useless emails people get from their colleagues is unreal sometimes, and we could all agree that answering them can be the most annoying part of the work day. This brings up…
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'I've decided that enough was enough': Worker quits job after tactless manager tells them their 'abilities are not worth that much'

'I've decided that enough was enough': Worker quits job after tactless manager tells them their 'abilities are not worth that much'

Workers often leave their companies for better opportunities not because of the company itself, but because of bad management . The management structure of a business has a lot to do with an employee's day-to-day life. Some people have bosses who are micromanagers who want to hold their employees accountable for every minute of the day. With your boss breathing down your neck 40 hours each week while you're trying to write your emails and do your tasks, it's easy to get sick of the scrutiny. Ot…
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Know-it-all engineer asks machinist to fabricate a technically impossible part: 'The machinist was to machine a 12-inch part down to just over 13 inches shorter than it started'

Time, in a sense, is a resource that we spend doing different things, which is why when we talk about “spending time” on something, there's a literal sense to it. Through the sheer course of its slow march, the way we spend our time through the things we do, the things we think about, and the way we prioritize our responsibilities and personal interests goes on to shape who we become, what we know and what skills we possess. It might be a facile generalization, but for those familiar, I like to…
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Employer accidentally messages "difficult" candidate their plans to hire them and let them go: 'It might be in your best interest to take your candidates off the email chains in the future'

There are always going to be certain things that are best off communicated to only their intended audience. For example, you'd probably hate to accidentally send your parents a text detailing your weekend plans with your friends or other intimate details about another personal relationship. No matter what age you are or how close you are to your parents, certain things are better off left undisclosed. The same goes for an employee-employer relationship. Professional decorum relies on certain th…
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Boss and coworkers keep calling employee by the wrong name despite efforts to correct them: 'Time to start butchering their names'

Boss and coworkers keep calling employee by the wrong name despite efforts to correct them: 'Time to start butchering their names'

Calling your employees by their preferred name seems like the bare minimum regarding proper workplace treatment. It doesn't really get more disrespectful than ignoring someone's constant corrections. This Redditor's name ends with an -a but is constantly referred to by a similar-sounding name that ends with an -e. If this were perhaps their first few weeks on the job, then the mistakes would be understandable. But there's really no excuse for the mixups at this point, especially when the Origin…
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Crystal shop owner insists on help from customs worker, ignores giant fee: 'He wishes her a nice day and tells her the bill will be coming in the mail'

Crystal shop owner insists on help from customs worker, ignores giant fee: 'He wishes her a nice day and tells her the bill will be coming in the mail'

This woman found out the hard way that she got what she paid for. She just didn't know that she was paying for something in the first place! U/OneGlassOne had an excellent tale of malicious compliance to share. They and their coworker work in a line of business that deals with commercial imports. They write that people need to fill out lots of paperwork when importing items into the country, probably in a similar way to declaring your valuables at the airport. This woman told the original poste…
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Middle manager proposes to company owner replacing staff with AI, gets replaced himself: 'I have took his suggestions to heart and decided to automate his role'

It's hard to escape the conversation surrounding AI and the growing likelihood that we may soon find our jobs replaced by it. Yet, while some have attempted it, most seem to be falling short of success. While AI is proven to be effective at handling superfluous and repetitive work, it doesn't yet understand the subtlety and nuance of specific tasks, often lacking necessary details or fabricating information and then confidently reporting it as fact. So, at the very least, even where there is ef…
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‘The CEO just quit’: New hire ignores company's red flags until CEO unexpectedly resigns, leaving employee on a sinking ship

‘The CEO just quit’: New hire ignores company's red flags until CEO unexpectedly resigns, leaving employee on a sinking ship

How can a new hire identify that they are boarding a sinking ship? Usually, employers are very careful when they are in the process of hiring someone new, so as not to let them see the true colors of the company, and hide everything that might deter the candidate from the job. So how can someone know that the shiny new job they are after might not be so shiny after all? I wish I could have a straightforward answer, but the truth is, many people end up accepting that new job and only start to se…
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'You want to put how much concrete in your Civic?': Customer insists on loading 1000 lbs. of concrete into the back of their small car despite employee's warnings

"The customer is always right" is an attitude that is purveyed throughout customer service... People will love to remind you at this point that one full attribution of the original quote is also reported as being “The customer is always right in matters of taste” meaning that or that customer service representatives should seek “to satisfy the customer regardless of whether the customer is right or wrong.” Both lend to the idea that the customer is not necessarily right about all things, just a…
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‘Where is your empathy?’: Employee gets fired after his girlfriend breaks up with him in the middle of a shift, coworkers demand manager hires him back

‘Where is your empathy?’: Employee gets fired after his girlfriend breaks up with him in the middle of a shift, coworkers demand manager hires him back

We can't control everything in life, as much as we all like to try. We can do as much in our power to control who are the people we surround ourselves with, what we do for a living, what we do to help others, and more. But there are always going to be things that happen to us that we do not expect, and do not want. The Reddit story down below is a reminder of all that, and it is the perfect example of the balance between the choices we make and the things that we cannot control. The employee in…
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Karen boss won't let salaried employee use the break room because he's not an hourly worker: 'I can't get water or coffee now'

Karen boss won't let salaried employee use the break room because he's not an hourly worker: 'I can't get water or coffee now'

Imagine not being allowed to grab water or coffee during your work break because for some inexplicable reason, it “confuses” people. This salaried employee was told by his Karen boss that hourly workers began to notice his trips to the break room and were asking questions about the frequency with which he must be clocking in and out. Rather than the boss informing these folks that he's a salaried employee and doesn't have to clock in and out to grab a coffee in the break room, she asked this Re…
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Employee asks about moving heavy boxes to a safer place, employer deflects by writing them up for dress code violation

Unless the issues being raised are completely out of left field and hold no water, an organization should always treat them seriously. Even purely as a means of covering themselves from any legal or operational vulnerabilities. Being dismissive or even retaliatory against a complainant might make the headache or “problem” of them calling attention to it go away, but there's a good chance that their fears coming to fruition and the ensuing grievance will be much more of a headache than dealing w…
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Employee keeps running list of problematic quotes to bring up in exit interview: 'If you're able to crawl to your desk, you should be at work'

Employee keeps running list of problematic quotes to bring up in exit interview: 'If you're able to crawl to your desk, you should be at work'

Some people dread the idea of an exit interview, but this employee has been waiting for this moment for months. Ever since she realized she was stuck in a toxic work environment, she started to keep a running list of all the problematic moments so she had her receipts. This not only made the day-to-day slightly more bearable, but the list would also protect her from any trouble since she had literally all the dirt on her boss. This thread was posted to Reddit by kerripotter , and it sparked a t…
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Demanding guest gets banned from hotel after messing with the front desk clerk over a credit card mix-up

Demanding guest gets banned from hotel after messing with the front desk clerk over a credit card mix-up

Customer service is never an easy task. It's even more difficult when you have to fulfill your responsibilities as a customer service representative while a guy is trying to win over his girlfriend. If you are familiar with what I mean, I apologize for the experience you had to endure; if not, consider yourself fortunate. The story below is an account of a frustrated front desk clerk. The original poster (OP) has a long history of employment in the hospitality industry. The job has challenges,…
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