Remember that scene from The Matrix where that kid with the spoon is all like, “There is no spoon,” when there's clearly a spoon right there in front of Neo's face? Yeah—well, it turns out that kid is now managing a team, except now, instead of “There is no spoon,” it's “There is no snow.” as if they somehow know more about the situation than what their subordinates are currently witnessing outside of their own window.

One would think that if an employee were to go so far as to record themselves getting fired, they would very much be in the right. In fact, one would think that the purpose of recording the meeting at all would be to gather evidence proving that there was no wrongdoing on the park of the employee. However, every so often here at FAIL Blog, we come across a dramatic workplace situation like this one , in which an employee may think they are in the right, but upon looking at the evidence, it beco…

Two basic rules are taught to us when we work in customer service. First of all, we should never presume that consumers will read the small print at the bottom of our signage. The second universal guideline is to never, ever concede that you are correct and the client is mistaken. The story below is an account of a frustrated arts and crafts store manager. OP has been managing the store for a while, and quite frankly, presumably has encountered an endless amount of difficult customers. However,…

These workers have to follow all of their employers' rules , whether they agree with them or not. For many people, moving is a stressful process from start to finish. As you pack up all your belongings in the space of a few weeks, you start going crazy looking for things you've already packed. At the same time, you're worried you won't be able to pack everything in time for the move! Once everything is safely secured in layers of bubble wrap, it's time for movers to take your belongings. In wha…

Some like to complain, while others take pleasure in solving problems. However, for a strange reason, we always encounter the 50% of the population who get their kicks from criticizing and complaining about those around them. The account that follows is the story of an innocent bystander who was the target of an irate customer who was attempting to mail an item through the postal office. At this point, you probably think this is just another typical event. Unfortunately, it probably is. But thi…

Becoming too good at your job can have surprising and sometimes unfortunate consequences. For instance, you might be the type of person who gets all your work done early. If your supervisors and managers start to notice, you're likely to be asked to take on more work for the same pay. Another example is if the team you're working on becomes entirely dependent on you, so much so that you could never get promoted or moved to a different department because then the entire functionality of the team…

Not every employee looking to work remotely is grasping at straws with their reasoning; sometimes, the reasons are valid. Even worse, if those valid reasons are ignored, sometimes everyone at the office is going to have to suffer the consequences. In this case, we have an employee with a bit of a gas issue due to some side effects of a new medication. This issue was not controllable, and therefore not the fault of the employee. But of course, out of embarrassment, the employee did not want to s…

Imagine working at a company for nine years and suddenly learning that your three weeks of paid time off will now be significantly reduced to only one week. First of all, for some of you, you might be thinking that the initial PTO plan was not exactly generous for a loyal employee who has stuck around for nearly a decade. That is a red flag in and of itself, but now the new PTO policy that is about to be enforced is pretty much as insulting as it gets. The new policy, included in a screenshot b…

Conspiracies exist because of their plausible nature. With a grain of truth buried in a sea of what-ifs, the human imagination can't help but spin hog-wild ideas out of control, weaving webs of explanations as 'proof’. To be human is to seek the truth.

Walking the walk of your own talk is important as a leader as it shows that you're willing to stand by the words that are coming out of your own mouth. It also helps your subordinates realize that there's no hypocrisy at play and that the rules and requirements you're enforcing apply to everyone equally.

Your first job creates a lasting impression on your work life. You learn valuable lessons like how to clock in, be on time, and deal with customers, and although we whittled away our first few paychecks on useless purchases, these worthwhile grains of wisdom stuck with us. What you never expect to learn at your first job, however, is how to garner the expectations of a compassionless, soulless manager.

This dude saw right through his boss and was not afraid to call him out on his nonsense. If your supervisor has a preferred method of communication, always be sure that the reason behind this is not so they can do whatever they want and leave no paper trail in the process. In other words, if you have to call out sick due to an emergency, always get it in writing, even if your boss prefers a phone call. Besides, if you're at all like me, emailing is so much better than speaking to your boss on t…

The feeling of ordering a meal and then disliking it is so awkward. It happens to the best of us. Maybe you decide to try a new soup, only to realize it tastes like seawater and sadness. Or maybe you confidently order a dish you've had numerous times, only to realize this establishment makes the meal with ingredients you don't care for. Or maybe your friends force you to try sushi, and you don't like a single one of those ingredients. But you have to save face in front of your dinner guests. Do…

The walking hypocrisy that is Human Resources is at it again! This time, we have a fully remote HR representative who refused to grant a loyal employee the ability to work remotely one day per week for childcare-related purposes. It doesn't get more heartless and hypocritical than that. Look, we understand that there is some value in coming into the office: collaboration, productivity, justifying a lease… The truth is, however, that if a company wants to enforce an in-person work policy, it has…

Even if your work, knowledge, and contributions make you irreplaceable in your organization, your employer is never going to admit it. For one thing, they probably aren't even going to be aware of it until long after you're gone. They probably think that there are dozens of people out there who can do exactly what you do. For another, if they did admit how valuable you were, they know that you'd likely want to be paid fairly for that fact—and that's just never going to happen. No, it's better t…

Hire a new manager and let her run the night shift on her own terms… what could go wrong? Turns out, almost everything, according to one of the workers, u/packrat2488. Night shifts at fast-food restaurants can be wildly unpredictable. Usually, there's a steady stream of people until about 2 AM. Then, from 2 AM to 5 AM, there's almost no one around, so the workers have a few minutes to catch their breath, take a break, and then start cleaning up the place. These hours in the middle of the night…