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'They must have been crying at the computer': Customer frantically withdraws their complaint when worker gets fired because of it

The ability to admit fault and regret one's actions is, unfortunately, not one everyone possesses. Those people's ego eclipses their ability to feel remorse, and accepting fault would be accepting the possibility that they are fallible. For everything you can say about this customer, at least they were willing to feel immediate regret once their demands were met… There are a lot of instances of this same thing happening where the customer would be celebrating the fact that their complaint cause…
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'I quit and they tried to get me arrested!': Boss tries to saddle worker with $30,000 theft after they fire them while working the store alone

Quitting a job is stressful and can lead your imagination to anticipate a myriad of possible terrible outcomes. The worst case scenario would probably be your current boss being secret best friends with your new one, prompting them to call your new boss and tell them not to hire you before firing you on the spot. Yes, it's unlikely can happen while working in small towns and close-knit industries—or when you're leaving a company to work for their major supplier. Still, despite wild imagination,…
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Coworkers Try to Scapegoat the One Pulling All the Weight

What is it with people constantly trying to blame someone else for the thing that they themselves are most guilty of? This hypocritical finger-pointing is just a vapid means of projection that these narcissistic robots employ whenever they feel threatened. This thread was posted to Reddit's r/AITA (Am I the A--Hole) subreddit by the coworker scapegoated by the others, Redditor u/Maleficent_Shoe3791. She had been doing all of the work to make up for their lazy behavior, and they still tried to b…
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'They refused to believe I had left': Worker leaves their job of 10 years after getting passed up for promotion in favor of a person they trained

There's nothing better than loving your job—there's nothing harder than the dawning realization that you're going to have to leave. We all get surprisingly comfortable with our routine—it's just something in our nature. Branching out into uncertainty feels risky, making us shudder at the thought of trying new things. Companies—rather, the people who run them—are the same way, and for that reason, they will be more likely to leave you in your role if it means less change and less new uncertainty…
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'Business went from $200k to zero': Efficiency experts fire the wrong guy and cost the company their biggest account

A mistake usually goes unrecognized until well after that mistake is made… and your importance to an organization is often not recognized until well after you're gone. Not so in this case, the decision to identify the least efficient members of their organization backfired spectacularly—all but negating one of their most important clients and making it very clear how important that “inefficient” member had been. You might think that this decision-making process might have considered that one pe…
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'[One] crushes the front of his hood...': BMW driver refuses to stop blocking emergency parking, firefighters crush his car

Play stupid games… Win stupid prizes. Every now and then, you run into someone who thinks they are above the rules of society. These individuals think they are so clever and have it all figured out when they are really just ignorant of the fact that some rules are there for a reason. A firefighter encountered one of these individuals at the local grocery store, where their friend was the general manager. The individual in question was a gentleman who felt that they were above any sort of specia…
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'I [had to] remind him that he confiscated [it]': Boss confiscates employee's phone, wonders why they're not answering it

Remember when your parents used to confiscate your cell phone for not answering it? Thus leaving you with no cell phone to answer their subsequent calls with. You might not have been able to text your friends either, but not being tied to a requirement of constant communication and surveillance was freeing. It turns out that experience is not lost to the past, and you may be able to relive it (without clocking 88 miles an hour in a DeLorean.) All you need is a boss who is more concerned with ma…
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'[He was] SUPER EFFICIENT and a valuable asset': Programmer fired for underperformance despite being the most productive, but quietest, on the team

You're not always going to agree with every decision your workplace makes… and it's especially gutting when that decision is to fire a well-liked coworker over stupid workplace politics. Maybe they got on the wrong side of one of the bosses, maybe they didn't support a foolish new direction or initiative, or maybe they were just the sacrificial lamb to make everyone sweat a little bit to keep them as productive as possible and keep them toeing the line. The fact is that watching a coworker get…
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'Sure thing boss': Insurance worker told to just do their job, makes sure customers are covered

At some point in your life, your boss might ask you to do something that isn't entirely ethical (and possibly not entirely legal either), and it will be up to you to decide whether you will obey that demand. But, when your boss inadvertently gives you the authority to go against the business's policy and do the right thing, you might be more than happy to comply—especially if you don't like your job all that much in the first place. That's the chance that this worker had at the medical insuranc…
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'[It] was intentional': Manager calls a meeting and intentionally "no-shows" as a loyalty test

If you thought trust falls at summer camp were stupid, wait until you hear about the “no-show loyalty test.” This strategy, which is incredibly disrespectful to other people's time, feels like it's something taken right out of a book on leadership published by The Office 's Michael Scott.
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'I walked out of a shady orientation': Job-seeker ditches out of orientation for new job after spotting red flags

You should always be wary of the “walk back” as a manipulation tactic. Often used in sales and scams, the seller starts by offering something acceptable and slowly changes the terms of the deal to something that might have been unacceptable to start with but is now reluctantly accepted due to the sunk cost of invested time. Consecutive slight alterations to figures or terms should always raise red flags, and if something doesn't seem right you should always trust your gut instinct, just as this…
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'She immediately complained to HR': Boss reports worker for fixing problem, worker undoes their fix and quits

Have you ever gone above and beyond at your work and received no recognition for it? How about taking the initiative to fix a serious problem that's plaguing your workplace, only to turn around and be reprimanded by your boss? If yes, maybe it's time to seek out greener pastures, just as this worker did when their micromanaging new boss took issue with the fact that they were going above and beyond to fix a problem that had been plaguing the company. Some people just desire nothing but control…
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'They were not happy': Employee quits according to their old notice period when employer refuses to give them a new contract

You can't have your cake and eat it too—and the people who work for you are people, not cake. I don't really know exactly how to unpack that statement further… but let's just say that you shouldn't be surprised when your workers want greater compensation in exchange for the increased responsibility you've been giving them. If they're doing the job of a manager already, make them a bloody manager. The amount of hoops that retailers want their employees to jump through in order to achieve a promo…
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'I showed myself out': Worker makes themselves irreplaceable, bosses refuse to promote them

We often like to think that, through sheer grinding, grit, and determination, our efforts will be rewarded with greater compensation and career progression. After all, that's what we've always been led to believe by schooling and popular culture. But what if you make yourself so irreplaceable that your bosses refuse—or simply can't afford—to promote you? Being too high of a performing productive worker lends itself to some complications. To replace you, the company may have to hire two or three…
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'We don’t get paid past 11': Retail employer wants workers to clock out at closing, ignoring all tasks that need to be completed after close, sparks online discussion

Get ready for the oldest trick in the retail handbook: First, insist workers close and lock the doors precisely at closing—not a moment sooner, so that you don't miss any sales. Next, schedule workers' shifts to end precisely at closing time and make it as hard as possible for the workers to claim the inevitable overtime they accrue while trying to complete basic closing tasks that need to be completed after the doors are locked. If they try to claim five or ten minutes daily, just tell them th…
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'I’m more qualified for your job than you are': Candidate bombs interview, gets a wholesome redemption years later

Just a tip for the next time you're in a job interview: Don't tell the interviewer that you're more qualified for their job than they are. That's… just not going to end well for you or your prospects. This three-part story has taken place over the course of just as many years, with the original poster returning this week to provide a wholesome update and conclusion to their tale of the most insolent job candidate they ever interviewed. The tale starts with the candidate “Annabelle” coming in fo…
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