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'She got fed up': Manager regrets demanding that retail cashier ask for their transaction approval

Unnecessary rules and processes must be followed to the letter—because some manager who has never actually done the job decided it must be so. As long as they only waste your time, they'll remain in place indefinitely as you're hounded mercilessly about the resulting drop in productivity (thanks to these new processes.) However, as soon as these processes infringe upon the time of the manager who made them, it's miraculous how quickly they can disappear, which means the easiest way to get rid o…
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'We will contact our lawyer': Company threatens candidate with legal action after they leave a review of their interview experience

Feedback is important but usually not well received. People generally don't like hearing all of the things that they could have done better; those with overly inflated egos tend to take this especially poorly. Sure, it doesn't feel good, but most of us would take the feedback—maybe apply it, maybe not—and move on from it. Only occasionally recollecting the exchange when the intrusive thoughts move in while trying to go to sleep at night. Rather than doing this, this company decided that they ne…
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About 5 years ago my company brought in an individual to see if my position was "no longer needed". I passed with flying colors...

'I turned off every automated task I had ever set up': Dude gets pro-level revenge against an entire company just by taking an unplanned vacation

If it ain't broke, don't fix it! It's common saying that this office place has clearly never heard of. After hiring a secret employee to find the weak parts of this business, the higher-ups made a huge mistake. The OP shared their story to r/pettyrevenge, but in my opinion, this is definitely pro-level revenge . They had the opportunity of a lifetime to show their office place exactly how important they were. Even the strategy the OP had – take 2 weeks vacation ASAP, let the pieces fall where t…
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'You're still rinsing rice?': Cook's rice rinsing procedure gets out of control thanks to micromanaging boss

Rules either exist for no good reason or were written in blood; there is no in-between. The ones that were dreamt up by a bored middle manager somewhere often are more of a means of maintaining control over the workforce than anything regarding safety or productivity, so at the end of the day, they're not the most necessary. Rinsing rice may not be the highest stake workplace activity, so when you're under the pump thanks to chronic understaffing, this is probably one procedure where it's ok to…
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'I made a condescending coworker question her sanity... I regret nothing': Employee has brilliant and hilarious idea to subtly get back at rude coworker

Teamwork makes the dream work, that's why when you have a coworker who is all for one and nothing else, things don't tend to work out. There is nothing worse than having to go to work just to be stuck working with somebody you don't like and is rude to you. What do you do with a rude coworker? If you dish back the same energy, it will just make the workplace even more exhausting to be in. So what? You just ignore it? Reddit would suggest another route. A more satisfying route. For instance, thi…
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'Now I'll miss three [days]': Boss demands sick note for one day off, doctor gives them three more

Sometimes your actions to prevent something can bring it into existence as if you're unknowingly fulfilling a prophecy of your own making. That's what happened to this boss, who attempted to keep their workers from taking sick days by demanding they get a doctor's note only to have the doctor recommend them to take more time off than they would have in the first place. This is a common experience we've all probably had ourselves or witnessed at some point in our working life. A lot of organizat…
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'Is it normal to be fired over text after two days': Worker fired from new job after second day without explanation

Starting a new job is stressful; you've traded the relative security of whatever job you've just left for the uncertainty of a new one. This entire process, from start to finish, is time-consuming and emotionally draining, leaving you hoping that you'll never have to go through it again… and then you get fired on your second day. This old bait and switch probably means that either someone realized they didn't have the budget for a new role that they thought they did, or layoffs are on their way…
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‘You Gave the Wrong Employee Demerit Points…’ : New Supervisor Ultimately Gets Himself Fired When He Messes With Invaluable Machinist, Leading to Malicious Compliance and Chaos in Production

‘You Gave the Wrong Employee Demerit Points…’ : New Supervisor Ultimately Gets Himself Fired When He Messes With Invaluable Machinist, Leading to Malicious Compliance and Chaos in Production

It seems like a common theme for new supervisors to enter the workplace with a big bang, having the desire to prove themselves, leading to a quick and sudden change in the status quo. Oftentimes, this isn't necessarily a good thing. Some are as quick to go as they are to come, and this is exactly what happened in this particular case. A foreman joined a company and naively thought he could mess around with one of their oldest employees (a machinist) when giving him demerit points for being ten…
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'You will not be eligible to be rehired': Employer attempts to decrease turnover by increasing resignation requirements

At the end of the day, you can't just make it harder for people to quit to prevent them from doing so. You'd be better off putting the time and energy into fixing company culture and decreasing turnover. Yet, where there's a bad idea to be had, there's a manager somewhere looking to champion it with zealous vigor, abandoning it only after things go totally sideways and pretending that nothing ever happened. It's no secret that the medical sector is currently struggling for staff, with low staff…
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'[She] fired my wife on the spot': Manager framed to make way for nepotism hire, entire team walks out

Sometimes nepotism presents itself in subtle, understated ways that influence the progression of someone's career in unseen ways. But, sometimes, the person making way for the nepo-hire is brazen enough to fire workers under false accusations in order to make way for their desired candidate. But when you're in the process of prioritizing your own personal relationships over ability, you shouldn't be quick to overlook the personal relationships of those you're screwing over. This team knew where…
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server gets threatened by manager to get fired if she doesn't attended unpaid mandatory 3-hour meeting, employee threatens manager back with reporting him to the labor board for unlawful practice

'If you fire me, I will call the labor board': Manager Tries to Trick Employee Into Attending Unpaid 3-Hr “Mandatory” Meeting, Employee Schools Him on Labor Laws

Why are so many mangers like this? Is it the power struggle they have created themselves? Is it some sort of pride thing? Or are they really just that dumb? If you've ever had THAT kind of manager, then you've thought the same questions. This recently happened for one server when her manager tried to trick her into unpaid work.
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'I put in my [four] week notice': Guy gets passed over for promotion, successful candidate tries to get him to do his work

Getting passed up for a promotion when you know you're the best candidate is heart-breaking—made worse by the fact that it's usually because of some petty political dynamic or so that they can bring in a nepotism hire. Bonus points when the person who successfully interviewed for the role turns around and asks you for help or tries to delegate your work because your peers and managers have recognized you as the “go-to person." Whatever you decide to do at that point… you probably would like to…
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Boss Says "No Overtime," Shocked When Worker Complies

If you make a demand and expect people to follow it, don't be surprised when they do. That's the takeaway from this story that was shared to Reddit's r/MaliciousCompliance subreddit by disgruntled worker, Redditor u/Local_admin_user. They shared their story to the popular subreddit to share their boss's hypocritical policy of both forbidding and expecting the workers to work overtime. Too many managers set expectations like this, setting the standard for the working relationship to work when it…
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'I took another job': Plumber quits without notice for massive pay increase after boss denies them a raise

Realizing you're being paid far less than you're actually worth is stultifying. Suddenly, everything you do at work becomes an impossible burden as the weight of that knowledge brings you down. You can't help but wonder how long your employer has been knowingly capitalizing off this discrepancy and whether they've been laughing behind your back the entire time as they count the money they're saving on your paycheck.
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'You won't get your hours': Boss demands workers call out sick before 6 AM, immediately regrets it

When you give a demand, it's always wise to make sure that you're not demanding something that you don't actually want to deal with—being woken up before 6 AM anytime one of your employees needs to call out would fit right into that category. This manager tried to tell their employee that they weren't going to be paid sick leave for the hours they missed since they hadn't called out before 6 AM, according to the “company policy.” By the manager's reasoning, this meant that they hadn't appropria…
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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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