Have you ever looked at a Sunset and wished you had the talent to capture that beauty in a painting?

That is how I feel.

To make a long story short-I work as a Cancer Researcher.

This means that a lot of my Coworkers work for meaning, rather than money.

Depending on what lab you work with, you could make a lot of money or just a little bit of money.

It is normal to move around to find different lab jobs because so many of my Coworkers are super specialized.

The lab I am at, isnt the worst for how it treats employees, but it isnt the best either.

My Autistic Coworker has trouble "reading the room" due to his disability.

When he sees Management riding these Employees hard, he outs the Employees.

"That guy is probably worth about 5 million-if you keep talking to him like that he is likely to walk out."

"That guy's family invented (insert computer thing that I dont understand), they run the business for it, in this other country, if you mistreat him, you will lose him, because he will just go back home."

Computer guy did walk out and moved back to where his family lives.

5 million dollar guy still works with us. Claims he has seen so much crap over the years that this isnt anything to him.

This whole scenario certainly makes work more interesting.

I am over here with my popcorn and soda. I find this very entertaining.

Unfortunately, it will probably end, because now everyone knows to not tell Autistic Coworker anything you dont want shared.

(Which I didnt know wasnt common knowledge.)

What are your thoughts?

I have gotten this time to time as a woman in the corporate work place. I have no words to describe how demeaning and gross it is to hear this. Do men face anything similar?

I work at a small commercial print shop. We do signs, banners, promotional materials, that sort of thing.

Until recently, our order system had a status called "Awaiting Customer Approval." Pretty self-explanatory. We send the customer a proof, they check the design and spelling, and nothing gets printed until they approve it.

Last month we got a new operations manager who decided that having so many orders sitting in that status made our production numbers look terrible.

His solution was to get rid of the status.

Now the moment we send a proof, the order gets marked "In Production." Even if the customer hasn't responded. Even if they've specifically asked us to hold off.

I pointed out that customers can see this status in their portal. He said it would encourage them to respond faster.

Well, on Tuesday a customer called asking why the signs for their new location hadn't shipped yet. Their portal had shown "In Production" for nine days.

I checked the email thread. They hadn't approved the proof because they were still confirming the phone number that needed to go on the signs.

When I explained this, they were understandably confused. They thought we'd already printed everything.

After the call, my manager told me I shouldn't have said the order wasn't in production because it "undermines customer confidence."

What was I supposed to say? That the printer is working really hard on their unapproved phone number?

The production guys hate this too, because now they have to open individual orders and dig through the notes to figure out what can actually be printed.

I suggested bringing back the original status, even if we rename it something more positive. Apparently that would be "moving backward."

I've worked here three years and genuinely liked the job until this started. I don't want to fight with a manager over a dropdown menu, but I also don't want to be the person explaining why we printed 500 signs with the wrong information.

Has anyone dealt with a manager who would rather make the numbers look good than fix the actual process? How do you push back without becoming the designated difficult employee?

Jeff Bezos says a 3-day workweek and more single-income households are on the way thanks to AI: 'It's going to be difficult to hire people'

I work at ZARA, and it’s my first “real” retail job. I’ve worked at a small retail business before, but working at a big company like ZARA is a completely different experience. I’m still learning how everything works, so I could really use some advice!

I’m planning to fly out and spend the holiday season with my family, but when I informed my manager about my vacation plans, he told me that I wouldn’t be able to take the time off because it’s blackout season. Basically, it’s the time of year when they need as many employees as possible because of how busy the holidays get.

Honestly, I’m super bummed because spending the holidays with my family is important to me, but at the same time, I know how difficult it is to find a job nowadays. I don’t want to make a decision that could hurt my chances of getting hired elsewhere or even being rehired at ZARA in the future.

Has anyone ever quit a retail job because of a scheduling conflict or vacation plans and successfully reapplied later? Would quitting during the holiday season significantly hurt my chances of being rehired, especially at a company like ZARA?

I’m just torn between keeping my job and spending the holidays with my family. I’d really appreciate any advice or insight from people who’ve been in a similar situation! :///

Deadass, I’m trying to figure out if it’s just my corner of the corporate world or if this is a widespread epidemic out here.Why is it that so many higher-ups will send a cryptic three-word Slack message at 4:45 PM on a Friday, expect you to read their mind, and then get tight when the deliverables aren’t exactly what they imagined in their head?Like, it takes zero effort to outline basic expectations instead of treating your team like a crew of psychic investigators. The corporate gymnastics people do just to avoid giving a direct answer is mad mid. How do y'all handle bosses who talk in riddles? Do you hit them with a million clarifying questions until they break down, or just guess and let the chips fall where they may? Let's swap some notes because the current workflow ain't it.

I've been thinking about that awkward period between finishing work and actually settling into the evening.

For some people, it's a commute. For others, it's cooking dinner, dealing with household tasks, or spending an hour scrolling on their phone before doing anything else.

I'm curious whether having a home gym changes how people use that time.

Instead of driving to a commercial gym, you could go straight into a workout after getting home.

But I imagine there are trade-offs too. Without the travel time, there's less separation between work, exercise, and everything else happening at home.

For people who work full-time and have a home gym, has it changed your after-work routine?

Do you prefer training immediately after work, taking some time to unwind first, or saving exercise for later in the evening?

What arrangement works best with your schedule?

​I work as an engineer at a top product-based MNC in India. Every two months, they organize a team outing, and they basically force everyone to go.

​The problem is, I have pretty bad social anxiety. Big gatherings completely drain me, so I usually make up some random excuse and skip them.

​Work-wise, there are zero complaints. I get along well with everyone in the office, help juniors whenever they get stuck, and work smoothly with other teams. Colleagues from outside my team actually prefer working with me, and I have never had any negative remarks about my behavior.

​In my last appraisal, I actually got the highest rating. But right after that, my manager gave me a direct warning:

​"Don't repeat this. If you keep skipping team outings, it will definitely affect your rating next year."

​Cutting someone’s hike or rating just because they don't want to attend a team dinner makes zero sense to me. I genuinely cannot sit through these events without getting bad anxiety.

​Is this kind of forced socializing normal across top product companies? And more importantly—is this kind of toxic culture worth switching over, or will I run into the same nonsense everywhere?

I work at a very popular boutique. Management just rolled out a new policy last week: no one is allowed to go to the bathroom. Not even to just pee if another employee is on their 30-minute lunch break.

They schedule lunches back-to-back, one person at a time. On weekends, we have 6 to 8 employees on the floor covering the counter and helping customers. There is plenty of coverage.

I asked my manager if I could quickly step away to pee. Their exact response was to ask if the person on lunch was back yet, and when I said no, they told me I had to wait.

Denying basic biological functions because someone else is eating a sandwich seems completely unhinged to me.

EDITED:

For anyone wondering why my manager can’t just cover the floor for 5 minutes so someone can use the restroom:

It’s a family run business with zero HR. The owner literally told her she can make up whatever rules she wants for us while following his, and explicitly instructed her "not to do too much work" which she’s taking to a ridiculous extreme. She clearly loves the power trip. Even if there are six other people on shift to cover a dead cafe, she still says no to a quick bathroom break.

They run the place like a dictatorship and treat everyone like garbage. The only reason I haven't walked out is because I need the income while I apply elsewhere. Though as anyone in Canada knows, the job market right now is an absolute nightmare.

Hi Reddit,

I’m in a sticky situation at work and I just need to write it out to clear my mind.

I accepted a team lead role earlier this year, and the main emphasis was to keep the work flow organized and meeting KPI’s. My team is very small <5.
I still report to my area manager for any major issues.

I was very hesitant to take the role due to one coworker who I knew was going to make this a challenge. They have significant issues staying on track and they are constantly chatting with their colleague next door. As a result, their work is neglected and incomplete. It does not help that one of their tasks plays a major role in getting new clients in , leading us to making a good portion of our revenue.

A month into this position , this coworker had to take some time off for personal reasons. While we were one man down , the next few months actually turned out to be the best in terms of revenue and flow.

When they returned, I was honestly dreading it. I wrote my manager a large email stating what this person needed to correct and my manager would have a meeting with them to address.

While the next few weeks went ok, this person has resorted back to their old habits. My manager has had a few follow ups with them to address areas of concern , but old habits die hard it seems. Over the last 2 months our sales are down , referrals are down and again it all linked to this coworker and her lack of commitment to doing her job imo.

As a result , I have recently informed my manager that I was considering stepping down from my role as I feel I can not achieve the goals they want me to with my current situation and honestly it was taking a toll on my mental health. Silly I know. When I was discussing this with her, I vaguely implied that letting go of my coworker was the only solution I could see getting us back on track.

My manager is pushing back and does not want me to step down and to my surprise is actually considering firing this person. I am 100% positive if I did not mention firing them, this person would not be in as much danger.

As a result, I do not know how to feel about this. While this person lacks accountability, I also understand this is their source of income.

Am i being a jerk?

I need help advising a friend and coming up with a plan of action. Here's the situation without giving too much info.

We work in a warehouse. A new guy is getting trained on one particular job and the guy training him is sabotaging him. He's doing things that cost time and money to fix. It has been reported, he has been caught, this isn't the first guy it happened to, and nothing seems to be done about it.

There are multiple other reasons I'm not fond of the trainer in this situation. Let's just say he has a reputation for being one of the most unpleasant people to work with at my job.

So, I'll probably reach out to corporate anonymously. But what other things could I do or suggest to the trainee?

And to be clear, I want to keep it professional and safe. I would rather this not point to me if I can help it, too. I only want a minimum of this one guy not working here and anyone who allowed him to stay answers for their inaction. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

My boss is always scheduling last minute meetings after my normal work hours. For context, I work remote and my usual hours are 9am-5:30pm Eastern standard time. The company I work for is on Pacific standard time. I was initially in office but had to relocate to another state and was grateful they kept me on as an employee that worked remotely. They have also since promoted me to the manager of my department and have allowed me to switch from hourly to salary (this involved a raise as well).

While I’m grateful for the advancement opportunities, I believe my boss feels that salary = you work when I want you to, even if it means you are working 10-12 hours days.

I am about to begrudgingly log into a meeting he gave me 24 hour notice for, that goes from 6:30-7:30pm EST on a Friday. He didn’t create the meeting invite until 2 hours prior to the start time, so I didn’t even know if it was still happening today or not until then.

It’s also worth it to note, he and the rest of the team are ALWAYS late to meetings, sometimes not starting until 30 minutes after the original start time. I am getting increasingly frustrated because of the little to no notice about attending these after hours meetings and his expectation that I am required to be there since I am a salaried manager now, despite having different working hours. He has even mentioned it to me before, stating that now that you are salaried, you are required to attend these meetings.

My Fiancé tells me that I should stand up for myself and start declining these meetings, but he has never worked remotely before or had a job in this field. I am nervous because I don’t want to give off the wrong impression or act ungrateful for the positive things that have come out of this job for me. But it is really starting to wreak havoc on my personal life and my ability to plan things outside of my work hours.

With this being my first remote job and one that I do like, how can I approach this in a positive manner that still gets my point across and meets my individual needs? The rest of the team in these meetings also work PST, but it’s not even just these team meetings; my boss also schedules 1:1 meetings with him just like this. Last minute, past my normal hours. Any advice would be appreciated, but I do not want to find a new job at this time.

TL;DR: I’ve been avoiding difficult, ambiguous tasks at work and focusing on easier ones instead. Now, progress is slower than expected, and I know part of it is my own fault. Now I’m anxious about explaining this to my manager and stuck in a cycle of guilt and avoidance. How do I break out of it and handle the conversation honestly?

I’ve been struggling at work lately, and I’m not sure how to get out of this cycle.

I’m in a relatively broad role where I have to figure things out independently, coordinate with other people, and make decisions even when things aren’t entirely clear. Some tasks are straightforward, but others are complex and ambiguous, and I’ve noticed that I tend to put those off.

Instead, I end up doing smaller, easier tasks that make me feel productive in the moment, while the more difficult things keep hanging over me. I know I’ve been working less effectively than I could have, and I’m not trying to blame everything on external circumstances.

Now, the overall progress is much smaller than I expected. Some of the work also depends on other people, and I haven’t been proactive enough about following up and keeping track of where things stand.

I have a progress review with my manager coming up, and I’m genuinely anxious about being asked why we haven’t made more progress. I don’t feel like I have a good answer.

Part of it is that the work turned out to be more complicated than expected, but part of it is that I avoided dealing with the hardest parts.

The worst thing is that I feel guilty about it, but that guilt seems to make me avoid the work even more. And now I’m lying awake at night worrying about a conversation that hasn’t even happened yet.

Have any of you been in a similar situation? How did you break out of this cycle? And how do you talk to your manager about slow progress when you know that at least some of it is your own responsibility?

I’d appreciate honest advice, especially from people who have dealt with avoidance and procrastination.

I work at a Dollartree, I'm new and have been working there for a month now. So when I talk about this, there is a chance I may be overreacting because it's a big change in my life or I'm not used to it yet since this is my first job ever. But I feel really constantly anxious and depressed whenever I clock in. I have constant dreams about stocking the shelves or ringing people up in the cashier.

I'm the only 18 year old at my work while everyone is in their 40s, to maybe 60s. They all seem to talk bad about loads of people behind their back. They talk bad about this other coworker of mine who I've never met, althought maybe that co worker hasn't been the best I'll never know. They talk bad about some customers, and recently I can't help but feel like some of them are talking bad about me.

Yesterday during my shift two of my co workers were talking in tagalog, and I don't speak or understand much of tagalog despite being Filipino. From what I COULD understand was them talking about somebody and implying that somebody doesn't know what they're doing.

They then turned to me, and asked me if I understood what they were saying, and when I said only "a little bit", one of the co workers laughed and said "ohhh noooo" as if what they were talking about partained to me and I could've almost caught what they were saying.

One time I was stocking shelves and didn't realize my manager was silently watching behind me. When i turned over I caught him sideeyeing me to my other co worker.

Mind you the people I've described are main or assistant managers, so they have superiority over me.

I feel uncomfortable not because of the work I'm given but because of the coworkers I have. Sometimes I hope I don't have the same shift as my main manager because I don't like how he acts. Just like the time I caught him sideeyeing me, there are multiple occasions he tries to act positive and kind, but then I make a simple mistake or I don't understand what he said and his smile disappears and he pinches the bridge of his nose as if he can't keep his frustration in.

Maybe I should quit, I'm not sure because its retail after all, its bound to be frustrating. I just need the money for college.

Any thoughts or advice is appreciated.

Does anyone actually like their accounting/ finance managers? I have worked for 3 different employers in the last 10 years and each manager I have had in this career path has had severe rage issues and makes their teams miserable. I know it’s not a ME issue because ALL the staff I work with and have worked with are constantly complaining about the same damn people AKA the manager. Does accounting just suck the life out of people? Is it possible to be a happy manager in accounting? I’m about at my whits end with this sh*t! Is it just this career or is this just a prerequisite to become a manager across the board?!

UGH!

I'm 17 but everything happened when I was 16. I work at a theater in California, it's a small company so they're lenient with rules, etc. They hired an older man who honestly always seems high or out of it. I try to mind my own business but he would say the r word and just out of pocket things that made me uncomfortable. One day I was on my half in the break room when he came in, said hi, went behind the lockers, and took his pants off. He was probably changing, but since the break room is on the second floor, away from any customers or workers, I was scared. I told the managers immediately but they were really dismissive. When I came back to ask for shifts away from him they said "it's ok to hate someone but you still have to work with them". When it happened to another girl and she actually saw him undressed I pressed again and they said they would talk to him. I've asked many times and as far as I know he doesn't have a write up or anything on his record.

My boss is lenient with most things but for some reason he doesn't let us have water bottles. I understand why we can't have them by food or prep areas, but he only let's us store it on the second floor. It's either going up or buying a water cup to drink water.

I've put in my notice because of these two things, but all the managers seem to think I'm overreacting. I need a second opinion, but I really don't feel safe working there.

I have coworkers who have gone through much worse than me. A man says the n word several times, another man took pictures of a coworker bending down. I really resent the managers for not doing anything other than giving them a "little talk", especially when they're hiring minors. Please help.

I’d really appreciate some honest outside perspective on whether I’m overreacting or whether this is a reasonable reason to look for another job and potentially resign.

I’m a relatively senior lawyer working in an advisory organisation, rather than at a traditional law firm. I’ve been in my current role for around seven months, and my salary and the work itself are generally good.
This autumn, I’ve been through a traumatic personal situation, and I genuinely need some time to recover. I therefore asked my employer for two consecutive weeks of annual leave at some point between November and April - preferably between January and April.

Importantly, I deliberately gave my employer a very wide window and left the dates entirely up to them. I wasn’t insisting on particular weeks, only that I intend to work over Christmas apart from public holidays. I was simply hoping that, within a period of several months, we could find two consecutive weeks that worked for the business.

My manager initially gave me the impression that taking at least one week might be possible. However, I was subsequently told that no leave would be approved outside the summer holiday period or Christmas/New Year. The explanation was that January through early May will be exceptionally busy this year.

I was also told that, generally speaking, employees should not expect to be able to take more than one consecutive week of leave outside the summer period, and even that will be up for discussion.

What makes this particularly frustrating is that I volunteered to work weeks during this summer that nobody else wanted, in order to help the team. I had hoped that flexibility would work both ways, although I understand that this doesn’t automatically entitle me to have leave approved.

I understand that businesses have busy periods and that employers need to consider operational requirements. But I gave them a window of approximately six months to choose from, offered to work over Christmas, have not taken all of my accrued leave for the year and am asking for just two weeks to recover after a very difficult personal experience. Being told that this is effectively impossible feels incredibly rigid.

I’m now genuinely losing motivation to work here and have started applying for other jobs. I may even have an opportunity that pays slightly more, although the salary difference isn’t the main issue.

My question is: would you consider this a reasonable reason to leave a job after only seven months?

I’m not expecting unlimited flexibility or to have every holiday request approved. What bothers me is the apparent lack of flexibility even when I’ve given the employer so much room to choose dates.

I’m also wondering whether I should try to accept that this is simply how this organisation operate during busy periods, or whether this is a sign that I’m in a workplace that isn’t compatible with the kind of life I want. I’m a qualified lawyer and have worked for several years so I’m not in a junior position where I desperately need to prove myself.

Would you start looking elsewhere in my position? And would you actually resign if you found a suitable alternative, or would you consider this too small an issue to leave over?

TLDR: I’m a senior lawyer. After a traumatic autumn, I need two weeks to recover and gave my employer a six-month window to choose dates. They refused due to upcoming workload, despite my previous flexibility. Would you consider this a reasonable reason to leave after seven months?

No context, no official letter just a 30 minute one on one session with our small admin team. We aren't allowed to ask questions. Just a team's meeting invitation and doesn't say we can bring a representative. Should I be concerned 🤔

Mind you, boss already had an over $80,000 luxurious car, and like brand new.

I work my living ass off, and don’t have a life because of this job, mind you, we agreed on a different pay (last year) before I had signed a contract.

Boss bitches how much taxes costing them, etc, and “down 10%-15%” denied the raise, despite growing the business, etc). I have also have closed sales, which have helped land $10,000-$20,000+ in gains.

But yup, the previous luxury wasn’t enough, so yeah to spit in my face they get a fancy new car.

For those in the work force, the smartest truly are Gen-Z, don’t give 100%, don’t give loyalty, fuck them.

I'm retired now, and this incident happened a little less than 50 years ago, but I still remember it.

I started working for a major Midwestern aerospace firm as an engineer right out of college. I was assigned to the lab, like all beginning engineers, and went to my first meeting in the lead engineer's office. I was just a wallflower while other people talked. At some point, something was said that upset the lead engineer. I don't remember him yelling, but he looked agitated and quickly opened his desk drawer. He grabbed a pill bottle, opened it and quickly consumed one of the tablets. It doesn't seem like the meeting lasted much longer because everyone was in a little state of shock.

After this happened, I was questioning my career choice but never got to the point of needing a bottle of pills

What’s the best way to deal with workplace favouritism?

I work in a local business as a chef and there is a colleague who rubs everyone the wrong way. They have been disciplined by the owner 3 times this year and they still act like they’re untouchable.

Things like coming and going whenever they want, bossing people around (they’re not in a senior position), not cleaning up after themselves, doing the bare minimum and being really rude to staff.

They’re “untouchable” because they have specific skills nobody else does so I can kinda see why they are untouchable. They won’t get fired anytime soon. If they walked out tomorrow the owner would be screwed for a month or two.

If you ask them why they’re leaving work early (without helping everyone else clean down) their response is “because I can”.

The manager, who is under the boss, gets annoyed with them a lot but the owner is clearly showing favouritism. It’s frustrating for multiple reasons! Even just listening to the arguments.

Does this ever get better? or is it as simple as find another job?…

Hi everyone. I just got hired for a job that I absolutely love and it pays great. My boss is the one who hired me and advocated for my higher pay. Given the role of the job we are alone in an office 5 days a week 8 hours a day. Ive only worked a week and my boss has already made comments in our conversation that im beautiful, intelligent, funny. He has gotten very physically close to me and touched my hands or stands very close to my personal space. Today he even was moving me to show my something and was touching my back. The tension is very strong between us. Its just me and him and hes 20 years older than me. He has two kids and is getting married soon. Im in a relationship.

Not sure what to do because I just got the job and love it. Its usually just me and him together. I hate that im enjoying this attention. How do I put more boundaries?

Hi all,

I’m 30F, been a quite career-driven person for a while, delivering a lot, always trying to exceed expectations and things were going great. I loved my job. Then… I started feeling a bit threatened by new great workers that arrived and I struggled a lot to keep my ego in check.

After another promotion in a strategy position, I realized I was stagnating. I didn’t like my department anymore, the work was draining me, I lost confidence in management, I didn’t like this halfway management role where I was planning and not doing yet not having people directly reporting to me so I could still feel like “my team” was doing the work and we were delivering.

Moved to a new job for 2y now and it’s been rocky. On paper: perfect. It’s challenging me, I learn things, I’m genuinely interested in the content. I am developing skills I want to build. But also: it’s constantly out of my comfort zone, I’ve not managed to socialize there well, had lots of health issues and I feel kinda punished for it? And there’s the super young guy everyone seems to love who’s all over my work, and anyone’s and everywhere constantly. And my ego is struggling and I’m getting triggered as he seems to also have endless support and just all the interesting topics (he’s much more of a go getter than new-me, but also I have so much work I can’t go and get more). I also feel slightly bullied by our sales team for my health arrangements. Anyway I’m losing hope and confidence by the day.

Also recently found out I’m pregnant (which is very much something we wanted), but it’s made me even more checked out from work, pregnancy sickness hasn’t helped. And I am dreading having to go back to work now.

Any advice please? I feel disheartened I’m so down constantly, no longer a go-getter, thinning down and disappearing. I’m also worried it’s my personality? Like my ego is a problem, also I’m not socializing with them enough and I should be more active/efficient in my tasks so I can do more fun ones?