These are specifically levied against poor blue-collar workers, and while the given reason of it being for 'safety' is somewhat reasonable, in effect it just becomes a mechanism of control and extra 'hoops' between poor people and the resources they need to survive. It's meant as a filter to weed out people who will not degrade themselves sufficiently for a paycheck.

It's not as if they work, every poor blue-collar worker on every job site is taking some kind of substance to cope with the back-breaking drudgery their existence entails.

Maybe I'd feel different if these jobs were at least a way to step up in the world; you trade hard physical labor for a good paycheck. But these are poor-paying jobs that break the people doing them down.

I work an office job in a physical building. I don't engage with or do work outside of office hours. This is the 3rd time my office manager has texted me off the clock with non-emergency questions. My company functions in 1998, there is no remote option or access to any information without being in office.

What sends me over the edge is that this time she asked me specifics about shit she could have easily looked up AT WORK or simply asked the customer she talked to without bothering me at all. I don't engage with or track work things when I'm not physically there. How the fuck would I know what specific items a delivery driver failed to drop off if I can't look at the fucking information.

I'm muting her number going forward, idgaf if there's a work emergency. There's no reason to do this to people. My company ships supplies to businesses, there is absolutely nothing so extremely important that it needs to be texted about off the clock.

If it was my boss asking about the $35k shipment where I am point if contact, fine. I'll answer that. But a lightweight customer service question? Fuck all the way off.

BTW I'm absolutely talking to my boss about adding billable hours for being asked to perform labor off the clock. 10 minutes is 10 minutes. Pay me.

Quick TL;DR from my last post:

I’m a master electrician in Germany and took over a management position during my probation period. The position had apparently been difficult to fill for a long time and my predecessor quit almost immediately.

For the first few months everything seemed fine. My official probation reviews were actually good. In June I was rated above expectations for work ethic, quality and professional interest. Independence and judgment met expectations, and my behavior toward coworkers and management was rated as flawless.

My boss also told me early on not to come in too aggressively as the new manager, especially with older employees, so I deliberately tried to be cooperative and build relationships first.

Then, near the end of probation, everything suddenly flipped.

I was told I lack “role understanding,” assertiveness and leadership presence. Several ratings dropped from above/meets expectations to only “partially meets expectations.”

The weird part is that my current written review still says my work quality is fine, I’m reliable, cooperative and behave professionally.

The main criticism is basically that I don’t act enough like “the boss.”

For example, I asked another department when they could accommodate some work. My boss later told me I should have simply given them a date and said, essentially, “This is when we’re doing it. If you don’t like it, complain to my boss.”

Which is almost the opposite of how he initially told me to behave.

There were a bunch of other accusations that became weaker once I asked for specifics.

I was accused of taking advantage of flexible working hours, even though the timekeeping system should show that I usually start around 6:30–7:00 and often work 9–10 hour days.

I was criticized for not progressing enough with my onboarding, even though previous probation records literally state that parts of the onboarding were still outstanding and were supposed to be organized later. I also only received the actual onboarding plan after asking for it.

There was also a claim that I couldn’t perform a certain electrical switching task. I pointed out that I had already done it and that it was documented.

Another example: I asked what I should have done differently on one project. My boss said I should have emailed two people telling them to clear the work area. I told him I had already done exactly that. After some discussion, that criticism basically disappeared.

Still, HR and my boss told me I had about two weeks to show a better “understanding of my role.”

I asked the obvious question:

What exactly do you want me to do differently, and how will you measure whether I improved?

They genuinely couldn’t give me a measurable answer.

The response was basically that they would ask other departments whether my “presence” had improved.

Now the actual update:

I involved the works council.

Apparently, after the works council spoke to my boss, the situation changed again.

Originally HR talked about extending my probation by another three months.

Now my boss apparently told the works council that the decision is more like:

permanent employment or termination.

He supposedly says the decision is genuinely difficult for him and that he wants to see how I perform over the next 1–2 weeks.

He also wants to meet me privately outside of work to talk.

That part feels strange to me.

On top of that, I have roughly three weeks worth of accumulated overtime. If things go according to the current plan, my last actual working day before using those hours would already be around September 10.

So this supposed “1–2 week evaluation period” is basically only a handful of actual working days.

I honestly don’t know what to make of this anymore.

Part of me thinks I should just play the game for a few days: be more assertive, make decisions more visibly, give people firm deadlines, show more “leadership presence” and see if I get the permanent contract.

The other part of me has completely lost trust.

I don’t want to turn myself into some fake authoritarian manager just because the expectations suddenly changed at the end of probation.

And even if they offer me a permanent contract, I’m asking myself whether I even want to stay after all of this.

I’m also wondering what to make of the request to meet privately outside work. Maybe he genuinely wants to talk openly without HR around. Maybe it’s nothing. But at this point I’m suspicious of basically everything.

So my questions are:

Would you still try to secure the permanent position, even if you already planned to leave later?

Would you agree to the private/off-site conversation with your boss?

And does this whole process sound like a genuine last chance to you, or more like they’re trying to keep their options open until the very end?

At this point I’m leaning toward: stay professional, document everything, don’t volunteer for heroics, let the works council do its job and quietly prepare my exit.

But I’d really like some outside perspectives.

I know the Latin doesn't exactly work. "Quid pro non" is better in that regard, but doesn't rhyme or sound right. I know that doesn't really matter, just trying to nip some comments in the bud.

This is my 4th season working for a landscaping company. Over the course of the season our foreman quit and I’ve taken on a lot of her responsibilities. Back in May we were given new uniforms and I received a “foreman” uniform and told I was becoming a foreman. There was no meeting prior to the announcement and no change in pay. So basically my responsibilities have increased and I’ve taken on a leadership role with no raise.

I’m just now leaving the meeting I requested to have asking for a raise and they will not give me one. I was told that I’ve really excelled in my role and “if I keep it up” then they will “revisit” the possibility of a raise

It's a small company of <100 employees. About a year ago, they did an "anonymous" survey about how to make it a better place to work. A couple months ago, leadership announced they were working 401k matching to bring the company more in line with the benefits offered by their competitors.

This month, I noticed they were contributing about a dollar a paycheck to my 401k. I went and asked my boss. Apparently, they decided to do a 3% "rate" match, as in they contribute 3% of what I contribute. For every dollar I contribute, my employer contributes 3 cents. I guess that's 3 cents more than a lot of people get. But really, leadership thought they could make their employees happy and have competitive benefits for about $1000 per month.

I don't know if it's greed or cluelessness. How can anyone misunderstand 401k matching that badly?

I work in an office that shares a building with our small warehouse. We used to have a security guy there until around 10pm because people regularly stay late.

A few weeks ago he disappeared. I assumed they changed companies or his schedule.

Then yesterday my manager sent me a "closing checklist" because I was the last person from my department leaving.

I had to walk both floors, check the warehouse side door, make sure the loading dock was locked, turn off a bunch of lights and then arm the building alarm before leaving.

Whoever is last out has to do this now.

I asked what happened to security and was told they ended the evening contract and this was the new procedure.

Nobody announced any of this. They just turned "locking down an entire building at night" into a random extra responsibility for whichever employee happens to stay latest.

I'm definitely leaving at 5 from now on.

Update on my post from last week about being 10 minutes late to a meeting and getting reprimanded by my boss for not hanging up on the customer to make it to the meeting on time (at my Customer Service job) :

Yeah, I quit.

I vacillated all weekend on the best course of action, literally all I thought about ALL weekend, but ultimately decided the thought of getting out as quickly as possible made me feel best. I am pivoting to my second job where I will be able to pick up equivalent hours within the next few weeks (and picking up some open shifts in the interim to get PRETTY CLOSE to that, until then).

I don’t know what that other job is going to do about me quitting without notice but that’s for them to figure out. I feel so relieved.

The right option isn’t ALWAYS to up and quit your job, but every now and then I think it is, especially if you already have a backup.

here’s the link to my OG Post: https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/s/NEMCARaHY4

but basically last monday my manager told me that my critics were valid and that she could’ve been better.

she extended my PIP by two weeks. thoughts?? i feel like i’m being played with lol. i’ve def done my work and done what they’ve asked and played positive the whole time