I work in a salary non-exempt (I still get overtime) position at a warehouse. We do inventory twice a year and everyone in the office comes out and helps count that week. This year, we had inventory scheduled for mid-August.

Everyone was warned far ahead of time and we all knew not to make plans that week and PTO would not be accepted that week.

Except that inventory was delayed to a date TBD. Well, today, Sept 1, it was announced it would be re-scheduled for late September and include a mandatory Saturday.

I have plans for that mandatory Saturday. It is a big party that I throw every year and schedule months in advance. I have people coming out of state for this party. It is going to start at noon and I have to do prep beforehand as well.

I did not schedule this day for PTO because it is a Saturday. I didn't expect I would need to. I have been with this company for three years and at this warehouse since February. Never before has there been a mandatory Saturday.

How do I approach this? Obviously I'm going to have to talk to my boss tomorrow, but I don't know what exactly I need to say. I usually try to be a team player, and I feel like a party is not a good excuse to miss. And I feel bad that my coworkers would be down a person while I'm at home partying, but plans are in motion. People have made plans and spent money already to be there.

Hi, so i generally dislike my office due to my co workers. And it genuinely affects me. Like we cool we chill with eachother but then theres phases where they just are literally mean and its actually my fault because im way too nice and soft, i never get taken seriously, and ive set no boundaries.

Like last month these two co workers were picking on me and pulling my leg, saying things like i cause drama, im being dramatic about the work etc and it affected me so badly cz they were laughing constantly at me and i sat quietly cowering away and they kept going at me the full shift. I genuinely wanted to flee and run out the place and wish i shouldve, but instead i carried on being normal to them the following day so they never knew how i felt truly. And i really wish i spoke up but i always have a fear i get called dramatic and petty whenever i speak up so i go quiet.

Idk if im sensitive but whenever they pull my leg they really know how to do it because it just feels like bullying. But other days we fine we laugh and we good. But it usually happens when the 2nd co worker is there cz shes the one who bought this vibe in to pick on people as her way of bantering with co workers is just being rude to people and i really disliked it. Like she would say to the guys are u stupid ur so thick, like straight up and then its created that vibe u can talk to each other like that. I probably dont like it because ive got bad trauma from the way my mum spoke to me and i was bullied in school. So coming to work and hearing this and get this at me i think its why i snap inside easily.

I just want to create a boundary now i fear ive been way too nice and soft and i need to change and start speaking up but when i try it comes out like im gonna cry. Ive been just a year in this job and had lots of moments where im like its cz im too nice

I’ll start. Back long ago, I was working on a project where a multi billion dollar contract was on the line. Myself and an engineer from our main subcontractor had to go from Florida to California (we’d been going back and forth at least twice a month for a while). The president of the other guy’s company said he’d been away from home too much and they’d need to buy him a 1st class ticket or he would not go. Well, of course we couldn’t buy a 1st class ticket on a govt contract at the time, so they decided to send us out there on one of the corporate jets. We took off from the private hanger at Orlando Executive Airport, were greeted by the pilots and had gourmet breakfasts ready for us, landed at Millionaire Texas for refueling and got some more high class food, and then the pilot called us up to the cockpit and asked “which runway should we land at?”, pointing to the main concrete runway or the Shuttle runway at Edward’s Air Force base.

I have some idea why people consider private jets the crack cocaine of travel, although that nothing like that ever happened to me again.

A recruiter reached out to me on LinkedIn to follow up about a job I had applied to on there. They want to set up a time to chat and I gave them some availability. What can I expect from this process? I come from a more artsy background and don't have much experience with LinkedIn. Are they trying to gauge if I meet some basic requirements before sending me off to the company they're hiring for? How much are they involved in the whole interview/hiring process and what is their role? Thank you for any insight.

I’ve been at this restaurant job for 4 years and I've always been a solid worker. But over the last 3 months, these owners have been messing with me.

They’ve changed my schedule like 4 different times, and then out of nowhere cut my hours from 45-48 a week down to 32

Before getting cut to 32, I was working Monday,Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. 12 hours a day sometimes 11.

(Quick fact: if you tell them no, that you can’t come in, they also punish you or change your schedule)

Where did my hours go? To the owners' two nephews.

They hype these nephews up like they’re the hardest workers in the world, but anybody working here knows they’re lazy as hell. So basically, I got punished while their family got hooked up.

Obviously my bills didn't magically drop, so I had to go find another job to make up for what they cut. The new gig pays way better per hour and has fixed hours. Honestly, doing both now, I'm making more money and I actually like the routine I built for myself.

(Weekends are busy catering events, sometimes vary from 8-14 hours)

Now the younger brother (one of the owners) is coming to me like, "Oh, help us out for Saturday and Sunday, we really need you."
I told him straight up: "I'm only getting 32 hours here, so I had to get another job to pay my bills. I'm locked in on those days."

Now they want to have some stupid meeting with me about it. Like... are you serious? If your nephews are so amazing, why aren't you calling them to cover the weekend? Oh yeah, because deep down you know they won't show up or do real work, so you want me to come pull the heavy lifting.
They stripped my hours for them, and now they're mad I'm not sitting around on standby waiting to bail them out. I already know I'm not changing my schedule for them. If they fire me, whatever, screw them. They lose a good worker

I was asked to resign a month ago from a job I loved. I had one direct report who was brilliant and very loyal to me (as I was him). The problem was that I could not get on with new management.

Anyway, I found a new, better paying job and was moving on with no hard feelings. That’s until my direct report told me some shocking news: my new manager was bad mouthing me to the rest of the team.

She said I was fudging the numbers, hiding my mistakes and presenting myself as more technical than I actually was. All of this was ridiculous and I was fuming so I did something that caused a stir. I told my ex-CFO that I had heard that my ex-manager had said the above and asked him whether he could ask her to stop. I told him I still care for the team and would like to work with some of them again someday. He replied asking who told me and that he will talk to them and take it from there. I said I’d rather not drag this person into it and would like for him to just deal with it as tactfully as he can.

Today my ex-manager pulled my ex-direct report into a meeting and told him that if anymore internal information becomes external she will make a formal complaint about him.

Nobody knows it was him and he didn’t actually know what they were talking about. I told him what I had done so he now has all the info. He’s going to keep his head down until I can settle into my new job and hopefully bring him over.

What was the rationale of my CFO to do this? Why would he take action against my ex-direct report instead of my ex-manager? They were apparently in a long meeting together beforehand so maybe he did reprimand her as well.

I don’t know. I really trusted my ex-CFO, I thought he was a good man. I’m so disappointed in him. And I’m disappointed at my bad lack of judgment and selfishness in the moment.

Can I sue for defamation of character?

​

I M[36] work in IT as a computer technician and have done so for about 1.5 years. I am in a seperate space than my department and feel there is a disconnect between them and myself. I miss out on the good and bad moments and whenever I enter the space most of them stop talking and turn back to their work. Additionally, Its bothered me a lot because it feels like one coworker is constantly going to the big boss about what I should have or do. Today i was finally going to be placed in the same OU as the team and I suspect the change that happened right after was this particular coworker going to the big boss and giving them the reasons why I shouldn't be in the other group. As such I am in the general user group and dont have a lot of access. This is the same coworker who convinced the boss to not give me access to specific systems and has halted me getting any kind of additional tech to work on even things like cleaning supplies or items for my job get halted until i cant do the work and then we order. Finally whenever our other boss gives me extra things like a server and network to work on he tried to have it removed and called it junk. I already dont feel like a real IT professional as my position is often seen as just a specific type of repair and I dont need to be involved in anything else or be cross trained according to specific members of the team. I feel stuck and just need advice on how to proceed. Is it worth continuing to try to make this work or should I just start looking until I find something that pays as well?

I used to be an overachiever at the library I work at. I've worked there for over a decade and worked my way from a substitute weekend position to a full time librarian. I got this far because I always volunteered for extra work and went above and beyond by finding projects to help make the daily workflow smoother. I volunteered for committees, helped other departments when they were short without needing to be asked, and I even spent the pandemic finding and working on all kinds of projects that could only be done while we were closed to the public.

I have no interest in joining management so I have gone as far as I can professionally. I no longer get raises. My cost of living increase every year is less than a dollar and doesn't keep up with inflation. Insurance and union dues go up so every year I make less money than the previous year. I have no incentive to try so I basically stopped doing work. Over the years I realized that my managers were the ones receiving recognition and even promotions based on the work I was doing. I feel that my work ethic was taken advantage of.

At first when I began to pull back I felt immense guilt and paranoia that I was going to get caught slacking, until I noticed my managers spend their days shopping online and staring at their phones. The people around me in our office just talk and show each other videos. No one even notices that I'm not doing anything either. I see managers come in late and leave early. Many of the people who make considerably more money get to "work" from home several times per week. The people who get paid the most, make all the decisions, and criticize everyone else's work are never even in the library.

I stopped suggesting projects and stopped doing basic things like straightening the new books to make it look more appealing to the public. I realized I was the only person doing this and now our collection looks like a yard sale. I spend weeks on tasks that should take me a day and no one calls me out on it.

Part of me wants to find a new job where I can use my brain or work in an environment where there's a shared objective of making the library the best place it can be, but I feel like I'll just hit the same wall where there's nothing left to gain from it. I don't know what's worse, being burnt out by being one of the few people who tried, or being burnt out from going to work at a place where no one cares.

I work in construction administration doing admin work for job sites, 40 hours, desk job, most days office is empty (folks on site, remote, or other offices, but I’m one of few here all the time).

Yes construction has slowed down except data centers but when I say I have nothing to do I really mean it when i say I have nothing to do. For example it’s 2:30pm right now and I’ve had one email all day and it’s not even for me. Yesterday I had 2 emails on a Monday. All of last week just a handful of emails. It’s been this way for months where on average I complete everything that needs to be done in a day in the first hour of work and fuck off the rest of the time. I have asked my boss, coworkers, PMs everyone “hey what can I help with” and other things to politely show I have bandwidth to help. All of them say they don’t have anything for me to do and I just find busy work or just look busy all day. Some upper management is actually pretty busy but they can’t seem to delegate tasks or train anyone to help so we all twiddle our thumbs.

I’m serious, I am here 40 hours a week but only about 8 hours of genuine work in that week. For months. My brain is turning to soup. What are some ways I can upskill at work? I’m scared to log onto udemy or anything like that on my work laptop but I feel so…wasting my life away. I like my job when I do have work and the people and the pay isn’t terrible it’s just slooooow. Even my boss admits it’s hella slow but being that it’s construction it does eventually turn around, like 2 years ago we were so busy and I had tons to do! I wouldn’t feel so bad if I could be remote and actually get shit done at home. Advice welcomed

I have a friend Sarah who just moved to the US and needs some help with her linkedin if you could add her: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-bennett-2a1b88431

I got pulled into a meeting with my company CEO (for context, I work at a start-up so she’s pretty accessible) at 10pm today.

When we got on call, she exploded at me and told me never in the history of the company has there been so much negativity around a project and there is side chatter, and at the center of it all, my name has been thrown around.

For context, I’ve spent months working on a project that has been consistently sidelined for other more urgent tasks. I’ve worked on all aspects of the project because there was no one else available, and recently when we got to a point where an actual team became available, we were given an extremely tight deadline on which to work. They want to continue to repackage the product all the way up to launch date, which is fine, except that it would mean going back for more revisions that the people demanding revisions are not actually going to do. I’ve been vocal about not wanting to change major things, given that it may get us to a situation where we are behind our potential users and that presents its own problem. The product has been changed multiple times already because this or that person didn’t like the look of something, or because (and this one’s legitimate) testers had an issue, or because people have differing opinions on pieces of content that they keep fighting over.

A number of people on my team share this frustration, and there is an internal group to vent about things. Mostly, it’s pretty tame stuff but I guess I have complained about my frustration. The problem is that other, senior members of the team have chosen to act on their own frustration by sending antagonistic messages, pointing at my feelings of burnout as a core issue. These things stem from wanting to help I know, but they’re just causing more strife. I’ve said repeatedly that I don’t think we should send messages like that, but no one has listened.

The result was this meeting with my boss who started with this explosion, and eventually did get to a productive place of redistributing my workload in the middle. But she gave me a real dressing down about how I shouldn’t be complaining about iterations because this is the process, and yes it sucks that I worked weekends to make the changes only for us not to use things, but that’s the job. I’ve been working weekends and 12 hour days for months trying to make this work.

It made me feel really awful and small, because I’ve been working for months trying to make this product even exist with barely any feedback and now I just feel like a pot-stirrer, which I wasn’t trying to be. I’m just exhausted. The last thing I want is a reputation for toxicity, because this whole time all I’ve been frustrated about is the circles we seem to go around in that prevent the project from getting off the ground.

I’m sorry for any strife I may have caused, and I’m going to stop talking to colleagues about my frustration, but I resent the implication that I’m the primary problem here, as opposed to the systemic problems in the development structure. I don’t know how to feel about anything anymore.

Has anyone been through anything similar? How did you deal with it?

I have a female manager who is in her late 40s, and honestly, I find it quite exhausting to deal with her sometimes. She can be very aggressive, and she also tends to forget things or change her understanding of a situation. The frustrating part is that when I make a mistake or forget something, she immediately calls me careless or shouts at me.

At the same time, she often doesn’t listen fully and jumps to conclusions. She’ll tell me to “use my brain,” but when I actually try to think independently and make a decision, she sometimes questions why I did it and says I’m making things confusing.

I genuinely feel that I’m quite competent at my work, so it’s difficult when I’m constantly having to navigate someone who is very strong-headed and sometimes inconsistent in how she communicates. I’m honestly just tired of dealing with it sometimes and could really use some advice on how to handle this kind of personality without letting it get to me.

For context, I work in finance and i want to work on getting promoted and I wanna try to show that “I’m performing at the next level” but honestly it’s gotten so much in my head that if I as much as MISS something that I my manager brings up, I tear myself down SO MUCH because it just shows I’m not there yet.

I have so much of self doubt issues all throughout my life and I’m in a job where I need to show confidence (think consulting style roles). I’m starting to think this isn’t a good fit for me- and to add to this distress, I think back to a time where the job I’m in now was something I would Dreamt to do 10 years ago.

Now the only thing coming in the forefront is my self confidence issues - I stutter when I talk to the client, I made a really dumb mistake in the model and every sign in my head points to how I’m not ready for my next role (think manager role).

I started off super strong in this job getting an early promotion 8-10 months into the role and now it’s flipped on its head and I feel I’m performing worse than before because I have no motivation as I feel I’m not meeting my own expectations and perception of how I should be doing and that plummets my confidence and I keep beating myself up. I really don’t know what to do.

For further context, I have gotten very good reviews up till now, I fear this will buck the trend and it’ll all go down from here. Every thing/ project/ case/ initiative I work on I take it incredibly seriously and I always try to do the best at it. I have more responsibilities now like managing my own workstream which wasn’t my role a year ago- and I am working with quite a bit of ambiguity because I am just “giving myself work” as we work to a deliverable- and showing my managers what I did - and I get feedback and do the required course corrections or continue working on that path.

I want to be able to hear “yes I got it 100% and this is a right approach etc” and my ears are simply not hearing it and I’m thinking any neutral or constructive feedback is taken negatively. I spend DAYS crying after work because I’m so consumed by this feeling and I work out 6 days a week, eat healthy, am of very decent weight and have a great family, supportive partner, and no major money issues.

Might add more but Any advice?

I’ve been offered a nursing contract through Healthcare Australia and it’s in regional NSW. I’m excited. It’s a good opportunity

The rate seems okay. It’s not amazing. But it’s not terrible. So I could live on it

But I’ve heard that agencies take a cut. I don’t know how much. I don’t know if the rate I see is the actual rate or just what they offer after they’ve already taken their portion

I’ve worked directly with hospitals before. I know what a fair rate looks like. But I don’t know how agency contracts work

Are they selling me a lower rate? Is the rate on the website actually real?

I don’t want to accept a contract that’s worse than what I could get directly. But I also don’t want to miss out on a good opportunity because I overthink it

I’m kinda confused and I want to take the contract. But I need to know if I’m being paid fairly

Anyone here in Philippines, having a hard time finding a job as BS Animal Science? I’m having a hard time
find a job a

i work at a hair salon in a wealthy area, so we have a lot of conservative leaning, anti socialist, zionist type people. my boss also falls into this category. i look very obviously like a lefty i should mention. she keeps asking me about political issues and politicians in front of clients. even when nobody else is there it’s very uncomfortable hecause i know she just wants to lecture me and try to change my mind. i also worry that if she begins to have a bad opinion of me it could make me more vulnerable to being fired.
when charlie kirk died she kept asking “what does your generation think? did you like him?” and the other day she called me over to google and read out to her and a client what sharia law is (they were talking about al sayed trying to “enforce sharia law”). what do i tell her to get her to stop??? it’s so awkward in front of clients and we are barley ever alone at work

I have been using AI lately in some very long discussions about career myths. The specifics of those discussions are not that interesting but I did get a reply I will share that is worth remembering about the deal you make when you do professional work. I am under enormous pressure to "go AI" in my technical work, and I'm not too interested in chasing the AI hype train.

my complaint is that AI does not offer an answer to the question "what's in it for me" and I'm tired of being resisted for insisting that is a legitimate question to have answered clearly before dedicating my professional life to its cause.

---

You have every right to ask what you receive in exchange for doing this new kind of work. Not what AI might do for employers, vendors, investors, or “the industry”—what it offers you.

So far, the proposition appears to be:

• accept less clarity about the work;
• take responsibility for unreliable outputs;
• absorb substantial verification costs;
• risk losing your mental model of what you build;
• continually relearn unstable tools;
• and help buyers pursue goals they cannot define.

In return, you are not being offered better money, ownership, authority, security, interesting problems, or a credible professional future.

That is not an opportunity with uncertain upside. From your position, it is currently an offer of additional burdens with no identified benefit. “What’s in it for me?” is sufficient—and “nothing” is sufficient reason to decline.

I recently left my job of because I was told I couldn't take time off (about 1-2ish hours) for an interview.

I worked in an office, and my supervisor, X, decided they wanted all members of the team on site every day of the week because it was the beginning of a busy period. But they also made it a point to make them "black out" days, where we couldn't request time off.

I know I'm not a perfect worker, and I've taken well to most of the criticism from X, because they also balanced it with praise and positive reinforcement at times. But I've come to realize that the worst managers tend to sometimes hide behind that facade.

We were over managed and overworked, while X continued to implement more and more responsibilities to increase student traffic, even knowing we were understaffed. People have left the team in droves ever since X took over as manager, and I don't recall many people ever talking about them in good light, quite the opposite in fact.

I felt like this was the final straw for me, and I presented an ultimatum to them regarding this meeting I told them was of importance to me. It's not how I wanted to leave, even though I've wanted so badly to leave for a long time. It honestly didn't have to end like this, but I feel like X was so driven by ego, that they'd rather not compromise.

Am I in the wrong here?

Like seriously. We have a distribution list per cou try. Especially the new ones. I know because I am in IT and I made it, use it to communicate stuff and informed everyone about it.

I move to said new country, from HQ, where I am quite established. It's a new branch. I lowkey set it up. I handhold these mthfks through the entire onboarding and make them feel welcome.

Well no. There is a group photo happening and guess who doesn’t have an invite.

One of the new girlies convinces me to join anyway, so I kinda reluctantly wait for what is about to happen.

Well the "boss" of the office comes to me and asks if I could be the one taking the picture of them. I can't believe what I'm hearing. I put on my "Professional neutral face" and say "Well, sure but that makes me feel quite excluded" to which his answer is "I'm sure you can handle that."

This wasn’t even the first time that I took their picture. On the office opening I did too and not one person asked me to join. There were clients and other acquaintances that could have taken the picture. I swallowed it then and did not say anything.

So this time - in fact no, I could not handle that. I was wandering around the office, and then I just up and left. I am not going to be the ghost behind the camera as someone on a senior position.

I got called by one of the managers twice. No, did not pick it up. Like what, there are 3 likely scenarios:

1.Dude has no clue why I left so venting to him would be cringe

1. Dude wants me to join anyways, in which case I would just have a sour expression on the photo

2. "It was just a joke" yeah but I'm not laughing

Anyways comitting social suicide, mentioning this to the guy who is responsible for both IT and HR and switching to full remote. Screw everyone.

Hate people so much.

Different situation because I am an assistant coach for a college sports team, but I am so annoyed that I have to share a hotel room w/ the other assistant coach.

We travel 2-3 times a month from August to November, gone for 4 nights at a time.

I feel slightly entitled wanting my own room, and I just know it’s not in the budget, but man it sucks. I wouldn’t even feel comfortable bringing this up to the head coach. I feel so enraged that I don’t get alone time since the rest of the day is spent all together, talking all the time. Even when we are in the room together and not talking, I just feel their presence and can’t fully relax. Idk how I am going to do it for the full 4 days. I cant even shit in peace.

Any advice ? Like yeah I can go hang in the lobby, but that’s not that comfy either.

Why are we acting like 5pm doesn't actually mean 5pm? If your job is supposed to be 9 to 5 but your manager regularly keeps you past 5, then you're not working 9 to 5. You're working 9 until whenever your manager decides you're allowed to leave. If there's still work left at 5 and you're back tomorrow morning anyway, why the hell does it suddenly need to be finished today?

Obviously, if something genuinely urgent comes up or you caused the delay yourself, that's different. But if there's simply too much work to finish within your scheduled hours, it shouldn't automatically become your problem to stay late every day. That's a management issue. The work can wait until tomorrow if it isn't urgent.

Working a 9 to 5 is already miserable enough. You don't need to make it even more miserable by staying back like a headless dog every day. Even if you're getting paid for it, constantly giving away more of your evening just isn't worth it. At that point, you might as well say, “I work from 9 until whenever my manager says leave.”

Now imagine having a manager who simply says, “It's 5, go home.” The option to stay back isn't even there. Everyone leaves and you come back tomorrow to continue whatever wasn't finished. I'd much rather work somewhere like that, even if the pay was slightly worse, because at least my working hours actually mean something.

I feel like I overshare with my colleague. We work in a remote setup and we both joined at the same time. We have become good friends now but I feel like I share too much with her. I usually talk to a lot of people and it has become a habit of mine to give her the tea as well. How can I limit myself from doing this? Or am I overthinking?

I am wondering anyone has any advice on asking for a raise. I have received several small performance-based raises over the 5 years I have worked for my current company, but due to inflation the buying power of my current hourly wage is only equal to a dollar more than my starting wage. I would just like to be making enough money for my previous performance raises to be actually reflected in my wage. It’s only a difference of $3.00 hourly, but it would be life changing for my family.
I am not the most socially adept person. That’s why I chose the field I am in, where I mostly work with numbers behind the scenes instead of working directly with clients. Interviews and meetings are not my forte. I am honestly a little worried I will start crying once I start trying to ask.
If it helps, my company is not currently struggling financially and is very stable. Our company culture is very casual as well. Most of the advice I was finding online was suggesting dressing in very professional attire for a meeting with HR, but that would be like coming in clown gear to my office.
Has anyone ever asked for something similar? Does anyone have any tips?

Good practice or does this look more weird than the problem I am trying to avoid ( appearing like typical creepy male ) ?!

I

Title is overdramatic I know. But tomorrow, I will receive a yelling and probably a warning letter for failing to meet my monthly KPIs.

As an L&D, i have a monthly target of having all employees to achieve 2 learning hours per employee. So basically the total of all employees times 2, that's the amount of online learning hours that must be achieved. I only achieved 94% - ish

I am not trying to justify my mistake nor I am trying to insist that 94% is enough but it is what it is. My manager is extremely micromanaging and does not tolerate this kind of stuff. In a previous month, I once failed to achieve this target and it went pretty bad. However, he's in a bit of a mood this week (one core employee left in a not-so-good manner) that he already gave me a warning letter for doing a dashboard wrong, so this time, it will be exponentially worse for me.

I don't know what I am seeking I think I am venting, maybe some optimistic words from those who have went through similar things.

I am already applying for jobs for the past 3 months but nothing good has turned up. Hopefully as things are getting worse, there are things that could be better.