At my old company a guy was fired for harassment. The week after that, I was fired for harassment. Someone put in a retaliatory complaint against me thinking I was the one that got the guy from the week before fired. I didn’t. HR was very vague when they fired me and showed no proof. Said they would just replace the two of us and move on.

I handled our largest client. Did all their projects. After I got fired, client called me with some usual questions and I told them I was fired and didn’t work there anymore. Heard through the grapevine my old company struggled to keep up on the work load, even though they hired one person.

Two weeks later I get a call from the client. They want to hire me in-house and stop subcontracting old company. I never sent them an application or interviewed with them, they just asked me to come in to discuss an offer.

This client was my old company’s highest paying client. About $60k in billables a month. And since client hired me, they lost that contract.

Gladly took the offer and now old company doesn’t have to worry about replacing me.

I reminded him -- because this was not the first time something like this has happened -- that I am not his personal assistant. So he fired me. I packed my shit and left. Two minutes later he called me and asked to talk, so I turned around.

We talked. He said he was asking me to do that as a friend, not as his personal assistant.

I pointed out that we are not friends, we are employer/employee. We do not socialize, we do not call/text each other, we have not been invited to the others' house, etc.

He told me he had an accident the night before and slept in the office last night. I said (basically), "Okay, so what does that have to do with you expecting me to handle your personal business?"

He called me arrogant and started swearing. I got up and said "we're done here". He then fired me (again). I almost asked him if he was firing me as a friend or as an employer.

Had two interviews today and applied to six new jobs. One potential employer called the company owner right then and there, while the owner was on his vacation, to talk about me, so that's promising.

Stand your ground, folks.

Boss gave some BS excuse about how it’ll have to wait until June and it might not be as much as everyone is thinking (max 50¢ raise). It’s been two years of this. Finally after shoveling literal buckets of shit (sewer dept) he told his boss now or never. Got the above excuse, told him today is his two weeks and he is going to use his PTO for the two weeks. Brought in his uniforms and keys. I will say I’m quite proud of him for knowing his worth and grateful we are stable enough he can just quit on the spot. Also, $20/hr is not worth it to shovel shit and the disease risk.

Hadn't been happy for a while, so I've been shopping around my CV and got a pretty good offer last week, which I accepted. Once I did, I sent my director my resignation via email and copied the head of HR, and the HR rep for my building. Couldn't talk to my director in person because despite claiming there isn't a WFH policy, she was once again WFH. So email.

Get a call from my director a few minutes later. Her concern wasn't that I was resigning. Her concern was that I had copied HR, and "that's not how we do things around here". All I can say is best of luck with that attitude, honestly.

Update: really appreciate everyone's advice and support and well wishes. Just to clarify, she said everything over the phone, and eventually responded via email accepting the resignation. Since it was to join a competitor, the resignation was with immediate effect, so I've been taking a much needed break before starting my new job.

HOWEVER, yesterday I noticed that they accidentally paid me my full salary, and now there's a hold on my account for the salary payment AND the other funds in there. Yes this is illegal, and yes I will be escalating the matter if it's not resolved by close of business today. I dont mind the hold on the incorrect salary amount, but illegally depriving me access to the rest of my funds? Nope, not gonna happen. Stay tuned.

Update 2: should have mentioned, I worked for a bank, so yes my employer placed a hold on my salary in my account. Anyhoo, since I'm now just a customer (who just happens to know exactly who to call), I formally queried the holds. I got confirmation that my former director was the one who instructed operations support to place both holds on my account. And because a formal query was submitted via email, with tons of people copied, she authorized the release of both holds. Including the one I didn't have an issue with for the overpaid final salary. Which means the holds were BS in the first place. Anyway, I'm not touching the overpaid salary because I'm not trying to burn bridges within the industry unnecessarily. But I do plan to formally escalate the illegal hold and the hilarious response to my resignation notice. If there's an update worth sharing, I will. If not, cheers folks, y'all have been great.

We are supposed to get 10 inches of snow here, in a Southern state ill equipped to handle it.

I work in retail and make minimum wage. They want to keep the store open even though it will be dead and the snow will be in full force by closing time.

I always said to myself I will call out for dangerous levels of snow, then I never do. And the last time I got guilt tripped to a job during winter weather, I almost got in a wreck coming home.

So I called my boss. He bitched me out then said if I was scared to drive he'd pay for my Uber. My boss is a huge liar, there's no way he would reimburse me. Even if so, me driving or not, it will still be unsafe. I told him I am not coming in no matter what. I didn't say this to him, but if they fire me they fire me.

So why do I feel incredibly guilty? My hands can barely type this. I guess I just want to hear from other people that asserting yourself can be hard.

I guess I just need reassurance.

I can get a minimum wage job anywhere. It's just not worth it.

How do I calm myself down?

I (20F) just started my first full-time job a few months ago, and I've been trying really hard to make a good impression. I show up on time, finish my tasks early, and even pick up extra shifts when someone calls out. But last week, my manager asked if I could stay late to help clean up after a big project. I said sure, thinking I'd get paid for it.

Well, turns out, that extra time was "off the clock" because the store was "over budget on hours". When I asked about it, my manager got annoyed and said I should want to help the team and that this job is about "more than just a paycheck:. I was stunned. I work hard because I want to build a future for myself, not because I'm doing this job for fun. Why would anyone stay late and work for free when we're barely making enough to get by?

When I said I couldn't stay late if I wasn't being paid, they called me ungrateful and said I wasn't a "team player". Now I'm worried they're going to cut my hours or make my life harder at work. All because I set a boundary about not working for free.

Why is it that so many jobs expect us to sacrifice out time and energy for nothing in return? They say it's about "team spirit", but really, it's just another way to take advantage of people. I'm so tired of this mindset..

I have spoken Spanish in the past at work. Due to a contract dispute and them refusing to give us language pay, I have told them that I no longer feel comfortable translating. A foreign language comes with extra liability and I am not 100% fluent. I have now been issued a written reprimand.

They want me to do more work than my co-workers, get held to the same standards, without any extra benefit. And then they punish me when I don't enthusiastically welcome extra work.

I work a union job in Florida.

Edit: Thanks for the replies. I have reached out to my union. Union president is out of town, I've been told to wait until he gets back.

I’m 28 years old, worked construction my whole life. I make good money, I’m a crane operator but my days are split about 50/50 inside the cab and on the ground with the guys. This fall I got offered a job in the companies office, working on proposals and estimates. I was good at it, but it sucked. I didn’t realize but as the months went on I was becoming extremely depressed, sitting in an office staring at computer screen. I was tired all the time. Now I’ve worked hard labor intensive construction, I’ve been tired before, but this was different. This was sluggish. My life was terrible. So I quit.

I went back to running a crane it’s amazing. Using my body, I’m outside, everyday is something new, on the fly problem solving. I feel bad for all you office folk.

I’ve been lurking here for a long time but never thought I’d share my own experience—until now.

I started working at my company over seven years ago. About a year in, my boss changed, and everything slowly started going downhill. The new boss was aggressive, controlling, and created a toxic work environment. But for years, I didn’t even realize it. Instead, I kept searching for flaws in myself, thinking maybe I was the problem.

It wasn’t until about two years ago that it really clicked. I randomly came across an audiobook about narcissistic personalities—and it was like they were describing my boss. Everything made sense. He had already pushed several people out, especially anyone who dared to criticize him.

After countless talks with HR and even the CEO, I finally quit last month. I’m just mentally exhausted. And of course, he’s furious that he is the reason I’m leaving. On Monday, he told me, "I accept that you’re leaving—I just don’t accept the reason!"

Too bad. You don’t get to "accept" my reality. I’m done.

I've been having issues with my boss since I asked for a raise last year. Since then I have felt set up for failure on multiple projects I've worked on. Projects that I was assigned to solo have had the goalposts changed and due dates changed somewhat arbitrarily. Every time I would present the results I would be told to add or change something and told that it was close, but not finished. Projects I was assigned to with others, their effort on the project would be praised and I would be an afterthought. Even on projects where I took on a majority of responsibilities, other employees were singled out for praise.

Well, I've been applying for other jobs for the past several months and got an offer last month. They wanted to me start earlier, but I asked if they could push my start date until after my current employers bonuses were paid out. I worked there all of last year, I should at least get the bonus, right?

Well, today I had the meeting with my manager to discuss salary and the bonus payout and (as the title says) I received a $0 bonus. I was also informed that my performance review was "needs improvement." I should mention here that my boss is notoriously awful at getting us our performance reviews. My mid-year review which should have been completed in July wasn't completed until November.

Upon learning that the bonus was $0 I was struck silent. My boss asked me if I had any questions and I just said, "I'm shocked I'm not receiving a bonus. I'm honestly insulted. This is a slap in the face and it's so insulting." I then shared a few additional thoughts. "I've been disrespected so much this past year. I've been set up for failure, the problems you've had with me have been manufactured or exaggerated. Hang on a moment because I need to send you an email." I then opened up the word document with the notice letter I had written earlier today and said, "I'm sending you my notice. Next Friday will be my last day of employment. I can't work here any more."

I know my boss was probably thrilled with this as I've felt like much of the past year has been organized around pushing me out, but they were definitely caught off guard at the immediacy of my resignation. I'm pissed I didn't get the bonus but I'm honestly so thrilled that I was able to quit in response to the most recent insult. I start the new job in a couple weeks and even though the pay isn't that much better the company is better, the job is better, and there's more room for upward mobility.

Updates: I spoke to several colleagues and I am the only employee to receive no bonus this year. Everyone else received full bonus.

Also, I was given paid leave from the company through the end of next week (my date resignation). 1.5 weeks paid without having to work - some consolation.

We are at a pivotal moment, where either we choose to plunge the system into darkness on our terms temporarily, or the oligarchs drive the system into darkness on their terms for the foreseeable future. And yet, so many people seem willing to just continue, business as usual, even as our protections (worker protections, immigrant protections, social services) evaporate before our eyes.

The ruling class may own the companies, but the working class still runs them, and we have a chance to use that to help ward off the darkness.

I'm currently driving a school bus part-time. Have been looking for more work, especially over the summer.

Today, within an hour of each other, I had calls from a place I'd interviewed in person mid-December AND a place I'd done a phone interview with a couple weeks ago. Both had been silent since then.

[ETA: for both, I'd be driving a motorcoach, think tour bus or Greyhound. The first company also has smaller passenger vehicles. The second company also has school buses.]

I accepted PT for the first company, easing into that as I ease out of school bus while school ends. Boss there is OK with that.

When the second one called, I told her I had moved on with other options because I hadn't heard back... but I was willing to try to juggle all 3 PT jobs. She asked if the other was with a bus company, "because that would be a conflict of interest and we can't allow it".

I explained that I need to pay bills, so her company can control whatever time they pay for. She didn't like that, but didn't really have a response.
So we agreed this probably wouldn't work.

Damn, that felt good!!

.

ETA: I was willing to juggle the USA Federal hours of service among all jobs, being totally honest with all of them. That wasn't the objection from company 2.

I worked for this company for almost 4 years. I was told there would be a raise every year.

Every time I ask, it’s; your manager is on vacation. He needs to do your performance review. You just moved to a new manager We need to wait for this long. The manager was on l&i one time. Manager quit one time.

This summer, I brought it up again.

The company hired a consulting firm to research what they could pay us and we had to wait until after the research was done to talk about raises.

Friday night after all the office people went home. I am at a site checking my email before I go home.

Sent out to all the people in my position.

       The research found we’re already being paid above market value, no raises necessary. 

Ceo, regional director, manager… all on vacation.

The dude left with the phone for callouts was real frazzled. I was not the only one that called out today.

Every coworker I know is pissed.

3 are looking for jobs.

I have a GI bill to use💅🏼

You ever have a boss so bad that you start fantasizing about getting hit by a mildly inconvenient car accident just to get a day off? Yeah that was me.

This man was a walking HR violation. A micromanaging credit stealing soul crushing dictator in a cheap suit. The kind of guy who schedules a "quick meeting" at 4:55 PM on a Friday. The kind of guy who emails you at 2 AM and follows up at 2:05 AM. The kind of guy who breathes like he’s buffering.

Final straw? Yesterday he called me into his office and said I needed to show more "commitment to the company" because I had the AUDACITY to leave on time instead of staying late UNPAID to fix a problem that HE caused. Then he hit me with the classic:

"You're lucky to have this job."

Bro. BRO. YOU’RE lucky I haven’t stapled my resignation letter to your forehead.

So today I walked in placed my resignation letter on his desk looked him dead in the eye and said I think you need more commitment to finding a new employee. I turned around and left like I was in a movie except instead of dramatic music there was just Karen from accounting loudly chewing her salad.

No two weeks' notice. No backup plan. Just pure unfiltered freedom. And honestly I have never felt more at peace.

To anyone stuck with a terrible boss Life is too short to spend 40 plus hours a week being miserable. Sometimes the best career move is telling an asshole to find someone else to exploit.

TLDR; My boss sucked. I quit spectacularly. 10 out of 10 would recommend.

So I should be a slave living a very basic life style and working about 50 hours a week. According to Your Money or Your Life I make 19 an hour after taxes insurance commuting time and work expenses.

I went to school for engineering and have professional licenses so it's not like I didn't and don't work hard. I and am mid 30s so realistically that is mid life the age of death for men is like 73 in the US now.

Why should I work basically for other people's benefit? The worse thing that could happen is ending up homeless then in jail that only seems slightly worse?

Register to vote: https://vote.gov

——————

Get Involved:

Donate to a good voter registration org: https://www.fieldteam6.org/

——————

Contact your reps:

Senate: https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm?Class=1

House of Representatives: https://contactrepresentatives.org/

Had an interview for a position that looked cool on paper. Met with the interviewer, answered their questions. Everything was smooth sailing.

Until I asked about work-life balance. It was clear the person was not valued by their bosses and the benefits were probably not worth it. The position itself was severely under compensated compared to my local market too, which yikes…

Oh, and the expectation was to drop everything to help with “emergencies” at the exec level. Please lmfaooo.

Lucky to be in a position to decline a garbage job. Not that I expect anything will come out of it but I was professional about my thoughts.

Fuck these companies man. So hard to find a decent working environment these days…

We always talk about collapse as something violent. Protests, revolutions, economic crashes, government overreach. But what if the system crumbles not because people fight it but because they simply stop showing up?

Think about it: the entire structure of power. Corporations, governments, and billionaires function on the assumption that people will keep showing up. Keep working. Keep paying. Keep obeying. What happens if enough of us just... opt out? Not in an organized, union-led way, but gradually disengage, one by one, until the machine sputters and dies?

We're already seeing it happen:

• The rise of 'quiet quitting' and mass job dissatisfaction
• People realise that wages don’t match rent, and refusing to accept it
• Workers embracing remote work and pushing back against forced office returns
• Declining trust in both corporate and government systems

What if collapse isn’t dramatic but just a slow, inevitable erosion? A critical mass of workers realizing they don’t have to grind themselves to dust for a system that doesn’t care about them? What happens when people stop believing that endless labour is their only option?

Curious to hear thoughts. Is passive disengagement a legitimate path to breaking the system? Would it work, or would the system fight back?

In the US it is customary to give a business a two week notice when quitting. I say workers should give every bit of notice they expect to get from their employer - none.

Why do we do this? In a day where people get fired by email and don’t find out they’re out of a job until their badge doesn’t work, tell them at 4:59 on a Friday. Do it at 8:01 on a Monday. Who cares?

When you’re done, go. You don’t owe them shit. They’re the ones that took common decency off the table.

They can’t not pay you for work you’ve already done. What are they going to do - fire you?

Most HR departments are only allowed to confirm if you were an employee and the dates employed. Anything beyond that is a liability to them. It’s not like it’s going on your permanent record. Pack up your dignity and walk out smiling…or eat popcorn while muted on calls because you can just enjoy the show. Just do it on your terms.

Tipping culture has completely lost its way. What started as a voluntary gesture to reward exceptional service has morphed into a mandatory expectation, guilt-tripping customers into subsidizing workers’ wages. It’s time we confront the truth: tipping has become toxic, and it’s being used as an excuse for employers to avoid paying fair, living wages.

Let’s be clear—tipping was never meant to be a substitute for a paycheck. It was supposed to be a bonus, a way to show appreciation for going above and beyond. But now, employers have shifted the burden of paying their employees onto us, the customers. They’ve normalized the idea that it’s our responsibility to ensure workers can pay their bills, while they pocket the profits. This is not how it should work.

The reality is, tipping perpetuates inequality. Workers are left at the mercy of customers’ generosity, forced to rely on unpredictable tips to make ends meet. Meanwhile, employers get away with paying poverty wages, knowing that tips will fill the gap. This system is broken, and it’s time we fix it.

Here’s the solution: We need to stop tipping.

If we collectively stop tipping, employers will no longer be able to rely on customers to subsidize their payroll. Workers will demand fair wages because they’ll have no other choice—they won’t be able to survive on tips alone. This will force employers to pay their employees what they’re actually worth.

I know this sounds radical, and some might argue that stopping tipping will hurt workers in the short term. But the truth is, the current system is already hurting them. It’s keeping them trapped in a cycle of dependency on tips while letting employers off the hook. By stopping tipping, we’re not abandoning workers—we’re fighting for a system where they’re paid fairly and consistently, without having to rely on the whims of customers.

It’s not our responsibility as customers to ensure workers can pay their rent. That’s the employer’s job. Tipping culture has allowed businesses to shirk that responsibility for far too long. Let’s come together and demand change. Let’s stop tipping and force employers to pay living wages.

What do you think? Are you ready to take a stand against toxic tipping culture? Let’s start the conversation and push for a fairer system for everyone.

It's so weird to be living through a coup. We had my daughter's birthday today. As I was driving to pick up her cake I kept thinking how surreal it all is. Our government is being dismantled from the inside and I was going to pick up a cake.

I know we all wish someone else would step in and stop it. But what we all need to know and what we all need to start getting comfortable with is that no one is coming. We are the ones who have to step up. NEVER OBEY IN ADVANCE. We are all we have

I am a level 1 agent on a team of about 25 people. We receive messages from other departments daily requesting assistance or completion of tasks. The tasks are our department’s responsibility, but it is also optional to handle them, as it’s not our main duty. If no one handles them, management has to take care of them.

I’ve been going above and beyond for the last year or so and taking on these additional tasks, and I’m one of the only people on my team to do so. I’ve been praised for this by management and it has helped me secure an interview in the past for a promotion (I didn’t get the promotion due to limited number of openings, but still very cool that I was considered).

A couple weeks ago they announced mandatory overtime for the next couple months due to high volume, but it’s really just incompetence on leadership’s part and understaffing. I’ve been quite stressed out so I stopped helping with the additional tasks altogether. And I guess I didn’t realize how many I was doing, because management is DROWNING in them now. They’re having a really hard time keeping up with them. They typically didn’t handle these tasks at all, since me and a couple other team members would pick them up all the time. But now that I’ve stopped (and so have the other couple people on my team who were doing them regularly), they’re completely overwhelmed with them and are spending most of their time working on them.

It’s wonderful to see, and I don’t think I will ever willingly carry my whole department like I did before. Fuck them.