Appearance is important when it comes to your working life—well, really any time you're relying heavily on first impressions and social perception. It's an unfortunate fact that remains one all the same: The book is often judged by its cover. This extends past basic aesthetics of dress and into body language and the way we communicate, giving others a wholly inaccurate impression of our trustworthiness and competency for a role or task. To make matters worse, everyone has their own understandin…

Never underestimate a customer's ability to be ridiculous. They'll always surprise you with new ways to misunderstand simple things. U/N1k1B1k1e understands that all too well after a Saturday night run-in with a baffling customer . The person sharing this story writes that they worked at an underground go-kart arena. Some people in the comments section seemed confused by this phrasing. But it's exactly what it sounds like: you head to an underground race track where go-karts zip around at top s…

When this guy got called into the head boss's office , he had a feeling it wasn't a good sign. Getting a message from HR or the higher-ups you never really speak to can send a shiver down an employee's spine. Having to have one of these important talks can mean getting put on a PIP plan if the boss is unhappy with their work. Sometimes, HR will have to call an important meeting if the employee has been bothering other employees. There are a lot of reasons these spontaneous meetings might happen…

Boring workplace? Time to liven it up with a few pranks! That's what these people did, and they shared the resulting hilarity with r/AskReddit. If you've ever gotten to prank your coworkers , you know how funny it can be. If you're on the receiving end of a stapler encased in jello, you might be a little miffed. But everyone around you will remember your surprised face, and they'll get a great laugh out of it too. It's an entertaining way to build camaraderie. And for a lot of the people below,…

Mistakes and bad decisions happen, it's just a part of the decision making process. As Thomas Edison, the inventor of the lightbulb, famously said, “'I have not failed, but found 1000 ways to not make a light bulb." The quote and attribution varies, but it's usually something along those lines. And that remains true, you don't know and can't learn until you pick a direction and try, but where this becomes an issue is when people and organizations obstinately refuse to course correct, refusing t…

This worker noticed a tiny mistake in their work schedule , but since it was their last day, there was no way they were going to tell the boss about it. Whether you've given your two weeks' notice to your job, or you've been let go by your company , those last few days or hours of work are special. You only have a few more hours where you'll be around your coworkers and bosses. You'd better make it count! This phone kiosk employee, u/Likawaii, knows that firsthand. The worker shared that not on…

“The worst they can say is no.” A piece of advice oft given to someone teetering on the precipice of uncertainty, deciding whether or not to make a request of someone from whom rejection is almost certain. It's the sort of tip that a friend gives you when you're agonizing about whether or not to ask out your crush who is way out of your league; they probably know you have no shot but the point is the fact that you're going to be rejected isn't reason enough to not ask at all…

When you've shown your superiors how well you can train new hires, you'd usually expect that you would be first up for promotion—after all, one can only train and teach effectively once they have mastery over that which they are teaching. But this isn't always the case… There are a number of untold reasons why your boss might not consider you for an open management position or even to be future management material. Some of these reasons might have substance, while some of them might be complete…

When an account manager accused this worker of making a big mistake, the employee came back with receipts. U/LucyAriaRose knows the value of getting things in writing, as he shared in a post to the r/pettyrevenge subreddit. While working in a client-facing job , there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes that the client never gets to hear about. For this medical equipment company worker, that meant that their work in the contracting department was “challenging." And, he added, if he didn't ge…

Someone's got to take the night shift , but of course, no one really wants to. Working overnight means that you have to force yourself to stay awake for hours, even as you start to feel loopy and exhausted. Your body is screaming at you to get some rest, but you have to keep walking around and keep busy in order to keep your eyes open. By the time your shift is over, you're happy to crash into bed and sleep all day. But, you know, during the day is when everyone else is awake and doing all thei…

The willingness of superiors to apply rules to themselves that they make for others speaks volumes to the character and quality of an organization. An undercurrent of issues surrounding fairness in leadership can give you a great indication of the toxicity of the workplace. This reaches levels of ridiculousness that can't be rationalized when it begins involving matters that aren't even specifically related to your performance or time that you spend at work and begins leaching into personal and…

At some jobs, there is no winning solution to the boss's problems . It's often an issue that management has, then insists on passing down to their workers. This malicious compliance story is a great example of that dynamic. This person shared that as a college student, they needed a new gig, and found one with a manager who was “ one of the biggest Karens you have ever met .” Off to a great start! As a new employee, this person was swamped. While Karen was changing the procedures, it meant that…

There are things in life that you'll encounter, and you'll find nothing you've encountered previously has properly prepared you for it. Usually, these things will be so off-the-wall that there's no way anything could have properly anticipated them. The very idea of being flown out to a final interview and accepting a position, enjoying lavish dinner with the company's owner, only to go into the office and meet the guy who has just started working in the role you thought you had been accepting,…

Sometimes, when you mess around too much, you find out the hard way that there are very real consequences associated with your actions. It's all well and good for you to do as you'd like and act as you please, but when it comes to facing the consequences you'd better come to terms with it. That's what this employer is going to have to do when they realize that their driver went ahead and found another job (with better pay) after being told that his job was no longer available when he tried to c…

Generally, in your working life, you might expect that, as you gain experience, skills, and knowledge, you'll be making more money… throughout your career as well as your time in a singular role. Where you might not be too surprised and even expect to be rejected a request for a raise or two, you'd never expect to have your boss approach you telling you that they're slashing your pay in order to get “more bang for their buck." Openly telling you that they're going to be saving money solely at y…

When enforcing strict adherence to company policy and legal employment obligations, it's probably important that you understand those obligations first. It's also incredibly likely that someone who has been navigating the ins and outs of those legal obligations out of necessity for their livelihood will know more about them than you, an average Joe manager, do. Just an important reminder of the fact that being in charge doesn't necessarily mean that you have the most experience in every given s…