37 Workplace Stories So Frustrating That You Might Get Angry On Behalf Of People You’ve Never Met

I put in my two week notice 14 days ago. Working as a data management worker, with tons of I/O, in a very unintuitive workflow. It’ll take weeks (maybe months) to train a replacement for the custom workflow our system has. I’m the only person in my department, and been working for $17ish an hour for the last 3 years, with laughably small raises. (+- $.20/year)

I asked for a raise to $22/hr toward the end of 2021, and it was rejected, with a counter offer of $18.50. I wrote a letter of resignation and gave it to my boss, who brought up that I had been offered more of a raise than the last 3 years combined, so I didn’t need to quit, resignation not accepted. I have a good relationship with him, so I think he thinks he can just order me not to quit. Even so, I’m out. Sorry.

For the last 13 days, I have mentioned every day that I’m leaving on the 19th. Every time, he has told me that I can’t leave, because that would be debilitating for all my coworkers, and that maybe I can renegotiate at raise after the first quarter, but leaving now would result in untold losses for the company, implying that I would need to be available after to help transition a new person into my role, and if I didn’t, legal action might result.

Yesterday, I didn’t say anything. I didn’t bring it up, and the work day went forward as usual. Today, I have 9 missed calls from him, but I’m not answering.

There’s no way they would/could take legal action, right? I did not submit my letter directly to HR until seven days ago, but got no response.

Yes. Yes I am. I need more money to house and feed my family. You haven’t given it to me, so I found it elsewhere.

I’ve been at my company for 4 years and if somebody else is gonna come in and pay me a lot more to do another job. I’m gonna take it. I’m not here because “we’re a family” or because “I LOVE SaaS platforms and it’s always been my dream to work at one.” Lol.

I wrote my letter of resignation over the weekend. I'm submitting it tomorrow.

The Epilogue:

My bosses offered to match the other company's offer. I told them this was an issue of work/life balance and workplace conditions, and a higher salary from them wouldn't interest me. They tried to guilt me into staying, saying they were shortstaffed, etc. I only said, "Such is life." to this, which seemed to agitate them more. One of them brought up my noncompete, but the head guy quickly walked that back and accepted they can't keep me. Just asked that I finish out my two weeks.

Basically title says. I interviewed with this company, went through 2 interview processes. I was sent a job offer 30 minutes after the 2nd interview. I’m ecstatic as it is a 40% pay increase of my current job. I accept, give my two weeks notice to my current employer and what not. I completed the onboarding HR sent me and signed everything last week. Two days ago, which would make a week exactly since I signed the offer letter, I get an email saying they would not be able to move forward with my offer due to “internal changes they had to remove the open position, but will keep my resume on file.” I am at a loss for words because I JUST put my two weeks in. I begged my boss to try and keep me at my current employer but she told me HR could do nothing about it. So here I am, without a stable job because this company screwed me over. I gave them a negative Glassdoor review about my experience and how the company left me jobless. I get an email this morning from the company asking me to take down the negative review as it hurts their reputation. I don’t feel bad at all for what I’ve done since this company has left me without a job.

So I've started this new workplace and been here for about 6 weeks. So far all seems good, however they get a bit weird about how on time I am.

I start at 9am, so I start working at 9am. My lunch is 1-2 I'm back in the office at 1:59pm and my shift ends at 5:30pm so my computer is off at 5:30pm.

Apparently they don't like this, my other colleagues are in at 8am and leave at 6pm blablabla.

I hate this culture of being made to feel like a bad employee because you'd rather only work the hours you get paid for.

I am a young Project Manager for an unlimited commercial GC. I picked up a hammer for the first time 6 years ago (no prior experience).

I was raised believing if you work hard and apply yourself you will be successful. For 2 years I learned everything that I could in the construction industry. Took my work home with me and studied on my own time to better myself.

For that I was promoted to foreman. I was brought into take over a small project at a 12 building 120 unit condo complex. It started small and the Board of Directors for the HOA told me they loved my professionalism, work ethic, and ability to complete projects on time, and under budget. We won a big contract because of that small project. That was 3 years ago. I have since taken over the job of foreman, superintendent, & project manager. I do the billing, meetings with engineers and board members, scheduling, take off, material ordering, I even train the subs on application of new products because we didn’t have enough mid management. The project just passed $2.7M. We got a bid request for another $3M job in the same complex. All the while the board of directors telling me how appreciative they are and how they’ve gone through 5 different contractors in the years before committing to my company because of my management and quality of work.

This boosted my confidence and I went to the owners asking for the raise they promised me 1 year ago for my production. They told me “the experience you’re gaining is far more valuable” I said you’re right. I put my resume on public, got contacted by a headhunter, just accepted an offer this week for $80k a year salary, full benefits, 28 days PTO including holidays, in the office now ( no more working from the field full in my own truck), Lap top, wifi in my truck for on the go billing when I visit the out of state projects, $80 per diem, 100% matching 401k for the first 3 years of my employment, quarterly bonus programs.

The company I’m with now only pays me 40k and that’s it none of the above listed benefits. The final mail in the coffin was when the owners bragged about how much my project made in a company meeting and then denied me a Christmas bonus. I laid this offer on their desk Friday and watched their jaws hit the floor. I told the HoA board president of the project I’m running about my resignation when they couldn’t match my the offer. His eyes got big and requested a meeting with the owners and expressed serious concern about moving forward with the new project without my involvement.

They don’t have anyone to replace me and I’m not gonna lie, it feels good to hurt their pockets when I gave them everything I had for 6 years and only asked for the median project manager salary.

This happened last week and today Monday we just found out he was fired for being 20 minutes late FOR HIS FIRST TIME EVER… tomorrow me and ALL my coworkers will be late and will continue to come in late until they rehire him.

Update: 9am EST 08/02 we came in late, I was 22 min late and our manager was not happy, he asked if everyone was stuck at traffic or something and one of the workers w most experience (5yrs in the company) said “unfair treatment for being late is not something we want” and then me and another co worker said that we just straight up worried that because of a mistake or slip up we can be fired and then 2 other co workers they are older so kinda close minded AND don’t work on the floor (office people) w all the other 13 mechs said that “that’s how life is”

To make it short cause I’m at work atm our manager said “that wasn’t gonna happen” as long as you don’t get “hostile” when being “counseled”…. We just said we wanna be appreciated and want job security specially now a days. We expressed how we are concerned to get our painter back and here’s the “GOODNEWS” … the manager said he “contacted” our painter to come back but he said in the group chat that he was not coming back unless shit changes.

He said he appreciated us coming in late but we didn’t have to do that; our manager did text him back less than a week after being fired. But I think our end goal was just legit prove and set in stone that were not disposable, we all have a job and a certain area that we are all good at, like gear box assemblers and motor testers, cleaners and machinists etc so it’s like we just gotta depend on one another.

Suspended for "failure to follow policies and procedures". GTFOOH! The best part is "David" literally told me "someone like you doesn't call me by my name. It's sir. We are not drinking buddies."

This people. This is why I'm over it. So tired of being treated as a-lesser human. I refuse to be subservient. Screw that!

Happy Tuesday friends!

I just received an early morning text from my manager asking me to come in. I politely responded that I am on vacation. She said that she knows but that they are short-staffed due to the recent snow storm, and that she knows that I live close enough to walk to work, even in the snow. I asked how me working today would work with me getting PTO, and she said, “an employee cannot work and get pto on the same day so you will not get pto for today”. I am just going to say no. This is silly. One time I texted her a question without realizing she was on vacation and she responded with, “I AM ON VACATION. DO NOT EVER CONTACT ME WHILE I AM ON VACATION. PLEASE RESPECT MY TIME”…I am tempted to say the same thing to her now

Update:
I ended up just saying “I can’t come in” and the only response I got was “K”. While I would love to throw her words back at her, I have to go in and deal with her as my manger when I get back to work. Next time, I will just not respond at all. LESSON LEARNED.

Today I asked to meet with the VP of ops at my job to discuss a possible raise. After being blown off twice we finally sat down. I told him what I wanted and his response was “or what?” I was taken off guard by the response so I said we’ll see I guess. I then asked him why he doesn’t think I should get it. He proceeded to explain how he’d love to give everyone $100/hr but it has to be even and fair across the board. I reminded him that I’m not asking for $100/hr.

At my job, which is a team of 4 people including a manager, I’m the only one with knowledge of how to fully operate the production line. I’ve trained others in the past but nobody stayed long enough to do it on their own. I told the VP that it doesn’t make sense for me to be making the same as the new hire who knows nothing yet. He said that’s unrealistic. So now I had to remind him that for the last 6 months not a single finished product would’ve left the facility if it hadn’t gone through me. At this point he began to belittle me and tell me I’m not special and I’m no superstar and that anybody could do my job. I said ok, where are they then? I’m the last one left. All these other people have not lasted. He said that’s the wrong perspective to have. I asked what would you do if I wasn’t here? He said they’d figure it out. So I said I think this conversation is over you’ve made yourself clear.

I then went out into the shop to continue prep for the days run. The manager brought me back in whereHR was now present. The VP stated as soon as I walked into the office that effective immediately my employment has been suspended. I went to grab my keys. They all followed me out proceeding to tell me I’m handling this wrong. I approached the VP and said I asked you for a raise, to be compensated fairly and your response was to fire me?

For a short while last year, I worked as a team lead for one of the app development teams for one of the food delivery apps. The entire team had been working from home since the start of the pandemic and had had a bunch of remote-only people join, so they were spread across several time zones, but we made it work because we thought this was how things were going to be going forward.

After making several billion dollars from people like us working from home and ordering delivery, around the end of summer, the entire C-suite decided that COVID was pretty much over (spoiler: it definitely wasn't and all my people knew it) and that we would all be heading back to the office part time, gradually increasing to full time. Now, this place had pretty high turnover, so most of us had never been to any of the offices since we had been hired. We had been told when we were hired that any return to work policy would be super flexible and it turned out it really wasn't. Moreover, those in cities without an office, even though they were hired as remote workers, were expected to come up with a 1-year plan about how they were going to move without any assistance or compensation to a city with an office.

Needless to say, my team and many others lost their collective mind over this new policy. So the CEO started doing town halls with the other executives to pump the "collaboration" and "team-building" aspects of being back in the office. During one of the Q&A sessions, someone finally asked something like "I was hired remote and I don't live in a city with an office. I don't want to uproot my family. Will you make exceptions for people like me?". To which the CEO replied "Look. This is what we're doing and what we think is best for the company. If you want to work from home, my suggestion is to go work somewhere else".

What happened next was the digital equivalent of the air being let out of a balloon. The company slack channel conversations ground to a halt and became virtual ghost towns, going from spirited conversations to the bare minimum of functional courtesies. The attendance at company-wide meetings fell by half and within a month, there was a veritable flurry of resignations, including mine. Prior to this debacle, we had already been paid below market rates, so this Fuck You from the CEO was just the match being lit on an already pretty sizable tank of gas.

By the time I left, the team that started at 8 people was down to just 2 deciding to stay. And six months later, word is they are still trying to find people and resorting to making QA people into app developers just to try to keep things going. As for me - I got a 50% pay bump for less responsibilities and work just a few hours a day instead of tons of unpaid overtime trying to put out fires at that old circus.

I'm a PhD student who has just started mystery shopping for some extra cash. I cannot believe some of the interactions I am supposed to have with these employees.

Here's an example. I get an assignment for Best Buy, I'm supposed to be interested in a streaming box (Roku, Fire etc.) and ask an employee for help. The employee who I interacted with was super helpful. I told him about my TV and what I wanted, while pretending not to know much about technology.

He said that honestly it didn't matter which brand I bought and that he found one particular brand to be pretty user friendly which was great for new people, but otherwise it was okay to just get the lowest cost one. He made sure I understood how it plugs into my TV, ensured I have a way to connect it, and made sure I was taken care of.

But that's not what he was supposed to be evaluated on at all! He was supposed to push me towards one brand in particular, tell me about every single feature of that one specifically, push me to have someone come out and install it for me, make eye contact, smile, introduce himself by name, make sure every single streaming box offered by them was in stock, etc.

If anyone asks, he totally did all those things, and I'm not going to be a mystery shopper anymore.

I work in a bakery at a grocery store and my manager has been complaining for the past two months about not being able to hire anyone so we’ve been pretty short staffed and it’s been exhausting always having to come in earlier, stay later, work outside my availability, and basically doing a three person job alone. I just got the call today from a hospital I applied to that I got the job and so I put my two weeks in today at the bakery. The pay is a lot better and the hours are less intense so i’m super excited to start.

When I gave my manager my two weeks notice at the start of my shift she legitimately cried. She was saying how hard it’s going to be to make it through Thanksgiving and Christmas without my help and she was begging me to stay til January. I felt awful but I told her I was starting in 2 weeks so I couldn’t and she hasn’t talked to me my entire shift.

I went to an interview on Monday. I live in a very small town and everyone knows each other. I did not expect this to happen but the woman who conducted the interview sat down with my current boss at lunch after and explained, in detail, exactly what was said in the interview and that I would be putting in my 2 weeks notice at my current job.

My boss confronted me yesterday and said she already knows I am quitting. She used quotes that I said word for word in my interview which was creepy.

I explained in the interview that I was going to sit down with her myself and talk with her about the new job offer but this woman did that all for me. I didn't even get a chance.

Would this be a huge red flag at a new job? I am thinking about turning down the new job because this is pissing me off. Thanks.

Over the fall semester I was a police recruit at a Community Colleges Police Academy in a midwestern liberal city. I have always wanted to be a police officer, and I felt like I could help kickstart a change of new wave cops. I am passionate about community oriented policing, making connections with the youth in policing, and changing lives on a individual level. I knew police academy would be mentally and physically challenging, but boy oh boy does policing need to change.

Instructors taught us to view citizens as enemy combatants, and told us we needed a warrior mindest and that we were going into battle everyday. It felt like i was joining a cult. Instructors told us supporting our fellow police officers were more important than serving citizens. Instructors told us that we were joining a big bad gang of police officers and that protecting the thin blue line was sacred. Instructors told us George Floyd wasn't a problem and was just one bad officer. I tried to push back on some of these ideas and posed to an instructor that 4 other officers watched chauvin pin floyd to the ground and did nothing, and perhaps they did nothing because they were trained in academy to never speak agaisnt a senior officer. I was told to "shut my fucking face, and that i had no idea what i was talking about.

Sadly, Instructors on several occasions, and most shockingly in the first week asked every person who supported Black Lives Matter to raise their hands. I and about a third of the class did. They told us that we should seriously consider not being police officers if we supported anti cop organizations. They told us BLM was a terrible organization and to get out if we supported them. Instructors repeatedly made anti lgbt comments and transphobic comments.

Admittedly I was the most progressive and put a target on my back for challenging instructor viewpoints. This got me disciplined, yelled at, and made me not want to be a cop. We had very little training on de-escalation and community policing. We had no diversity or ethics training.

Despite all this I made it to the final day. I thought if I could just get through this I could get hired and make a difference in the community as a cop and not be subject to academy paramilitary nonsense. The police academy dismissed me on the final day because I failed a PT test that I had passed multiple times easily in the academy leading up to this day. I asked why I failed and they said my push up form was bad and they were being more strict know it was the final. I responded saying if you counted my pushups in the entrance and midterm tests than they should count now. I was dismissed on the final day of police academy and have to take a whole academy over again. I have no plan to retake the whole academy and I feel like quality police officers are dismissed because they dont fit the instructors cookie cutter image of a warrior police officer and the instructors can get rid of them with saying their form doesn't count on a subjective sit up or push up test. I was beyond tears and bitterly disappointed. Maybe policing is just that messed up in america.

Tomorrow is the owner of my companies birthday. My manager asked us to throw in $30 to pay for the lunch that they are getting for him. We were told today for a party tomorrow. He is super wealthy. I work two jobs and 70 hours a week. The party start time is 1.5 hrs before my start time.

I would have to give up two hours of precious sleep that I already get way too little of and money which I also have too little of😂. If it was $5 or $10, that’s one thing. I’m not giving up half of my weekly food budget for someone who hasn’t done anything for me besides cutting my hours. I feel like I’m in the twilight zone and I can only vent to you folks.

See title. Put in my two weeks notice, and After some half-hearted attempts to make me stay, they’ve decided to punish me for leaving their company it feels like.

I’m not one to shy from more work & overtime, but this is ridiculous. I have my normal days off and I have things planned on those days because I work swings and a lot of times mixed swing & graveyard, and I usually sleep during my workdays if I’m not working.

I looked at my new schedule and I’m working 8 or 12 hour shifts everyday until my last day, with no days off until then. I questioned my supervisor about this, and he texted me that there are “no normal days off” and he tries to keep it consistent but he couldn’t this time. He told me this schedule is because of me terminating my employment. He then texted me and said if I shred my two-week notice and stay with the company, he will give me my normal days off again.

I’m straight up thinking of just quitting at this point, who cares about making it to the two week mark.

Rant over.