'Our boss had banned... birthday celebrations': 30+ "Cool" companies that turned out to be cringy and toxic

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Aug 5, 2023 11:00 AM EDT

Businesses love to brag about their company culture, but their curated image doesn't always match the reality of working there. These employees, who replied to u/terpkawa's question, had a lot to say about that. 

The OP asked Redditors about the times they worked for companies that touted amazing cultures or benefits, but then really did not deliver. It's nearly impossible to tell from the outset what it'll be like to work somewhere, no matter how closely you look for red flags during the interview process. Some places have all the trappings of a "cool company culture," like a foosball table or frequent pizza parties or lots of happy hours. But if you end up having to work 75 hours per week to please your demanding bosses, that foosball table will be collecting dust. And what good is a pizza party if you can barely pay your rent? 

These people below shared the moments they realized they had to get out of these "cool companies" as fast as possible. Check out these great stories below. Then, this wacky customer had a great life hack: if a store's sign says "closed," simply turn it to say "open," and insist that the store is open anyway. 

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  • 01
    Font - Redditors who left companies that non-stop talk about their amazing "culture", what was the cringe moment that made you realize you had to get out? yan kaplantor Bought out by an equity group. New president on call with thousands of employees says, "We have two kinds of employees: those that work a tremendous number of hours, and those that that should find another company to work for."
    via The Nix Company
  • 02
    Font - Redditors who left companies that non-stop talk about their amazing "culture", what was the cringe moment that made you realize you had to get out?
    via u/terpkawa
  • 03
    Font - BoyKingOfSweden Had a "wall of crazy" where the CEO wanted to spend 20k on cool and edgey stuff for the office and staff could make suggestions (Slides, beanbags, napping pods, etc) Project was scrapped when the top suggestions ended up being: • Desks • Chairs ● Working Heating • Working WiFi • Health Insurance Edit: Not American or Swedish
    via u/BoyKingOfSweden
  • 04
    Font - MVPizzle Hearing our CEO say "compensation is only one part of the employment experience" during an earnings call when he was answering complaints about under paying his employees (after we reported record profits)
    via u/MVPizzle
  • 05
    Font - + [deleted] I learned at an internship that "we work hard and play hard" means "we want you to work 75-hour weeks, but sometimes we'll put donuts in the breakroom"
    via u/deleted
  • 06
    Font - redkinoko Not my company but a company from a neighboring building. They had an entire area devoted to foosball, pinball, billiards, console gaming, and videoke booths on the ground floor and it was clearly visible because of the glass windows on street level. Oddly enough, nobody ever used them, and the place was almost always empty save for a few people who use the internet kiosks.
    via u/redkinoko
  • 07
    Font - When I learned a friend worked there, I asked why nobody would want to take the opportunity to use the awesome- looking recreational facility, he told me that people who do use the facility often found it used against them during performance evaluations, even when their use wasn't excessive at all. After a while word got around and they started avoiding the place altogether. The irony is that their recruitment ads always touts a culture of "work hard play hard".
    via u/redkinoko
  • 08
    Font - The_Ion_Shake "We have a great culture! Lots of team lunches and drinks!" When I started our boss had banned the social club, birthday celebrations or recognition of birthdays (STRICTLY NO CAKE.), taken away the Christmas party, the Christmas break period(!) and tried to stop people talking to each other. All the while she'd take every second day off, and have long weekends every weekend. We had maybe
    via u/The_Ion_Shake
  • 09
    Font - three team lunches in the time I was there and she always made sure to tell us that we wouldn't be paid for anything over our Lunch break, even though she came too. We had to submit manual timesheet corrections to remove the amount we took. It's like, okay, fair enough but can't you just let it slide? It's not your money and we're talking maybe 20 mins here.
    via u/The_Ion_Shake
  • 10
    Font - A client also invited me to their Christmas party due to our close relationship and my good work on their files, and she called them and told them I wasn't allowed to go. She told me it was because she was concerned I might reflect badly on the department. Ironic, really.
    via u/The_Ion_Shake
  • 11
    Font - versatile Realist Lush, when we couldn't say "bathroom" on the shop floor and instead had to ask a manager for "serenity"
    via u/versatileRealist
  • 12
    Font - LacinycV This happened a couple of weeks ago. When HR sent out an e- mail to management (excluding me and about 2 other people) telling them to fraudulently leave good reviews on Glassdoor and to "coerce" others to do the same.
    via u/LacinycV
  • 13
    Font - Abdico Last year I was working as a subcontractor and I was assigned a new place of work. Just two weeks after I started the new boss wanted to hire me. He put down the contract where - compared to my current contract - pay was down 25%, average weekly hours hours went up by 20%, vacation days went down by 10% and I wouldn't have a company car for personal use anymore.
    via u/Abdico
  • 14
    Font - Before he actually handed me the contract to read it he said "I will only make you this offer once BUT it's only valid if you change all your pictures on your social media and you sell your car. It's too flashy for our company". Uhm...how about no?
    via u/Abdico
  • 15
    Font - CaravelClerihew When my art director wanted to get a pro- bono poster on verbal abuse done faster... by screaming at the designer.
    via u/CaravelClerihew
  • 16
    Font - Shufimafi When I went to firm drinks in a public bar and the firm's "fun committee" handed out song sheets and a choir of employees lead by a bad guitarist sang a song about how great the firm was to the tune of 'Cause I'm Happy. We were expected to sing along. It was at that moment I realised I was in a cult.
    via u/Shufimafi
  • 17
    Font - ArcherSam I worked at this business that was real keen on telling everyone they were like a family and chastising me for not going to company parties etc. but that also refused to pay overtime and expected me to work late two or three times a week, as well as doing a 14 hour a day twice a month for stocktake/end of month. Apparently because were a family, we were all expected to chip in on the big days, except it was literally just us bottom tier workers who had to stay late. I quit that
    via u/ArcherSam
  • 18
    Font - IThinkThingsThrough. When our university's VP explained that the goal of every tenured faculty member was to write enough grants to pay our salaries and replace us with TAS. Every semester, ideally every undergrad class. Also, we'd be under a hiring freeze but could feel free to "be creative" and use temporary grant money to hire tenured faculty. Also, we'd all be paying an extra $250 / year in parking fees to fund a new student parking lot. Dear lord, was I glad I'd already decided to le
    via u/IThinkThingsThrough
  • 19
    Font - kaplantor Bought out by an equity group. New president on call with thousands of employees says, "We have two kinds of employees: those that work a tremendous number of hours, and those that that should find another company to work for."
    via u/ kaplantor
  • 20
    Font - Baconated-grapefruit. My last job was at an independent school in the UK (the wealthy type). During a period of 'streamlining', the entire faculty were called into a hall and told, in upbeat terms, that we were struggling to make ends meet. Salaries were too high, perks were too abundant and spending was unsustainable. For clarity, salaries weren't too high- and perks were practically non existent. Spending was definitely unsustainable however - in part because they were spending hundreds
    via u/Baconated-grapefruit
  • 21
    Font - hide all the cabling and install 'proper' wood paneling. So then they started listing off perks and assigning them a value. For example, 'free parking'. Well no s- the school has a lot of land and isn't in a city. Why would you charge? Secondly, 'nice surroundings'. Well again, no s - that's part of your marketing appeal. Long holidays? Nice try, but I work all holiday. They didn't even get as far as telling me what they planned to do with my job and pay - I was gone in less than three mo
    via u/Baconated-grapefruit
  • 22
    Font - sekirei0 My district manager told me to talk my key holder out of going back to college. Mind you, she wanted to be a doctor. They were proud that no one had degrees. That's fine, but I'm not working 45+ hours a week and mandatory holidays just to sell some shoes. The loyalty my coworkers had were so cringey. They didn't understand how we were being taken advantage of BECAUSE we didn't get our degrees. Anyways, eff you, going back to school was the best decision I've made.
    via u/sekirei0
  • 23
    Font - nsdr1709 We (management team) spent months working with a business coach trying to collectively come up with meaningful core values. We devoted a ton of time to it and really tried to decide which direction we wanted to take the company culture. Everybody agreed on teamwork, reliability, a couple others that I can't remember now, and then one day the owner came in and called a meeting. He sat us down in the boardroom and told us he spent all weekend brainstorming and had decided on the co
    via u/nsdr1709
  • 24
    Font - They were: Meaningful Ownership Neighbourhood Engagement You Does anybody see what that spells? He literally wanted it to be money and just came up with words that sort of worked the way you do in elementary school writing your name poem. He rebranded the entire company from t shirts with giant first letters and smaller letters for the rest of the word straight down the arms, to plagues, wraps on the cars, everyf nthing. And that's when we all knew it was going to get bad.
    via u/nsdr1709
  • 25
    Font - Money is great, but it was mortifying walking/driving around with that plastered everywhere.
    via u/nsdr1709
  • 26
    Font - stillcantthinkof1 When I started actually working on the floor and management was no where to be found.
    via u/stillcantthinkof1
  • 27
    Font - einherjar81 When I took a 40% pay cut (with no change in workload) by being moved to salary.
    via u/einherjar81
  • 28
    Font - Sirenx8 I worked at an animal hospital that wanted to be (and probably is to some) the best hospital in the city. Had the most modern equipment, looked incredibly nice inside, good yelp ratings, etc.. On top of that, we were told during hiring that we were a huge family and everyone loved each other. This couldn't be more wrong. This place was the epitome of superficial. The turnaround rate was out of control and people absolutely hated each other. The pay was
    via u/Sirenx8
  • 29
    Font - horrible, even though we charged double the amount of any other hospital for our "extensive care". I give management some credit for their effort but it was more about hiding issues instead of addressing them. We couldn't talk about our concerns because it was considered "gossip" and people were fired frequently for this. And apparently they've now put audio recording throughout the hospital to listen in on employees conversations. I honestly don't know how anyone still works there.
    via u/Sirenx8
  • 30
    Font - Killashawshank "Treat every dollar like it was your own" Yahuh Right after we went well over targets for the entire year and then was told a Christmas party wasn't financially viable because expenses It's one of the biggest hospitality groups in Australia btw
    via u/Killashawshank
  • 31
    Font - Bearrrito I'm in management and we just got the message that bonuses for the last financial year were severely cut across the business, probably going to receive 30% of our total potential at best.... then attended our financial end of year results meeting the next day to be told that net profits were 18% up (nearly 1 billion total) and the best performance in years, all thanks to us. Okay, planning on leaving now. Edit: Cleared up the 30%
    via u/Bearrrito
  • 32
    Font - This is what the woman who interviewed me said: Here at Cheapskate Architects we don't often do all nighters for our customers, but when we do, it's a real pizza party! Also we dont pay overtime, we do it for the love. And your wage is 22k even though you are an architect. And also I won't be there because I'm HR management because I'm married to the director. Yes we need an HR dept even though there's 3 employees.
    via r/AskReddit
  • 33
    Font - RealKenny We had a problem with the client and the boss dumped all of the blame on a 24 year old woman who was basically his most loyal employee. He made her cry in front of the client, as if that would somehow help save the relationship.
    via u/RealKenny
  • 34
    Font - on Zaleznikov When working at a shoe shop.. assistant supervisor was assessing peoples performances. He came to me and said Zaleznikov - you greeted the customer well, so im giving you a big :-) smiley face..and marked it on his checklist. But the customer didnt buy any shoes.. so im just gonna mark that as a :-| ... I got my 50% employee discount on my shoes and just walked away into the sunset to never go back
    via u/Zaleznikov
  • 35
    Font - Penicillin17 They changed the title of the receptionist to "Director of First Impressions" Edit: For everyone asking it's a tiny company in the Midwest.
    via u/Penicillin17
  • 36
    Font - [deleted] When attending a management retreat, and was pressured into buying charity raffle tickets I couldn't afford. ($20) The two people who won before me donated their winnings to the same charity they bought the raffle tickets from. They were middle management pl ing match people who make $100k+. I made $32k, with a young daughter. I won a drawing for $400. I literally had nausea for two days trying to figure out how I was going to pay my bills after my job had just moved the goal po
    via u/deleted
  • 37
    Font - performance bonuses I had coming my way, dropping it effectively from $1000 to $200 Now I'm the a who's going to keep the money I won. Guess I'm not a team player... Bonus: this was 4 hours drive from home, had an overnight stay, and one of those middle management fks in an "example" of what should be on or off the clock said we shouldn't be paid for the drive to the retreat. you. I was on the clock from the time I left Friday until I got home Sunday. If you're forcing me to be somewhere
    via u/deleted
  • 38
    Font - My district manager didn't like that, and I was already looking for the door.
    via u/deleted
  • 39
    Font - Marty McBlart Pizza Hut. "Where will Pizza Hut take YOU??" During the interview I was told "the work is hard but we feel like a family and we can always b bad customers after a shift" about the The people there were horrible. The managers made you do 2 people's jobs for less money, I was paid minimum wage for my age (4.00 an hour) and the company purposely brought on 16 year olds for that reason I was also told that they didn't have enough money to pay me so my shift was cancelled, I was
    via u/MartyMcBlart
  • 40
    Font - told I'd be paid to complete my training, and I wasn't. Our manager would fling the corks of prosecco bottles at the waitresses to make them scared, there would be regular breakdowns from cooks and waiters. I would regularly get screamed at infront of the whole restaurant for silly things like the knives and forks not being straight enough, even though they would leave me by myself (as in, I was the only waiter still working) 1 week after my first shift.
    via u/MartyMcBlart
  • 41
    Font - The waitresses would always b about the other people in the restaurant, and would shout at me for asking questions. Even on my first day. At one point an outside chef was brought in from a different restaurant and he didn't realise he had to wash up cutlery because he doesn't have to as his place, that's an entirely separate job.
    via u/MartyMcBlart
  • 42
    Font - So we ran out of cutlery and the 2 more experienced waitresses instead of helping me and washing up the cutlery or teaching me how to do it myself would just hoard the cutlery so it was me that would run out, then my manager would have another go at me. F that place.
    via u/MartyMcBlart
  • 43
    Font - Chicquaye I worked in a Call Center for one fo the Big 4, my personal moment was when I got my ~$2000 bonus withheld (I was 22 so it wasn't chump change) because I had to stop taking calls and answer our new hires questions. My bosses would be MIA for 4 hours at a time and people needed help. I figured it showed initiative and also kept the operation moving along since I was one of the top 10 reps they had. I was mistaken.
    via u/Chicquaye
  • 44
    Font - 07025_throwaway When I was bullied into working 76 hours a week because they could find other managers to cover the shifts but when I went on stress leave they miraculously managed to get all my hours covered with no one else working over 38 hours
    via u/07025_throwaway
  • 45
    Font - [deleted] CEO of a sty start up took away our working from home privileges, while he continues to never show up to the office.
    via u/deleted
  • 46
    Font - AreYouGoing To Answer. My boss came up with a campaign called "Smovers" - Smile and Move - we needed to be "smovers" and encourage other associates to be happier that they worked for a dead end retail corporate job. He gave us bracelets to wear and little cards to keep on our person at all time. Like. We worked at a shty time share property. With owners who owned part of a small, independent time share in the early 2000s that was bought out by a huge hotel conglomerate that destroyed the
    via u/AreYouGoingToAnswer
  • 47
    Font - originally invested into - So these are embittered, hateful people always wanting refunds for silly like a broken treadmill in the gym. s Literally had a grown al man (followed by his wife an hour later) YELLING - RAISED VOICES IN THE LOBBY - at my young visibly pregnant self because a lifeguard moved their towel from their beach chair after they left for 2 hours to take a nap in their room. On the 4th of July while were at full capacity lol.
    via u/AreYouGoingToAnswer
  • 48
    Font - On top of the daily emails reminding us that working for Wyndham was the best choice we've ever made in life, and constant reminders from upper management what our "mission in LIFE - YOUR LIFES PURPOSE. THE REASON YOU WERE BORN" was - to reason on a daily basis with unreasonable garbage humans as hard as you can until they give us a 5 on their surveys - I declined all requests for transfers and just got out as fast as I could.
    via u/AreYouGoingToAnswer
  • 49
    Font - Markovitch12 We had a compulsory team building evening. When I asked why I was told because the staff handbook said we had to. 40% of the staff were interns so they were forced to spend their own money on a corporate night out every month.
    via u/Markovitch12

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boss toxic-workplace coworkers employees toxic-boss overworked-employees workplace Horrible Bosses family bad bosses company business culture toxic-work-environment
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