New Job Red Flags Redditors Avoid Like the Plague

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JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor
Oct 27, 2023 8:00 PM EDT

Starting a new job can be a whole ball of emotions: excitement, stress, and anxiety that they'll figure out you lied on your resume about being the president of your high school's debate team. Sorry, Vice President just doesn't sound as good! It's also the time when you're figuring out the workplace ecosystem and how you fit into it. You're picking up on behaviors, and slowly unfurling how things work. 

When you're starting a new career, it can be hard to know what's normal and what might turn into a messy sitch. It's good to have a council of elders that can warn you that accepting payment in the form of Dave and Buster's tokens probably isn't a good idea. But if you don't have a slew of mentors on speed dial, there's always Reddit. U/lividtoby got the discourse started about what to look for at a new job, and what to duck and cover from. 

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  • 01
    Font - r/antiwork u/lividtobi 19h What is an immediate red flag when starting a new job? For me, it's when getting to know my coworkers, they all mention their second job or side hustle. Clearly my new job doesn't pay enough
    via u/lividtobi
  • 02
    Human body - fake China Town • 17h Oh, boy! I learned this one the hard way. When everyone walks on eggshells around the manager or boss.
    via u/fakeChinaTown
  • 03
    Hair - lovecommand - 18h They start evaluating your performance before you have been trained properly
    via u/lovecommand
  • 04
    Font - kappa161sg 18h ● - Bosses make contradictory statements about important elements or qualities of your job. ("This is how it is / isn't done", "This is / is not risky", etc.) - Employees are made to compete with each other - Unclear/unstated/undocumented job requirements - Boss talks about raises and bonuses for good performance but a) You never hear anything specific about this and/or b) they're implying these raises/ bonuses will be for doing certain things off the books, or risky, or no
    via u/kappa161sg
  • 05
    Font - MCHDeAnza • 18h Peers are irritated with each other, and it doesn't seem like there's much support from those at the same level as you are. Huge red flag
    via u/MCHDeAnza
  • 06
    Font - IIPOGII 15h ● You're the newest hire and then within weeks you're the most senior
    via u/IIPOGII
  • 07
    Font - bowchickabowchicka 18h ● Clockwatchers. The more effort they put into tracking where you are and what you're doing, the worse their time management is. They can't comprehend being given a list of tasks to do and getting them done by a deadline, because they've spent so long as a manager that their only 'job' is being in a place at a time. It's the exact same mentality as the person who drives all the way across town to get cheaper gas, except they outrank you so you can't call them on it.
    via u/bowchickabowchicka
  • 08
    Font - ALFEIGHBO frogtrickery 18h My last job, day 1, neither the person that hired me or my director manager were there and nobody knew how to handle onboarding. Nobody was willing to take ownership. I should have heeded that red flag.
    via u/frogtrickery
  • 09
    Human body - Dimarya276 16h Learning on day 1 or 2 that a bunch of people recently quit the company.
    via u/Dimarya276
  • 10
    Rectangle - the_bc_1234 • 18h "We are a family"
    via u/the_bc_1234
  • 11
    Human body - I_am_krash. 18h If they dont give you a handbook with company policies in writing
    via u/I_am_krash
  • 12
    Rectangle - moonlitjasper • 15h people coming to work sick, and not being told to go home Reply 4105 ... Expert-Novel-6405 - 6h Gotta love it here. I was throwing up and my boss told me to come in. Lol land of the free or whatever
    via u/moonlitjasper & u/Expert-Novel-6405
  • 13
    Font - BSC MrGrooveBot - 16h People gossiping about each other off-the-bat. Eventually it'll be about you.
    via u/MrGrooveBot
  • 14
    Font - fallwind 18h ● No free coffee, yes I'm serious. I worked at a studio that cut employee coffee to save ~$10k a year (there are around 2000 employees)... I did some back of a napkin math, and assuming 15 min walk to get coffee at the nearest cafe, twice a day, times the average salary, they are losing about $2.5M in lost productivity. Cutting things like employer coffee shows a complete lack of understanding of unmeasured costs.
    via u/fallwind
  • 15
    Font - dewey 454 17h Lack of onboarding processes and 'co-workers' who will not share their knowledge and experience.
    via u/dewey454
  • 16
    Human body - o Penndrachen • 18h Any reference to "company culture". F g ping-pong tables.
    via u/Penndrachen
  • 17
    Font - momohatch - 13h Everyone regularly works through breaks and lunches.
    via u/momohatch
  • 18
    Font - Chico Broadway • 13h -When the boss kept asking if I was "coming back tomorrow" in a half joking (but not really joking at all) kind of way. -Coming back from my first lunch break and the entire crew is all "oh good, you came back." (Different job than the first example) -When my trainer spendt most of the time showing us the break room and also didn't work the shift I was hired for. -When our coworkers decide to haze us and let us "learn the hard way" when we're in a medical field! -When
    via u/ChicoBroadway

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terrible coworkers reddit stories ask reddit antiwork workplace-stories job work coworkers new job career workplace red flag Reddit
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