workplace-stories

Children's Museum employee gets fired after insisting on better treatment for fish: 'It is not your place to give me advice'

Remy Millisky

Boss tells key client that go-to employee has left the company, employee quits for real when they find out: 'My supervisor told a high-end client that I was quitting. That was a lie, and I was gone for a week.'

Brad Dickson

HR intervenes after disagreement over office thermostat heats up: 'My coworker decided 72 degrees was “too cold” even though it literally feels like a sauna to the rest of us'

Brad Dickson

Employee quits after boss denies their request for a raise, then publicly offers the replacement $7,000 more per year: 'It was such a deliberate power move'

Ben Weiss

‘Am I crazy for thinking this is basic hygiene??’: Colleague touches all the bagels in her office breakfast spread with her bare hands, then refers to a coworker as ‘mom’ when they object to her unhygienic behavior

Lana DeGaetano

Retail worker ridiculed for wearing personal jacket at work, he gets even by following the employee handbook: 'My jacket isn’t corporate approved? Neither are any of the other ones here!'

Ben Weiss

Manager instructs staff to maliciously comply with difficult client by only following their vague instructions word for word, prompting backlash: 'Why are your employees being so unhelpful?'

Ben Weiss

Boss tried to turns assistant into his kids' after-school babysitter for no extra pay: 'He thought I would “see it as helping the team”'

JR Atkinson

Boss calls employee ugly in front of his entire team: 'Everyone went silent and I just sat there not knowing what to say.'

Emmy Pratt

Project manager conspires to make coworker look bad in front of management, coworker turns the tables around on her: '[Penny] hasn't tried that trick again with me'

Ben Weiss

Irksome colleague uses the office coffee station as his personal ‘TED Talk’ summary stage: ‘He goes into detail like he is trying to recite the transcript’

Lana DeGaetano

New employee monitors boss's schedule, asking for confidential information and requesting to join meetings with higher-ups, boss left baffled: ‘It's not something I’m willing to discuss’

Bar Mor Hazut

Boss demands 24/7 "urgent" access to employee, interrupting the employee's evenings and weekends with tasks that could have waited: 'If I’m not answering emails at 10PM, I’ll wake up to passive aggressive messages'

Brad Dickson

Essential employee resigns during meeting with "huge" client after being denied a raise and getting another job offer mid-meeting, client cancels contract: 'I accepted their offer, contract in my email within 5 minutes, digitally signed it within 10'

Brad Dickson

Temp employee works until 3:00 AM, asks if he can finish work from home, boss refuses, sparking malicious compliance: 'Temps are not allowed to work from home'

Ben Weiss

Workplace asks employees to work overtime for free, they all call in sick the next day: 'Manager is freaking out in the group chat about "lack of commitment"'

JR Atkinson