A little over a month ago, a small chiropractic clinic offered me my first job after graduation, then rescinded the offer the night before I was supposed to start. Yesterday, they contacted me to ask if I was still available. The timing is almost funny now, but when it happened, I was devastated.

I had spent about ten weeks applying to more than 150 jobs in a state I had just moved to. The clinic had around five employees, and they responded the same day I applied and moved me directly from a phone screening to an in-person interview because, according to them, I was an excellent fit for the position.

They offered me the job during the interview, but the actual terms were nothing like those in the posting. It was part-time with low hour rate, with the chance to low bonuses tied to client bookings and sales. When I asked about the description saying it was full-time, they said the number of hours could increase later. They also expected me to handle scheduling, errands, social media, and random assistant tasks outside the role I had applied for. There were no benefits and no clear path for advancement.

The clinic owner also told me they had received more than 150 applications from people with more experience, but had chosen me over all of them. That felt flattering for about five seconds, and then it started to seem like pressure to get me to accept before I thought too carefully about the pay and hours. I was broke and tired of being rejected, so I was going to accept it anyway.

They told me the background check paperwork would arrive over the weekend and that I would start Tuesday morning. Nothing arrived, so I messaged them to ask about it. Late Monday evening, they asked me to call them, and then casually told me the job offer was no longer available. There was hardly any explanation, not even an apology. I had already told my family that I had finally found a job, so I felt embarrassed even though none of what happened was my fault.

A few days later, I followed up on another application for a job in the field I had studied. I got that job, the pay is much better, and I have been there for about six weeks now. Then the chiropractic clinic emailed me to ask whether I was still looking for work and interested in joining them.

Apparently, none of the 150 applicants with more experience worked out for them. I am curious how common this kind of bait-and-switch is, but at the same time, I am relieved they showed me how they operate before I started working there.

TL;DR: Company owed me a bonus, realized they lost my contract, wanted me to Re-Sign the contract in order to get the bonus. Got let go.

-----

Using my burner because I signed an NDA.

I signed a 3 year contract at my place of business. Good salary. I way over-performed given what they paid me for. (One thing I did for them far outside of my scope made them more than my salary yearly)

When contract time came, it was a hefty 20+% paycut. I was blown away by the disrespect but I didn't have many options. I got it in writing from the then GM that I could talk to other businesses and find a job elsewhere regardless of what the contract said, I'd just have to respect the non-compete. Cool.

Not a month later the company sold our offices and we were rapidly forced to move to new facilities that were beyond the pale bad. No security doors, non-functional equipment, gaslighting corporate saying they're on it but not fixing anything. Staff morale at an all time low. That GM was later fired for a myriad of HR issues he caused.

7 months after the new contract was signed by me, I get a call from new GM saying he is trying to get me paid on a performance bonus and he needed to know how much it was for. I told him, and said it should be in the contract. He said "do you have a signed copy of that?" I never got one.

The next day he asks "what's your salary again?" I said "after the paycut? It is this". At this point it is clear they lost the contract.

The next day he said corporate has sent me something to e-sign and to sign it and send it back SO HE CAN PAY ME MY BONUS.

I refuse. Say that I need the company to provide evidence they have the executed deal. I get called into an office. Essentially told not to make trouble and I said I have no problem continuing to work under the pay change, but I am effectively out of contract and won't sign anything until the haphazard conditions were fixed and that there's at least a chance they could owe me back pay and what they were attempting to do was get me to sign under duress.

Continued to work. They let me go a week later (mind you they were really interested in keeping me there a week prior). They go to pay severance which is 3 months of the salary on the contract. They try to pay on the NEW contract that they have no evidence of being executed. Had to file a complaint with the state and they folded immediately.

Would have pursued more but ended up getting a much better opportunity with a much better business. Never in my life have I worked for a company so unprofessional.

19yr old customer assistant at a cinema- today manager gave the job of clearing up a homeless persons bedding/ belongings and used drug needles/baggies as the stuff was blocking one of our fire exits. Wasn’t given any protective equipment and told to just put the stuff in bin bags. Lowkey been waiting for a reason to quit this job but should this be reported?

A company of 100 people, and someone is proudly flexing how many employees they've fired this month to their juniors.

You're an employee yourself, not the CEO sitting on a throne handing out pink slips.

Since when did "I've fired X people this month" become a flex rather than something to approach with basic human decency?

Layoffs happen. Tough decisions are part of business. Nobody's denying that.

But there's a difference between doing your job and treating people's livelihoods like a scoreboard.

And when you're sharing these numbers with junior employees, what exactly is the message? That you're a great leader because you've fired people? Or that everyone should remember how easily they could be next?

Especially in a company of 100 people, these aren't just numbers on a spreadsheet. These are colleagues, people you've worked with, people who have bills to pay and lives outside the office.

Being entrusted with the authority to fire people is a responsibility, not a personality trait.

You can be competent at your job without turning other people's misfortune into a victory lap.

Not every corporate activity is an achievement. Some things really don't need to be announced with pride.

I worked as an admin assistant for a small local firm. Our manager constantly pushed us to finish urgent tasks after hours, but he hated seeing overtime on payroll.

One afternoon he pulled me aside. “Stop logging overtime hours. Just get the work done on your own time, we don’t approve overtime claims.”

I reminded him that labor rules required paid overtime if I worked past shift end. He waved it off and said, “Don’t log it. Simple.”

Next week we had a huge client project. I stayed late three nights in a row to finish reports. I did not log any overtime, exactly as he ordered.

Friday morning, he stormed to my desk. “Where are the overtime entries? We need to track project hours for billing.”

I pulled up our chat and showed him his own message. “You told me to stop logging overtime. I followed your instruction. No overtime was logged this week.”

His face turned red. He tried to argue that I misunderstood him, but the chat record was clear. He had no way to blame me for following his direct order.

Later he quietly approved all my overtime hours and never told anyone to skip logging overtime again.

Has anyone here had a boss give two conflicting rules at once? How did you handle it?

(f35) just about had it with the upper management at this company I just quit, and I haven't slept better than I did last night in a long time.

What happened: I was the site lead for a long time, always reliable, always showed up, etc. Then we started having issues with unreliable staff that got brought in, who btw was reccomended by the director of Operations.

I did my due diligence, expressed my concerns, did the write ups, etc. Cut to the problem. That staff calls off and she leaves a 16 hour gap in coverage by doing so. I am already on shift so adding those 2 shifts to my work load would push me to a 32 hour shift with no way to leave the premises (ISP aka clients care plan) nor can I order food (clients mother's house rule). I asked for help from the director of operations as the company doesnt have an operations manager at this time. (Go figure) I will be posting the screenshots of how that interaction went. At that point, I had been told on multiple occasions where there was a significant impromptu staffing gap that I would have to deal with it. I stepped down from the supervisory position.

The next morning I was relieved, bless the staff member that pulled through for me. I made the decision that I would be quitting, effective immediately. The owner of the company reached out attempting to make excuses and gloss over the true reason of why I was immediately resigning, at one point he got off the phone and assumed I'd agreed to stay. No such luck. So I also have screenshots of what was said.

I am more than willing to share screenshots.

After nearly three years working for Allied Universal, I was unexpectedly displaced from my position over alleged driving “violations.” What hurt me most was that I wasn’t formally warned, written up, or given an opportunity to correct these supposed violations before being removed from my post. Another employee was also removed for the same exact violations I had; it was almost like a copy and paste of violations from one security officer onto my violation list.

The entire situation left me stressed, disappointed, and worried about my financial stability. After years of dedication and showing up to work, I felt like I was disposable.

But sometimes an unfortunate situation opens the door to something better.

Today, I found out I was selected for a counselor position, which aligns with my education in psychology and my long-term career goals of helping others.

The pay is phenomenal! I get weekends off and it’s a shift that will work beautifully with my school schedule.

I’m not sharing this to brag or put anyone down. I’m sharing it because just a week ago, I was uncertain about my future. Now, I have an opportunity to build a career doing something I’m genuinely passionate about.

What initially felt like a major setback may have been the push I needed to move forward. I’m grateful for this new chapter.

So basically, a girl recently passed away by suicide after being bullied by her classmates. Her parents was obviously devastated, and at the wake, the president and the Minister of Education were present to offer their condolences. Pictures were taken and posted on social media.

Today, my manager brought it up and asked if I had seen the mother. I said yes, and then she asked me if I noticed her makeup.

I said yes, and she proceeded to question why a woman would wear makeup to her own daughter's wake.

And honestly, I found that such a weird thing to focus on. This woman LOST HER CHILD. Why are we sitting here discussing whether she should have makeup on her face?

I told my manager that I don't see anything wrong with it, especially considering that it was a public occasion with important officials present. Of course, the mother might want to look presentable. But even if the president and ministers weren't there, I still wouldn't see a problem with it.

My own mother is the same way. She likes to look presentable, and I don't see why that should suddenly be considered inappropriate just because someone is grieving.

My manager looked at me like she couldn't believe what I was saying, but I genuinely couldn't care less. People have different views on things, and that's fine, but I don't understand why some people expect grieving women to look a certain way to prove that they're grieving.

What really gets me is that this was a tragedy involving a child who was bullied to the point of taking her own life, and somehow we're focusing on her mother's makeup instead of the actual tragedy. Mind you, it's coming from a mother with a 12 yr old and it's truly disgusting to think like that. Honestly get a life, maybe that's why ur husband cheated on you because you have that disgustingly type of mindset and it will not carry you anywhere in life :)

Today I walked into the office, went to my desk, and found my monitor MISSING. Someone had literally taken it away from my cubicle. No heads-up, no message, no asking me beforehand. NOTHING.
Like, WTF happened to basic human decency?
When I asked the person about it, he casually said he needed it and had asked HR, who apparently said okay. 💀
BRO, WHAT???
Since when does someone else needing something automatically mean they can just take it from your workstation without even informing you? At the very least, have the courtesy to ask the person who actually uses that desk every day!
And honestly, what annoys me even more is how normalised this kind of behaviour seems to be. HR apparently approved it, so that’s the end of the discussion? Does nobody think about basic workplace etiquette anymore?
What’s next? Someone needs a laptop tomorrow, so they just pick up yours and walk away? Someone needs your keyboard, mouse, or personal belongings, so they take them because they got a verbal okay from someone?
**YOUR WORKSPACE IS STILL YOUR WORKSPACE.** Just because something belongs to the company doesn’t mean you can treat the person using it like they don’t exist.
A simple “Hey, we need your monitor for something. Is it okay if we move it?” would have been enough. It’s literally that easy.
It’s not even about the damn monitor at this point. It’s about the complete lack of consideration and respect for another person’s space.
I’ve had my day ruined over something that could’ve been handled with one simple conversation. And the saddest part is that you start wondering whether basic courtesy is too much to expect in a professional environment.
**PLEASE, JUST RESPECT PEOPLE’S SPACE AND THE THINGS ON THEIR DESKS. IT’S NOT THAT FUCKING HARD.**
Has anyone else dealt with this kind of workplace nonsense, or is my office just built different? 😭

I saw it from a distance on a shelf and thought it was a vintage lamp
My coworker looked at me and said “go ahead, take it! It’s not gonna bite you.” 🤣

Edit: I work at a sports wear distributor warehouse

We can’t drink or smoke on the job so I don’t know how the hell someone smuggled a whole god damn cognac in there much less drink the whole thing 😭

I spent almost three years at an enterprise software sales company. Not a giant, but big enough. The owner was named Dan, mid-fifties, liked to say "we're a team" at quarterly meetings.

My job, stripped down, was managing Dan's entire book of business for him. He went out for drinks and golf. I built the proposals, tracked the timelines, handled the complaints, renewed the contracts. Over three years, I helped bring in more than $1.8 million in commissions for him. My salary was $52,000.

December before last, the company handed out holiday gifts. Dan gave me an envelope. Inside was a $30 gift card to Regal Cinemas. The nearest Regal was two hours away, in another state.

I checked. It was real.

I didn't say anything in the moment. I put the gift card in a drawer and opened a job board. Two weeks later I had an offer. Same industry, but not the same work, so it didn't violate my non-compete.

I could have just left. But the clients had been with me for three years. I didn't want them to get screwed by a bad handoff. So I waited six weeks. I trained a replacement. I put every client preference, renewal date, and complaint history into a document.

On my last day, I sat in Dan's office and put the document on his desk. I told him I'd accepted another position. The handoff was ready.

Dan looked at me, picked up the phone, and put it on speaker. The company's chief legal officer was on the line. Dan said, "He's taking a job with a competitor."

The lawyer told me: "Under your non-compete, for eighteen months, you cannot work at any company in this industry. Including cleaning toilets."

I said my new role wasn't in the sales track, and I wasn't going to discuss the specifics. The lawyer said, "Then we'll assume you accepted. You have three weeks to finish the transition."

I left three weeks later. The lawyer called me for another month. I didn't pick up. He called my new company. My new boss answered, listened, and said, "Your legal team must be pretty bored."

I've been here over a year now. Better pay. Year-end bonus. Last month my new boss asked if I wanted to poach the old company's biggest client.

I said no. Let them come to me.

I was employed in a toxic work culture company, where accounting rules were been defined by a non-thinker manager, who was not the owner of the foreign accounting company but who use to think/behave like that. The organisation was small just 15-20 employees but it shows its employees that they are big enough, like a pet wearing a lions skin. Even after getting verbal instructions from him and worked done accordingly if client disowned the work, instead of the manager we were responsible for that, the only sin we committed that was we haven’t get anything on the e-mail or on teams it was just a verbal instructions. It was worse than the micro management, where any small mistake will lead to fire you from your position without any further notice or hearing or understanding, all your hard work and sleepless nights goes into the vain. I guess that’s why we are been called as Cockroaches.

I remember the first time someone asked me in a meeting if I knew something, and without hesitation I said "yes." I wasn't lying, but the truth was I didn't fully know either. I'd just learned that "I don't know" counts as a weakness.

Now, after a few years of working, I think those moments exhausted me more than any overtime ever did. Not because of the workload, but because every day you have to play the role of someone who knows everything — otherwise it feels like you don't belong there.

Kids say "I don't know" freely because they haven't yet learned that this sentence can be used against them. We learned to say something that sounds convincing instead.

When was the last time you said "I don't know" at work without fearing the consequences?

So I finally got a job after 7 months of financial nightmares.

I have 7 years of experience, and I'll admit the salary is below what I expected. But since this is my only way to have an income right now, I accepted it.

Looking back, the first sign was the interview. The woman who interviewed me is the same person who is now my supervisor. She asked how old I am, who I live with, and why I'm not married yet. She even questioned why I live with a friend when we're both men. None of that had anything to do with the job.

On day one, she was supposed to walk me through onboarding, but she basically did nothing except tell me to read the manual. I felt overwhelmed because this role isn't in my background. When she asked me about the product, I had to admit I couldn't answer it well.

On day two, I don't know where she was, but she showed up at the office at 2:30 PM. She left me sitting at my desk with nothing to do except read the manual, which I had a lot of questions about. When I finally asked her, the answer was again: read the manual. When I asked for feedback, I got nothing at all. I ended up having to email my other superior, the head, just to ask for direction and what I should prioritize.

On day three, she ignored me completely. When I said goodbye, she didn't even give me a nod or a "see you tomorrow." She just stayed on her phone call and looked at me.

Honestly, I'm so frustrated. I'm not asking to be babysat, but how am I supposed to learn if nobody will answer a single question? I'm scared she'll judge me as incompetent when she hasn't given me any real chance to learn. At the same time, I can't afford to lose this job after everything I went through, so I'm stuck between wanting to speak up and being afraid of rocking the boat.

Has anyone dealt with a supervisor like this? How would you handle it? Should I try to talk to her directly, or just keep my head down and learn on my own? Any advice is really appreciated, because right now this is my only source of income.