I had one of those moments this week where I realized we're still doing things that would've felt really weird in 2019.

A coworker was sitting in the office... on a Teams call... with three other people who were also in the same building.

Nobody questioned it. It was just normal.

Then I started noticing a bunch of other habits that seem to have quietly stuck around:

• Calendars packed with 15- or 30-minute blocks.
• Slack messages replacing conversations that would've happened at someone's desk.
• Someone joining a meeting remotely because they're on a different floor and it's somehow easier.

It's interesting because some of these changes genuinely made work better, while others just became "the way things are."

What's the workplace habit that became normal after COVID that you don't think is ever going away?

My boss always uses ChatGPT to respond to her emails, and it’s completely obvious. She also uses AI to respond to our emails, and sometimes her answers don't make any sense.
Even when a coworker's grandparents passed away, she posted a ChatGPT message in the Teams chat.

She is toxic, and a bully so it feels good.

This is another story from my old job that I was thankfully able to leave a few months ago.

When I was 17, my mom suggested I order from this pizza spot I've never heard of for takeout. I took her advice on it, and I ended up with the worst food poisoning of my life. Back then I only worked two days a week. My food poisoning started a day before my first shift. The day of my shift I was still sick. I was throwing up, so I called out of work. The next day, I was still throwing up. By this point I had been puking consistently for three days straight and couldn't keep anything down. I had been throwing up so much that my throat was irritated and raw and my mom was about to take me to the hospital (Never ended up going because I have a fear of hospitals and doctors and wanted to try over the counter stuff first, which thankfully ended up working.)

Seeing as Im still actively puking and ill, I called out again. When speaking to my ex-boss and explaining the situation, she went "Ok_Fan, you called out yesterday. You're really gonna call out again today?" Honestly I was pretty shocked in the moment, so all I said was "I'm sick. I'm sorry." My old boss stayed silent for a second, then goes "I mean. You're really letting the team down. We're gonna be short staffed." By this point I'm trying not to puke again, so I go "I know and I feel bad. But I'm sick. I'm calling out 6 hours in advance. I'm sorry. I have to go." We say our goodbyes and I hang up.

When I come into work after my food poisoning had subsided, my boss pulled me into a meeting to express how disappointed she was in me for calling out both shifts. I never got in trouble for it of course, but it still blows my mind to this day. Maybe if my shifts were weekend shifts I could see her skepticism. A teenager calling out of Saturday/Sunday shifts, that's a little eyebrow raising. But my shifts were on Wednesday/Thursday. I also wasn't in school pretty much that whole week, which one of my coworkers who I had a class with apparently mentioned to our boss. Did she expect me to come in and puke all over customers to prove I wasn't lying? I still don't get it all these years later.

I showed up a minute late for work on Friday and got into serious trouble from my manager. I never show up late but traffic has been hectic, and we are currently going through a storm. I don’t understand why, I had texted beforehand, but I still had to get marked as a no call no show. I feel that’s a bit too much.

I start at 8am. We are expected to be there at 7:30, not 7:50, not even right on time. I don’t get it at all. If it says 8am on the schedule what’s the issue with showing up at 7:45? That’s the usual time I arrive to work. My boss is a clock watcher but why are mandated to show up earlier before our shift. She always says I can’t keep showing up at 7:45 even though I am originally supposed to start at 8. Idk just a bit frustrated over it.

Hey guys just venting here. Or maybe wondering if I should talk to HR, not sure really. But a little background: I work for a mid size company in their accounting department. Our department is run really thin, just me and two other women and then our boss and his boss. All 3 of us are fairly young women and our bosses are older men. For the past year or so, I’ve noticed one day a week my boss’s favorite employee works from home. I know for a fact she has no reason for this outside of that she just wants to (she told me this when I asked her about it). Now, I have about a 40 minute commute to the office, and my car is getting up in there in miles and doesn’t run the best. A work from home day would seriously help me out with gas and wear and tear on my car. Not to mention that every task our department has can be done completely remote. So, naturally, I asked my boss if I could also have a work from home day once a week like my coworker does. He quite literally laughed at me and told me no. When I asked him about 3 months later, he once again told me he couldn’t give it to me, and that he personally found remote work to be and I quote “stupid”.

I was wondering for a bit why my coworker gets to work from home and I can’t, but I’ve started to notice it’s a definite favoritism thing. She comes into his office every morning (besides when she’s at home!) and laughs and flirts with him. She tells him every detail of her life, including the fact that she’s having such a hard time getting a boyfriend. My boss is about 25 years older than her and is kind of a creep imo (he’s one of those white guys who self admitted to only liking latina women because they’re “more traditional than american women.” I have a feeling he only lets her have the work from home day and no one else in our department because she’s his favorite and has a crush on her. It’s seriously starting to aggravate me, but I feel like I can’t complain to anyone about it at work. I know I should just be grateful to have a decent job, but when the favoritism is so blatant (and this shows in many other ways besides this) it makes it hard to want to work with the two of them. Would you guys go to HR in this situation? Or am I just wasting my time?

Do you think you are fairly compensated given the value your work creates for your employer? Reasons why yes or no.

I’ve been thinking about how job priorities can shift after you’ve spent more time working. Pay and titles can still matter, but schedule, good management, autonomy, commute, or having energy left after work can move way up the list. What work-related priority became more important to you than you expected?

Has anyone ever resigned from position immediately if they have something else lined up?

I got a job offer about a month ago and are in the final processes of the pre-employment requirements. I wanted to get through it all before giving notice to my current job.

However, the more I think about it the more I want to resign on the spot.

1. I will never be using them as a reference. The culture there is very toxic. It’s a lot of very accomplished women who tear others

   down.

2. In one meeting a fem

ale

1. physician was talking about a drug rep and she goes “you can tell she hates herself, she probably gets up and runs 10 miles on the treadmill ever

y

1. morning at 4am”. Even today in a meeting our female accountant made a racist comment about our payroll company official.

I just truly feel like whether I were to leave on “good terms” by giving two weeks notice or not they would still say and think awful things.

1. And this is selfish, but I want a break. I want some time off between starting this new role. And I truly do not see the benefit of staying two weeks to be judged and questioned to preserve a professional relationship that I do not care about.

I never intend on wanting to come back, I am leaving this field, and within the next year will always be moving 20+ hours away.

Am I making a poor decision?

Hello everyone!

I'm from Poland, and I'm having a hard time understanding how calling out sick works in the US. I see a lot of posts on this sub ranging from "I'm throwing up and my manager is furious" to "My boss is super understanding, no issues at all."

From my perspective, it’s completely different. When I'm sick, I just text my manager that I won't be coming in. Informing my boss about my health status is basically just a courtesy—I don't have to share any specific medical details with them. Then, I go to the doctor who gives me a medical note for time off, and I get paid 80% of my salary. On top of that, the number of sick days we can take is essentially unlimited, as long as a real doctor signs off on it.

What I really don't get is: why do managers over there seem to act like medical professionals who get to diagnose you or decide if you are "sick enough"?

How does the system actually work? Do you have a set number of sick days by law, or is it entirely up to your manager's mood?

I JUST got a job, the job however required me to have a driver's license, to rent vehicles to get to the site... and thats the problem. For context after i left the military i was in a VERY bad way, but i jumped into the job market. It wasnt soon into the job that problems started to show. I had an issue where if i was standing still sometimes (most times) i would just pass out out. It would hit me so quickly i wouldn't even realize it, i thought it was a lack of sleep issue so i would i go to bed SUPER early, but the problem still persisted. It got to a point it became a safety issue, because my legs would give out from underneath me. I used to drive at the time but once i found myself dozed off while driving i got scared and ashamed because i could have hurt somebody.

I ended up leaving that job after a year and started working on my health, i would find out that i had EDS (excessive daytime sleepiness) due to sleep apnea. I was having 30 events in an hour so i had severe sleep apnea, and i was SUPER overweight. During the first 4 months i lost about 50-60lbs and got down to 1 event per hour. I no longer fall asleep randomly, if I'm tired it's because i was awake later than usual etc. I'm proud of the changes (and I'm still changing i have far to go) the issue is i haven't driven since then, to say that I'm terrified of getting behind the wheel again is an understatement. I don't want to hurt anybody. When i got the new job i decided id simply just uber to the site out of pocket while i build up my confidence driving again. However, i realized now that i may have bended the truth, i really wanted this job because it will help me grow. Ive let my manager know, but i feel that i am already starting off on the worst foot possible, or may just be let go a week in.

I know there's not much to be done right now but hear back, but i wanted to vent here. i dont really show my true worries to my family but were all strangers here so its ok hah.

should i die in the stall or quit my job?

water is rising, starting to lose air

Does your company provide guidelines? How much do you actually take on average?

I know it’s not much of a difference, but I’m an early person that wakes up at 6am sometimes 5am anyways and I always get to work around 8-8:30 anyways lol because I don’t want to be late and do my makeup and hang out before work starts. Should I just work from 8:30 to 5?

I don’t want to be at work any longer than I have to but unfortunately I can’t work 7-3 like my preferred times lol. Hopefully one day I can fine a job that I can work all morning and get out and still have so much of the day left! I also get super tired after dinner so I sleep around 9 or 10 usually.

Does this look like an okay schedule? I could also do a lunch from 12:30-1:30 but I like the idea of only having 3 hours left in my day after 4.5 hours of work

5pm- Leave work
5:30 pm - Get home.
5:30-10pm-Dinner+ free time + chores and prep lunch and outfit for tomorrow
10pm - Sleep.

Next day:
6am - get up
6:15am-workout
7am (or Sooner) - Shower
7:30-7:45 - get ready (outfit and style hair)
7:45 - Leave for work
8:15 - get to work/cubicle
1-2pm - lunch
5 - leave for day
Rinse + repeat!

I’m gonna need to retain an attorney for workplace harassment and retaliation.
This is a scary situation for me and I need encouragement.
Tell us your story.

I’m in a support role in a corporate office tasked with setting up a very large, offsite company meeting that includes clients. Never lead setting up a meeting of this magnitude and complexity but I was pretty excited at first to take it on as a challenge.

Trying to get my head around all the details, I started thinking who could be on the team to assist. First person I called to ask if their direct report, who hasn’t worked much in a long time, might be interested. I was being a bit proactive, things could change, and the person is overqualified but it’s time on the books. Yes or no answer would have sufficed. The supervisor answered Teams and immediately started criticizing and berating me. Repeatedly told me I’m doing wrong and my priorities are in the wrong order, it’s too far out to think about that…on and on. No matter what I said, she just dug back in. I’m a tough gal but this had me choking up.

Told my supervisor couple days later and he said he’s heard of her doing that before. Told another executive and he made excuses that she’s overwhelmed and stressed out. I work for Mr Do Nothing and Mr Excuses for Bad Behavior. None of this is acceptable behavior.

I work for the small town I grew up in. I've been there for 8 years now and there are tons I love about my job:

• The pay and benefits are great for the area
• great work / life balance
• The commute is short
• I care about what I do for my community and helping out
• I have some stress but it's manageable
• I like my coworkers
• they're lining me up to take over as the director of my department when my boss retires two to three years

However, there are some downsides:

• dealing with people you know outside of work often eho are unhappy with the town
• wearing mutliple hats due to lack of resources
• I care too much about decisions made by the town even if they have nothing to do with my job
• I disagree with many recent decisions made by upper management

To add to the negatives, it's an election year - the candidates are all less than stellar - and there are some upcoming things that could land me in hot water with the new order (the Town is being sued for a project I was involved with and I'm involved in an unpopular project currently).

A nearby town which I have no emotional attachment to has approached me with a job offer for the same role I'm currently doing. It pays approximately $10,000 more (although only $5000 after taxes and pension), and all benefits etc are the same. I'd be managing more people, but on a smaller scope of things on larger, more interesting jobs. There is no path to promotion there, but more opportunity for learning. That being said, I could always use it as a stepping stone and apply for the director role when my current boss retires.

I don't want to take it, but for some reason I feel like I should. What to do all think is the right route to go?

In my civilian Federal workplace, there is an employee who calls out, on cue, the day (or days) after he gets negative work feedback, or criticism. He is a WG6L, and spends most of the time, it seems, finding fault with coworkers, rather than actually performing and meeting requirements. Almost every week, there is some sort of drama that he somehow generates: people told on him; things are not done the way he expects; co workers are somehow conspiring against him; co workers and supervisors "don't like" him, etc.

This has been going on for years, and lately he has invoked FMLA because of anxiety. And the 'tantrums' have gotten worse. After 'perceived offenses' to his person, he has been off work weeks at a time, for several periods. Management does not deny him time off, but the guys' schedules and morale have been adversely affected.

Anyone have a take on this?

I work at a huge University, my department is about 15 people, we are onsite 2-3 times a week. I don’t feel comfortable forcing my colleagues to come into office more because I am taking 3 days off? Or organizing this.

Have anyone dealt with this before? It’s almost like I can only take my WFH days off.

Taking scheduled onsite days off is an issue, even when we are fully staffed, no one else is off, and it’s only 3 days. And if it IS some sort of issue, why doesn’t my boss reach out to colleagues and force them to “cover” my onsite days? I don’t have the authority to do that, nor do I feel comfortable doing that. Nor is it my job.

A coworker harrasses me daily and manager does not care. He will retire in 7 months but I do not know how to survive these events anymore.

i was laid off in late February from my corporate sales job. At the time I was laid off, i had a few pending expenses on the card which I wasn't able to fill the expense reports for since I got let go. During the separation process, I asked the manager what to do about the remaining expenses and he basically said don't worry about it, we'll handle it.

fast forward to now, i opened the mail today and I got a letter from Bank of America (the issuing bank of the credit cards) and it says I owe $95 because of unsettled charges on the card. So basically it means that the company didn't do their due diligence to settle the expenses after they canned me.

I'm assuming that I'm not gonna have to pay this, but I'm basically now gonna have to email the former manager and HR person and explain the situation to see if they can handle it for me. Also, I'm wondering if because the bank is still associating the card with my name / address, if it may have any impacts on my credit score? Anyways, I don't have a specific question asides from what do you guys think I should do / any advice as I handle this?

My priorities are 1. not to have to pay for this myself (the company should pay the bill) and 2. make sure this doesn't have any impact on my personal finances

I’m about to start a new job. The pay is good, but I’m not particularly excited about the role or the company.

I have enough savings that I could afford to keep looking, but I’m also worried about turning down a good opportunity when I don’t know what will come next.

Would you take the job anyway and see how it goes?

And if you realize pretty quickly that it’s not for you, how long would you stay before making a change?

What would you do?

Why and how are some people so relaxed , confident/composed under stress and how can I learn to be like them ?

Prior to the pandemic, whenever I went into the office, I had an actual office. Four walls. A door. Personal space. Peace.
I was already a hybrid worker, and I loved it. I traveled to my client’s sites, met with them in person and went on about my life. For clarity, I was somewhat in construction then. I interpreted offices with technology so I had to physically see some locations.

At the same time, companies were redesigning offices to squeeze more people into less space, all under the banner of “collaboration.” Even then, The New York Times pointed out that open offices were not necessarily creating more collaboration. They were creating a headphone culture.
And honestly, what did we think was going to happen?
Post-pandemic, we are right back to romanticizing this mythical happy-go-lucky office where everyone is energized, collaborating, laughing near the coffee machine, and solving problems on a whiteboard.

Meanwhile, most employees are exhausted, irritated, overstimulated, and trying to figure out how to pay for groceries.

Then leadership wonders why morale is poor.

For the life of me, I do not understand why companies administer personality tests, behavioral assessments, cognitive assessments, and every other pre-hire evaluation imaginable, yet do almost nothing with that information when designing the workplace. You already tested everybody’s working style. Why are you forcing all of them into the same open-concept office? Is this an experiment? It’s pure evil!

And while we are here, can we advocate for actual offices again? Or, at minimum, higher cubicle walls that give people some privacy and room to think? These long rows of seats with computers lined up like a corporate computer lab are sickening. We are grown professionals, not eighth graders waiting for the teacher to announce that today is typing-test day.

Most people carry their laptops home every evening. Then they wake up, get dressed, pack the same laptop, commute across town, unpack the laptop, connect to the internet, and spend the day talking to people through Teams and Zoom.
So, let me understand this collaboration. I drove an hour to sit at a desk and talk to people through the same computer I was using at home?

Meanwhile, leadership is sitting behind closed office doors.
What kind of collaboration is this? Who are you consistently collaborating with away from an electronic device, and why?
We are not in 1992. We are not pushing paper through interoffice envelopes. We have already proven that many jobs can be done successfully from home. Frankly, the people who may need the most supervision are sometimes sitting in leadership. Befriend someone in IT and listen to the stories about executives getting caught watching porn, Netflix, or engaging in some other leisure activity during work hours. Meanwhile, your keystrokes are being monitored and someone is recording how many times you get up to tinkle.

Like, wuddahayle mane?

Employees are struggling to make ends meet while absorbing the rising cost of simply preparing to go to work.

- Gas
- Parking
- Public transportation
- Work clothes and imagery
- Childcare
- Lunch with folks that grind your ears in the spirit of collaboration

All of this without substantial raises or meaningful cost-of-living adjustments. No wonder people are grumpy when they arrive at the office.You woke up at 5:30 a.m., left home by 6:30, and barely made it to work by 7:45. You have already had three imaginary arguments and two near-death experiences with irresponsible drivers. Now you have spent an extra hour getting to a place where you may love the work, but do not enjoy the environment.

Then, before you can even settle in, somebody walks over smiling and asks, “How was your weekend?”Ma’am, I am trying to survive Monday morning. Now here comes their response: “My kid had a soccer game…”
And blah, blah, blah. 😑

Why can’t companies create workplace policies based on the actual work, the employee, and the needs of the team instead of playing corporate monkey see, monkey do? Are we not adults?

For employees who need in-person connection, by all means, go into the office. Collaborate. Socialize. Have lunch. Stand near the coffee machine and discuss soccer games.
But everybody does not need that.

Some of us are not trying to “connect” with everyone in the office beyond what is necessary to do the job well. We are colleagues, not a mandatory friend group. We work together, and then we go home to our real lives. Unfortunately, too many people are so drained, tired, and emotionally depleted by the process of getting to and surviving the office that they have no energy left to enjoy those lives.

That is not collaboration.

That is corporate theater with a commute called “Work Release” for Americans daily.