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30 Times “Raising Morale” Completely Backfired For Management, As Shared In This Online Thread
Interview With Author
If there’s one thing many bosses have in common, it’s assuming everyone’s happy just to have a job. They continue to live in their own delusional world, even when over half of the workers in the US are plotting to take their skills elsewhere. They carry on feeling confident in their ability to build workplace camaraderie and team spirit when in reality they patronize, exploit, and micromanage. What about respect, you ask? They've probably never heard of it.
Well, it’s about time they take a hard look at the mirror. A week ago, Redditor CasperTFG_808 reached out to the Ask Reddit community inviting fellow members to open up about their "the punishment will continue until morale improves" work stories. The question deeply resonated with hundreds of employees who quickly rolled up their sleeves to reveal the most inexplicable working conditions and horrible managers they ever had to deal with.
Below, you'll find responses that prove there’s definitely a kernel of truth in the old adage, "people quit bosses, not jobs." We handpicked some of the most blood-boiling responses from the thread, so continue scrolling and upvote the ones that echoed with you most. If you have any terrible work experiences with employers who blatantly ignored your needs, be sure to share them with us in the comments!
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
We were all swamped with more work than we could complete and mandatory meetings would happen often that were to discuss why we were behind and what they could do. One guy actually spoke up and said STOP HAVING SO MANY MEETINGS AND LET US WORK, EVERY MINUTE OF THIS MEETING IS PUTTING ME FURTHER BEHIND!. They literally called another meeting 30 minutes later to discuss how the last meeting was not a positive experience for them.
Jeroen de Wijn 3 years ago
Middle management is only concerned with justifying their existence, the result of the company, effectiveness or happiness of employees do not factor in at all.
Jef Bateman 3 years ago
Exactly - These meetings go into a spreadsheet that is brought out during performance reviews. No meetings this quarter? Maybe we don't need you at all.
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Mark Serbian, PK&RG,W 3 years ago
"When the end of the world comes, it will come as the result of meetings" - Mark Twain
Jonathan Warren 3 years ago (edited)
When I worked at an ad agency as an art supervisor we'd all have to stay late daily because constant "new project kick off" meetings prevented us from getting our current and old projects completed.
DonS 3 years ago
Did that at my previous job, I was archiving the entire project. We're talking a 10+ years project and I was scheduled to EVERY FÛCKING MEETING possible, even the engineering one that lasted 2 hours and during "Archiving progress" meeting I was always behind and they asked reasons and told exactly this. After that, I was no longer required to be present at every meeting and, magic! I managed to progress in my work and even was ahead of schedule. I left that job 4 months after that incident and left them in the dust. I heard they put a architect in charge of the archives and the delay for completing the work is back and worst than ever.
Douglas Mock 3 years ago
Certain red flag that your company has more management than it needs.
Blackheart 3 years ago
We have this issue in my profession as well. We simply take our work with us, since phones, computers, etc. are encouraged in meetings.
RELATED:
#2
I'm colorblind. I asked for help once when I was assigned a work task that was color-coded in a way that I can't see. I was immediately written up, since the boss "decided" I was lying to get out of work.
I appealed the decision with HR, who sided with the boss. But they offered what they considered to be a very generous solution: I could use the company's tuition reimbursement program to go take a remedial art class. "So you can *finally* learn your colors", she said.
This was about the same time I was also written up because I stayed late to cover for a diabetic coworker who had to run home and get an insulin refill, so she didn't risk her health working alone in the building overnight. I guess overtime pay is a worse violation than death on the job or abandoning the building. I didn't stay much longer.
Wood Carver 3 years ago
You folks need to learn your disabilities rights man 👨 you cannot punish people in either of these situations legally
AliJanx 3 years ago
Depends on the size of the company, I believe. Although that would to be a really small company - 15 people or less? 9 people or less? Something like that. Run...run away.
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Nimues Child 3 years ago
If you're in the US, these would be times to print out the Federal Disability Act information, drop it on someone's desk, then offer to call legal on their behalf. I'm glad you got out of there.
LEGOPernille 3 years ago
"Learn your colours"..... just take a second.... does a lost arm grow out again????? I HAVE NEVER HEARD ANYTHING THAT STUPID
Carol Emory 3 years ago (edited)
I would have been citing the ADA line and verse to them. They are in violation of many articles. Turn them in if you have the chance. Call the Department of Labor.
UpQuarkDownQuark 3 years ago
“Learn your colors” when you’re colorblind? How can people be so f*cking ignorant?! I literally can’t stand the willful stupidity of people anymore!
Alex Ernst 3 years ago
The US doesn't have great protections for workers but I'm fairly confident this is illegal. And I'd like to know how someone got hired at HR without understanding the difference between being medically color blind and not knowing the color wheel.
Detroit Citizen 3 years ago
Im color blind between dark blues and black. Im sorry OP. I am so glad that the boomer generation is retiring (Im genx) and think that the generations younger than me are helping to destroy the toxic work place. I have found post pandemic, I am not affraid to say I need this day off or no i wont work for peanuts. I came from the time where the boss was absolute. Thank you young people for showing us how to stand up.
We managed to get in touch with the author of this thread, CasperTFG_808, who was kind enough to have a little chat with us. They revealed they came up with the idea to post this question on the Ask Reddit community after they got off the phone with an old coworker. "They were telling me about the ridiculous demands that their new leadership was putting in place and how they were dumbfounded that everyone was leaving even though she had made multiple reports to HR about violations," the user told Bored Panda.
#3
Worked in a fintech company in the UK in the 90s. It grew to around 1000 people, building towards IPO.
HR decided we needed a company magazine to boost morale and give us a sense of community.
First issue landed and the cover story was, perhaps predictably, a profile of the new CEO. A decent guy fairly well liked up until they point, worked his way through a few roles in the company.
Except the angle they decided to focus on, to show us his human side, was how he was getting tired of his current 55ft yacht and was hoping that the efforts of we, his minions, would reward him with enough bonus to be able to upgrade to a 76ft model in time for summer.
Reader, I do not believe it has the desired effect.
Carol Emory 3 years ago
When I was in high school, we had a new teacher that taught American Political Issues. He spent the first class telling us how he came to work at the school. Many of us were of the mind set that we just didn't care....we wanted to get through the class so we could either get to the next class or go hang out with our friends. His wife won $1.2 million off the lottery. We thought "Yay...now he'll retire." Nope......
Al Padilla 3 years ago
That's actually a good reflection on the teacher. I'd occasionally ask my students (trainees in endocrinology) what they would do if they won the lottery. If they'd be back on Monday, then they truly loved the "job." It's a bioassay of "when work becomes play." Similar question would be: "Would you keep doing this if you didn't have to. The lucky ones would.
Load More Replies... Douglas Mock 3 years ago
A "magazine" outlining how you, the peon, owe him, the aristocrat, a f*****g yacht? I hope he was lost at sea...
Chich 3 years ago
Had a boss stop in at a restaurant were were having lunch at. We were making not much above minimum wage. Spent the lunch break complaining that A) his second house was empty and wasn't sure if he should rent it out and B) he had bought hmself a corvette and didn't get to drive it as much as he had hoped.
Mollie Mills 3 years ago
Don't you just hate it when your yacht is just too small for you f****** ego!
Lothar Ohr 3 years ago
I hate the "guy who dies with the most toys win" game, especially at the cost of others
#4
Each of us had to go into a room with the COO and a general manager and watch a youtube motivational video with them. It was one of those narrated videos where it's some person drawing cartoons and text on a whiteboard. Like all you can see is a hand and the whiteboard in fast motion.
Anyway, the theme of the video was that you should be following your passion and pay should be secondary and not a motivation. After the video they then asked us, individually, "would you like to ask us to lower your pay?"
As if that was the take away we should be getting from the video. It was totally absurd.
Cat Palmer 3 years ago
Great idea! I'll be following my passion straight out the door to a new job, thanks!
Carol Emory 3 years ago (edited)
IKR. I was thinking I would have said "You know what! That video really motivated me into realizing this company is not fulfilling my passion. So I can either leave to fulfill my passion at another company or you can give me a pay raise to motivate me to forget about my passions......"
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Jessica Wood 3 years ago
I don't get why companies do this then wonder why they can't keep employees.
Penelope Orange 3 years ago
Maybe they should learn to follow their own passion and their profit should be secondary
So while some workers go out of their way to stand up for themselves, others quietly accept the things their entitled bosses tell them. Still, that doesn’t stop them from sharing their nightmarish tales with everyone online. As of this writing, the question has amassed nearly 16k upvotes and 6k comments where rightfully disgruntled employees air their grievances. CasperTFG_808 said they didn’t expect the thread to blow up as much as it did and thought it would get maybe a dozen responses. "The popularity of the post totally caught me by surprise," they added.
While "no one wants to work" has become a running trend among CEOs and managers who wield power in their companies, they seem to miss what’s happening right in front of their eyes. Millions of employees all over the world have simply had enough of feeling undervalued and ignored by their employers and decide that it’s time to shine a light on delusional management and poor working conditions.
#5
Worked my a*s off for a job, never late, always covered for people, model employee. Got pregnant (planned) but there were some severe complications, and at 7 months pregnant I had to go to the hospital for a procedure that had a chance of causing extremely pre-term labor. So bed rest for three days. I didn't have to work till day three, but informed my boss. He told me I'd better use that time to find someone to cover my shift or I was fired. Fortunately a coworker wasn't having that s**t and called around the other stores till they had my shift covered, but that absolutely soured my relationship with the boss. I took my maternity leave and just as it was about to end the boss texted me my new schedule. I responded "lol" and blocked his number. Really grateful my husband works a job that allows me to be a stay at home parent.
𝖊𝖆 3 years ago (edited)
Isn’t it illegal to fire someone over this?? Pregnancy related sickness is covered surely ?? It’s not like they were asking for every Friday afternoon off for scans or something, they had a signed note from a doctor. How can this be legal
James016 3 years ago
It’s not your job to find cover, it’s your manager’s. Repeat until managers get it.
eff the haters 3 years ago
But usually the manager finds somebody that's booked a holiday
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ZombieSushi386 3 years ago
I was fired from my last job due to my house being broken into and work equipment being stolen while I was hospitalized for a nervous breakdown that was caused by my job.
Douglas Mock 3 years ago
Many of these MUST come from outside the States, there's no way we wouldn't torch him over this.
Sydney-Kate 3 years ago
I had a 102 fever the other day and my boss said if i couldn’t find someone to cover me in the next hour or i didn’t show up i was fire. So i took some ibuprofen tried not to puke and went to work. I went to the doctor the next day and found out i had influenza a. Gave my boss a doctors note and she was still upset i couldn’t come in. Good thing i love working there or i would’ve quite just like that.
HumanBeingFromEarth 3 years ago
Oh god… I’m really sorry you have a boss like this.
Load More Replies... #6
I worked in a hospital for 10 years facilitating meetings for executives and doctors. My team was tech based but somehow we were connected to the catering department so the total team size was 10 people for years. No one in our department would fill out the "anonymous" surveys because it wouldn't be too difficult to figure out who was complaining based on content in the survey and the personalities involved. When I knew I was on my way out, I decided to put all the complaints from my team and the catering team on the survey and maxed out the space on the survey, including the maxed out salaries($10 an hour) of these older ladies and gentlemen that worked their as*es off on a daily basis. One of my picadilloes was that the upper management would always suggest to employees to pick up trash in the hallways as we moved through the building but the executives would trash every meeting room they used. I specifically noted and named an executive that spilled a full cup of coffee early in a meeting and just left it there to stain the table and drip on the floor with no attempt to clean it up. Within a few days, my managers would either look away when they saw me or they scowled at me. Nothing changed in the time I had left there but I'm glad I said what I said and a lot of people saw what I wrote.
RafCo (he/him) 3 years ago
Never tell the truth. They don't want to hear it anyways
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Al Jameson 3 years ago
Ooh, a rare sighting of that mythical cross between a pickle and an armadillo, the "picadillo".
The user noted that workers have been viewed as expendable for too long. "Many companies have lost sight of what led them to success in the past," they said. "They view employees as commodities that they can swap in and out rather than the special resources that helped build the company in the first place."
So the user offered Redditors a chance to take refuge from their horrible bosses by allowing people to spill the dirt about them in their thread. "The best part about this post was giving people space to vent. Everyone has a work story and even though I may never get through all the responses, I am so happy to give people the opportunity to get something off their chest."
CasperTFG_808 pointed out that it’s a job-seeker's market out there, so "don’t be afraid to make a move. Also, don’t be afraid to report bad behavior to HR. Many companies also have an anonymous reporting system where you can report issues," they suggested.
#7
We had to take a survey and one question was "Aside from getting a pay increase, what would make you feel more appreciated in your current position?" And we all wrote down things like birthdays off with pay, less overtime, allow coffee/soft drinks while we are working, increase breaks from 10 minutes to 15 minutes." We all handed in the surveys.
They did not implement a single suggestion.
Nimues Child 3 years ago
HR & the C-Suite have framed copies of the poster that says "You want what???" with people laughing.
Load More Replies... Carol Emory 3 years ago
I guess they should have said "What would motivate you aside from anything that costs us money...."
Daniel Yamada 3 years ago
You should have written "Give us pointless surveys." Then you would get what you asked for.
Deaksmom 3 years ago
Your suggestions were all self-serving. You should have written; we need to do more work with tighter deadlines, eliminate breaks completely as it takes too long to settle back in when back at our desks and come in an hour earlier and leave an hour later with no increase in pay to achieve more.
UpQuarkDownQuark 3 years ago
Now you’re talking! I’d love to hire you in my “fast-paced”, “challenging” work environment for “competitive pay.” It’s not about the money, it’s about the experience!
Load More Replies... UpQuarkDownQuark 3 years ago
They were hoping people would write down things like “a free bag of chips on Fridays” or “more work, please.”
Valley Girl 3 years ago
Could there be like a banana for me and the janitor to split every other Wednesday?
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Shelby Jackson 3 years ago
The company I used to work for would implement these asinine policies after our yearly survey and it would always say "we are implementing this policy because employees asked!" No. None of us ever asked. It's all a joke.
ButFirstCoffee 3 years ago
In 2008, during the financial crisis, the telecoms company I worked for issued a survey. They had cut all discretionary spending like cake for birthdays and xmas parties in fancy locations. They asked us what would make us happy without costing the company more. I suggested to let us wear jeans every day, not just on Friday. Office wear need to go to the dry cleaning and it's expensive. Allowing us to wear jeans will boost morale, cost us less and cost nothing to the company. It was accepted.
Detroit Citizen 3 years ago
I worked at a resturant pre pandemic making 10 and hour. Kinda upscale at that. After a year, no absences, no tardys, covering shifts, sometimes working two weeks with no time off, I ask in writing for a raise to cover cost of living. The POS owner gave me a 25 dollar gift card to the place i work (one meal is more than that). I resigned and he was all like "But why bro? I treat you good and you got a gift card." My dude, I ate at your damn place everyday I worked for free. Btw his award winning bbq sauce is, wait for it...... Sweet Baby Rays and the cheapest beer on tap. Thats it.
#8
Not me, but had a friend whose supervisor got upset bc she heard people chatting while getting their lunches out of the fridge and making coffee. Her solution? Lock the break room at 8 a.m. (so you needed to come early if you want a cup of coffee), and lock the bathroom so people would need to approach her and ask for the key every time they needed to iuse the facilities. Imagine being in your 30s/40s and having to ask permission to use the bathroom.
LH25 3 years ago
Big NOPE. It's funny, here in the US at least there is some pressure to return to our offices, and one reason is to see each other face to face and make/renew those personal connections.
Mokayokok 3 years ago
It’s so they can make sure everyone is working, no corporation gives a f**k about your mental health due to Covid, they care that you do your work at s**t pay & maximize their funds to that the CEOs & Shareholders make millions.
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BluEyedSeoulite 3 years ago
It isn't technically denying restroom access. She can claim she is keeping the key to prevent vandalism and hands it over whenever it is requested. It's a fine line and not a good working environment
Load More Replies... Carol Emory 3 years ago
I find that most people that do this kind of thing are either concerned that they are being talked about behind their back or angry all the time and lack the ability to relax.
Trophy Husband 3 years ago
I worked at a company once that rented office space in a building. One day they decided that they needed to keep the bathrooms locked after finding two homeless people having sex in one. So the told us they would give each office two keys to each restroom, one for the manager's personal use and one for the rest of the staff to share. I was the manager, so I could have taken that deal. But that's wrong, so I threatened to sue for beach of lease contract and forced them to give us all keys. Never told the company, but if they had given me a problem I would have quit over it because I'd never work at a place like that. To all the people who worked with me, you're welcome, and you are also the only part of that job I miss.
To learn more about why certain corporations demand high spirits from staff while failing to meet their needs, Bored Panda reached out to Kristina Leonardi who is a nationally recognized career coach, speaker, and author of Say It To Make It: Affirmations to Empower the Heart, Mind, Spirit and Soul. She explained that employers who think that punishing their employees or making them "earn" good treatment is a good idea "have it all backward and are quite medieval in their approach."
"Creating a positive environment where employees can thrive is a win-win because when employees are happier, they will be more productive and loyal to go the extra mile," she added.
#9
Not really me, but my brother who worked in same place before me The company had a very bad way to handle finances, often would delay the payment on our end, but theirs were always in time. One day my brother got feed up and said they better pay them on time, they thought it was a empty threat and delayed. On the same moment the payment didn't get in, him and his co workers all shut down the computers, took the phone off the lines and sat around. No one were to answer calls, e-mails, clients, schedule deliveries and anything. The thing is, if THEY didn't work, things could still be solved, but their work was exclusively dependent on our end, if we didn't take the clients/deliveries, they couldn't transport or deliver anything. They got desperate and threatened to terminate everyone, but then how the office gonna work with 0 people? Nor would be legal since it was the law here that everytime the payment got delayed the worker didn't have to work that "extra day" he's not being paid, or they would have to receive double for it because of the delay. Not even 2 hours in, everyone got paid. They alwyas had the money, they just didn't care about the workers.
#10
Not exactly a beating, but once my company got all the devs together in a room and told us we have to innovate. We were confused.
Them: We need you to innovate.
Us: What do you mean, innovate?
Them: Innovate! Do innovative things. Companies that innovate see higher profits!
VP proceeds to draw a graph on the whiteboard. No numbers, just "profit" on the y-axis and "innovation" on the x-axis, and a line going diagonally up and to the right.
Them: See! Innovate!
Us: What do you want us to innovate?
Them: Innovative things. When you are working, think innovatively.
Us: Do you want us to stop what we are working on to do this innovation?
Them: No no no! Keep doing your work. But also think about innovating while you do it.
Us: You know, some of the work we already do is innovative.
Them: Can't be, or we'd be making more profit.
I left the company soon after this meeting.
Nimues Child 3 years ago (edited)
Nothing is worse than a know-nothing boss who has discovered a new buzzword.
Carol Emory 3 years ago
Like the little kid that was interviewed after learning the word "Apparently" from his grandfather...LOL.
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Mark Serbian, PK&RG,W 3 years ago
So, the five scariest words coming from a boss: "I just read a book"
Ian Webling 3 years ago
I would have asked: 'When you say innovate, do you mean we should multivert or would it be okay to just frangle?'
Douglas Mock 3 years ago
Has no one EVER told them you can't use a word to describe it? This is a case of morons falling for a buzz-word-salad and screeching it like howler monkeys. Run for your life!
Solidhog 3 years ago
All these stories have a common theme. Management and CEO's that don't have a clue. Which makes me question how these people ever got the jobs?????
Jon Steensen 3 years ago
It is a classic. You set a high level goal, and think that your job is then done and your employees will do the rest from then on. But if that is ever to be anything more than a fluffy goal that you can present to management as a "see I did something now give me a bonus", you have to break it down into manageable subgoals, and make concrete describtions on what you want your employees to do differently, as well as make sure that there is the time needed for them to master this new skill, as well as the material/person needed to teach them. There are some methods that can be used to make people think in new ways, but a good idea often cannot be made on order, but arises when people get into certain situation where the pussle pieces fall into place, because they experience something that inspires them. If you want the to do things differently, you have to make some changes, and make sure they get the right imputs, e.g. by confereses, field studies, courses etc.
ButFirstCoffee 3 years ago
Reminds me of the underpants gnomes episode in South Park. Step 1) collect undepants, step 2) ? , step 3) profit!
Nightshade1972 3 years ago
At my wife's old job, the Department Head came up with what he thought was a Brilliant Idea. He corralled my wife and her boss (who worked directly under DH), and told them about his Brilliant Idea. My wife said, "Won't work. Here's why," and ticked off the reasons. DH did a whole flowchart on a whiteboard. "See?! Told you!" My wife looked at one section of the flowchart, and said, "Oh yeah? What about that? Again, here's why it won't work..." DH looked where my wife was pointing, literally facepalmed, wrote F**K on the whiteboard in large capital letters, adjourned the meeting, and never brought up his Brilliant Idea again.
Some companies urge people to fill out surveys to measure how content they are with their jobs, benefits, and managers, yet fail to implement a single suggestion. Leonardi said they’re probably doing it for show, to check off a box, or for some regulatory reason. "If they don’t do anything with the responses then it’s a sure sign not much is going to change unless management has a change of personnel and/or heart," the career coach added.
#11
I don't know if this fits but I love telling this GameStop story.
Anyone who's ever shopped at GameStop knows the employees always try to get you to pre-order something or subscribe to their trade-in program (or whatever it is nowadays). Our store was actually number one in the district for both (BECAUSE we only offered when it made sense and didn't harass every single customer), but of course the district manager wanted to make a name for himself so he started demanding we increase trade-ins.
How - you may ask? By asking every single customer NOT trading in games if they knew we took games in for store credit. Yes, the bright red and yellow signs plastered on every surface pushing trade-ins clearly wasn't enough. So the district manager comes in one day to show us how it's done. He harangues everyone about trades all day, and everyone's like, "Yeah. I know." He starts to get frustrated.
Towards the end of the day a kid walks in wearing a backpack and starts looking around. DM goes "HEY THERE WELCOME TO GAMESTOP HOW YOU DOIN'! YOU KNOW WE TAKE USED GAMES IN ON TRADE RIGHT?" Kid goes, "Yup.", keeps shopping. So the DM goes "Maybe you got some games at home you're not playing you want to trade in? Maybe you got some in that backpack you'd like to trade in for something new???" Kid gives the DM this confused, slightly horrified expression, mumbles "uh, no" and walks out of the store.
DM stares at the door for a few moments then turns to us, mortified beyond belief, and goes "SEE HOW EASY THAT IS??"
John Smith 3 years ago
My number one reason for stopping going in shops is staff that don't take "f**k off and leave me alone" as a hint that I might not need their input on everything I look at.
AngelWingsYT 3 years ago
I work at a place with a loyalty program. We are supposed to ask every customer if they want one (of they dont already) but i dont. I READ the customer. If they are in a "im tight on cash" mood i dont ask. If they are clearly not 18+ i dont ask. If they are in a "p**s off" mood i dont ask. If they are in a rush I DONT ASK! i read the room!
Anony Mouse 3 years ago
I moved my entire wedding registry from Giant Department Store to Big Box Store because every. Single. Time. I changed something I'd have to listen to their spiel about their gold star program or whatever it was. The same one you get when they try to talk you into a store card at the register, but way more aggressive. I e-mailed them and told them what I did and why, and also that a salesperson asked me if I'd like to sign my now-husband up for a store card. Didn't hear back.
Jessica Wood 3 years ago
Reminds me of the scene in Black Books where Manny attempts this on a customer and gets screamed at.
Jon Steensen 3 years ago
you should emmidiately have followed up with, "See how effective that was?"
Duane Ringlein 3 years ago
My late wife would walk out of a store if someone followed her around, once she told on of them if she had any questions she would find them and ask.
Josh Cutts 3 years ago
Thank you for naming names. I hate when companies get anonymous treatment as if they deserve any shred of privacy.
Zack Podany 3 years ago
Field of screams. If you make it a metric, they will make you look good.
#12
My last veterinary hospital was really understaffed. Management asked what they could do to improve things and we all said that even just one extra nurse would make a huge difference.
You know what we got? A f*****g colouring book. According to management, colouring helps with mindfulness which reduces stress. The fact that we'd never have time to use it didn't seem to matter.
Hiker Chick 3 years ago
My organization did this! They arranged someone to come in and we all got colored pencils and a postcard and we had 30 minutes to "color our Covid experience ". LOL Did not really life morale the way they hoped.
John Smith 3 years ago
They tried that at a place I was working, my reply of "so do I shove the crayons up my a*s and wiggle on the chair?" they didn't know how to respond.
Valley Girl 3 years ago
We got this gift bag full of junk! It was like a 2 pack of Tylenol, a paper clip, a book of matches. There was this slip of paper printed out with the reason for each one, including a penny for your thoughts. I GUARANTEE they do not want to know my thoughts.
Detroit Citizen 3 years ago
Just when I think Ive seen and experienced it all, I see these types of posts. My @** wouldve sat down and colored all shift. Give me a coloring book and Ill color you a picture on the clock.
SkekVi 3 years ago (edited)
They do this at asylums now too rather than have, you know, counselling or psychiatry or books to read or literally annything else to do with your time locked in a box with none of your belongings and no connection to the outside world... but sure, colouring will reduce your stress....
#13
I’m a math teacher and have been teaching for 3 years. We had a whole new team for our grade level and my principal put me down as the gradelevel leader. Ok. No biggie. We had someone called a “math coach” who was supposed to train the newbies and help them out. Nope. He put it all on me. I was in charge of training them on curriculum, which is SO NOT MY JOB and my expertise. The team was horrible. They knew nothing and I got no help. Told my principal and was told “If you want to be a leader, you need to handle tough situations like this!” with them smiling at me. This year, I’ve never been so burnt out. Any time I asked for help I got a “you can tough it out!” I begged for any kind of help from anyone. My new team refused to do anything bc “it’s easier if you to do it…we’re so stressed being new”. This lasted for a whole school year. Imagine doing all the work for 5 people all at once, being treated like a whipping girl, and being told that I should expect this. Their students even came to me for help because their teachers did nothing in the classroom. My prinicpal was so shocked when I said I was leaving. I told them that I had no help and I was not standing to be treated like this when I am still a fairly new teacher. He kept saying next year will be much better because my team has improved (no they freaking haven’t). I said “Hell no. You allowed them to think I am there to do everything for them. Next year will be worse.”
Rachel Ainsworth 3 years ago
Lazy management passing off their own responsibilities and pretending that it's a development opportunity.
Little king trash mouth 3 years ago
As if the Board would care. I've been a teacher for 15 years and I can say without a doubt that our BOE is useless. They're "yes men" to our superintendent. I imagine it's like this in a lot of schools.
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Deborah Blair-Krosnicki 3 years ago
I see a lot of gender bias in they way this was handled. Ask yourself, would these people treated a male teacher the same way they treated me? The answer, I am sure, is no. They expected you to mother everyone and just take it. You, as a result, enabled lazy behavior, without fighting for yourself. A lesson learned indeed.
Vanja Vidovic 3 years ago
I don't understand: she's a math teacher and she has new colleagues math teachers in her team, how come "they knew nothing"? I mean, they had to have some sort of education to become teachers, right?
Leonardi also stressed that another big issue she often hears from clients is micromanaging. "People want to be trusted and know that they are confident to perform their job well; having someone constantly double and triple check them (especially when they already have a proven track record) erodes confidence, creates unnecessary stress and anxiety, and creates low morale," she said, adding that it can ultimately push valuable employees out the door.
"It also tells the employee there is no room for them to grow or take on the responsibility or learn leadership skills which can also be an asset to the company if we're allowed to develop properly."
#14
The president of the $2bn company insisted on mandatory Fun. You were met with reprimand and sometimes termination if you: -Denounced corporate Fun events -Refused a random errand that had nothing to do with your job -Didn't go to her parties -Went to her party but left before early morning -Stopped going to her parties -Didn't dress up for costume days -Didn't decorate your area elaborately for Halloween They offered free tickets to a company concert each year and when employees sold their tickets online, she would buy them, go to their house, and fire them. She hired SVPs based on their ability to be evil/cruel, and they would terminate strong performing leaders who weren't yes-people, to make those around them more afraid/productive. Eventually she was ousted and all of her underlings were gloriously wiped out too, sort of like when you kill the head vampire.
Rick Hoppenbrouwer 3 years ago
When I was hired to help set up a walmart store when they first came to Canada they wanted us to do the walmart cheer at the start of the midnight shift. Go f**k yourself.
BluEyedSeoulite 3 years ago
Wow, I had a boss that was a lite version of this. The partying thing really reminds me of her, she would force her employees to get drunk then generously allow them to come in an hour late the following day. With the culture, refusing your boss was unacceptable - having dinner together or drinking. It sucked to work for her and she sold her business but the buyer kept her on to run things. My husband worked there first and I started temping for them as needed, completely different departments. We left a few months after she used her underling to tell my husband they weren't going to pay me for some work I had done for them. I didn't even try to keep my voice down when I said, "Well, I guess they can find a new teacher to cover my classes tomorrow." Boss pulled me out of a class later that day and threw her underling under the bus
Luna 3 years ago
They probably didn’t have waffles OR melons at theses things though :(
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Angella Naasko 3 years ago
There is nothing more fun than a MANDATORY party with all the people you would never associate with outside of your job! Par-tay!
Bored Turtle Princess 3 years ago (edited)
Would be a great drama plot. Just to clarify, but I'm not saying that this couldn't happen IRL, just that it would be amazing as the plot of a movie/show/book.
Tim 3 years ago
I use a Liz Lemon quote to describe corporate fun-tivities. "Ain't no party like a Liz Lemon party cuz a Liz Lemon party is... MANDATORY.
Tim 3 years ago
I will add that at least my company has the sense to have these events during working hours.
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#15
I once worked at a company where morale was very low due to extreme micromanagement, low pay, and having to provide tech support for a product that frankly sucked.
So they called us into a series of meetings to "discuss" the issue. The guy leading the meeting asked us as soon as we sat down, "Who here is happy in their job?" And like one or two people raised their hands.
He then said, "Well in this economy, you're lucky to have a job at all. Meeting over." And then he left.
Carol Emory 3 years ago
One job I worked at did shift bids. You submit three shifts you are willing to work, cross your fingers and toes and hope you get any of them. My husband and I worked at the same place, but different positions. We set up our first shift bids to be opposite of each other so that we didn't have to rely on a babysitter. First 6 months it worked, last six months, our shifts overlapped by 3 hours. On top of that, people who were super agents (could take tech and support calls) were given priority shifts. Not this go around. When the majority threatened to quit, the CEO said for them to do so and he would hire new agents that he could pay less. Many left...he had a really hard time filling those spots with anyone that knew what they were doing.
Eric Schultz Saindon 3 years ago
I worked at a school where we had a TERRIBLE principal. Racist, sexist etc. He stopped having meetings so we wouldn't ever see each other and be able to communicate. Even our department meetings were trimmed down to "PLCs" so we only met with no more than one other teacher at a time. All so he could control the narrative of what was happening at the school. The less people talked to each other the more he could be the one decimating information. It was demoralizing at best, at worst borderline abusive. I remember this one teacher saying to us (who was the principal's bro), "We have jobs" in a tone that shut down any complaining.
Lothar Ohr 3 years ago
You know the pay sucks if the only "pep talk" is that you should be happy to have this job
#16
Story Time I used to work retail for a big box office supply chain, you have a 50/50 shot at guessing which one, as there are only two left. Anyway, leading into Black Friday around 2018, my store manager was really making a big deal about cross selling, ink subscriptions, protection plans, the usual stuff. Well Black Friday comes, and this was the first Black Friday weekend I worked in 10 years that didn't offer and sort of additional compensation for the staff working that weekend. The shifts were usually 9-10+ hours, and we'd get food catered in for the staff. There also used to be incentives for "top sellers", that was taken away as well... The staff got nothing, and in natural fashion, our numbers that weekend were the worst in the store's history, by a HUGE margin. Our store manager had a meeting with all of the store and read everyone the riot act about how disgusted he was at our numbers being so low. IE - If you don't take care of your employees, they won't take care of you. The store manager threatened "serious repercussions" for those that didn't go above and beyond the remainder of the year to make up for the lost sales over the weekend. More than 1/3 of the staff quit before the following Spring. Come to find out later on, the store manager withheld all of these "extras" for the employees, because if the store spends less than a certain amount of petty cash on lunches, dinners, bonus programs, etc. The store manager gets a nice fat bonus at the end of the year...
Laura Edwards 3 years ago
This is how jails are run in Alabama. If the sheriff doesn't spend all the food money, they get to keep it.
RedMarbles 3 years ago
Should absolutely be illegal. Really despicable. Even if you think convicts deserve the added punishment beyond loss of freedom, there is always a percentage of inmates that were wrongly convicted.
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Joshua David 3 years ago
Coming from working corporate HR, I'm sure the manager was read his own riot act for the numbers and had his job threatened as well. In addition he is being underpaid and had his own incentives. Does all that make him a good manager? NO! That does though show how the threatening starts at the top in corporate culture which is why I am no longer privy to any of it.
marianne eliza 3 years ago
At "The Phone Company" managers were given cash awards when their team had no reportable accidents. The team got nothing. Excuse me? Why should only mgmt get paid for things we did? The company thought the manager would use some of the money to get donuts or bagels or something equally insulting but most 1st level managers just pocketed the whole thing. I swore I would throw myself down the stairs before I would let our manager get money for our attentiveness. Took an early retirement cash incentive 2 years later. Never did have to throw myself down the stairs as others had accidents at work.
ReggieTx 3 years ago
Major New England grocery store chain I used to work for does the same thing. Managers get bonuses for staying under budget. So they short staff shifts, only hire part time help so they don't have to pay benefits (doesn't matter if you work 40 hours a week, if your job isn't "officially" full time, you don't qualify), and "share" employees across multiple departments so they can spread out their hours and basically fudge their numbers. Work your people ragged, get a nice bonus at the end. It's disgusting.
Detroit Citizen 3 years ago
I learned that about the petty cash thing from my former employer, a big cable company that owns just about everything.
Darla Taylor 3 years ago
Wow, sounds like the one boss in the maintenance department I last worked in.
If you’re working in one of these companies that have time and again displayed that they do not care about you as an employee, the career coach wants you to consider a few things. "It’s time to do some self-reflection and realize that you are worth more. You should look for other opportunities that create supportive environments for their employees," she said. "Remember that we spend the majority of time and energy at work, so if that is a toxic environment, it carries over into our personal lives."
#17
We had multiple people quit, repeated leadership meetings about bad attitudes, low morale, etc. (Height of the pandemic in a essential workplace) I suggested a monthly meeting with all the staff to check in, see what they were concerned about, ask if they had suggestions, to lay off on unnecessary contests for things that were LITERALLY NOT THE JOB, and generally try to lower the stress on people in general, learn what the key problems were, and show appreciation and that we cared. The manager was pressuring everyone to get a certain number of donations for rotating charities per day. It was stressing everyone out and several people said they were uncomfortable as we were in a poorer neighborhood and times were tough for a lot of people and they were not comfortable asking people who were barely scraping by to donate. This was discussed by leadership as insubordination, and the person who refused to ask people on foodstamps for donations was written off as a "bad apple". My suggestion to have meetings to talk about their concerns was shot down bc "we don't want them bringing negative things up" the solution the rest of leadership decided on was to ban the daily meme email bc it was "negative" (just normal "oh God its Monday" stuff), to "shut down" any negative talk and if we heard anyone complain or they brought it things up to us to tell them to focus on work, the contests that were not the actual job, and to have disciplinary meetings with anyone who complained or did not comply.
Literally the entire staff quit.
Evil Little Thing 3 years ago
Those customer donations are used for company tax breaks. Manager probably had an incentive program where he would get a big bonus for his store bringing in a certain number of donations.
Katie Andrews 3 years ago
And THAT is what you call toxic positivity. So glad the entire staff quit.
Nimues Child 3 years ago
Our senior management layer is on a "just be positive" kick. All that is doing is siloing teams, isolating people and allowing bad apples to resume their bad behavior. Paging new employment...
Zero 3 years ago
"I'm positive the removal of free coffee has tanked productivity."
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Alma Muminovic 3 years ago
It’s incredible how shitty managers have jobs. Especially when results speak for themselves and if these leaders are not delivering or if they have a high turn over rate then maybe it’s time to turn them over? 🤷🏼♀️
Detroit Citizen 3 years ago
insubordination is their way of firing you with out cause. Its happened to me and to make matters worse i live and work in an At Will state. FML
Jenny Pugh 3 years ago
Hospital, warehouse distribution, grocery store, residential home - the list goes on and on.
Load More Replies... #18
Manager asked what to do about low morale and high turnover. I know he’s a harda*s so I offer something simple, “well there’s only 3 chairs for the given 15-25 of us on an average day, how about we get some more?”
His response was, verbatim, “DONT YOU START THIS FIGHT WITH ME BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT GOING TO WIN”
Stannous Flouride 3 years ago
Vampires have no reflection, even the energy ones.
Load More Replies... Rick Hoppenbrouwer 3 years ago
How about we get rid of the shitty manager and put a real person in charge?
#19
They sent a survey about what our perceptions about the workplace were. Voicing some issues with some areas was 100% going to get you in trouble so I complained that the survey was not anonymous, anddidn't complete most of it.
Some days later I was personally contacted by 3 people wanting to find out what was wrong. They completely missed the whole point
Lothar Ohr 3 years ago
Sounds like my mother : "tell me the truth, i promise i wont get angry or punish you"😈
BluEyedSeoulite 3 years ago
I quit one of my companies because management was so incompetent. They promoted based on seniority so you'd people completely unable to do the job they were promoted to just because it was vacant and they were next in line. I stuck with them for over a year and when I finally quit, I didn't bother giving a big rundown of why. The big manager kept bothering my co-teacher about why I was quitting and she just told him to ask me directly. I got tired of him nagging her so I wrote a very detailed reason why I was leaving. He didn't even read it, just passed it along to another worker who worked in the legal department because he was a native English speaker. I learned about it when random foreign guy showed up to see my classes to cover my week vacation. Poor guy had to do my job AND his job for a week...
Zack Podany 3 years ago
I mean, it is nice that they so aptly assisted you in proving your point.
"You want a company where leadership understands that the employees are what makes their company run, and that trust is the number one factor employees are looking for to feel secure and able to thrive. More than cute perks and free lunches, it is about understanding that treating employees with respect and fairness will actually yield a better bottom line for them," she concluded.
#20
I was a nanny for this Instamommy.
I worked 10-12 hour shifts. And normally came in earlier as well as staying later because Mom only wanted the baby for her Instagram. I was exhausted and looked exhausted. She asked me about it. Thinking she was being nice I told her how tired I was.
The next day she had a floor mattress in the nursery right next to the diaper pail. She wanted me to start sleeping there since it was unsafe for me to drive home as tired as I was.
SerumSeven 3 years ago
Using babies as accessories should qualify people for a special place in the afterlife... hopefully one that's on fire.
Valley Girl 3 years ago
Don't NOT violate your NDA for our idle curiosity
Load More Replies... #21
"It would be too much work for you to train new staff, so you'll just have to do your job plus most of someone else's job while we d**k around for months on a unicorn hunt looking for some magic candidate who perfectly fits into the open position with zero training"
Sincerely, the management
Nimues Child 3 years ago
This JUST happened at my job! It took over a year to fill a position in a severely understaffed team. Worse still, the team was not included in the hiring process until the very end. The big boss doesn't realize it, but this fiasco has caused our positive impressions of them to fall precipitously. It sent a message to staff that we clearly don't matter and many of us are job hunting right now.
Alma Muminovic 3 years ago
Im sorry but if it takes someone a year to fill a position then they are not looking. If it takes more then a month, then they are not looking. I worked for a company that it took 4 months to fill a position, we were working 80+ hr weeks to compensate the staff shortage and at one point I just said it’s not my problem you can’t find anyone that fits your standards. I wont keep working 80+ hr weeks. Im a human being not a robot.
Load More Replies... Lazy Panda 3 years ago (edited)
We’re months without a manager and they have just realized that no one is applying because A) the job title has nothing to do with what the job is, I couldn’t even find it because the title was so obscure I didn’t think to click on it, and 2) the requirements are a combo nobody has. I mentioned it this to the director as soon as it went up and he said said he hadn’t looked at the listing and just assumed it was fine. This is why we need a competent manager!
John Smith 3 years ago
could be worse, my boss hired someone for a senior developers position, because they had a degree. Not an appropriate one you understand. No it was media studies. So how that helps .net development.. Guess who got the job of training them.
H Wiley 3 years ago
M8ne wasnt quite so bad. Director hired an IT supervisor who had "gee-you-eye" developement experience. We were a Linux shop , no graphical interface.
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Dennis Harvey 3 years ago
"Surprise! The magic candidate turns out to be an executive's just-graduated-from-college offspring, who will now be your supervisor despite having the skills and attention span of a gnat."
Nightshade1972 3 years ago
I remember reading about a round of corporate layoffs where the new management team thought they'd "save money" by deliberately laying off/giving early retirement to the longest-term employees. Their plan? Put out an ad for two *unpaid* recent-collge-grad interns to take over the job of the executive secretary who'd been making somewhere between 60-100K/yr because of their expertise and longevity. Management seemed utterly baffled that nobody was willing to work that job for no pay...
BluEyedSeoulite 3 years ago
I've worked at places where the Native English speakers tell their managers they will joy be renewing their contracts that year. Management d***s around then freaks out when the contract is over and they don't have a teacher. Since the visa process takes months, they have to find someone in the country on the correct visa to work ASAP. Great, except the working visa is tied to your job so they have to poach workers from other employers, leaving that employer high and dry. It is a vicious cycle that usually consists of the foreign teacher jumping shop whenever more money is offered and the employers are like, "Why aren't foreign employees loyal? All they care about is money." Yeah. Money and you treat them terribly!
BluEyedSeoulite 3 years ago
Joy be = not be* and jumping shop= jumping ship
Load More Replies... Zack Podany 3 years ago
I had this problem as a shift manager at a pizza place. I get so deep into the weeds that I'd be drowning in work without even a thought to try to call someone in to help (not that it was an easy task).
H Wiley 3 years ago
I worked at a place that had two developers and me who was contract. HR posted a manager position that would oversee us all. The person they hoped would take the job didnt because it was more responsibility with less pay than he was currently making. The job is still vacant.
#22
One job I had the office manager changed up the bonus structure so all regular staff had the opportunity to raise their base pay by up to $8/hour. There were no bonuses for supervisors (which I was), but, my team was so good that they all hit their top bonuses so all my direct reports made more money than me, without anywhere near as much responsibility. And I kept getting pointed out for training such an amazing team while I kept bringing up the fact that I didn’t get any bonus for having the top team and that I was the lowest paid person there. Oh how I hated that manager…
H Wiley 3 years ago
Yes, worked one place with a retention bonus. Work up to x duration equalled y increase hourly pay. Most of the managers ( who were also hourly ) had already met the criteria. So the managers started taking over shifts of leaving workers because the hourly and shift made it worth it. Upper managers got wind of this and decided that it didnt apply to managers. That meant anyone staying the season now got paid more than the manager. Next season, most of the managers didnt come back.
Trophy Husband 3 years ago
I knew someone who was a tech, he and his boss both worked long hours, but he got overtime while the boss just got a slightly higher base. So the boss got like 50k and he pulled 80 to 90k. When the boss retired they tried to get him to take the job but he turned it down with good reason
ReggieTx 3 years ago
I have mixed feelings about this one. If the team is great BECAUSE of the manager, then he should totally get a bonus too. But if they are doing all the work and he's just a supervisor, meh, not so much. I have worked in both situations. If I have a manager that busts their butt, then I have no problem with them making the big bucks. But I have also worked for bosses that made six figures and put in two hour days, then took credit for all the work us underlings did.
#23
They would update the dress code every time anyone came in wearing anything the boss didn't like, even if it was entirely appropriate for work. Bill got a new tie for Father's Day and it has bright green stripes? All-staff email the next day banning "distracting colors."
There were only like 15 employees all working in one small building, too, so it was obvious who the boss was targeting each time.
Detroit Citizen 3 years ago
I did the whole, I wore my (then) wifes skirt to work because no shorts. If anyone has ever worked in a server farm, youll understand lol
HarriMissesScotland 3 years ago
My ex was an assistant manager at JCPenney. We had gone to another store and found 2 ties in the discount area. The first has Napoleon on it, the second a pirate. He wore the pirate tie the next day and was told by the manager it wasn't appropriate. Husband flips up the tie and shows him the Made by JCPenney tag. Mgr. shook his head and walked away. I loved it.
#24
We once had an issue with a new store manager at our store not doing his job properly, complaints were raised and a crisis meeting called. The regional manager asked us what problems we had and most people relayed their issues with the manager who ofcourse sat right there in front of us. I initially didn't say anything since i saw what this was, but when asked I responded with criticism. After the meeting, private meetings were held were every employee was basically told that the company was going to go with this worthless manager person and if someone had an issue with it , they could go and work elsewhere. And that was all that was done to try to salvage the situation. Unfortunately for them, they completely misread the situation as every employee quit within the space of four months. All skills and knowledge needed to run the store was lost, customers dwindled, the store lost about 20% of its revenue, the store manager quit, the regional manager got reassigned and then quit, her boss got fired and the next inventory of the store was a complete disaster.
Nimues Child 3 years ago
Companies are pyramids with the workers as the foundation. Try to turn that upside down to placate a manager and the whole thing WILL topple over.
Detroit Citizen 3 years ago
@Numues, that is the best analogy every. Say it louder for the manager to hear.
Load More Replies... Rick Hoppenbrouwer 3 years ago
Why don't bosses want to listen to their employees? Most times they know better what is going on then the managers ever do.
Trophy Husband 3 years ago
Once had a company close our office and tell us we could move 3 hours away to the nearest office or find another job. They weren't bad about it, have 4 months notice and said we could have paid time to go on interviews. But I think they expected a different outcome. One person was gone in the first month, one had said he would move, and the rest of the office was going to quit. That's when they suddenly decided we could all work from home, so most of us did. I was laid off a year later, and a few others too, but some people still do work there. It actually helped them a lot, when the pandemic started they already knew how to manage WFH employees and now nearly the whole company is permanently WFH
Nightshade1972 3 years ago
I remember reading about an office where the staff was happy, and the boss treated everyone well. Then Boss had to take an extended leave (I forget if he went on vacation, or it was medical, or what, but anyway). They brought in an Interim Boss to take Boss' place. Interim Boss treated the staff like garbage, needlessly redesigned how everything worked, basically just got drunk on his own power and called the employees "crybabies" when they complained. He ended up pushing everyone out so that he could bring in his own yes-men. However, Interim Boss never counted on the fact that the ousted employees were still on good terms with Boss, and the CEO. When the ousted employees told Boss/CEO what had just happened, they fired Interim Boss, reached out to the former employees, and begged them to come back. Some ppl had already managed to find better-paying positions elsewhere, but once it was made clear that Interim Boss was gone and Boss was back, the ones who hadn't already (part 1)
Nightshade1972 3 years ago
...managed to find other work were willing to come back and work under Boss again.
Load More Replies... #25
I worked in a small IT-based company where the owner had some pretty bad anger issues. He also had his whole family in supervisor positions. The actual techs were great and we were a pretty tight knit group who took pride in our work.
There was a period where the tech group had shrunk pretty small and newer techs were bouncing pretty quickly after being hired once they got a real glimpse at what a s**tshow the place was. The quality of work ended up suffering enough that we had daily all hands on deck meetings talking about it and morale was a central issue.
Our main complaint was the owner's meddling and micromanaging but he never got the hint, so we kept having these daily meetings. We then came up with the joke "The meetings will continue until morale improves"
Alexandru Bucur 3 years ago
"You Keep Using That Word, I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means"
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#26
lol my old job company had a retention problem - they called all of us "dirt clods that hold up the corporate totem pole" (my words) to a mandatory meeting wanting suggestions. We just blankly stared at them and said its the pay. If you want the old guy with 30+ years experience - pay them. If you want young kids to learn the trade - pay them. ohh nooo we cant do that.... i said if i am looking for a job i have learned theres way more than money one has to consider. I said ive looked at [glassdoor.com](https://glassdoor.com) and told them our companies rating with 500+ reviews is a 2.3 out of 5 with pay being the leading negatory comment with company culture right behind it. i was cut short by HR and said we dont look at those and believe they are all just disgruntled ex employees. im like so even if thats true future employees DO look at those and see that rating and read the comments and dont apply - thats why you get duds or people who use you as a stepping stone. they then asked if anyone else had suggestions lol.
Douglas Mock 3 years ago
"Company Culture" is a made-up concept to cover for people misbehaving in a way "we all agree with".
Zack Podany 3 years ago (edited)
HR is right, they are disgruntled employees. Here's another statistic. Only 1 out of 10 disgruntled people will actually bother to write a review. 500+ reviews meant 5,000+ complaints.
Detroit Citizen 3 years ago
Why is it so hard for management/owners to understand that, we the people, make their companies run. Its like once they get into upper management they conveniently forget that they too worked like us peasants. Ive been middle management at one of the big three and from having horrible bosses, I never asked anyone to do anything I wouldnt do. I would seek the freshly graduated people and ask them to show me how newer things worked (excel, photoshop, etc). But upper management (the board) let me go because i was too friendly with those under me. WTF.
John Wilson 3 years ago
HR tends to employ a higher percentage of self opinionated morons with a control freak mentality, than any other department. (Facilities management are often not far behind)
#27
I worked for a sh**ty security company, min wage, s**t hours, s**t benefits, terrible management, which all leads to a sever staffing issue because everyone quits all the time. One location in particular was notoriously bad for staffing, they would hire people off the street, spend a few days to train them, and they would quit the next day because of how underpaid/overworked you are for a 12h shift. Because of this they would never send an experienced guard to work there due to them knowing they would quit and cause even more staffing issues. I remember going to the location to fill a different duty (which was a cushy role) and meeting 5 new guards in a month. Generally one would stay for a few months before finding a better gig. Well when my summer position was closing up, my boss came to be with a "great solution", I was offered the s**t location, I asked for a raise since it's pretty rough work, he messaged me saying he was insulted and "that's not how things work around here" so I quit.
#28
If you did not display an enthused reaction to the 'Mandatory Fun' activities, you were put on the s**t list.
Nimues Child 3 years ago
Shades of North Korea mandatory public reactions to their Dear Leader.
Carol Emory 3 years ago
I hate these Mandatory Fun Days. It's a complete waste of time. If you want to make me happy..let me do my work as comfortably as possible without being micro-managed and pay me for the time I have to spend away from what really makes me happy...my family.
Valley Girl 3 years ago
If cake is included in the fun, I can get my piece, smile, then run back to my office. Does that suffice?
Paul Richards 3 years ago (edited)
Whomever thought up the idea of corporate fun events should be executed, brought back to life , then executed again
Pandaroo 3 years ago
Executed, body eaten by insects and put in hell. x100
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Sylvia Schmitz 3 years ago
Just comply and be overly enthusiastic about every little s**t. Clap, holler and whistle, wave a flag, dance sing, throw your arms up and praise the Lord, do the laola, play a riumphant march on your phone and so on. Endless possibiliies!
Breezy 3 years ago
Don't they know by now...anything with the word mandatory in it, is never fun.
Lori Rommel 3 years ago
Well, there is a website-- mandatory.com -- which is pretty fun(ny)...
Load More Replies... Detroit Citizen 3 years ago
Cmon we all know that mandatory fun is fun, right..... Right?! We demand you have fun. lmao. the funniest and most absurd thing in the managers playbook. Dont get me started on, Hey, yall made us millions of dollars, here is a five dollar pizza as thanks.
#29
manager implemented weekly individual (hour long) meetings with all employees. 9/10 she just wouldn’t show up to the meeting. Generally these meetings were virtual, but sometimes she’d state in her invite that they had to be in person. Drive to the office, wait at her office door. Find out from other office employees that manager had called out for the day and hadn’t told anyone. That was year 1. Year 2, manager decided to up it to 2 individual meetings per week, and then a 3rd meeting with the entire team. Again, she would regularly just skip out on these meetings. However, if anyone ever dared to not show up or show up late to a meeting she had scheduled, she would lose her god damn mind. Turn over in that department was insanely high.
#30
One time I worked for a **major** satellite TV company. I'd worked there twice before, so I was part of the "fast-track" training programme, designed for people who have done the job before. It was four weeks, part-time, and on each Friday assessment I got 100% in literally all of my tests. They were Product Knowledge, Financial, Technical, and Customer Service. I got literally 100% in every test, and at the end of the fourth week the trainer told me in a feedback session that I had a lot of potential; there were supervisory positions and management roles and I could do very well there. The following morning I got a letter - meaning that it must have been posted before I even sat that last test - from the work agency that had recruited me, saying "thank you for your valued contribution on site but your services are no longer required."
Detroit Citizen 3 years ago
Sounds exactly like the major cable company i worked for. Ngl the pay was great, i was young, it was when they were switching to HSD and digital, but noped out of there when they refused to pay anything past the 8 hours youre scheduled. Even when customers set appointments after 6 at night. I was only being paid from 8-5. And they expected us to come in at least fifteen minutes early to get everything ready before our shift, unpaid. Nope. IF youre not paying me, im not working.
Zack Podany 3 years ago (edited)
I've had the same experience in temp work. The people who actually work with you have surprisingly little say over whether you stay or go. To wit, I had my "contract terminated" AKA fired because I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. My managers knew what was up, HR didn't care.
John Wilson 3 years ago
Someone knew you from before and didn't want you back (probably because you were more capable than them)
Milady Blue 3 years ago
Op was a victim of their own competence. No one in management wanted to be outshined by a peon.
#31
I was a developer and asked to take a course to learn a new Programming Language. I even found an after hours college course so I would not miss work, all I asked is that they cover the tuition under their already established tuition re-imbursement program. They declined my request and when I really dug in they told me, "why would we teach you updated skills? so that you can get a job elsewhere?" I signed up for the course on my own, paid for it on my own and then found a new job using those new skills. They tried to tell me that I could not quit after leaving because I had proprietary knowledge of their code, I laughed and told them no one would care that I new their Cobol source code it's a dead language.
Nimues Child 3 years ago
My wife's boss took this tack until he realized he was incentivizing his employees to quit because he was a bad boss about this. Luckily, he learned the lesson.
Shelby Moonheart 3 years ago
It's better to train staff and have them leave then not train them and have them stay.
#32
A place laid off half their employees one day, without warning. Then the higher-ups arranged a company-wide meeting to explain why. During that meeting, the f**kwad who was talking said something along the lines of "we aren't a 9-5 workplace, so if you intend to only work your normal number of hours, I want you to stop and think about the importance of what we do here." I wasn't caught in the layoffs, but I left that place soon after. That place bled people like crazy over the next few months for obvious reasons.
#33
Working in a department store, we had abysmal loss (shoplifting) numbers. Our managers read us the riot act every morning about making sure we spoke to every customer (management believed that no thief would stick around once an employee had said hello to them), kept an eye on the shoplifters' usual hiding spots, watched ~~black~~ suspicious looking customers carefully, etc. However we were explicitly forbidden from confronting anyone, even if we saw them stealing with our own eyes. All we could do was watch them and call for Loss Prevention over the radio. Our Loss Prevention guy worked three days a week and on the days he actually worked he never seemed to be around when we needed him. So every day we just had to smile and wave as brazen thieves walked out with armloads of merchandise.
The GM decided that our loss numbers couldn't possibly be due to, you know, actual shoplifting, but had to be from employee theft. So at the end of every shift each employee had to have their bag searched by a manager before they could leave. They fired one employee and tried to have her arrested because a till she worked on came up a few dollars short a few times in a week - even though that employee was a floater who didn't have a dedicated register. She just happened to work on a few registers throughout the week that all came up $1-5 short.
Funnily enough there *were* a couple of thieves on staff, but they only stole from other employees - we weren't allowed to have locks on our lockers, so it was open season on employee's wallets. And we were still getting yelled at every day for our loss numbers.
Nimues Child 3 years ago
If I could afford it, I'd wear a GoPro to work just to have video proof of staff waving bye-bye to thieves. Then I'd send the video to the GM's boss with a copy of the rules that caused this behavior.
#34
A manager-in-training on his first day fired an employee for not doing something they were not allowed to do according to company rules. The true manager had to come in to fix it.
Nimues Child 3 years ago
I'm curious if the fired employee was re-hired? (if they would even come back to such a situation)
Fat Harry 3 years ago (edited)
I just can't get over these "you're fired" stories that must be (surely?) from the US. You can't just go around firing people for no reason in Europe. Gross misconduct is about the only way to just "fire" someone, and even that has to go through proper channels. I'm SOOO glad I'm not working in the US (or being ill in the US, or living in the US...)
Rhyme Like A Lime 3 years ago
This is very much a USA thing. We have "Right to Work" Laws, meaning that we can be fired for any reason at anytime. It was ment to circumvent the civil rights act so that businesses could legally discriminate against whomever they wanted. Unfortunately it's still stuck around to this day
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#35
I worked for a company with an owner that was always trying to leverage his employees. He always seemed suddenly really generous, at random. But there would always be a catch. For example, sure you can all leave a couple hours early before the mega snowstorm hits...provided you come in a couple hours on Saturday. One employee died unexpectedly after a surgery. No life insurance, and the widow was left with significant funeral costs, etc. Owner decides to cover it all. A few weeks later I overhear him talking to the lead sales guy, using him as a sounding board for an idea. Owner wants to offer all employees life insurance, where the company will pay the half the premium. Because Owner is so upset at the hardship faced by deceased guy's spouse. That way, when the payout comes in case of a tragedy....the next of kin will have half the policy payout to cover the expenses. Yep, HALF. Because of course the company was paying half the premium, so they'll be getting half the insurance money. I was possibly more upset that the lead sales guy was kissing Owner's a*s and complimenting the idea, than I was that the scumbag owner came up with it.
Kisses4Katie 3 years ago
This is a thing. Walmart did it until people found out. It’s called a Dead Peasant Policy
John Dilligaf 3 years ago
I actually have heard of companies that will take out insurance policies in their employees. But it's usually for a employee in a critical position or with valuable skills whose unexpected loss will cause the company financial pain.
#36
Meeting weekly with an efficiency expert about how to prioritize my weekly schedule that was so full of meetings to get work done. I was encouraged to solve the same problem for my staff that were also in too many meetings. I am in charge of 4 teams and have 46 direct reports. Maybe get me some help and not solution another 12.5 hours of meetings for me to solve my too many meetings problem?
#37
One time it was approaching the end of business. A colleague and I had completely cleared our in-trays and had nothing else to do, so we were sitting, chatting quietly, and running out the very last few minutes. The replacement shift turned up and a couple of guys were leaning against the wall a few feet away, clearly just wanting us to leave so they could sit down, log in, and start their shift. But my colleague and I, a little uptight, remained seated until the exact minute our shift ended, then left. The next morning, Fat Pat the supervisor came barging into the office saying "Right! Everyone into the meeting room! Yesterday there were too many people leaving a few minutes early!" I said "Pat, I presume me and my colleague are exempt from this meeting - we left at exactly the shift end." To which Fat Pat hiked his thumb over his shoulder and replied "No, you two get in the meeting room as well. Yes, you stayed right until the end of the shift, but **you weren't sitting totally upright in your chairs, and a passing manager saw it and thought it looked really unprofessional."** I gave up then. It was a lousy job at the best of times - a c**ppy admin office bolted on to the side of a warehouse, with a toilet sticky with p**s and with snot sticking onto its walls. But the idea of needing to be harangued for SOMETHING, even if it was total b******t, instead of being praised for setting a good example or just simply being left alone was absolutely the last straw. I didn't go into the meeting room, and neither did my colleague. I actually handed in my notice very shortly after. F**k that place, I was washing the memories of it off me for weeks.
#38
We normally got bonuses of 8 to 10 percent of our salary. I know you shouldn't count on bonuses, but it was pretty consistent year after year. Then we get a new CEO and the bonuses were like .25% of our salary - from thousands of dollars down to hundreds. During our department (about 6000 people) meeting, someone asked the dept head about bonuses. This would have been her cue for the "tough times, we all have to do our part" speech, right? No. She chose violence. She rips this person a new one for even asking and says straight up that we don't get bonuses just because the company is doing well, but only if we do extraordinary work as individuals and that we don't deserve anything more, that we should take our paychecks, shut up and be happy about it.
#39
A hardware malfunction shut down our data system for three days, resulting in over half a year of mandatory overtime to make up the lost production time. When announcing this via email, the office supervisor used a quote by one Ferdinand Foch. He was a French general in the first world war famous for advocating the throwing of waves of men at barbed wire and machine guns because it'll totally work this time. This was meant to be an inspirational quote.
Alexandru Bucur 3 years ago
Hey, it could have been much, much worse - they could have used a quote by Luigi Cadorna or Conrad von Hötzendorf...
#40
"Anonymous Surveys" to improve morale. Anonymous as in they want your location on, market, unit number, employee ID..... Needless to say when only a handful of people completed the survey, they threatened punishment and made us contact our supervisor to verify it was complete....
Christof Irran 3 years ago
I found that you can increase a manager's blind-spot (and hence the speed of their demise) by giving them rave reviews on these 'anonymous' surveys. Saw it happen, still proud of having contributed.
Lazy Panda 3 years ago
When our last engagement survey numbers were low, our boss announced in a meeting that we didn’t need to discuss them because it was all about how nobody liked corporate. Couldn’t possibly be related to that time he called the whole professional workforce lazy and liars, demanded they work extra weekends and holidays, and then hung up on the zoom call in a huff.
#41
The spa I used to work at really pushed us to sell add ons and products even when being pushy is an obvious turn off for the client especially after a relaxing massage. People who weren't meeting quotas would have weekly meetings to discuss why we weren't selling enough and compare us to other therapists who were. The worst thing about it was they had a white board with all the therapists names on it showing all the sales/add ons as well as rebook rate so everyone could see how bad or good you were doing. It always sucked seeing my name near the bottom since I was a new therapist. Also, the manager liked to micromanage and we would always catch her with her ear to the door of the break room trying to make sure we weren't talking s**t about her or the owner.
#42
Working at a certain big box retailer (the red one), when they switched up how they stocked shelves. Instead of dropping cases down the aisles while the store was closed, we'd be required to work off of *a* cart (we weren't even allowed to have extra carts to separate trash, backstock, etc.). So every task was going to take longer. My team also effectively had its man-hours halved; we went from 5-6 people working 3 large food truck deliveries, plus 3 people working dry goods every day, to having 3 people come in to do *both* dry goods and the reefer (which now came 5x a week with a smaller load). Trying to push cold goods solo is also a huge time issue; you can't have stuff out of the coolers/freezers for more than 30 minutes at a time, which means working solo you hardly get anything done before you have to rotate it back. You end up spending 25% of your time shuffling stuff around instead of stocking shelves. Making matters worse, we'd *identified* this problem; we'd started working food truck as a group instead of each doing our own thing, because having 4-6 people we could tear through an entire pallet without going over the time limit. When we pointed out how that wasn't going to work due to the added inefficiency and our ability to count the reduced man-hours, we were told that it was fine if we didn't finish, there'd be more hours in the afternoon to finish things. This was a lie. As soon as the switch was made, our ability to actually get our job done on time went away (before we'd been finishing *early* some days). Unfinished work piling up in the backroom made things even worse. It was also very clear that hours were short. The "beating will continue" came in in that we were first told that our "not liking" the new system was why we couldn't make it worse. Then we were outright accused of sabotage. None of which ever solved the problem of expecting someone to push at twice the 'standard' rate they claimed to expect, then three other tasks, then zone our area to perfection (perfection to be determined by management an hour later after customers had time to mangle it).
Nimues Child 3 years ago (edited)
Honest question here: Can someone please explain what kind of cart it is? (BP censored the name of the cart?) It will really help with context.
Evil Little Thing 3 years ago
It's not censored the a has stars around it for emphasis. The poster is describing how difficult it is to stock shelves properly using only one cart.
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#43
At an old company, I was working two full time projects and was asked to take on a part time, third project. I went to my boss to explain that I'm working 90+ hour weeks, including weekends, and I'm just not equipped to keep doing that. His response: "well our CEO says that one great employee can do the work of three good ones, so it looks like you have some extra bandwidth." I started applying for jobs aggressively that day. The craziest thing? This same guy left that company a few years ago to join a different one. We caught up last year, and he sold me on applying for a job. My first project was with him, and it was night and day. Turns out he was a product of his environment. Just like I've grown and matured since then (I'd never even make that situation come up now), so has he. Helps that we're now both making 3x what we were at that old place.
Cactus McCoy 3 years ago
That's how it usually goes. I had a joba s event tech with a super stressful company with psycho boss. Lots of fun for a quite long time until he meddled with my departement. Quit to other job who basically bought me out because they knew I'm really good at what I do and this new job fit me like a glove. Double the money, 3/4 the work. And that happend to so many people from that company. They all learned a lot and were pressure proofed.
#44
At my credit union I worked at, us tellers complained that our incentive pay wasn't fair compared to the other departments. The lending and wealth departments got their incentive pay just by doing their jobs. The tellers had to compete with each other so ONE of us would get incentive pay, and the requirements were difficult and out of our control. So we complained and suggested a more fair program. The GM decided that if we were going to complain, then NO ONE gets incentive pay. Everyone was pissed!!
#45
Company lost a bunch of people during covid, so they ended WFH and told everybody to work in the office 5 days a week to "catch up". A second, larger wave of resignations quickly followed.
#46
My boss's recent response to everyone hating the hours we keep was to tell us that our competitor makes their employees work sh**tier hours.
#47
In an effort to simplify PTO, they rolled sick and personal days into one. Also, because you can take half-days now, you need less. So from 2 weeks vacation and 5 sick days to 12 PTO. A new employee got 5 days total until year 5 (previously you got your second week after a year). Oh, and with working a 7-5 M-Th, and 8-12 monday, you actually need to spend extra hours for those days off. Turns out it was not a popular policy, but hey, how can anybody interview elsewhere when there's no PTO?
Cactus McCoy 3 years ago
I never got the concept of sick days. Are employees supposed to plan sickness for a year in advance? So weird.
Lazy Panda 3 years ago
We get sick days that you use when you get sick, or for medical appointments.
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#48
When my company decided to downsize, the CIO gathered everyone from IT into a large conference room to give the news. During his speech he told everyone we'd all need to make sacrifices and he himself had to sell one of his houses. Everyone in the room looked at each other trying to figure out if he was trying to make a joke. He was 100% serious.
#49
I had a manager who would gather our team and ask us if we should do A or B. We were professionals and would provide arguments for and against both A and B, and provide her with an answer. She would then reply she had decided on C and that's what we would do.
#50
I worked for a company which was run by Scientologists. They started by making us watch a Scientology video before every shift. When sales didn’t improve the way they thought they would, they then made us watch them during our lunch breaks. Then they told us they wouldn’t pay us until sales improved. Then they stop commission altogether. Eventually, I left. They then tried to sue me for supposedly being on my phone during work. I proved them wrong And they dropped it. Soon after, almost every other member of staff left the business and they were forced to close.
Nikki Sevven 3 years ago
Why would you agree to watch pseudo-religious propaganda before your shift and during your lunch, when you're not being paid?
Notyomama 3 years ago
Right? I would've called a civil rights attorney. That is so not legal.
Load More Replies... #51
Not mine, but my wife's. Works in payroll. They changed from service to software and went with the low cost provider. At the end of the year when they were generating W2s it was a huge mess and they were working until 11:59 on the due date for mailing getting them out. About 3 weeks later after it had settled down their CFO has a meeting and says something to the effect. This is what we have. We aren't changing and it won't be better next year.
#52
Worked at a brewpub that touted an employee deal of $1 beers and 50% off food following a shift. (Owner also bragged that it cost them 10 cents to make a beer). After a shift, some staff ordered a pitcher (pitcher = around 4 beers) and the bartender charged them the requisite $4 per the employee deal. The owner watched the security footage of the pitcher at the table, compared it with the $4 charge, through a massive f*****g tantrum, and took away the beer and food deal for employees all together. The bartender lost a bunch a prime shifts as well. Math is hard.
What do you think ?
shinshige 3 years ago
I worked at Walmart for almost five years. Pretty much every one of these things applies. No, for real, damned near every one of these 30 Things takes place at Walmart.
SupernaturalPanda 3 years ago
Walmart is a trash company to work for. I speak from experience.
Load More Replies... Blackheart 3 years ago
Had a principal once who was very unrealistic about attendance. A teacher had to go on maternity leave. So at a meeting, he decided he would not hire a sub, but rather punish the teachers in who were present by making them take on extra work. When someone spoke up to him about it, he said "Well she's the one who put herself in the position of having to go on maternity leave." Poor choice of words. We all began laughing, and he lost total control of the meeting.
Adrian 3 years ago
I worked for 53 years for several employers, and suffered through many team-building / team bonding exercises. There were only two that worked as far as I could tell. 1. Boss hired separate cars for all his staff (8 of us) then sent us all on a 1-day defensive driving course. He figured the greatest chance of loss of productivity was staff getting injured/killed in car accidents. 2. Different boss sent us all (11 of us) to a newly opened military museum where we got to drive tanks, half-tracks, personnel carriers, 4WDs etc. Much to my chagrin, my female supervisor set the record for piloting a tank around the set course.
YELLING!!! 3 years ago
Our new owners promoted the phrase "When the going gets tough" just like the Billy Ocean song. I got a 3 day suspension for telling them it rhythms with "Go and get stuffed".
Daniel Yamada 3 years ago
I had a manager who required his workers to be a member of his church or any local church of the same denomination, go to Bible study meetings, and be involved in church-sponsored volunteer work. Any worker who didn't do these things would get their names a list that he called his "Heathen Hit List". These workers would get the worst job assignments.
Jef Bateman 3 years ago
I once worked at a help desk where management decided to lay off several of the people with the most seniority. We suddenly found ourselves without much of the institutional knowledge that we needed to do our work. The executive VP who made the decision had very little knowledge of the complexity of our job. We complained enough that we were forced to do a "Who Moved my Cheese" program. I found it very insulting.
Powerful Katrinka 3 years ago
All of these make me think of something the brilliant labor organizer Chris Smalls said during a recent Congressional hearing. (Smalls is the person who is helping Amazon workers unionize.) One of the senators (Lindsey Graham) was going on and on about the company's needs, and the company's rights, and how they need to be protected. Smalls stopped him and said, “I want to address Mr. Graham. It sounds like you were talking about more of the companies & the businesses in your speech but you forgot the people are the ones who make these companies operate.” He's my hero.
shinshige 3 years ago
I worked at Walmart for almost five years. Pretty much every one of these things applies. No, for real, damned near every one of these 30 Things takes place at Walmart.
SupernaturalPanda 3 years ago
Walmart is a trash company to work for. I speak from experience.
Load More Replies... Blackheart 3 years ago
Had a principal once who was very unrealistic about attendance. A teacher had to go on maternity leave. So at a meeting, he decided he would not hire a sub, but rather punish the teachers in who were present by making them take on extra work. When someone spoke up to him about it, he said "Well she's the one who put herself in the position of having to go on maternity leave." Poor choice of words. We all began laughing, and he lost total control of the meeting.
Adrian 3 years ago
I worked for 53 years for several employers, and suffered through many team-building / team bonding exercises. There were only two that worked as far as I could tell. 1. Boss hired separate cars for all his staff (8 of us) then sent us all on a 1-day defensive driving course. He figured the greatest chance of loss of productivity was staff getting injured/killed in car accidents. 2. Different boss sent us all (11 of us) to a newly opened military museum where we got to drive tanks, half-tracks, personnel carriers, 4WDs etc. Much to my chagrin, my female supervisor set the record for piloting a tank around the set course.
YELLING!!! 3 years ago
Our new owners promoted the phrase "When the going gets tough" just like the Billy Ocean song. I got a 3 day suspension for telling them it rhythms with "Go and get stuffed".
Daniel Yamada 3 years ago
I had a manager who required his workers to be a member of his church or any local church of the same denomination, go to Bible study meetings, and be involved in church-sponsored volunteer work. Any worker who didn't do these things would get their names a list that he called his "Heathen Hit List". These workers would get the worst job assignments.
Jef Bateman 3 years ago
I once worked at a help desk where management decided to lay off several of the people with the most seniority. We suddenly found ourselves without much of the institutional knowledge that we needed to do our work. The executive VP who made the decision had very little knowledge of the complexity of our job. We complained enough that we were forced to do a "Who Moved my Cheese" program. I found it very insulting.
Powerful Katrinka 3 years ago
All of these make me think of something the brilliant labor organizer Chris Smalls said during a recent Congressional hearing. (Smalls is the person who is helping Amazon workers unionize.) One of the senators (Lindsey Graham) was going on and on about the company's needs, and the company's rights, and how they need to be protected. Smalls stopped him and said, “I want to address Mr. Graham. It sounds like you were talking about more of the companies & the businesses in your speech but you forgot the people are the ones who make these companies operate.” He's my hero.
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