Did you ever think that maybe something that is not a big deal to you is a big deal to someone else? Maybe that's something you should respect. That's kind of an obvious train of thought to most people. However, to most upper management, it must seem like gibberish because, apparently, they are the masters of the universe and whatever they say must be the end-all-say-all… Why are so many managers and bosses like this? An instance of upper management gaslighting something that is a big deal to o…

No spiders were harmed in the telling of this story… A lot of people don't like spiders, and it makes sense; what's not horrifying about something with many legs and too many eyes, complete with a set of monstrous fangs—lurking in the dark corners of our homes with watchful eyes as they guard their clutches that will soon spawn thousands more of them. Further, we've given spiders a place of sheer horror in popular culture, depicting a cartoonish lust for our demise and solidifying their place a…

Company Holiday gifts should flow down the chain, not upward to management. Employees are pressured to take on extra duties and responsibilities all the time under the sometimes false promises of promotions and rewards. So after an entire year of that pressure, how is it this common that employees might then be doubly pressured to pitch in money to give a gift to their boss? I suppose if this kind of gift-giving were reciprocated, that would be slightly more acceptable. I suppose if it were man…

We're not totally sure when open-plan offices became a thing, who first thought they were a good idea, or why they thought they were a good idea in the first place, but it's really hard to believe that the 90s pop-culture icon that was the workplace cubicle—once hated as a symbol of the worker's dehumanization as and entrapment—is now something that workers globally yearn for and miss every day… What we would give for even a cubicle (or any sort of space) at the office that we could call our ow…

Delivery drivers make mistakes sometimes.

At least a million Hallmark movies are about husbands waiting until the last minute to buy the perfect gift for 'that special someone'. Entertaining as they may be, those movies aren't entirely realistic. Portrayed as goofy and forgetful in the movies, real-world husbands are often quite the opposite. Some men even plan their gift-giving years– even decades –in advance!

There's always at least one person in every workplace who can't help but make everyone laugh. This is the kind of person that people say “lights up every room they walk into.” They just immediately begin cracking jokes and lightening the mood. This kind of person is especially appreciated in high-stress environments---like the back of house at a busy restaurant. Back-of-house, sometimes abbreviated as BOH, refers to all of the workers behind the scenes, like chefs, meal preppers, and dish washe…

Getting cut off is a profoundly infuriating phenomenon we have all been on the receiving end of while driving behind the wheel. For me, it's the implications behind the act of cutting someone off that really grind my gears. Of course, that implication is that this person is more important than you. Wherever they have to go is of greater importance than whatever it is that you have going on in your life. Cutting someone off is nothing more than an act of narcissism and main character syndrome.

Can someone explain to me why big corporations think it's okay to take advantage of ‘the little guy’? This photographer did a commercial job for a big company that was a pretty big deal for his career. The problem was, that they only paid him a third of the amount up front. When he tried to contact them about the rest, they completely ghosted him and then continued to use the pictures beyond their licensing agreement. Now, I can sort of understand when small companies need more time to pay and…

You know the drill – you sign up for a company's emails for a tempting incentive, like a juicy 20% discount, and suddenly, you're bombarded with annoying emails week after week. So there's this random guy who, fed up with the spam, decides to outsmart the system. He signs up for emails using a 'fake' email address, just a random Gmail account with his first initial and last name. Unbeknownst to him, someone else actually shares the same first initial and last name and has to endure the spam...

About 15,200 students got an unfortunate email from their college . After several semesters of college, it's that time of year once again: finals. Final exams are notorious on college campuses, and many of them build events around it. At my college, the campus coffee shop would remain open 24/7 during finals week. There were a surprising amount of students joining me at 2 AM to study and churn out last-minute papers. In addition, the school would hold events where you could destress by petting…

If Santa and his naughty list were real… He'd have a blast revoking these bosses' privileges. I can just imagine his hoarse chuckle as he strokes his fluffy white beard, waving gifts in their faces that they are never going to get. But he doesn't exist, and there's no need, because the bosses in question managed to dig their own grave all by themselves. One person was serving in the military for five years, and during this time, he was responsible for the inventory. After a while, he realized t…

A joke?.. In this economy?! Regardless, you know it's a good joke when it's so good that HR wants to hear it. It's no secret that employers can be a little sensitive to derogatory statements about the quality of the work environment that they're providing for their workers—even if those statements are completely irrefutably accurate. This usually involves remuneration but also extends to other aspects of the workplace culture and environment. Basically, the method of operation in these workplac…

Before we wrap up the dysfunctional year that was 2023, let's do a recap of the most dysfunctional customers servers were forced to encounter on the job. Being a server requires a certain bandwidth to be able to withstand a lot of unfair treatment from managers, Karens, etc. That being said, every so often, that bandwidth is tested no matter how much experience one may have in this field. Sometimes, customers demand something so outrageous (like seriously, dude? you can't live without tartar sa…

It turns out they were essential to the business after all… Traditionally, layoffs were considered to be a point of shame in business, only used as a last resort as it was a sure sign that your business was failing—usually as a direct result of failures in leadership's decision-making and mismanagement. Really, this—along with the hit that was sure to follow the stock pricing of publically traded companies—was all that kept companies from considering using layoffs as a cost-saving measure. Nowa…

With every holiday season comes the struggle of spending too much time with your family. Even worse is having to spend too much time with your in-laws. I don't know what it is about in-laws that creates such a universal bad feeling so many people can relate to. And on top of all that, the stress of the holiday season tends to bring another level of conflict into the mix. This year I have convinced my partner to go on a holiday and spend Christmas in a hotel just the two of us because I couldn't…