I have over 30 hours. According to my boss anyone who takes it is a complete piece of shit and not “a team player”.

Literally the title. Company made more profit this year than ever --- $30 million dollars. So they catered lunch for our whole office and we each got a chapstick with a cheeky pun.

Guys. I think this is the Bad Place.

Not sure what it is, but the image of "young professionals", buttoned-up in suits makes me think they're all just playing dress-up to look like adults in the office.

And I swear to God, nothing pisses me off more than these goddamn "networking" events, or any goddamn loser who goes for a "business lunch." It's just a bunch of brown-nosing ponces in their prom suits looking for a LinkedIn post opportunity.

The hell even is that, you know I once saw "business blend" tea in a hotel, business tea? You gotta be goddamn joking. Don't even get me STARTED on the other phony names like "business class."

Man, I've been there and done all of that, God I was a real hot shot on LinkedIn amongst my peers, which is embarrassing as hell. I've since deleted all my stupid posts.

I just wish we could let all this stupid corporate stuff die out.

I recently submitted a Glassdoor salary review for my last employer from where I'd been laid off in mid-June. I immediately received an email saying it was taken down because Glassdoor thought there was a mistake in it, specifically stating that it was too much below the industry standard to be real.

After about 2 days, I received another email saying the review has been reinstated. Looks like an actual human looked at it and approved it.

The International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC) demands the immediate shutdown of all non-essential plants and workplaces across areas engulfed in toxic wildfire smoke, with full pay for every worker affected. No worker should be compelled to breathe poisoned air for the sake of corporate profit. 

Toxic air is the reality confronting millions across the US and Canada right now. Wildfires burning throughout Canada and northern Minnesota have blanketed Toronto, Minneapolis, Chicago, New York City, Detroit and other cities in a thick layer of smoke and ash, producing some of the worst air quality of any major population center in recorded history. 

Across large areas, the Air Quality Index (AQI) has climbed above 500—the nominal maximum of the scale. The monitoring service IQAir recorded an overall AQI for Detroit of 698, the worst of any major city on Earth Thursday. Local monitors exceeded 900 in parts of northern Minnesota, and one in Detroit reached 917. A reading of only 300 constitutes a “health warning of emergency conditions.”

This occurs amid a major heatwave, fuelled by climate change, with temperatures driven above 100 degrees across much of the region, a combination producing apocalyptic conditions for the tens of millions of workers forced to labor without protection from either. Michigan sits at the center of the disaster. The same state is also the epicenter of a cyclosporiasis outbreak that has sickened thousands, one expression among many of a collapse of public health.

An emergency alert pushed to cellphones across Metro Detroit Thursday warned residents to “stay indoors when possible, keep windows and doors closed, and limit outdoor activity and exertion.” But millions of workers were sent to work anyway—outdoors, or inside facilities with no filtration and no protection from the very air the government was telling everyone to avoid.

The Detroit Free Press reported Thursday that smoke and heat of 88 to 100 degrees filled Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne throughout the night and into the morning. Several dozen workers on the line went to the plant’s medical unit, and some were taken out on stretchers by ambulance to hospitals, the paper reported. Two union supervisors confirmed at least 10 hospital runs. A worker said there were roughly a dozen more at Ford’s Dearborn Truck Plant.

A worker at Stellantis’ Jefferson North Assembly Plant in Detroit described the conditions Thursday afternoon to the World Socialist Web Site: “Horrible—eyes burning, fumes, cloudy. It’s terrible honestly.” Another said workers could not see across the plant the night before; management closed the loading dock doors, but “there is no AC or air filters” to clear the smoke already inside. At Nexteer, 188 workers called off on Wednesday rather than labor in dangerous conditions.

...

Virtually every section of the working class has been struck by these deadly conditions. Postal and UPS workers have been sent onto their routes without water, air conditioning or any accommodation, even as heat and smoke combine into compounding hazards. Construction and agricultural workers remain outdoors. Even indoor workers, including in hospitals, report laboring without air conditioning, filtration or proper protective equipment.

While governments have issued warnings about the smoke, the entire burden has been placed on individuals to “limit outdoor activity” and “consider wearing” a mask. There has been no mass distribution of N95 masks, Corsi-Rosenthal boxes or HEPA filters, nor any establishment of clean-air shelters for the low-income and homeless.

These life-threatening conditions are the product of the dismantling of public health agencies and networks by capitalist governments across the planet. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic became the signal to gut every institution designed to prevent the spread of disease, regulate air and water and protect human health.

The process, implemented under both Democrats and Republicans, has accelerated under Trump’s second term, which has gutted the public health agencies wholesale. The administration has dismantled the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and reversed every limited measure against climate change. The horrific conditions now sweeping North America have become the new normal for weeks each summer, and are set to worsen in the years ahead.

...

The International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees calls on workers across the US and Canada to take matters into their own hands, through the formation of rank-and-file committees to shut production. Workers should hold discussion and meetings online to elect a rank-and-file leadership and agree on a common program of action. The IWA-RFC proposes that these committees demand:

- A halt to production at every affected non-essential workplace, with no loss of pay for workers impacted, and the immediate provision, at company expense, of properly fitted N95 or P100 respirators to every worker still required to work.

- An emergency program to install high-quality air filtration and air conditioning in every plant, warehouse and workplace. That auto factories generating billions in profit are operated without functioning ventilation or climate control—leaving workers to breathe smoke and labor in 100-degree heat—is an indictment of the entire profit system.

- Independent, worker-run monitoring of air quality inside every workplace, published to all workers in real time, rather than left to the discretion of management, complicit union officials or gutted regulatory agencies.

- For workers’ control over safety and health in the factories! As long as such decisions are left in the hands of management, workers will be continually exposed to unsafe conditions, as well as the risk of serious workplace injury.

These demands cannot be won through appeals to corporate boards, government agencies or union officials who have already shown their contempt for workers’ lives. They require the independent organization of the working class, prepared to act on its own initiative against a system that treats workers’ health and lives as the mere cost of doing business.

Capitalism, organized around competing nation-states and private profit, is incapable of responding to a crisis that crosses every border on the continent. Smoke from the Canadian and Minnesota fires does not recognize the boundary between Ontario and Michigan, nor the difference between a unionized auto plant and a non-union warehouse. 

Protecting human life from wildfires, disease and climate catastrophe requires reorganizing economic life on a global scale to serve social need rather than private profit—that is, the fight for socialism. 

We urge workers who agree with the need to form rank-and-file committees to contact the IWA-RFC today.

Just a slave to the system with no reward for dedication and strong performance. No raise, no bonus, no additional opportunities, just a firm handshake and cheap trophy

I recently started a new back-office job after leaving a previous workplace. During my video interview, I had blue hair, which I've had for years, and no one mentioned it. After my first week, my manager told me another manager had complained about my hair and that we'd need to figure out a solution.

The written dress code prohibits unnatural hair colors, but during the hiring process I was told that back-office employees weren't expected to follow the dress code as strictly as customer-facing employees. I've also seen coworkers with tattoos, piercings, and clothing that don't match the written policy.

I realize I should have asked for that exception in writing, but I didn't.

Has anyone else had an employer change expectations after hiring? How did you handle it?

Over a month ago, I was suddenly hit with an awful painful and mentally draining tension headache. I thought it would go away. It didn't. Trying to code was not only painful, but it was like my body rejected it. The pain ranged from a 6 to a 10, every day, with no real end. Doing basic chores like keeping my room clean felt like too much, and practicing art skills like playing the guitar were just out of the question. The symptoms from it actively made it harder to think and I'd be abysmall at basic tasks, let alone a proper job. I was making good progress in life goals, but when this hit I had to put my entire life on hold.

I was too tired to advocate for myself, I relied a lot on my mom to schedule appointments and follow up with doctors and test different medications and everything. Many days I don't even know how I got put of bed. If I had to wake up at 6am to drive to a stressful and under paying job working for several hours several times a week on top of coping with and treating my medical condition and calling and advocating for myself and figuring out insurance and doctor referrals in addition to just doing day to day life, I don't know how I would've made it.

I'm only here and able to look forward to better things due to all of the support I had. My mother was kind and understanding and willing to do things I barely had the energy to even care about, and the inheritance money kept us afloat while my mom was still searching for a job after being laid off, a woman with years of experience and two degrees by the way. If she's struggling in the job market after doing everything "right" and sending in dozens, perhaps hundreds of job applications, what are other people meant to do? My grandmother was a lovely lady, and I hate hate hate that she died at a convient time. It feels gross saying that almost as if I'm caring more about the money then her. If I could give back every penny from her inheritance just to have one more full day with her I would, but I can't. With how things are inheritance from family members is often times a life line, especially for younger people, which is disgusting and macabre.

My whole point is that while it ended up mostly working out for me in part due to a new medication I am testing out, I am an outlier in this system. When you're sick, it's hard to do things, and that includes going to doctors and such who can cure you. I don't know how many people are in a similar position to me, without the help I had, in this system that moralizes sudden hardships as moral failings. How many people did everything right, and still got screwed over and were too tired and unsupported to be able to pick themselves back up, and things just spiraled out of control? In a country this rich, why is almost everyone one bad incident away from becoming disabled and potentially losing everything?

That's the thing, being laid off, becoming disabled or sick, losing critical financial support due to "changes in company policy", these things can happen to anyone regardless of how well they're currently doing or how much effort they put into their lives, and once that happens, what do they do? I got lucky, and it's still not great. How many people in this country, hell, this world, did everything right until something happened to them outside of their control that's a man made problem that's just accepted as business as usual?

I’m leaving my job and I put in my notice appropriately. Everyone in leadership was very understanding as I told them I received a great opportunity. The real reason I’m leaving is bc of my boss.

My boss decided to turn the last team mtg into a ”team building” event. I thought that maybe it was going to be a casual goodbye party (My bad). They started off the event saying that it was just a time to get out of the office and get to know each other/talk and relax bc there have been a lot of changes and expectations. The event then turned into my boss asking the team for feedback on how things are going, and asked everyone for ideas on to improve/mix things up moving forward.

If it was a traditional team mtg, this may have been appropriate. But it was labeled team building and we met off-site.

It was hard to sit there listening to them solicit feedback about the future plans of the team knowing that I have not been treated fairly by this person. I have felt them exclude me, be hostile, and manipulative. Part of me feels they just lack emotional intelligence but another part of me feels it was intentional.

The event was over 2 hrs long. They mentioned that it was my last team mtg in the last 5 minutes.

at least ill be out soon

I'm leaving my company in a couple of weeks, starting a new job.

I kept getting my promotions in breadcrumbs, meaning that it never seemed to them I should get a pay rise, and also, lessen my previous workload to focus on my new role. It was always the case, it's just one more thing, untill I was doing my previous role, and role of the person that was my superior (that left). I was basically responsible for several projects, but also treated as a dumping ground for all the unwanted tasks

I'm starting my new job soon and I know I have not much left but I'm still annoyed because, of course, firstly, they are hiring someone in my place for better money and better conditions (WFH, flexible working, better holidays) with not as many responsibilities as I had.

When I said I'm leaving they offered me those things, but I got better position lined up, and I was in general fed up with the company.

But I did asked for those things prior of looking for a new job and it was all brushed under the carpet.

They also tried to hide the fact they are hiring someone, and I was going out of my way to finish my projects and other outstanding things. I'm not upset about them hiring someone, but because they made it sound like they won't, I tried to rush myself finishing all these things lined up, and got bombarded with staff like, could you do this before you leave etc?

I knew since the day one that the company doesn't care about anyone and I have another job to go to so this is really just a rant because I know many people find themselves in a similar position

My old manager had too many direct reports so the company hired two new managers to split his load. For some reason that I'm still trying to figure out (nepotism) the manager I got stuck with has absolutely zero management experience.

I checked his LinkedIn and he has not one single week of experience managing people. His entire resume is freelance graphic design jobs. He has never even worked on a team before.

He is a terrible manager. During our 1:1 he spends the entire hour talking about his home renovation projects. When I try to redirect to talk about my performance or goals he just zones out. Once when I told him I was frustrated with the way a project was being mishandled he said "woah woah calm down!" (I'm a woman) and told me to take take some deep breaths. (I wasn't angry, rasing my voice or visibly upset at all, I just said I was frustrated in a completely neutral tone).

He has zero understanding about what our company does or what I do. He gives process suggestions that don't make any sense and asks me basic questions about who does what are where files are stored.

I have tried to talk to my old manager (now his manager) about scheduling a skip level meeting but don't have any hope that things will change.

This man was obviously hired because he's a friend of someone at the company who needed a favor and I'm stuck with a 50 year old man child who has no idea what being a people manager is.

Show you how stupid our helpless desk is. A couple of weeks ago we were requested to find 9 specific switches, by serial number, and ship them to Boston MA. Due to their size and weight, they were sent by freight company. They arrived at their destination and were signed for by the warehouse manager up there. Somehow, they lost them. They've been bugging us ever since about finding these switches.

Yesterday they asked me describe how they were shipped. I said they were shipped in 3 large boxes that had your address on it, with the switches bubble wrapped inside them.

This morning, the idiots actually had the nerve to ask me to send them a list of the serial numbers.

They wanted me to send them a list of the serial numbers of the switches they requested by serial numbers.

The best part was when I asked my manager if I could just ignore them for now on. It hadn't hit him how stupid the request was until I said it to him.

This will be interesting to see.

I quit my toxic job a month ago & that was the best choice I ever made because it is now just collapsing there. 6 or more people are quitting now and all of them were the once shouldering most of the workload and even more after I left.

I figured I would have 5-6 friends that I could carry the friendship over. Except, I don’t. My best friend is the only one who I speak to regularly about everything & has been the only one respectful enough to not bring up the drama there or if she does it’s brief & she actually catches herself doing it & switches the topic.

Everyone else, my messages get ignored… until they need something which is free therapy. I’m at the point where I may not even respond anymore. I’m starting to feel physically sick again & my sleep has been poor because of it. My worsening anxiety issues & the fact I had mental breakdowns every week was why I left.

It’s sad… I’m questioning my friendships with people now. Were they my friends? Or were we just coworkers? Was I only a free therapist?

I’m grateful I have one close friend that I know will stick around & has so far respected my boundaries.

Not asking for specifics about individuals or companies, more the archetype. The manager who never says what he actually means. The diner who threatens a bad review the second they don’t get their way.

- What type of person was it?

- What did you actually do or say that worked (or didn’t)?

Been noticing how much these seem to fall into repeatable “types”. Am collecting them out of curiosity into the psychology of the folks who make our lives needlessly difficult & what works in handling them. I want to see how many different ‘categories’ there are. Will share back what I find.

I work in a LVL factory. It's awful, I switch between day shifts, afternoon shifts, and graveyard shifts every. single. week. Also the people are super toxic. Like today the boss yelled at me cause I neglected to look at one of the 17 screens I have to watch in permanence for a second.

My job is so toxic, I can't even sleep anymore, even on the week-ends. Too anxious. You're probably thinking "well, just quit", but I live in a small rural town, with no car. Here jobs are rare. Quitting would effectively put me on the sreet. I feel so trapped. I can't endure that.

Is there anything stopping the workers of a company with an aggressive HR department and policies to pool together and monthly pay to retain a single lawyer, whose job it is to read through policy, troublesome emails and advice any single of those workers as needed, maybe even compare communications for breaches.

It just seems to me to make sense in a way, as an answer against HR, and aren't lawyers then allowed to review communications between HR and workers, as long as the subject matter is relevant to them?

Edit: I am not currently employed but hopefully will be in the future, this is just for curiosity's sake. Also, I know what a union is, I was curious as to whether this function existed for employees that aren't in what they consider a union.

I accepted a job offer, but before I start they asked for my official employment history from official government website(this is a normal legal requirement where I live but its uncommon).

The problem is that my CV doesn't include all of my previous jobs. I intentionally left out several short-term jobs because I changed jobs a lot in a short period of time ( maybe 3 ir 4 jobs in less than 7 months). Looking back, it was a mix of bad career decisions, toxic workplaces, and health issues that made it difficult to stay.

Now I'm panicking because my official record will show all those jobs. I'm worried they'll think I deliberately hid them and that I'll come across as a job hopper.

I haven't even started yet, and I'm imagining them withdrawing the offer after seeing what a mess my employment history looks like.

My anxiety is through the roof

I have been tolerating this woman for nearly 3 years now and I stay at this hotel job because of a higher raise I got. Although I got a new job offer. This woman is almost 60 and from the first day she was hired, she tried to get me fired since I was the full-time employee and she was part-time. She started fabricating stories playing the victim and crying and trying to be super sweet to the other employees by making them coffee. If other employees talk to me, she will try to talk to them ​​as much as she can to be friend them. She always tries to emphasize her importance about how much she loves the place and everyone yet tries to backstab the people she doesn't like, like she has already accused my other coworker for theft. She even works off the clock to prove that she loves the place.

After I realized she was a snake, I stopped the personal interactions. I decided to go to school last year and she was pissed because apparently she had to pay for her kids to go to school but an immigrant such as myself gets to go for free somehow.

She has been trying to get information out of me like what I do on my off days, what other gigs I work, where I travel to. The other day she said she was at my school campus and she was chatting with faculty and she was hoping to see me and what a nice campus is. I was wtf who told her about my school? I told a few coworkers which school I am attending but it seems nobody at work keeps a secret.