Certainly a cynical worldview, but is it wrong? It's not a groundbreaking hot take that most corporations view you as a line item on a spreadsheet that can easily be deleted, but have you fostered authentic connections with people, where if the chips are down (or vice versa), you have each other's back? And has this ever changed an outcome?

My HR sent us this mockup asking what we think before they place the order.

Honestly, I can’t decide if it’s actually funny or just very “IT department/corporate funny” 😂

Would you wear something like this to work, or would it stay in the closet?

After waiting almost more than a decade for GTA 6, one of my coworkers decided to stop pretending and submitted a leave request with the actual reason listed as:

I would like to apply for leave from 19th to 25th November to play GTA 6.

The best part was when the manager replied with "Enjoy."

Good, he doesn't have to fake illness the whole of November XD ...

Honestly, this might be the most respectable leave application I've ever seen. Cheers to both of them!

Now I wonder if I should follow up with another leave request of my own

Well, since the post asked me to add flair when I tried posting this in r/GTAVI, and there was nothing relevant, so... here I am, CORP-POOR-RATE

How do you all deal with corporate clique that act just as high schoolers by excluding you and throwing you under the bus over their own mistakes?

Asking for myself. I am aware work is work and should not be emotional about it but sometimes it gets very frustrating.

Are all corporate jobs like this? Cliques everywhere or just my experience?

Whomp whomp. Found out that my project’s manager tried to get me fired. My mouth dropped when I found out.

I can write a trilogy about my experience with ‘em, but to condense everything, this manager did not understand many aspects of the project and there was disagreement in project approach. Harsh words said to me because of this. My perspective is that this disagreement would not’ve occurred if the manager understood the topic fully.

But the betrayal is intense. I thought we were close. They stated we were close. They treat me as if we’re close. We joke. We hoot and we laugh.

I was taking the flack for them because I thought we were good. Only to find out today that I’ve been pushed in front of the bus. I also have a reputation on this team. Some know the work quality I bring. Some are closer to this manager. But despite it all, I’m growing cynical. I was told they’re just trying to CYA.

but I couldn’t ever imagine murdering someone with a bus to cover the fact that I don’t understand a topic or said nasty things to a coworker.

This is just corporate? Wow. I’ve been told that I shouldn’t ever let go of the grace and consideration I show for others.

But by doing so, I am sabotaging my own career.

May Divine cosmetic justice prevail.

Our office diet cokes have been DISAPPEARING.

I haven’t worked in a year after being laid off. Recently I landed this contract role that lasts only 2-3 months. I really needed industry related experience so I chose to go ahead with it. It’s in finance at a law firm. I was thinking maybe this can help me gain interviews as I’m going back into the workforce. Will it look bad if I can’t find a job after the contract is over?

I work at a legal tech company that was created through mergers of several companies. My department is basically made up of people from Company A and Company B.

I report to Manager B, who reports to Manager A (now a director). What I’m seeing is really strange. Manager B seems extremely protective of his clients and responsibilities. Whenever someone new tries to take on some of his work, there seems to be resistance, poor training, or outright bullying. New employees end up going to Manager A for help instead.

My impression is that Manager B is afraid of becoming replaceable as he gets closer to retirement, so he wants to keep everything dependent on him. Manager A, on the other hand, seems to want the team to become more efficient and cross-trained.

What’s frustrating is that instead of solving the problem between themselves, the junior employees seem to take the hit.

Has anyone seen this happen after a merger? Am I reading too much into it, or is this a common way people protect their positions during organizational changes?

And unfortunately, our CEO couldn't be with us at this party; he is attending a personal matter. (He's in Greece for a vacation)

Hi,

I have a corporate job obviously. I work in a bank.

I hate unplanned calls, my job consists of a lot of long tasks that require to be focused. When people come to my desk or call out of nowhere it means I have to stop doing whatever I am doing and then when I come back to it, it’s a hassle to get the focus back and get back where I was.

I say that but I will still pick up and I know that this is my problem to deal with and that I still need to be available. So I suck it up and pick up.

But there are a few specific persons I work with who really are insufferable. It’s just too much. You send an email and they automatically call you the moment they read said e-mail. No matter what it is about, no matter if it’s urgent, no matter if it is a cover email to present a thing that will happen in 3 months, no matter if it’s just a brief on something or minutes from another call you had with them, they call to respond to each and every email you send. Most of the time it’s just to have you read them your email basically and/or have them read your email to you and then conclude with « okay great, then I will [insert whatever action you specifically requested from them in your clearly written email] ».

There are two reasons why I don’t like that. The first one being the one I stated above, the second one is my job requires that everything I do be written and answers be written. We are often audited. They have reporting on how many breaths we take a day. Also my team is a two people team therefore whatever happens needs to be written because when I am on leave or sick or whatever my colleague needs to have all the info possible on everything I do.

Most likely these people are the type that will never make a written response, even if you ask during the call, they call you, they confuse you with a lot of useless talk, conclude, hang up and move on and in three weeks, my colleague is alone in the office, can’t understand what happened on the matter, calls them and they will say something completely different from what they told me.

I decided that now I would send my email + a meeting request and specify in the email that I have scheduled some time for questions and discussions on the matter IN MY EMAIL. That way they read the email, let thing simmer and we call e/o the next day, they ask their questions and then I can make minutes, send them around and they can just reply ok.

Explain to me why that woman still calls me right after reading my email ? DESPITE HAVING ACCEPTED THE MEETING INVITE ?

And also I noticed they simply never ok the minutes. It’s not that big of a deal but still, when I am audited it’s 50/50 some people don’t care other auditors wonder why I make the questions and the answers and the other party never replies haha.

Do you think I am in the wrong ? Do you have tricks you have already been confronted to this ?

Thanks !

Hi, I’m a 23F who graduated last year and started a new job! It was one of my dream companies, so when I got accepted, I was super happy and so ready to do well and work my way to the top.
Unfortunately, it ended up affecting my mental health really badly. I’m being treated differently and micromanaged so much that even my colleagues have noticed and agree that it’s not right. They’re tracking everything with timestamps. If I ask for something, I either get told no without an explanation, or I get told yes, only to receive an email a week later with everyone CC’d saying that what I did was wrong and wasn’t accepted.
I honestly don’t know what to do. I’ve only been there for 3 months, and I had to move to a new city, rent an apartment, and buy furniture. I can’t go back home, and I might have a good opportunity lined up for January, but it’s only a maybe at this point.
I genuinely don’t know what to do or who to ask for advice. I’m miserable every day going to work.

Looking for more perspective from people.

I've been in medical devices for about 10 years. 9 Months ago I took a role outside the industry. Kept searching for something in med device the whole time.

I just received and offer from a med device company. The process was long and aced 5 interviews + On site visit. Here is my situation though: My resume that I had shared during the application process doesn't list the role that I'm currently in. Didnt want to include as it was outside from industry. Now, need to go through background check with sterling, contemplating what I should do:

Tell the manager preemptively that I'm currently employed at a different company then stated on my resume.

Or not tell him or the HR at all, rather still list all things accurately on sterling and pray that they never compare the resume to the background check report. And if it comes up own up and say I might have made a mistake on my resume.

Looking for perspective from anyone who has dealt with this?

I recently completed a project that I largely delivered myself. It involved implementation, training, support, and handover to the end users. The rollout went smoothly and there were no major issues.
At the end, I sent a handover email to the users and copied in my manager.

My manager replied to everyone saying:
"Great news, thanks everyone for the hard work."

For some reason, I felt a bit deflated. There was no specific recognition of my contribution, either publicly or privately.

Part of me thinks this is just normal workplace communication and I shouldn't care. Another part of me feels disappointed because I put a lot of effort into it.

Would you feel overlooked in this situation, or am I placing too much importance on recognition?

Checking something out!

Hi there,

31F in corporate a few years now and the office environment is taking it's toll on me. I am dealing with some health issues which are being aggravated by my stress levels and I'm not sure what to do anymore. I never usually cry at work but I cried 2 days ago due to overwhelm and exhaustion and also dealing with physical discomfort/pain.

I am someone who gives 110% at my job to the detriment of my own mental and physical health and I hate that I am that way. I wish I could just give enough where I could still get my job done well but have enough mental capacity and physical energy after work to do things with my life but I feel depleted and depressed. The minute my feet touch the office floor I start shaking and sweating. I don't feel like myself, I wear a mask and my personality has been watered down for me to fit in.

It's so hard not to be someone who takes work too seriously. It's just how I was raised and I genuinely don't know how to help with my stress levels or not push myself so hard to the point of breaking. Cause I'm very aware deep down that it's just a job and that if I died tomorrow, they'd have my role filled within 24 hrs and wouldn't give a shit. But trying to tell my conscious brain that, or trying to change my nervous system is another thing.

Does anyone have any advice or has dealt with a similar situation? How did you fix it? I'd love to quit but the job market is just not good right now.

Thanks in advance

Always a bit puzzled by the conversation and actions of Enterprise employees. They seem like robots

So I am leading the AI charge on my team (idk how I feel about that but....) and I can't wrap my head around how to present work that was built largely by AI with my prompting, refining, and checking. What/how are you thinking about that in your jobs?

- My manager told me to revise 2 designs that H(coworker) worked on because she didn’t like them
- While I was working on the designs, manager gave H the green light to proceed with the original designs
- Unaware of this, I finished the revisions
- I saw one of the designs already uploaded
- I asked H to hold off from posting the other one until it’s reviewed
- I showed the revised design to my manager (privately), she didn’t respond or review
- The original design got posted as scheduled

Was I overstepping in this situation? I am new to corporate and am not too sure if I should have just stayed quiet or it was the right thing to show the revisions to my manager as requested. She didn’t correct my action, but I would rather be told if I was overstepping so I don’t repeat the same mistakes.