We just had a meeting where everyone was asked what their family's plans are for the upcoming holidays. One woman clearly didn't want to participate. I could tell by her body language. When it was her turn, she responded with "I don't have family and I don't celebrate holidays." She seemed offended by the exercise.

Why do companies do that stuff anyway? I feel like a lot of team building exercises try to blur the line too much between work and personal life. There have been times when I've felt like saying "that's none of your business" when asked to share something about my personal life.

Just want to rant. I’m an administrative assistant, and this is the second year the management team has included me in a group Christmas gift for my boss. There are six of us contributing, and five of them are department heads making six figures. I’m 23 and make $46,000 a year.

We’re all expected to contribute $90 each. It doesn’t seem right to me that someone making $300,000 a year is contributing the exact same amount as me, someone making 46k in an administrative support role.

Am I being unreasonable for feeling this way?

I’m still baffled. I am so sick of my current job, we are objectively underpaid relative to the market, raises have been capped at 2% for the past couple of years and management are at least honest enough to tell you that moving to a different internal role is the only way to make more money and they have no power to give you a raise or bonus or anything beyond that 2%. I’ve been applying for new jobs for the past few months, and during that time I’ve felt totally disengaged with my work, just doing what I thought would be the bare minimum to avoid getting in trouble. Then my biannual performance review comes up and my manager tells me that I’m doing an amazing job, to keep up the good work, and they appreciate me. I think I just sat there for a couple minutes after the meeting in shock, like I guess I don’t even know what quiet quitting is anymore.

I don’t always sit and work with her, but depending on the schedule sometimes she’s at the desk right next to me. And she can’t shut up talking about the same and lame boring crap either about her dog or about her RV camper. Or she’ll pull out her phone and show me pictures about it. It’s so annoying and irritating since I can’t stand chronic talkers when I’m working and I’m sorry, but the crap she talks about like nobody cares. And like I said, it’s not an occasional topic, she brings it up every single time that she’s sitting next to me. I’ve tried to use body language and verbal cues to show I’m busy and not interested, but she doesn’t seem to get the point. She’ll then start asking me why I’m so quiet and if I’ okay because I’ll be ignoring her sometimes, and then totally stares at you for like 5 seconds making you uncomfortable. I feel like I made the mistake of the only one that’s being “nice” and accepting to her, because the more I work with her the more I realize she’s lowkey a very toxic person. And that’s why nobody else really interacts with her on a deeper level, and of course I’m always the one that’s having to sit next to her so I get the brunt of it. And unfortunately we are so short on budget in this office there’s really nowhere else to move me. I just wanna be left alone and let me focus on my work! Help! And I feel like the “I’m currently busy” excuse won’t work all day, because she literally goes on and on all day instead of just shut up and work.

1. Trump wanted Microsoft to fire Lisa Monaco in September 2025.
   
2. Microsoft didn’t immediately fire her. She was still representing the company in June 2026.
   
3. On October 8, the Trump administration suspended PERM processing for Microsoft and seven other companies. I don’t see who benefits from that. Why wasn’t Amazon on that list?
   
4. Microsoft has now reportedly made around 60k employees eligible for VEO, roughly 27% of its global workforce. That’s eligibility, not 60k confirmed exits. Still a huge number.
   
5. Right before the midterms. Not good PR for the current president.

Does this look like a deliberate political move?

(Even if they really want all 60k to leave, they should have waited till the midterms were over.)

Original poster’s Blind tax: ~225K, MCOL.

Hi everyone! I’d like some advice from people who have experience with rotating shifts.
I currently work as a production worker, with hours from 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM and a 1.5-hour lunch break. The work environment is great and my colleagues are nice, but the job is monotonous and, most importantly, I feel like I have no free time. Between work and the long lunch break, I get to the end of the day without even having time to run simple errands, let alone study at university, spend time with my girlfriend or enjoy my hobbies.
I’ve received an offer for a new job as an electromechanical technician in an automated logistics facility, with higher pay and potentially more interesting work. The schedule involves five working days out of seven, with shifts rotating every week: 6 AM–2 PM, 2 PM–10 PM and 10 PM–6 AM.
I’ve never worked shifts before, and I’m worried I might struggle to adapt, especially when it comes to sleep and my personal life. At the same time, I want to change jobs and develop my skills, but I don’t want to end up with even less energy and free time.

Any thoughts?

I work in hospitality and I'm a barista. For the last 6-7 months the area manager named another barista to act as a manager. He didn't have the manager title, but acted like one. I'm not sure he was paid anything extra for it either. However he did a good job. The shop was doing well, sells were good, checks passed successfully, etc.

Fast forward to two weeks ago, a manager gets displaced from another shop to ours. It was rumoured that the ex-shop was closing down. It still didn't but it might at some point.

This new manager loses no time and comes in and starts having anxiety because it is a new shop. Complainning that because she can't reach anything and has pain in her hands, changes absolutely everything in this shop to the point that I can't recognise where things are. We are a team that are tight together and have a way of working. The shop was refurbished recently so it was designed to work in a certain way. She absolutely ruined this way of working and everyone hates it.

I told her we have water pressure problems and sometimes no water at all. It will ruin the machines and it's not normal. To this day she did nothing about it.

2 of us got holidays in December and she was telling a colleague that it isn't possible as it is company policy to not do that. She also sent the policy on the group chat. The policy doesn't mention we can't take holidays in December. Just that it should be in a way that the business efficiency should be held. There's plenty of cover to be had so I don't see the problem.

She changed the rotas so much, we are 3 in the morning instead of 2. When we have a quiet moment we talk amongst eachother. She came in saying that for the last few hours we've only been chatting, if that's the case she will lower our hours, noneed for us to be there to chat 🤷🏻.

She fired a girl after her first day saying she did absolutely terrible. By text. Not even to her face. This manager was not there to explain anything to her or what is to be expected of her. She actually did relatively alright. She sent pictures of things that meant nothing but she still said there's something wrong. I think she is having hallucinations.

I've been told that the time on the rota is for when I should be ready for work. I said I have to take my uniform on because I can't take it home. That's on your tome, not on mine. She pretended to not hear what I just said and told me I should leave earlier.

She brought a trolley to carry stuff. It looks horrible and it's not the shop standard, it's disgusting when it's filled with dirty dishes. I feel disgusted just looking at it and I don't want to touch it. She insists on us using it and all of her changes, as otherwise it will be a mess. The shop worked differently for years without being a mess. Didn't miss any checks, unlike her old shops.

I could go on and on. This person has transmited her anxiety to us and we dread going to work anymore as a team. What should we do? We don't want to come to work anymore. She is definitely too old and incapable for the job. She's complaining and sscreaming at us for nothing. I had enough of her bs honestly. She's been woth the company for almost 30 years, though in this time nobody, including her boss, nobody liked her.

All she's doing for most of the day is dishes. 🤷🏻 How about chasing that water issue?

Hi, looking for advice or input. My company has recently been sold and in the process a new HR department and system has been developed. We've had no end of problems with pay, documents and people being assigned to the wrong line manager. One of the ongoing problems is annual leave.

On our old system annual leave was Pro Rata, and your days with renew on the month you were born in, if you were born in june your new annual leave days would appear on 01/06/2026 and would expire 31/05/2027. The new HR system will allocate annual leave Jan to Dec.

My leave is showing as 4 days short, i should have 20 but its showing 16. HR have counted 4 days I took as leave in the previous years annual leave allowance (01/06/25 > 31/05/26). My argument is that year has expired and I took all my allowed leave before the new year started and those days should not be counted on the new annual leave system.

Some people are being left with negative days leave because of when their holiday would normally renew.

Am I wrong? I feel like they are taking 4 days from me because I took them 'last year'. It feels like taking 4 days at Christmas and having it taken off your leave again in January because you took it last year. Frustrated.

Hi. I'm 25F, managing in kitchen and home remodel sales. I started a few months back, and am mentally beginning to tire. Today is the first time my brain could not function and I felt like I could not even speak, and I had to leave early. How can I mitigate this beginning of burnout? What have you done?

A real-name LinkedIn account has been permanently restricted. Can a LinkedIn or Microsoft employee escalate it for manual review?

I swear I have the absolute WORST luck when it comes to jobs. I genuinely feel like I'm losing my mind over this one. I honestly don't even know where to start with this, but I really need to get it off my chest because I'm so stressed out about the whole situation.

Around two months ago, I started a new job in lower management for a care company. I'm a team leader for a care package in someone's own home.

Before this, I was doing essentially the same job for a different company, but in a supported living environment. That job had its own MASSIVE issues, and I actually made a Reddit post about it not too long ago. Because of everything that happened there, I decided to move on and apply for this position.

At first, this job seemed like it was going to be so much better. Higher pay, fewer hours, and what I thought would be considerably less stress. I met with some of the management team during the recruitment process, and everything seemed perfectly fine.

I wish I could go back in time and slap myself.

On my first day, I got my company phone, my company laptop, and all the usual things you'd expect when starting a new job. I was at head office with my deputy manager, who I'm going to call C (it stands for my favourite word).

I was doing what any reasonable person would do when starting a completely new job: asking questions.

The more questions I asked, the more visibly exasperated C became. I initially brushed it off because I assumed she was stressed, had a lot on her plate, and probably didn't have the time to deal with a million questions from a new employee.

Looking back, I think that was my first warning sign.

I was taking over from another team leader who was leaving the company. C had apparently trusted this person to train me on the company's processes and procedures before they left.

Except that training never actually happened.

I was essentially thrown into the deep end and left to figure things out for myself. Thankfully, I'd already been working in team-leading roles for several years, so I understood the general responsibilities, legal requirements, and procedures involved in care management. However, there were company-specific processes and tasks that I simply hadn't been shown.

Apparently, this became a problem.

C started getting increasingly annoyed with me for not completing tasks that I hadn't even been told needed doing. Other staff members apparently explained to her that I hadn't received the relevant training, but she seemed to brush that aside.

Eventually, she admonished me for something, and it was only when I repeatedly explained that I genuinely had no idea what she was talking about that she finally seemed to accept that I hadn't been trained properly.

Thankfully, I hadn't signed off on any paperwork confirming that I had received training that I hadn't actually received.

The result? I was told that I would receive additional training, although naturally, it wasn't going to be provided by C herself.

From that point onwards, I started noticing a real change in how she treated me.

I could practically feel the eye rolls whenever I opened my mouth. Whenever I tried to ask something or explain something, she looked as though she desperately wanted me to shut up and go away.

Eventually, I started limiting most of my communication with her to emails because, honestly, it was becoming uncomfortable trying to communicate with someone who seemed irritated by my very existence.

That worked for a little while. But I still had to be in the same room as her once a week for the managers meeting.

Something else I eventually discovered was that C is apparently good friends with another team leader.

I'd spoken to this team leader on several occasions, and during one of those conversations, I mentioned that I have mental health problems. This other team leader, being Cs bosom buddy spoke about my mental health to C and apparently C had "no clue"..

The thing is though, I'm not secretive about my mental health. If somebody asks me about it, I'm open and honest. An open effing book. I also declare it to HR when I start working for a new company because I'd rather be upfront about it than have to explain everything from scratch if I need support further down the line. I need to point out, that my mental health diagnosis (depression and anxiety) does not stop me from doing my job. I have worked for years with the same diagnosis and barring from the odd day or two here and there where I need a mental health day, I have things pretty much handled on that front. I'm on medication, I go to therapy and I take annual leave once every 3 months or so to stave off burnout.

I have the relevant HR paperwork, and I've been honest about my circumstances.

I'm not saying that my mental health is necessarily relevant to everything that's happened, but it's something that's been weighing on my mind throughout this whole situation. But it does lead to the second thing that has been messing me up.

At one point, I was put on call despite not having been properly shown the relevant processes or paperwork.

I had absolutely no idea what I was doing from an on-call perspective, and I was simultaneously working a care shift.

Everyone knew I was on a care shift, by the way.

The service user I was supporting was shouting, I was receiving phone calls from other teams who were dealing with their own issues, and I was trying to juggle everything at once without having been adequately trained for the on-call responsibilities.

Thankfully, another team leader very kindly took the on-call duties off me because they could see what was happening.

C then asked me whether I genuinely thought I was capable of coping with the job. And later, Cs buddy asked me "are you sure you can cope?"

Excuse me?

I'd been doing essentially the same job for another company for three years. I know I'm capable of doing the work. What I wasn't capable of doing was magically knowing company-specific procedures that nobody had bothered to teach me. Like I say, I have been working that's all of this time. My mental health diagnosis does not change my ability to work at all. I have turned up for work when I'm midway through a nervous breakdown and no one would be the wiser. At least I'd hope so anyway.

The way she asked wasn't supportive or constructive, either. It felt more like she was questioning my overall competence rather than acknowledging that I'd been put in an unreasonable situation without the necessary training.

And now, here we are, at the latest disaster.

Last week, I was working on the rota and noticed that the shifts for today and tomorrow needed covering.

I contacted the staff members, and one person volunteered to take both shifts. Another staff member also expressed an interest, but the first person had offered first, so I allocated the shifts to them.

That seemed perfectly reasonable to me.

Unfortunately, the first staff member was involved in a car accident on Tuesday morning and couldn't work the shifts anymore.

I took over their shift on Tuesday myself, then spent time trying to find someone to cover the remaining shifts today and tomorrow.

It was an absolute nightmare trying to find cover. I contacted people and tried to sort something out, but I eventually reached the point where I simply couldn't find anyone available.

I also couldn't reasonably cover the shifts myself because I'd already been working several days in a row.

For context, I'd actually worked seven days in a row. I was exhausted, and I couldn't just keep throwing myself into additional shifts indefinitely.

Eventually, I contacted my manager and explained that I couldn't find cover and couldn't take the shifts myself.

She stepped in to help sort the situation out, but she was clearly unhappy with me about it.

I thought that was the end of it.

Apparently not.

The email that has sent my anxiety through the roof

Today, I received an email from C explaining that she'd spoken to the second staff member I'd contacted about the rota the previous week.

According to C, this staff member had apparently told her that they'd offered to cover the shifts, but I'd refused their offer. C also seemed to believe that this person had offered to cover the shifts after the original staff member's car accident.

The problem is that this isn't what happened.

The second staff member had expressed an interest in the shifts the previous week, but the first person had offered before them, so I allocated the shifts accordingly.

When the car accident happened on Tuesday, I contacted the second staff member again to ask whether they could help cover the shift.

They told me they couldn't do it and said that I should have put them down for it the previous week when I was doing the rota.

And according to the email I got, the second staff member had "spoken to me on Monday about covering the shifts" when the cover was urgently needed on Tuesday... Figure that one out.

I had allocated the shifts based on who volunteered first, and when the original arrangement fell through, I tried to find alternative cover. When I couldn't find anyone, I escalated the situation to management. Which is what I was supposed to do.

Now, apparently, there's a completely different version of events being presented to my manager, and I'm the one who's being held responsible.

C has emailed me saying she's extremely disappointed, that the situation could very easily have been avoided, and that she wants to meet with me on Friday.

Her exact words were:

"I would like us to meet via teams on Friday to discuss these matters in more detail, together with other concerns that have been raised recently."

OTHER CONCERNS?

What other concerns?!

That's the part that's really getting to me. It's not just the rota issue anymore. She's now referring to additional concerns that have apparently been raised, but I have absolutely no idea what they are.

She hasn't explained what these concerns are, and HR wasn't copied into the email. Her manager, who is above her in the management structure, was copied in, though.

So now I'm left sitting here wondering what on earth I've supposedly done wrong and what I'm walking into on Friday.

I've only been at this company for around two months, and I already feel like I'm walking on eggshells around someone who seems to have taken a dislike to me from the very beginning. Not to mention that I am still on probation and this has me thinking that my job is now at risk.

I've tried to do my job. I've tried to ask questions when I don't understand something. I've tried to manage the rota, find cover, and keep things running as they should.

I'm terrified that this meeting is going to end with me being told that I'm not passing probation or that my job is at risk.

And the worst part is that I don't even know what I'm supposed to be defending myself against, because she's mentioned these other concerns without telling me what they actually are.

I've been applying for other jobs because, honestly, I don't want to work with her anymore. At this point, I'd genuinely be willing to take almost anything else just to get out of this situation.

I left my previous job because it was causing me so much trouble, and I really thought this new one would be a fresh start. Instead, two months in, I'm already dealing with another management situation that's making me miserable.

I'm so stressed that I can barely think straight. I've spent so much time worrying about what Friday's meeting means, whether I've somehow done something terrible without realising it, and whether I'm about to lose another job.

I feel sick with anxiety over it, and I honestly don't know what to do with myself.

I know I might be catastrophising because I'm so stressed, but when you're on probation and your deputy manager sends you an email saying she's extremely disappointed in you and wants to discuss unspecified additional concerns, it's difficult NOT to assume the worst.

I just feel completely defeated by the whole thing.

Am I being unreasonable here? Have I genuinely messed up the rota situation, or am I being blamed for something that was largely outside my control? What would you make of that email about the meeting and the other concerns?

Because right now, I genuinely feel like I can't catch a break when it comes to work.

What’s the pettiest reason you ever quit a job?

Hey!

So i work as a horticulturist for the city. Today i finally had my probation evaluation with my forman and as opposed to the half season evaluation i feel like all the comments that were made, came as a big shock to me. I obviously understand that it is only normal to be given constructive comments in areas where I can better myself, but i felt personally attacked by those comments.

She started by saying that she's only had good comments on behalf of my colleagues and that I am very nice to work with and then she proceeds to say that she noticed that i am a more reserved person and dont talk or share my opinion a lot. Ok fair.

She then says that oftentimes she feels like i seem to be distracted (you have your head in the clouds if i may quote her), that she wouldn't want me to compromise my safety because of that and that she is unsure if i am listening to her during the morning debrief because i never talk and i seem to be in my own bubble.

She said that I should share my opinion and good ideas more because thats why she hired me. She said that she knows that i am a good artist and that she's seen my drawings on the board and that I am very good at it (i used to work in the art industry and i sometimes make drawing on the whiteboard for my colleagues).

First of all i am reserved yes. She bases her opinion off of the 5 minutes in the morning where more than half of the team doesn't say anything. She works in an office all day long so I'm having a lot of teubke understanfing when she's seen be so distracted. Ihave nothing to add, i wasn't hired to be an entertainer nor to design or come up with ideas. I was hired as a gardener. I have two team leaders to do that. It is my first year at the job therefore everything is new. I don't know what innovation she expects me to come up with and even if that were the case i am under no obligation to share my thoughts and opinions.

I feel like her evaluation is very much based on her bringing up my personality traits and having me change the way i carry myself. Since day one I've been told that i am shy and i hate it more than anything because its so far from the truth. I simply dont speak just for the sake of speaking I don't see why quiet and laid back people are so villainized for it. There are a lot of hot heads on the team and i dont ever feel like i have anything to prove to anyone or that i have to fight to get my point across. I also was very thrown off by her bringing up my past career and i have no clue what she wanted to imply by that.

Please tell me if I am taking this harder than i should but i feel like my evaluation was unfair and not based on my percormance/abilities as a gardener but rather an attack to my personality.

Onboarding Training 

How does paid onboarding work? I tried on uniforms for the company as well. I tried and took the uniforms off and left the building at 2:40 does that count too/including trying out the clothes. so does the onboarding pay stop as soon as I leave the building or how does that work?

Microsoft offered voluntary retirement to about 8,750 people earlier this year. More than 30% took the offer. Then Microsoft cut about 4,800 jobs in July.

So roughly 7,500 people left between voluntary retirement and layoffs. If similar math held this time—a big assumption—that would suggest around 50,000–55,000 departures. That’s a rough extrapolation, not a confirmed layoff count. I’ve seen people suggesting only 10% will lose their jobs, and I wouldn’t treat that as certain either.

#tech #microsoft

An employee at a “tier 4” company says they work roughly an hour or two a day, sometimes not at all, and they’re fully remote. Sure, it’s about half as much TC because the company’s stock is worthless, but around $310K base is still really good. By their math, they’re making more per hour than someone at Google.

If people knew how little they worked, they’d be shocked. Some days, this employee is literally at Disney World, traveling in Thailand, or taking sailing lessons during working hours.

An employee scheduled a team meeting to present something at around 11:30 a.m., then slept through both the 10:30 a.m. standup and their own meeting. They woke up around noon, saw their manager had pinged them, and ended up calling in sick to have an excuse.

Now they’re kinda super anxious that their manager will call the next day and say this is unacceptable or something, ugh.

ladiesss or guys, what clothes do you guys get from, I’m a budget for casual or nice clothes for my new job at this office. I do like Walmart but they barely got shit, what do you guys suggest or places to buy causal or business clothes 😭💔

I was working at a car brand's (not gonna name it, but its an asian one) design department where my boss was trying to fight against corruption in the HQ. It was at a point where there was 6 people shared the same last name with one of the employers. one day i finished a car parts design and right about to get a drink from the break room. The manager of the building (like handling all of the departments issues under that spesific HQ, who is working there for over 25 years) came behind me to the hiring department. Yelled for couple of minute and said ''In the place I manage, there is no room for terms like 'corruption, decay, or favoritism.' ''. and then one of the department heads said a mistake manager did years ago. which he replied with ''It wasnt my mistake. If you are still working under this building, it is because of that desicion you call 'mistake' ''. and contiuned saying ''I hereby inform you that I shall respond—in a manner that is undiplomatic, and indeed, even physical—to any person or persons who dare to accuse the HQ I represent of being 'corrupted.' ''. I nearly making a mess over there when he came out that room.

Good TC, great benefits, amazing WLB (20-hour weeks seem to be the norm). Googlers have no idea how good they have it.

If so, what was it.

Lately, work has been harder than I expected.
I’ve been struggling with imposter syndrome, constantly questioning whether I’m good enough, whether I’m doing enough, and whether the effort I put in is actually making a difference.
I genuinely want to do better. I want to grow, take on more responsibility, and become someone who can confidently bring solutions to the table rather than just identify problems. I try to learn, put in the effort, and push myself beyond what I’m comfortable with.
But sometimes, despite all that effort, I still feel overlooked. And when the feedback you receive from manager isn’t what you hoped for, it’s easy to spiral into overthinking every little thing you’ve done wrong.
Suddenly, you start questioning your abilities, comparing yourself to others, and wondering whether you’re actually growing or just falling behind.
I know feedback is part of growth. I know there are things I need to improve, and I genuinely want to work on them but I’ve been feeling so burned out.
To anyone else struggling with imposter syndrome at work: how do you stop yourself from spiralling when you feel like you’re not doing enough? How do you detach your emotions from work . I’d genuinely love to hear any advice

Recruiters may not realize it or maybe they’re too inundated to care, but ghosting after expressing interest is quite cruel. A “no” is better than nothing at all. For readers with technical interviews ahead, a grid-counting prompt on PracHub works as a short practice session.

In a world where AI can draft a template email for you and tech layoffs continue to increase, they should do better. Readers applying elsewhere can use application autofill to avoid retyping the same form details. We’re not dating. This is a professional exchange.

#layoff #jobhunt #wtf