Most people in this world fall into two camps: Those out to make things better for everyone and those in it for their own gain and to meet their own ends. 

Sure, this concept sounds quite reductive (it is), and the reality is things aren't quite so black and white… It's more than likely people will play to both sides depending on their current needs and motivations. Still, ultimately, I maintain that if you distilled people down to their true purpose and intention, you'd find the original statement to be true. 

This is the same reason why when you see someone flying up an open lane to dodge traffic—only to try and cut in at the last minute, you can't help but feel your gears grinding… They're taking advantage of a situation to get ahead while everyone else is suffering for order and the "greater good" (the greater good)—thinking they're clever all the while for their sheer willingness to go places others won't.

Your family should always come first. Conversely, setting boundaries and declining help when necessary is perfectly reasonable. The story below is an account of a confused sister.

Every year, the original poster (OP) and her family take trips together. OP, however, informed her family that neither she nor her spouse would be able to attend because of her current unemployment.  Things were going well at first, but when her brother insisted that she take care of his five dogs the entire journey, things took a bad turn. At first, OP made an effort to talk to her brother and explain that, given her own obligations, this would not be feasible. However, even though she thought she had sufficiently explained herself and made her point, she later found out that her brother had unexpectedly canceled his vacation and was blaming her for everything.

So be sure to read the story below if you're interested in learning the specifics of what happened as well as how OP responded to her brother's childish behavior! After you're done, don't forget to read the story of the manager who, in an attempt to increase sales, removes the company's social benefits—only for his staff to outsmart him and foil the scheme!

The only thing that can ruin a restaurant meal more than bad food is the presence of an unruly customer. Sometimes, they are clearly lonely and enjoy eavesdropping and inserting themselves into your dinner conversations. When this happens, you tend to indulge them with a few polite exchanges, only to realize that you are going to have to endure this for the next 45 minutes (at least) because you are simply too simply polite to ask them to leave you alone. Other times, your meal is interrupted by a conflict or loud patron nearby and you just can't hear yourself think.

In this scenario, an entitled Karen propped her phone up in a fancy restaurant and spoke to her friend loudly on speaker phone for the total duration of a nearby couple's meal. What this woman did not realize was that this Redditor was not the type to avoid a confrontation. Keep scrolling below for the full story and for the best reactions from folks in the comments section. For more, check out this post about a bartender whose one week notice became zero weeks notice.

Make sure to read the signs very carefully.

Own up to your mistakes or things can get very messy!

Bad business decisions? These people have seen that once or twice, and they told their stories to r/AskReddit. 

Running a business seems like common sense, but there are a million little decisions that go into it. There's only a certain amount of money to cover all the costs, and only a specific amount of people who can be working at any given time. Still, some managers will decide that money matters more than other things, like customer experience or staff retention, and will start shifting their funds around. There are consequences to this, of course. 

One person revealed that their boss lost a major sale because he was padding the client's costs by a few hundred dollars. Making money unethically is bound to backfire on you eventually! Another person revealed that their company decided to stop granting any refunds at all, no matter what the situation was. The policy was so rigid that it caused a bunch of employees to quit all at once! It's incredible how a little decision can turn into a company's biggest regret in no time at all. 

Next up, this hourly contractor found themself making the "most expensive phone calls on the planet" after their bosses forced them into answering the 24/7 phone lines. 

Have you ever seen a sign out in public that caused you to do a double-take and wonder if someone is playing a trick on you? The unique aspect of funny sign errors, when you come across them out in the wild, is that you often will never know what the sign maker's intent was. Perhaps it was an egregious mistake or perhaps they were trying to see if they could get away with a harmless prank. Here's hoping it's the latter because wouldn't we all like to think that humans are more intelligent than this nonsense? 

Furthermore, if these sign fails are, in fact, pranks, then we'd like to thank these sign makers for generously putting a smile on our faces whilst we deal with the monotony of everyday life. After all, there is a certain kind of satisfaction that comes with discovering a sign fail. First, you wonder if you read that right. Then, you read it again and realize you totally read that right, and finally, you take a picture and document it for everyone else's enjoyment. We'd like to think of it as a form of philanthropy.

For more content like this, check out these stories of entitled house guests.

You can ignore a contract all you want, but that doesn't stop the contract from existing. It's a pitfall that many a worker has fallen into… and a few bosses have had this problem too, especially u/Altrissa's boss at an oil and gas automation company. 

At this job, many of the coworkers had one shared responsibility. They had to take turns working a 24/7 phone line. This usually wasn't an issue, because as the original poster shared, there were so many people that they only had to answer the phone every once in a blue moon. Easy! Well, almost easy… This person usually wasn't put on phone-answering duty, but in a tale as old as time, their reliable boss left and a new manager appeared in the role. From there, things went downhill. 

A new manager who won't listen to the current employees can be such a pain. They want to prove that they're the smartest person in the room, but by refusing to listen to those with experience, they're proving the exact opposite. 

Up next, this construction worker tried to warn his boss that a rain storm was brewing, but his boss wouldn't let him move anything, and the result was… "The concrete bags… began to harden into just big rocks." 

Why is the kids menu always the best? There should not be an age restriction for eating tater tots, chicken tenders, and pigs in a blanket. Those are objectively great-tasting dishes that all humans are entitled to enjoy, and yet, in this instance, we have a coffee shop that denied service to an adult customer simply because he wanted an item on the kids menu. 

Look, one might assume that there are more important issues than a 29-year-old adult getting denied the right to a bagel because of his age, but shouldn't we be able to walk into an establishment and order whatever food we want off the menu provided that we can afford it and it's still available? Sure, there are plenty of age-related restrictions that make sense, but they should not extend to the concept of food. Here's hoping for some real justice and the end of kids menus. 

Keep scrolling below for this customer's story. For more, check out this post about a group of construction workers and their conflict with their boss.

PTO is yours to use at your own discretion.

Management only has themselves to blame when employees aren't trained properly. Nobody is born inherently knowing how to do their jobs–we need to be trained (at least a little bit) to tackle projects at work with efficacy. However, when managers try to cut corners on training, ultimately they're shooting themselves in the foot, because we all know that if an employee is never trained to do their job, all eyes turn to management as things fall apart in the workplace. 

This cash center employee in our next story proved to be the bane of his manager's existence, but not because he was in the wrong. After a new manager came into town, he decided to switch up all of their employee's tasks, assigning the night shift worker in our next story to a job he had no training for: Cash sorting. Ultimately, because of his lack of training, the job went sideways and left the regulars wondering why their cash boxes were £65k short. Well, when they all had to stay overtime to do a full recount, the new manager discovered why a little bit of training and explanation would have gone a long way.

After a lengthy night on the job, this shift of employees witnessed the most epic cash-filled confetti cannon as one of the cash boxes exploded with the missing £65,000 dollars. Scroll onward to read the full tale of malicious compliance that made the cash warehouse rain money. 

This IT department tried to warn their leaders that they were about to spend a lot of money, but they just wouldn't listen. 

Every company tries to save money as best they can, though some are better at the task than others. It's incredible how many companies bleed money by overpaying their higher-ups, not watching how much money is being spent on clients, or just being bad at keeping finance employees employed. Not to mention that departments can get overwhelmed and let things slip through the cracks. 

This company is a good example of poor communication over the costs of a circuit emulator. Instead of looking at the full cost of this thing (which was thousands of dollars back in the day), this company just looked at the monthly cost and agreed to pay it. It seems that the Finance Vice President only found out the exorbitant cost of this once it was too late… You can check out u/calladus's workplace tale of malicious compliance down below. Commenters were also amazed that the business would overlook something this big. 

Next, read about these people who've gone through life misunderstanding a few things, like one woman who wondered aloud, "Why can't we drive to Hawaii?"

There was a time and a place when staff retention was an organization's top priority, and it was a point of pride and honor to have and care for long-standing employees. My grandfather worked for the same company his entire life—though he was famously mocked towards the end of his career by a notorious executive (who would go on to publicly defraud the large corporation for millions.) My father was nearly the same, working for the same organization from before I was born until his retirement with a healthy retirement package to coincide with his long service.

Somewhere along the line, this switch flipped; there was no longer pride in retention and long-serving staff—or the reaping of the benefits that come with a skilled workforce. Now, budgets are clutched tightly, with there seldom being increases in budgeting for the purpose of raises and retention. Instead, they are shortsightedly pouring what little amount of the staffing budget remains once the executives get their bonus into hiring at "competitive" rates. Meanwhile, they save a buck on the staff who can't or won't leave and, year by year, fall behind in competitive compensation. This, of course, goes doubly for contractors who are constantly walking on thin ice, getting no benefits, and more of a convenience than anything else.

This tech contractor had their contract extended some time before their one-year mark of working for the company; they waited until the end of their first year to approach their "employer" and "ask" for a raise. (Really, if this were a true contracting scenario, they would tell their client they were charging more.) Upon asking, they were told to go away and come back with some reasons why they felt they were deserving of increased compensation.

Living with your best friends can go one of two ways – Either extremely great or terribly wrong, and you can assume that most people will tell you that it usually goes the latter way.

There is something about sharing a space that is just so specific for everyone involved, that even if you love each other and enjoy each other's company, it does not mean that you will enjoy living together. The main problem is that you will not know until you try, and that is why most people would recommend simply not trying at all.

The friends in this Reddit story decided to ignore the warnings and try living together anyway, and boy did it not go well. OP (original poster) shared how her best friend and roommate, while unemployed and not contributing to rent or bills, has invited his brother to live with them, making the living situation even harder for OP. She is now cleaning up after the two, paying rent, and paying bills, and she has had enough. 

Will OP and her best friend's relationship last after living together? Scroll down to read the full story and share your opinion. After you are done, click here for a story of an employee who stepped down from his role after being denied a raise.

Messing with a bartender is never a good idea. If you're a customer, befriending your local bartender can be a game changer (and considerably cheaper if you're playing things right). In this case, however, we have a restaurant manager who truly underestimated how valuable his top bartender was.

Firstly, the manager disregarded his commitment and dedication to the restaurant for years, so the bartender went off and got a promotion and pay raise at a busier establishment. He put in his one week notice per company policy and hoped for an amicable transition. Of course, the manager couldn't get over how blindsided he was and decided to vow to the bartender's face to make his last week a living nightmare for him. 

Unfortunately for the manager, he seemed to underestimate the Redditor yet again. This time, the bartender decided to use his remaining sick days as proper payback. For more stories, check out this post about some drama between law associates in the workplace.

Nobody knows how many things need to go into consideration when buying a new car before they actually have to do it themselves for the first time. It is not only about the miles and the price, and it's not even about what brand and model it is, there is so much more you have to consider before you make a purchase.

For example – Getting the car inspected. Before you buy your first car, most people will tell you that you shouldn't rely on the inspection your car dealership performs and that you should bring it to a different car garage to give it another inspection. That way the car dealership can't hide anything from you, and you know 100% what you are getting.

I would never have thought about that the first time I bought a car, and neither did the OP (original poster) in this Reddit story. So when her car dealer got her to drive back and forth to the dealership in claims that her new car needed to be inspected, it raised many red flags, leading OP to take the car for a different inspection to make sure she wasn't being scammed.

Scroll down to read the full story. After that, click here for a story of an employee who refused to leave work after their shift was canceled yet again.

If an employer expects their employees to respect the schedule by always arriving at their shifts and always being on time, then they should show the same level of respect to the employees' time and schedule.

That means that canceling shifts for employees "just because" is not a valid excuse and is definitely not respectable, especially if they cancel someone's shift only 10 minutes before it is supposed to start, causing the employee to still go through their commute.

We believe that the employee in this Reddit story should definitely retaliate against their manager, who kept canceling their shift without an ounce of consideration for OP's (original poster) valuable time. Luckily, it seems like OP is not willing to go down without a fight, and is ready to make sure they are not being exploited by their employer.

Scroll down to read the full story. After you are done, click here for a story of a woman who was forced to move out of her apartment because of her unemployed roommate.

The majority of workers fantasize about taking business trips. You are free to follow your own career path and see different cultures around the globe. Nonetheless, when an employee travels only for work, it is customary, if not required, for the company to cover the necessary costs to ensure the worker enjoys a pleasant stay. So, how would you respond if the business declined to cover necessities such as food?

The story below is an account of a frustrated worker. The original poster (OP) describes an incident that occurred during a work trip more than 20 years ago. According to OP, his management gives him a fifty-dollar daily budget, which he can spend on food. Every now and then he would go without food, in which case he would treat himself to a tasty but affordable meal with the additional money. The company, instead of reimbursing him for his out-of-pocket expenses, insisted that he pay the price for allegedly 'breaching' their agreement and exceeding the budget when they discovered that the money had been spent in a single day as opposed to over the course of a week.

Since OP was not happy with his firm, as you may have guessed by now, he devised a cunning strategy to get even, which resulted in the company paying $1,000 more than it should have. So, if you're curious to learn what happened next and how he exacted his vengeance, make sure to read the story below!  After you're done, don't forget to read the article about the HR department that incited client controversy by insisting that an employee take PTO rather than work remotely!

Imagine being such a micromanager that you feel the need to enforce what music your employees can listen to while they work. 

As I am sure you are all well aware, music is one of the few things that can provide momentum and levity through the difficult monotony of the workday. What's more, the employees in this scenario are construction workers. They have to do tough manual labor, oftentimes in the heat,  day in and day out. If they want to listen to music on a stereo while they work, they should be allowed to do so. In fact, they should have whatever they need to get through their shifts. 

This toxic boss, however, felt that the music they were planning was giving him a headache despite the fact that he works in a totally different area and often has headphones of his own that he uses while he works. Thankfully, the middle manager felt emboldened enough to get these guys a new stereo after their boss had taken their old one away.

Keep scrolling below for the full confrontation between the boss and the middle manager. For more stories like this, check out this post about some of the top HOA stories of the week. 

These people are just out here living with their incorrect assumptions about life. Someone jokingly tells you something one time, and if it's not corrected, you just mistakenly believe this thing for years until someone corrects you! The people answering u/ButterflyOverkill's question know a person or two who's exactly like that. This person asked people to spill the "most ridiculous thing you've heard someone say that they were 100% serious about." Judging from the more than 4,800 people who replied, this is a common phenomenon!  

Some people are just prone to messing things up and misremembering facts, which can make for some hilarious conversations. One person asked their friend how cool it would be if they could "see in 3D," while another truly thought that water was full of carbs. You can check out a bunch of very silly ideas people had that were just so wrong it made everyone around them do a facepalm. At least now they know for next time! 

Up next, these workers had such bad first days on the job that they were fired ASAP, like the front-desk worker who "showed up in pajamas and… thought she wouldn't have to actually talk to people."