A tried and true rite of passage of the holidays is picking family up from and dropping them back off at the airport. Early hours on lack of sleep, making a comically long drive to the airport and back while the rest of the world is sleeping, and once you've picked someone up from the airport, you're rewarded with the knowledge that at some point you will have to go back to drop them off again.

Although you might be shell-shocked and weary for the rest of the day, it's all worth it, because it's the holidays and this is just something you do for family. It's a favor that you don't even really question, as if it is etched in the covenants of familial obligations. It's even something that you look forward to, the chance to see the familiar face of a loved one after a long time apart, separated by distance and life's obligations.

This, presumably, adult man was asked to pick his semi-retired parents up from the airport, something that he regularly did for them as the rest of us do for our family. The issue here was that his parents seemingly didn't understand that we, the younger generations, keep our phones on silent with notifications in do not disturb, and so there was a lapse in communication between the parents and their son when their flight arrived early at the airport.

We have enough going on and enough demands already in our lives that the last thing we need is some call, text, or notification tearing our already fractured attention away from the things that we need to focus on in the moment. It, in a way, is an answer, a solution that we have developed in response to a world where everything is constantly vying for our attention as a means for profit.

One would also argue that there was an agreed-upon time, and their expectation that he arrive early at their whim and demand and be at their beck and call is quite entitled. Their ensuing meltdown brought other familial issues to the surface as the man's father laid into him with how disappointed he was in his "irresponsible" son.

While there is definitely the issue of a difference in expectation and communication here, it's safe to say that this is probably the one situation that would cause me to never pick my parents up from the airport again. 

This dad has a helpful spirit, but 1 of his neighbors wasn't receptive to his efforts. 

Some neighbors are just naturally helpful, and these people are a delight to live near. This is the kind of person who wakes up on a Saturday morning and does all of the chores at his house, then starts mowing the lawns or blowing leaves for those in the surrounding houses. Why? There's no real reason — they just feel driven to do this. Some folks find zen in doing chores like that, and they're perfectly content to beautify their neighbor's homes in the name of getting lost in the zone for a few hours. Plus, there often are some rewards for doing a little extra, whether it's a plate of cookies or just a big smile from the person who lives next door. 

This dad sounds like that kind of person who enjoys staying busy and being a helpful guy. However, some people aren't friendly, and they'll let you know it. Dad tried to blow some snow from the neighbor's property, and they told him off! I can't imagine why — using a snow blower is like, 20 times faster than manually shoveling it, and it's not like Dad was asking for money. Some people just can't accept a good thing at face value. 

However, as you can read all about below, things did take a turn for that family… but only after they'd already been given a 3-figure fine from the city! Check it out and see if you'd side with the dad, or with the unneighborly guy next door. 

Labor laws protect the average employee because, well, we don't have much wiggle room to allow ourselves to be taken advantage of. Sure, the one-off late night in the office to meet a deadline isn't exactly our cup of tea, but it won't set the tone for the rest of our careers. If we allow ourselves to be walked all over time and time again, however, we are accepting the respect (or lack thereof) that we think we deserve. So, stand up, employees, and behold the law. There's a reason why there are so many labor laws in place to protect the small guys on the workforce food chain, similar to the way tenants are protected compared to landlords. The little guys don't have a lot of leverage, so the law makes up for that.

Withholding pay, for one, is illegal. Like, super illegal. Even if an employee is one of the worst employees in the world, you cannot deduct or withhold their paychecks. So, when the founder of this viral post circulating on the internet sends an email out to their team highlighting a "patience-building initiative" by way of holding onto their employees' paychecks, the internet goes wild. What would you do if your CEO sent you this email? Scroll to read Redditors' reactions.

This fun little work story happened post‑Thanksgiving Saturday at a dealership. Just imagine how joyous this must be: The service lane fills up, the scheduler loses the plot, and a quick tech suddenly finds out what rock bottom staffing really looks like. Cars keep showing up until there is literally no space left in the lot, tickets stack higher than the oil filters, and five other techs collectively decide this isn't what they signed up for. They drop a quick "we're out" and invite the oil‑change guy to join the exodus. Military brain says no, so everyone else clocks out of the story while one person stays in the bay and keeps working.

From there, it just turns into survival mode. A couple of techs get dragged in off their day off, the skeleton crew grinds through dozens of cars, and the day blurs into a mix of rotations, oil changes, and controlled chaos. Management does what management always does when someone bails the place out. Shakes some hands, says a lot of grateful words, hands over a gift card that covers maybe one good burger run, and then turns the whole thing into a "values" anecdote at the next all‑hands. The walkouts are gone, one of them tries to crawl back later, and the one person who actually held the line gives proper notice and leaves a few months after.

This disgruntled man tried to get out of trouble after his neighbor confronted him directly for his unacceptable behavior.

Look, whatever happened to leaving one another's belongings alone? For whatever reason, this old man, who clearly had been living in the neighborhood for decades and who there felt entitled to do whatever he wanted, felt compelled to push his neighbor's trash can all the way into his driveway when he thought no one was looking. That meant that the garbage pickup folks didn't get rid of the neighbor's trash. 

Now, this didn't just happen once. It was a weekly occurrence, and the resident was able to see via his security footage that an old man in the neighborhood was behind this. Why he felt the need to do this every week was not exactly clear. Perhaps he felt that the trash cans were too far into the street (they weren't). Perhaps he felt that they were impeding his morning walks. Or perhaps he just wanted to start drama and ruin someone else's day.

Keep scrolling below to find out what happened when the author who shared this anecdote confronted the old man he believes is responsible!

When an item in a store has a price tag on it, the store is obligated to sell that item at that price, no matter what. Even if a junior employee made a mistake and priced it at 10% of the actual price, the store is the one that has to face the consequences. 

(This one time, I managed to buy shoes that someone priced at $5 instead of $50, and it was one of the most exciting moments of my life. I couldn't believe it when I saw the price tag, and the store couldn't do anything against it, even though it was an obvious mistake.)

The store manager in the story below wants to avoid these kinds of mistakes, so they have a very specific planogram that everyone must follow. However, this planogram is not flawless, and it prevents new or seasonal items from being put on the shelves. And instead of being open to the employees and finding ways to fix it, this helicopter manager refuses to listen to any of their input.

Receiving your ex-tenant's mail is a real pain in the…mailbox. People barely want their mailboxes overflowing with their own unnecessary ads and letters, let alone those of others. Next thing you know, you're super tired and caught off guard when you're sitting face to face with a $500 speeding fine. But when you look at the letter more closely, you realise it wasn't addressed to you, but your ex-tenant. Jerry was always in a rush…Besides the point. It gets annoying and normally ends up in the front yard trash anyway. 

This couple had been receiving their ex-tenants' mail for the last few years. But they had a daily routine solution: pick it up, trash it down. Easy as pie. Until they noticed something strange about one of his envelopes. They opened it up to find a happy birthday, love mom & dad card and a cheque to go with it! They used the number on the letter to get a hold of his parents, informing them that their son hasn't changed his mail address in the 4 years since they moved in…Now we have a slight inkling that, due to the speed at which they stopped receiving his letters, his parents had a strong word with him about his misdelivered mail!

Sharing a driveway with your neighbor may not always be incredible, but it's certainly doable if each person respects one another's space! However, if one neighbor feels like their space isn't being respected, it's okay to draw a line, or in this case, paint a physical thick one down the middle. Not out of spite, but out of mutual understanding. These neighbors agreed on the dividing line, however, one neighbor, Duncan, was unable to keep within his zone, continuously parking slightly over the line. Now we're not saying this is the most lethal crime ever committed, but it does mean that his neighbor has to struggle to get in and out of his parking spot… 

After multiple ignored requests to 'make space', Duncan's neighbor decided to park his spare car right up against the line, now limiting his space and mobility! If only he had moved his car over that extra 40cm in the first place, he wouldn't have to spend 20 minutes every day doing 15-point turns…Petty revenge or strategic justice?

Most of us work in an environment where a jump scare can cause a major typo. And typos can be annoying or embarrassing or, in some cases, cost money. But a typo won't put anyone in danger.

Jump scares in an office or ones in a carnival haunted house are one thing, a jump scare next to a spinning blade and a 400 lb metal part is basically begging for disaster. This factory worker stands at a machine that could turn a mistake into scrap metal and a body into a cautionary tale, and the workplace clown decides this is the perfect moment for hands on shoulders and a loud boo from behind.

Industrial safety sounds like it's already on thin ice. Everyone knows the rule: do not distract someone running heavy machinery, yet somehow a grown adult hears that and thinks exception for friendship. First warning comes from a lead who literally spells it out, and instead of adjusting, the coworker upgrades from talking in the danger zone to physical contact during an operation that needs full focus. That is not a prank, it is playing roulette with someone else's life because boredom kicked in on shift.

Anyone who's lived in an apartment building knows that you're never really alone, even when you're in your own living room eating cold leftovers and pretending you don't hear your upstairs neighbor practicing tap-dance at 11 p.m.

Shared walls come with shared… everything. The footsteps, the arguments, the questionable cooking smells, the mysterious thuds that you promise you're going to stop wondering about. And then there are the windows that act as accidental stages into other people's lives, especially at night.

Ask any long-term renter and they'll tell you they didn't mean to see anything. No one sits down with their cup of coffee planning to witness a stranger doing yoga in nothing but socks, or someone passionately rehearsing a breakup speech to their houseplants. But the view is the view, and apartment windows have a way of turning everyday neighbors into recurring characters in a show you never subscribed to.

Maybe it's the couple who keeps breaking up and getting back together loud enough for the entire block to develop an opinion. Maybe it's the guy who owns one chair, one lamp, and a giant sword. Maybe it's your neighbor who talks to pigeons like they're coworkers.

Apartment life isn't glamorous, but it is never, ever boring.

It took two decades for the ambitious two-part film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical Wicked to make it to the big screen. Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, which itself is inspired by L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz, this prequel follows the ill-fated friendship between Elphaba and Galinda, who respectively grow up to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good. 

The first film, which was released in November of last year, followed these characters in their school days and included such memorable songs as "Popular" and "Defying Gravity." It was a hit both critically and commercially, ultimately earning a whopping 10 Academy Award nominations. That left some big red shoes for these witches to fill the second time around.

From a commercial standpoint, the conclusion to this epic tale, titled Wicked: For Good, has risen to the occasion, having opened to over $150 million at the domestic box office. However, unlike the first film, the sequel has proven to be far more divisive, having suffered from a decidedly mixed critical reception.

Some fans have noted that this reception was inevitable, as the second act of the stage musical has always been weaker than the first. Others believe it to be the product of overexposure given the omnipresence of Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande's meme-filled press tour and awards campaign. Both of these interpretations are compelling, but at the end of the day, the true culprit has more to do with the film itself.

There is an exhausting self-seriousness in the artistic approach to Wicked: For Good that indicates a fundamental misunderstanding of why people loved the stage musical in the first place. In this second half, director Jon M. Chu and his team, who also helmed the first film, seem more concerned with dressing this Wizard of Oz prequel up as prestige cinema in the hopes that it can win more Academy Awards rather than finding joy in the structurally flawed source material. The result is a movie musical with an identity crisis. Wicked: For Good aspires to be more like the critically acclaimed, Best Picture-winning Chicago when in reality, the blueprint should have been the unabashedly unpretentious, box office juggernaut that was Mamma Mia!

At this movie theater, employee expectations include more than just handing out popcorn buckets and scanning tickets — these workers were told to shovel snow!

Working at a movie theater these days is much less glamorous than in decades past. I don't know if you've been recently, but you don't really even need employees to get into the theater. They'll just scan your phone, since you probably got the tickets on an app, and from there, you seat yourself. Even if you show up without a ticket, you're supposed to buy it yourself on a kiosk. But they still haven't invented a robot that can make you a heaping bucket of warm popcorn for like $19, so at least the employees have that task to complete! Besides that, movie theater workers sweep up said popcorn from the floors after showings, keep the restrooms clean, and help customers if any issues arise. It's not glamorous, but it's not the worst job in the world, either. (I bet they also get to watch free movies, too, which would be a fun perk!)

At this theater, though, the boss overextended the range of employee tasks to include… shoveling snow in the parking lot. How bizarre! If the snow is that bad, there's no way that people are going to be driving to a movie anyway. They'll probably just sit home and watch Netflix on the couch — no need to brave icy roads if you've got perfectly good movies at home. But that didn't stop this boss from ordering employees to haul snow, which one employee did exhaustively. Good for him for getting both a workout and a huge paycheck, as well as making the boss look ridiculous.

In every wedding party, there is at least one person who manages to make the entire ceremony about themselves, and it's often not the person getting married.

For those of you who have had the sometimes fortunate and oftentimes unfortunate experience of being a part of a bridal party, you likely know that the organization of a wedding with a group like that can reveal people's true colors. Sure, we tend to discuss how this manifests in the bride and groom's behavior, but it can also come from friends and family from childhood, school, and everywhere in between.

In this instance, the author's bridesmaid insisted that her sister come to her friend's wedding, despite the fact that the two barely knew one another. At first, the author was fine with it because she thought the sister would be the bridesmaid's plus one. Then, the bridesmaid revealed that her spouse was, in fact, coming as well. So this was an additional guest that she just felt entitled to invite.

Eventually, as the wedding approached, the bridesmaid needed to pull out of the ceremony because she was very pregnant at the time. Not a problem, but the sister decided that she still needed to come. This drove the bride understandably insane.

This shop manager accused an employee of costing the company eighteen thousand euros by ordering parts without approval, threatening to take the sum out of their pay, while the rest of the staff pretended not to hear a thing as the foreman backed up the paperwork. This is just another shift at a place where shouting counts as workflow management and following instructions is a gamble taken daily with someone else's money. Everyday drama in a repair shop where ordering parts turns into a professional hazard and basic workplace skills get punished on a whim.

It can be satisfying to host a large-scale event, but only once all is said and done—everyone has long gone, and you can finally take a seat and decompress and debrief with the closest friends and family who still remain. All that planning, and coordinating, and executing, and cooking, and cleaning… all that energy and time just to make sure that everyone has had a good time, all of that now behind you, you can finally enjoy it retrospectively. 

It really goes without saying that a large event is absolutely exhausting. Especially so when it's with family, since you put all that effort in just to create what is a veritable powder keg waiting to detonate, carefully avoiding topics that will light up the room in all the wrong ways and cautiously disengaging from when those relatives bring up controversial subjects or try to stick to a 

It's all glamorous on paper: warm smiles, everyone laughing together, and remembering things that happened years ago, all in the setting of good food and decorations like it's some sort of Hallmark holiday movie.

In this case, after being the de facto host for a great many family holiday events, this woman decided that she was no longer going to shoulder the burden of making everything work for her entire family. She announced that she would not be hosting the next Christmas, giving her family plenty of time to sort out an alternative. They, however, thought that she was being a "grinch" and "cancelling" Christmas, and seemed unwilling and unable to start planning an alternative for themselves. 

All anyone else saw was the perfectly executed event, and since everything seemed effortless, they assumed that it was so. Or, maybe they knew more than they were willing to admit to, owing to the fact that nobody else is willing to host. The fact that the entire rest of the family has been blithely unable to organize one gathering without this one member's input speaks volumes to the amount of weight that was being placed on her hosting.

Hosting is, of course, much easier if everyone is willing to chip in and help out. But when the groupthink leads everyone to decide that they can just show up without contributing, it can become a massive burden. 

Receptionists are powerful people, so don't get on their bad sides!

People believe that those with power are like, CEOs and other higher-ups. But those with the real power in a workplace are the ones managing them, like their assistants, and in many cases, the front desk receptionists. These workers have a vast control over the day-to-day flow of the workspace, and it can make a huge difference in how the entire company operates. 

You've probably experienced this firsthand. At some doctor's offices, the receptionist is calm and composed, and the office runs like a smoothly oiled machine because of it. But then sometimes you go to another place where the receptionist is overwhelmed and dealing with irritating customers, and you can just tell they're frazzled. Things don't run nearly as smoothly, and stuff falls through the cracks. 

After working in reception for some time, these front desk workers have seen it all, and they're sharing their stories. They know exactly how to deal with clients who come in all worked up — how to calm them down, or if that doesn't work, how to get them to leave and never come back! 

When you decide to sell your house and move to a different home, you do it knowing that some of your beloved belongings will have to stay behind. Moving always forces you to look at all the stuff you've accumulated so far and consider what must come with you and what is no longer needed.

Now, smart home devices are a tricky one. On one hand, you probably want your next home to be a "smart" one as well, and those devices usually cost a lot of money. On the other hand, those devices might not work as well in your new home, and removing and then re-installing them might amount to more work than just buying a new system.

That is why the home seller in the story below planned on selling these devices to the buyers and even offered to help them figure out how to use them. The buyers, however, refuse to pay any money and insist that the seller just leave the devices for them to figure out alone.

The seller complied, knowing fully well the system would not work without their involvement. Then they decided to prove that to the entitled buyers…

You know that one coworker who keeps their job against all odds? Yeah, the one who doesn't know anything about the role they are supposed to be working in, but still, somehow stays afloat by the skin of their teeth? Why do we cover for those colleagues? A combination of factors will prompt us hard workers to cover the tracks of those who do not know how to do it themselves. However, mainly, you never want to assume someone is purposely falling behind because they don't want to work. You hope that they will appreciate your help and apply your teachings accordingly, rather than taking advantage of your intellect and kindness, and try to make you do their work for the rest of your time at the company.

Wishful thinking is a disease, and we must all get well soon if we are going to persevere in the rough waters of corporate America. Corporate wherever, really.

The accountant in the story below works in Accounts Receivable and reveals to a colleague that they haven't been chasing payments from several customers of the company. Essentially, her entire job. Now, her colleague decides to go through the work of learning new skills to clean up her mess. She receives praise for it, and the accountant complains about having to resume her job duties. Talk about entitled. What would you do in the colleague's position?

This 18-year-old returned home for her first Thanksgiving weekend with her family since starting college, and it did not take long for her to reignite her ongoing feud with her entitled stepfather.

This dude was a manchild, pure and simple. He completely lacked the ability to clean up after himself, often leaving the bathroom in a state of total disarray. It was as if he expected all the women in his household to fix his messes for him. His entitlement was unique. It wasn't like he ordered anyone around. It was just ingrained behavior.

Well, the author of this story was never a fan of his, and the way he frequently refused to clean the bathroom became emblematic of a larger problem within the family. So, she started tampering with his bath products and making his experience just as messy. She also constantly alerted her mother every time her stepfather left a gross mess in the house. 

Eventually, his behavior improved, but as she states in her story, once she left for college, those old habits came back. Now that she's here for the weekend, she only has a limited amount of time to ensure that he takes care of his things again.

Where does one draw the line between corporate sugar-coating and straight-up fiction? Definitely don't ask this software developer because he certainly has no clue! He's built his career on completely fake 'experience and references,' yet has somehow managed to become more successful than the majority of his coworkers and friends…How? Well, let's just say his method goes against everything our parents taught us about honesty growing up! 

Establishing a system where he was able to create an illusion to all those around him, while simultaneously climbing he corporate ladder. Would you argue he's the man who inspired the story of Suits' Mike Ross…or simply a man who got lucky? When he would get caught or fired, he would just remove those jobs from his resume…as if they never even happened. Eventually, learning his capabilities and limits to ensure he could deliver his company's expectations without getting caught. What we fear is how often this occurs in the work world. Do we ever truly know the people with sit next to us for eight hours a day, or is everyone holding onto their illusory masks for dear life?