What would you do if the CFO's son put your career at risk?

Imagine that you're a good manager and you know how to do your job. People respect you, and working feels natural and not very demanding. Well, to this wonderful scenario, add a new character: the CFO's son. This nepo baby was stuck in your team because his father wanted to give him a job… or something to do. You know that is probably a sensitive topic, so you give him the simplest task ever: CTRL C + CTRL V. Copying and pasting documents…

At the same time, the company hired an intern, and your coworkers, smarty-pants, decide to give all of their nasty work to this new kid… leaving you reconsidering what you did with the nepo baby. Perhaps you should have given him more responsibilities? Maybe one of yours? And after confirming he's not even capable of copying and pasting anything… You confront him. 

Shame on you, because now you're on the blacklist.

Your higher-ups told you not to push him, or you may end up being fired. Imagine that, take a second…

People go to college; they work hard to find a good position in this hideous job market that we're facing, only for the company you're working at to side with this rich kid who clearly doesn't want to work or know how to work. Anyways, you know it's already a lost battle. You should swallow your pride and just do what you're asked to do… nothing is going to happen. Play along, and that's it. Yes, it's awful, and this manager probably deserves some respect. But ranks are ranks, and have to be "respected".

Besides the ego issue here, it's good to understand the rules inside any company. If there's somebody's son in there, then you should treat them like royalty and maybe expect nothing from them… play along with what you're told, and your job position will be secured. Sounds terrible, I know. But look what happened to this manager here: he wanted the kid to work harder, and he got iced out.

Some petty things are mandatory

Some things in life are obligatory. Not all of them are nice and ethical. Not all of them make us the bigger person. Sometimes we must do the petty thing, as this is the only way the message we mean to send will be understood.

If, by any chance, we were to be delicate or choose the mature road, some people would never understand that they've wronged us. Of course, we should be wise when choosing when to take the petty road, because not everything is worth creating a scene for, but some things are, and oh boy, we should squeeze all the juice out of them.

I don't really understand wedding code, because nobody around me gets married anymore. I assume this is a pretty dramatic situation, and that's why the OP reacted that way, especially after travelling so much to get to the event. What I do observe is that many stories reflect the economic nature weddings are acquiring. They seem increasingly more related to cash-grabbing than to celebrating union.

Angry brides demanding expensive gifts their guests can't afford is now becoming the norm. But if you're expected to travel 600+ miles and deliver an expensive gift and you're not even included on the list, I don't think that's a fair exchange, and it definitely deserves a petty reaction.

I don't think OP caused much of a scene; I think he was coherent, and after all, gifts and even presence should be optional. If they weren't, it wouldn't be a party but an obligatory fundraising event, and maybe that's what it secretly is, apparently.

Do you think this couple caused way too much of a scene? Or did they do well by leaving the party with their precious envelope?

Just like there are people who see the law as advice, there are bosses who treat employment law like a suggestion box and wonder why it bites them later, you know where. 

This one spent years yelling at staff, denying it on camera, and assuming nobody would ever push back. Then he met an employee who understood the rules well enough to turn a firing into a slow-motion financial trap.

The plan started simple enough: put the worker on a special government leave, stretch it with extensions, and hope they found another job so the company could dodge severance. It worked for a while, until paperwork due dates did what paperwork due dates do. An extension request arrived late, gov said no, and suddenly two months of paid leave became two months of paid nothing, billed directly to the boss.

Your morning coffee will be extra funny with this dash of laughs.

There's nothing worse than a Monday morning… But as much as we want to hate it, it's here, and there's nothing we can do about it. The good thing is that we have memes, and they can totally help us improve our mood, and maybe our day, too! Memes were created by someone on the Internet who thought that creating portable, small jokes and sharing them online were the key to making someone happy… and that idea was a total hit! Without a doubt, these funny laughs are here, and they know how to make us feel a bit better when we need it the most.

Before you feel discouraged and hesitate about going to work, remember this: you get to have another weekend in a couple of days! Isn't that a good feeling? I'm convinced that I can't enjoy the weekend if I don't struggle through the week first. Well, maybe struggle is not the word, but you get what I'm saying… Is like old people said: "There's good, because there's bad", and that can be applied to weekdays and weekends. 

Besides this whole rumble, which I'm not sure is even making sense, I think we should learn to love our Mondays. Yes, it's hard to get up early again and to commute to work… but it also means a fresh start. Fresh start to what? That thing you've been postponing. If you were wanting to pick up running, poetry, writing, cycling, pottery… this is your sign to go do it, or to maybe schedule that first appointment that will get you started. 

That last thing I said must be the best advice I've ever given… let's take Mondays and add something that will make you love it! For me, I started incorporating a group meditation every evening, and every Monday I'm counting the minutes until I get to do it! But meanwhile, enjoy these memes that are here to add some fun and laughter to this Monday… you won't regret adding some extra spice to your coffee!

It's happening; we're becoming dependent on robots. Little by little, they started taking up more and more space in our lives, and we've delegated tasks we used to do with our brains

Brains love reducing effort, and when you have an incredibly quick way of producing any reasoning, redaction, or calculation, you will most likely end up reverting to it for pretty much everything.

The problem is that if we don't use our brains anymore, they will become stunted. We will become poorer at creating text, slower at math, and less bright at finding answers.

We're already seeing the effects of AI usage in our daily lives. We go out on the streets, and many signs are AI-made; many 'pictures' of people are not actually people, and we're increasingly dependent on it for any daily answers we might need.

We have to remember AI still makes mistakes and invents sources, even though it will soon be more developed. We definitely have to keep an eye on the rapid, huge effect it is having on learning, socialization, and people's minds in general.

It would be great if it were mostly used for practical tasks and to make our jobs easier, but many people are using it as a confidant, as a replacement for a friend, a therapist, or even a lover. Do we really prefer a condescending 'relationship' with an LLM that isn't actually thinking over a real-life relationship? Is the world going that way?

We have to keep an eye on what people working in tech are saying about these fast-evolving models, because many declarations are very alarming. I hope we can, as a society, use the tool wisely and that it doesn't completely take over our lives or stunt our human capacity for learning, socializing, loving and even listening.

Since when is denial a good business strategy?

There comes a time in the career of every employee who knows their worth has no choice but to walk away from a job. Perhaps they get an opportunity elsewhere that they would be foolish to refuse, or things simply got so bad at their workplace that unemployment actually felt like a better alternative. Whatever the scenario, there is almost always a good reason behind somebody putting their livelihood at risk in a way such as this.

Almost all companies will expect an employee who is leaving of their own accord to give them a notice period before they go. Ultimately, though, this is more a courtesy to the former employer than something that is an absolute necessity if someone wants to leave their job. Also, the awkward thing about giving notice is the chance that a manager or HR department might not meet it with the response that an employee hopes for. This can make the already difficult process of quitting a job into a greater ordeal than it needs to be. When you leave a role, you want to be focused on your professional future, not the hang-ups of the past.

A homeowner was blamed for disrupting his neighbor's pool party, which he knew nothing about, while mowing his sizable rural property at the usual time.

Some homeowners do their yard work like clockwork. Out early, at the same time every weekend. A well-practiced weekend ritual. Mow the lawns, trim the hedges back, prune the trees. Then take care of whatever other routine maintenance needs handling.

Noises from this general maintenance of neighbors doing general maintenance of their homes are to be expected. You might hope not too early, not too often, and not for too long, but that's not always a fair expectation to set. Some things just need to be done.

At least, this is what you mutter under your breath as your neighbor starts up his new battery-powered leaf blower yet again in a futile effort to render every square inch of his property spotless.

It's an inheritance, not the lottery. 

Making plans based on the assumption that you will receive money when a family member passes away is extremely tacky. Firstly, because that money is not yours. It was someone else who decided to leave it to you once they are gone. They are allowed to change their mind, leave it to somebody else, or fully spend it before that day comes. Secondly, this is a family member, a loved one. The fact that someone they love is plotting to do things when they are gone with their assets seems evil. You want that person to live, supposedly, not them to pass away only so you can have their money. Do you even love them, or do you just want their money?

A person is allowed to leave whatever they want to whoever they want. They can pick and choose what they want to leave for who, in their eys, deserves it. In this story, we get a grandma who decided to divide her inheritance as she pleased. She didn't want to leave everything to be divided equally by her grandchildren. She wanted to leave more to some grandchildren than to others. And you know what? She has every right to do so! If you feel like this is unfair in any way, get over it! She had the right to pick and choose as she pleased.

So now we have this big family feud over money that is not only tacky but also so evil. They are fighting for money when somebody they loved, their grandma, has just passed away. Why wouñd yopu do that? Why would you judge what a person decides to do with HER money? It was her money that made her entitled to decide to do whatever she wanted with it. And no one, NO ONE, has a right to be upset over this. It's life. Accept it! And inheritance is a gift, not an expectation. Stop expecting people to give you things that you don't deserve! Do with YOUR money whatever you want, but expect nothing from everyone else's. 

If work only counts when you're at the office, why should you spend even a minute working while you're out?

Not that long ago, in an era when cell phones didn't exist and you couldn't reach out to other people at a moment's notice, there was a clear separation between your work life and your personal life. As long as you were not physically at the office, it was really tough to contact you and have you work after hours. The job stayed at the office, and once you were out, you were free to pursue your personal life without being bothered with work. Everything could wait until 9 AM on your next workday.

These days, however, availability is much more accessible and therefore is expected. Since your boss, coworkers, and clients often have access to your personal phone number, and your smartphone is conveniently connected to your email, Slack, and any other work channel, getting in touch with you even after you leave work at 5 PM is not a problem. This means that it has become an expectation for employees to be available for work-related issues even after they have clocked out for the day, which also directly leads to an incredibly uneven work-life balance.

The employees in the story below were used to this balance, mainly because they were only expected to be at the office for two days a week. When you can work from anywhere, you accept the blurred lines of work hours in favor of the flexibility in your work location. However, when a new CTO decided to remove that flexibility and demand a strict 9-to-5 schedule from the office only, employees decided to bring the good ol' days' style back into fashion: If they are expected to only work from the office for five days a week, they will no longer make themselves available for work issues after they leave the office at the end of each day. Any problem that might arise after 5 PM can wait until the next morning.

So, when a major crisis with a client arose after 5 PM on a Friday, there was not a single employee ready to tackle the issue until Monday at 9 AM. When the CTO heard what (didn't) go down over the weekend, he had to face the repercussions of his own rules…

Retroactive family charge

There is a distinction between a gift and a debt. A gift produces an asymmetry. A genuine gift produces an asymmetry; you can't immediately 'give back' or repay, and that's part of what makes it genuine. It's not something you're expected to pay for.

This father, although, inverted that mechanism by retroactively saying: 'You owe me'. Many times, although it misses the point of gifting, a gift comes with a subterranean sense of debt; the thing is, that it shouldn't be explicit, otherwise it becomes a quid pro quo, a simple economic exchange.

The important thing here is the surprise. That is what makes it fishy. If he had told his son and daughter-in-law they were going to pay for the whole thing, they could've just declined. And of course it wasn't an accident. We're talking about adults who know their way around money.

This retroactive charge sounds more like an unelaborated emotional charge coming in the form of a financial one than simple miscommunication. The father's attitude, apart from being very immature, is very inconsiderate of the obviously different financial situation of his daughter-in-law.

It is a really poor way to maintain authority; the father gets to determine what counts as generosity and what doesn't, and you have no say in what you want to participate in. You were forced into that economic agreement.

You are not included; you are paying for a service I provided. This type of generosity is persecutory; it creates a demand, and anyone should try to escape deals like this. But this deal wasn't even disclosed from the start. I really think it is the boyfriend's responsibility to talk about it with his father and leave his girlfriend out of it; after all, he is the one who has issues with his authority.

'I will take my business elsewhere'. Do so! Nobody cares. 

I hate entitled customers, but these are also able to be divided into categories. There are the ones whose entitlement makes them scream. Then the ones that start mistreating with heavy insults towards the poor employee. There are also the ones that refuse to leave, no matter if security is escorting them out. And then we have this customer. He started yelling from the moment he was told 'no'. Then he said my favorite phrase: 'I will take my business elsewhere'. What a saying! It's almost magical. It just gives you, as a customer service employee, all the information you need to know about the customer, and that is that they do not deserve your time. Never, ever respond trying to help them, unless you really have to for store policies. They do not deserve anything after that. Only answers that apply as a response after that phrase are 'GO!'. You want to take your business elsewhere? Do so! Nobody is going to stop you. Just do it!

I do not think that this kind of customer will ever change. They have their mind set on entitlement to a point where there is no return. So it's pointless to spend time trying to explain to someone that their attitude is wrong. It's important to me to clarify it, just in case someone would see a point in listening to me and what I have to say. But, realistically, nobody will ever change just because they are told by a stranger online that they should be like that. Their entitlement blinds them to the point that they justify their actions, even though deep down they do know that what they are doing is wrong. They know this is no way to treat an employee, and they also know that they wouldn't have liked to be treated that what if they were the ones who were working at the front desk of that hotel. If you do work in customer service, you will be able to testify that these people do this over and over. They don't change. And you will also be able to say that you wouldn't treat ANYBODY ever like this. But that is what customer service is like sometimes. And there is nothing left to do about it. 
 

Laid-Off To Dreamland

Some of us can only dream of something like this ever happening to us. We dream not only of being given the opportunity to stop going to our boring jobs one lucky day, but also of being paid to do it. That's extremely luxurious. And also something to be celebrated.

If this employee had planned it, it wouldn't have come out this good. But sometimes, stars align, and things like this happen- not always, but they do.

Being laid off can be really stressful. If you have no savings, which is something that's becoming increasingly hard to have, you are forced to get a job as soon as possible, and that can be tricky and stressful in itself.  

You're running out of money, and you have to seem professional and easygoing, like you weren't worried about whether you'd be able to afford groceries the upcoming week.

At any rate, at risk of sounding too cliché, some of the best opportunities in our lives appear in the worst possible moments; at least in my life, it always happened like this. This doesn't mean it doesn't take any effort to be granted an opportunity; it just means that sometimes, even though we work hard, things don't seem to be going our way, but if we hang in there, they most likely will at some point.

This is one of those cases in which justice works, and time works in the good guy's favor. The fact that the good guy was well informed of his legal rights most certainly helped as well. Could you imagine keeping a straight face while you offer your employee the worst severance 'deal' ever and act as if what you're doing is totally contemplated by law? Life is wonderful.

Guys, I think I want to move countries…

We all want to leave our day job, but we have to be realistic

Nobody directly told us it had to be like this, but in a way, we still complied. We went to school, we graduated relatively early, and then dived headfirst into corporate.

Before we even had time to consider if that's what we wanted to do, we were already working 9-to-5. There is no use in crying over spilled milk; we can't change the past. All we can do is avoid a dreadful, grey, corporate future.

It would be really easy if we all had a very clear calling from the get-go, but not all of us do. Some of us didn't have time to think about what we really wanted to do.

Still, having a well-paying job is something to be thankful for, because if you didn't have that but had a very clear calling instead, it wouldn't be as easy as it sounds to make enough money to sustain it.

If I were in this employee's shoes, I'd use the extra money I make from corporate to invest in anything I find pleasurable. I'd take my time to find my path in my free time, while I hold my stable income.

I trust that, at some point, after deep exploration, desire will come through and guide the way.

Of course, another alternative would be to simply invest in startups and look to retire early. The main issue is that it sounds boring, but well, if it's for the good money, so be it.

If you had to advise this young corporate employee: What would you do instead?

In what universe is cutting pages from a book you borrowed normal behavior?

Food is a universal language. Every culture has their own example of a cookbook, passed down through generations, perpetuating the knowledge and the love mothers have for their children.

People say you shouldn't expect books you lend to even come back, but nobody said anything about them coming back with fewer pages.

If we had to explain the most basic, common-knowledge rules of private property every time we lent something, we'd never do it; so naturally, nobody expects something like this to happen, and everybody assumes we most likely operate from the same system of values. Well, turns out we don't.

Things like this happen; the sad part is that we can't really predict them. We'd suffer more being as paranoid as we should be to avoid these outcomes than by living and accepting a certain degree of misfortune.

By this, I'm not saying this woman should limit herself to accepting her fate and let go of her beloved, passed-down cookbook. I'm simply saying it's unfortunate, and mostly not her fault.

That said, there needs to be something done ASAP, because a cookbook is basically a family relic. Luckily, family relics can be reconstructed, and previously cut pages stuck back in can look quirky and give it more history, but for that to happen, those pages need to come back.

I'm assuming the other woman kept them for her and didn't throw them away. I really don't want any more surprises coming from her at this point. This story is sufficiently ridiculous as it is.

Is this the end of this cookbook's story? Or does it have more pages?

Should a customer feel responsible for taking down another negative review when it might affect a small business?

A homeowner's refusal to remove their negative review, even after the appliance repairman offered them a refund in exchange for its removal, left the homeowner wondering later whether or not they were in the wrong for the negative impact the review might have on their business.

Would you risk your job for someone else's gain?

For most people, the answer to this question is a pretty clear no. Jobs are a precious thing. It's not easy to get one that you like and that serves you well, so when you do have one, you'd better hold onto it with all you have. You certainly don't want to put your job in jeopardy just because somebody asked you to and because they're socially pressuring you to do so. Peer pressure is never a good thing to inflict on somebody else, no matter how old you are. But that's what was happening in this situation between a manager and their employee. Sometimes people ask you to do things for them, and you feel like you have to say yes. This happens all the time. Maybe they are in a higher-status position than you and try to lord it over you to get what they want. You feel like if you say no, you'll suffer the consequences. This happens all too often. But you have an ability and a right to say no whenever you want to. You don't have to do something just because somebody asked you to. Even if that person is your boss. If it makes you uncomfortable, then you shouldn't do it. This includes doing something at work that might not affect you but will affect somebody else. 

Paranormal activity or childish imagination? Ghost, time traveller, or lost performer?

I'm going to start a debate where I will convey all possibilities, their pros and cons. And then you will be in charge of deciding which of these possibilities is true. This story is about two childhood friends who, on a special historical anniversary, saw a guy dressed as if he were from the 18th century and then disappeared in front of their eyes. There are three theories: the one the writer of the story has, the one his friend has, and the most rational one. Which one do you believe?

The writer of this story argues that what they saw was a ghost or some kind of spectre. His reasoning lies in the fact that this was on the 4th of July, a really important day, especially to their town. The guy was dressed as if he was from the 18th century, which would mean that he would have already passed away in the 20th century, so making him a ghost makes sense. He believes he appeared and was frightened by the two living kids. And that his appearance is tied to the anniversary taking place. As if he had been in that place during the 1700s.

The friend isn't completely against the writer's theories. But he thinks that his theory is better. He believes that this man was a time traveller from the 18th century. He argues that he disappeared because he got scared due to not understanding whether the two kids were out of place or he was. This theory is also supported by the writer. It seems plausible for both of them. They say that a time traveller fits their story.

Lastly, we have the rational theory. This was a performer who was doing some kind of show to resemble the 18th century to celebrate the anniversary. The man went into the woods because he got lost, and then he saw the kids. He realized that it wasn't his place to be. So he turned around and left. The kids had a big imagination and made the story more interesting. To this day, they do not remember that they made up the part where the man disappeared. So what do you think? Which of these theories is the true one?

If you are 'smart' enough to copy an entire project, you shouldn't try to make the person who created it help you make it work! They'll likely find out you copied them!

I thought this was an unspoken rule of copying, but time and again, it turns out I'm wrong, and it seems you can't assume people will behave coherently. All in all, this example is rather righteous, and the bad guy of the story only made matters worse for themselves. So to each their own!

Apparently, divine justice exists, and bad guys who took our credit will eventually fall without our help. Of course, this doesn't happen every time, but we surely should enjoy it every time it does.

I don't think this employee should assume any informal responsibility and help his former colleague be further celebrated for a project he created. The thing is, it is not in anyone's best interest to seem bitter and uncooperative, so the thief's empire should fall without their involvement.

The only way to remain dignified, in my opinion, is to subtly mention that he created the project, without making a big deal of it, because it reflects badly on him, and to be willing to cooperate with a positive attitude.

The hardest part would be to remain calm and agreeable while your ego is fragile and you feel a little envious, because, let's face it, I think he feels a little envious, and that's the root cause of all this drama.

Do you think he would've gotten the promotion if managers knew the project was his? I'm not really sure…

Someone wanted to have an espresso every morning

And that's okay. Everybody is allowed their own little luxury; the thing is, if you can't afford it, you shouldn't try to drag everyone around you to help you get it.

Moving together is the fastest (and most extreme) way to get to know someone deeply. I've lived in many cities, with many different people, and with all of them I had transformative experiences that completely changed my mind about them.

People who seemed really put together were actually really messy inside the house, or people whom I was best friends with turned out to have huge, hidden parts of their personality I didn't like at all and had never seen. There are things you only learn when you cohabitate the same space.

In this story, the roommate basically wanted to coerce her friend into paying for the coffee machine by giving her no other option to make herself coffee, but that's obviously unfair. There is no question about it.

If I were her, I simply wouldn't use it and, of course, wouldn't pay for it, even if that means not drinking coffee or buying myself a cheaper coffee machine. Of course, I would try to talk to my roommate, but seeing how she handled things is definitely enough for me. 

And I even think OP should keep an eye on that, especially on the entitlement the roommate displays by thinking she can decide whatever without asking and that the rest must follow along.

Maybe she felt her roomie said yes telepathically? Hey! We might be ignoring that she might have had special powers. She knows that in the near future, her roommate will be really interested in owning an espresso machine.

A job search is a great way to make anybody start questioning their worth.

A person can spend years achieving the right kind of qualifications and building up the kind of experience that not only looks good on a resume but is actually useful in practice, and still they are faced with the seemingly divine punishment of countless rejection emails in their inbox. Gone are the days when a dose of confidence and a firm handshake would guarantee you a steady role at a reputable company (at least, that remains the case for anybody who doesn't know a guy who knows a guy). Even the most competent and dedicated potential employees are frustrated by elaborate, multi-round interviews and getting ignored because the AI didn't read their details properly.

Things are difficult for everybody in the job market right now, but perhaps most of all those who are trying to take their first steps onto the career ladder. No matter what they may have to recommend them, the entry-level jobs in every industry are becoming increasingly scarce. When somebody has dedicated a lot of time and money to studying a particular subject or profession, it is understandable that they will want to pursue a career that is actually related to that. Whether that is a possibility for them is partially down to skill, but also a hefty dose of luck. If the opportunity fails to arise, they may have no choice but to consider what other fields they may be able to tolerate.