An approved vacation turned into a firing, but the real battle began when earned money suddenly became discretionary.

I can point out so many things that are wrong here. And most of them come from a lack of work ethic and some morality. Firstly, this boss had approved the employee's vacation, and as a consequence, she booked everything and was ready to go. A couple of days before she left, this manager changed his mind and told her that the vacation was denied and that if she left, he was firing her. Can you guess what happened? Of course, she left for her trip, and the rest was history… or that's what she thought.

Turns out that she had to be paid a huge amount of money, not only for the remaining part of her salary, but a lot was coming from bonuses and commission she had earned based on her great performance. After her trip, she went to the office to pick up the money, and that extra sum was not there… she was told that she would receive it next month… weird, but okay.

A month went by, and when she went back to collect it, she found out that her boss was not paying her since that money was "discretionary", so it's not like he owed her anything. This was not part of the initial agreement, and of course, it's an illegal thing to do. Now, she's not sure what to do, since all of this extra money was based entirely on her performance, and some metrics and numbers can back up and prove her work.

That's why she reached out, and many people showed up to help her. Since she was based in California, the law says that the money earned from bonuses and commissions has to be paid if the employee was fired. And if this man was not cooperating, then she could even sue him in the California Labor Board and claim what belongs to her. Do you want to find out what happened? Scroll down and don't forget to leave a comment with your thoughts!

We underestimate the impact a few simple words can have on our lives

In life, sometimes we have moments in which we realize we can do literally whatever we want. That doesn't mean doing it won't have consequences; it just means we're not chained to that job, for example, or obligated to go to the gym (I'm telling this to myself because I skipped my workout today, of course).

So when that moment comes, our boss will be speaking to us and telling us something nasty, and we will quit on the spot, simply because we can.

Maybe it will be easier to find a new job if we don't have our current one. We will be motivated. We will wake up without alarms. We won't hear the voice of that person we don't get along with anymore, and we, most importantly, won't have to put up with it anymore.

Of course, I'm not advising anyone to do this; I understand there are situations where we simply can't afford it. I just wanted to shed light on those situations where we believe that we're trapped, but we're truly not, and we're actually one step away from freedom.

An office is not everybody's place, and we should stop acting like it is. We carry other people's expectations and wishes on our shoulders. You have to be very brave to realize that it is not the life you want, and no amount of money or success can make up for that.

Who told us happiness could only be found through that path?

The good news is that once you are away from all that buzz and opinions, all that's left is your inner knowing that you did the right thing and that you're enjoying your life. And that's priceless!

Talk about yikes!

In some industries, you know that you'll have to stop eventually because it's too hard on your body. You can't be a construction worker until you're 80 because your body literally cannot handle it, even if you want to work for that long. The same goes for professional dancers. Some people can dance into their 70s and 80s, but that doesn't mean they can maintain the schedule and routine that Broadway dancers in their 20s and 30s do. It's just not possible. 

Changing careers in your 40s because you can no longer do back-breaking work is totally different than getting hurt on the job in a way that nobody could've predicted. If you're a professional basketball player, you know that there's a possibility that you could tear your ACL during a game. If you work in an office, you do not expect that the light fixture in your office is going to fall on your head and break your neck. Both injuries can be life-ruining and devastating, but the latter isn't typical in a sedentary profession. 

It's so scary to think that one injury can change the trajectory of your life. An AC unit could fall on your head while you're walking down the street, and you may never be able to work again. You could become dependent on the care of another in the blink of an eye, and there's nothing you or anyone else can do about it! The woman in this story might never be the same again after her accident, and it seems like her coworkers only care that she's a less productive employee. At least one coworker is empathetic toward her. 

A self-appointed neighborhood code enforcer attempted to "fine" a non-member for having front door painted what they considering to be an affronting color. This perceived affront had already led to a confrontation between the two, but the neighbor refused to let the matter go.

Don't get me wrong, I love following a good rule. For example, if I go to a community pool and there are a bunch of rules listed in the entry way, you bet I'm going to follow each and every one to the letter. I might even feel a mild air of superiority for doing so and turn my nose up at those who aren't doing the same.

If it wasn't this toxic, it would be almost touching about a company that treats a Glassdoor review as its greatest legal emergency, like a former employee describing screaming managers and high turnover is not a warning sign but an act of treason. 

Instead of asking why someone left after a month and felt compelled to tell future applicants what the place was like, the business chose a classic management solution: send a threatening email, demand silence within 24 hours, and hope fear performs the work. Instead of, say, decent leadership.

Companies like this one seem to believe they have discovered a brilliant loophole in reality. The review did not name names, except the company's of course, but it turns out it was detailed enough that the people could recognize themselves, which is awkward because that is generally how criticism works. If a person reads a description of their own workplace culture and immediately thinks, "This is definitely us," the issue is most likely NOT that an anonymous former employee wrote it.

Sometimes you're NTA on paper, but you kinda are in real life.

I think the man who's telling this story is bringing an old grudge into it, and I can't pinpoint exactly why. It's something about how he describes the other dude's food preferences, or the way he treats them as childish. Something tells me that if he had ordered something he considered more 'manly,' he wouldn't have reacted that way, but maybe I'm exaggerating.

Don't get me wrong, I completely agree that some food preferences are kind of childish. Some people really didn't explore any taste or texture past the age of eight years old, and there are truly tastes they will never acquire. Their loss, of course. But those picky tendencies, almost always, come hand in hand with personalities that won't shut up about them. They will cause a scene, just like children do.

Not liking a food is one thing, but being entitled enough to think that a young person who's kindly covering the check for a group of people is going to pay for whatever extra thing you order is kinda crazy. I truly believe some people don't grasp the value of money until they're much, much older. They simply don't understand it.

To be fair, it's not that hard to realize you're being impolite for ordering something extra and expecting it to be covered, but this man clearly didn't. The thing is, how the entire story developed- even though the one who was initially covering the check was in the right- he was kind of petty in the end. 

He could've been more elegant and not wait until the end,  make remarks about how childish were the other dude's preferences, and let him know he wasn't paying. He could've stated that when he realized what was happening, but I get it; things might have escalated too quickly.

The thing I can't forget is that they're almost the same age; how could the 25-year-old ordering the nuggets not realize he was overstepping the line?

Imperceptible traits can teach you more than you think!

Some people can tell you everything about themselves by just their appearance, the way they walk, talk, and breathe. Everything is just a little spoiler of how they actually are as a person. When you work in customer service, you learn to discover character traits of customers before they even open their mouths to talk to you. Is something about them that can be almost imperceptible to anyone else that will tell you everything you need to know about them. Whether they are going to scream and mistreat you, whether they will be extremely cooperative and apologetic about everything, or if they will just remain calm during the whole interaction.

These little things that make employees know their customers beforehand can be different for each worker. Some people notice the way they walk. If it's with confidence, then they will probably be entitled, but if they walk in a reserved manner, then they will try to avoid any kind of confrontation. It can also be their perfume. According to the smell, they may determine if they reserved the biggest penthouse or just a simpler suite room. Every angle and detail that you can sense with your senses will tell you beforehand everything you need to know. You just have to learn to interpret these signs.

These things aren't infallible. They can definitely give you the wrong impression about a customer, which can actually cause even bigger issues. So it's best to always keep that judgment you make of them to yourself and act as you would with any other customer. Pretend as if you haven't noticed anything about them. They are just assumptions, but they can be extremely useful to deescalate complicate situations. Just be wise about them and don't just assume you know these people just because of the traits you discovered. If you want to know even more about these little imperceptible traits, I gathered below a thread about which ones most employees notice.
 

Have you ever heard of a company that stays true to its word? 

It's fine if your answer is no, because honestly, we've never heard of a company like that either. Many companies thrive on the opportunity to say one thing to their employees, and then act completely differently. It is as if the more the higher-ups lie to the employees, the more powerful they feel.

When you are a seasoned employee at a workplace, you learn not to get too worked up when you find out that what you were promised a few weeks ago is never going to happen. It doesn't matter that your boss promised you this big bonus, or that they said that your promotion is right around the corner. You already fell for these kinds of promises enough times to know that nothing will be handed to you so simply.

But for a new hire, like the one who shared their experience on Reddit's r/jobs, the bait-and-switch they fell for felt completely out of the blue.

It started back in the interview process, when the potential employee was very clear when they said that they would not be able to come to the office whatsoever. The commute was too long, and they could not commit to it on a regular basis. The company, in response, assured them that the position would be fully remote. When the offer was made, they even put it in writing in the offer letter. 

For the first month, things were great as the new hire worked fully from home, but then the CEO came with an announcement: all employees must return to the office for 4 days a week. At that moment, the new hire realized what we all know: that companies have absolutely no problem lying to get their way. 

Now, they are debating whether they should suffer through the 4-hour commute a day, or fight to get what they were initially promised. Finding another job sounds like a distant dream, but that might be the only other option this employee has.

Since when does inviting someone to dinner include 11 other people?

There is no world where an invitation to dinner means you can invite everyone you want over and have their check covered. I think the birthday girl thought that if she didn't say anything, her sister wouldn't notice she was paying for eleven more people. But well, it didn't go as planned. She did notice, and it wasn't fun.

We can't forget this is a 30-year-old's birthday; she is not a teenager, and she can't expect everyone to pay for her and her friends. I'm assuming this isn't the first time something like this has happened; someone doesn't develop that attitude suddenly, and even though it's uncomfortable, maybe she needed just that. Maybe she is learning something important in her early thirties: That she needs to communicate, and that nobody owes her 11 best friends a dinner check. It's never too late to learn something new!

Regardless if the 30-year-old sister learned anything new or kept on being entitled. Llet's see the big sister's point of view and judge for ourselves whether she was the A...ahem, or not.  Did she act well by teaching her sister a lesson?

Landlord got played by a master tenant who, actually, wasn't playing at all.

If you don't provide solutions, solutions will be provided by themselves. If I were in the same situation as this tenant. Suffering through the malfunctions of appliances and getting these dismissive responses from the landlord, not making himself responsible for anything, I would have reacted way worse to everything.  But this landlord brought all this disgrace upon himself. He was the one who said that the appliances weren't a part of the rented home. Then taking them, selling them, or breaking them didn't have any real impact. If they are not a part of the home, then they aren't different from something that they could have found on the street. So selling the appliances isn't inherently wrong. They can do it, as they aren't a part of the home nor the property of the landlord. 
 

Should parents let their children eat whatever they want? 

As a general rule, the answer is no. Children can be really picky eaters, and if parents let them eat only the things they like, they will end up eating only candy and McDonald's. So yes, many times parents find themselves telling their children to eat their vegetables and fruits so they can have a healthy and balanced diet. We don't agree with forcing them to eat when they're not hungry, but part of the parents' job is to make sure their kids are well-fed and nurtured. Yet, in some cases, it can be alright to let the kid eat something else if they don't like what the rest of the family is having, especially if it is a one-time thing and not a regular occurrence. 

In this case, a woman tells an anecdote that happened when she was 12 years old. Her mother had gone to work and left dinner ready for her father to give to her and her siblings, but the father apparently was too lazy to do that. He chose to give his children some canned spaghetti, which his daughter didn't like at all. She asked the dad if she could just make herself a PBandJ sandwich, and then clean up after herself and the others, but the dad said no. he told he she couldn't leave the table until she finished eating what he had "made." So she did. She stayed there. Alone. For Hours, until her mother came back and found her there. She got so annoyed at the situation and her husband that it was the last time he ever tried to tell his daughter that she had to stay put at that table. 

We can understand when parents tell their children to stay at the table and finish a meal. But in this case, it was simply ridiculous for the father to do that. The mother had already left dinner ready, and all he had to do was give it to her; he was too lazy to do that. He actively chose to give his daughter something she disliked, which wasn't even healthy, and didn't even let her prepare something else for herself! It's laziness taken to an extreme. 

If you had been the mother, what would you have done about it? 

Nothing wakes up a workplace like a corporate newcomer discovering that the people who keep the place running have developed habits without first requesting permission from a PDF

It's pretty amazing in any field, but a man with spotless hands sees a technician solve a five-minute problem with a Q-tip and feels compelled to protect the "integrity of the equipment," like the machine has feelings and spent years begging to be treated according to the manufacturer's preferred bedtime routine.

What do you do when the "family emergency" you've been working overtime to cover turns out to be a month-long vacation in Bali?

Nobody should lie, but especially not in your workplace. Some things don't last, and I think a lie is one of them. If we take this situation that happened, we can confirm that no liar is as capable of maintaining a big secret for a long period of time. Dan, the star of this novel, decided that it was a good idea to tell HR that his mother was very sick and needed his care for a month. He did, of course, to ensure a paid leave… but he was not going to her house. Instead, he had planned a luxurious trip to Bali weeks in advance, and needed the time - and the money -  to go and enjoy.

Because his leave was not going to last long, a coworker decided to cover his workload until he came back. They did this out of respect and love, considering that it is an enormous amount of work, but really wanted to help him in this time of need. Little did they know that one morning, when they had to access Dan's computer to check some information, they were going to encounter the itinerary and a detailed schedule of what he and his family were going to be doing in Bali.

But seems that care is still there, because now the OP is hesitant about going to HR and exposing Dan. On one side, they cannot handle any more work, and they have started living with constant stress due to tight deadlines and a double amount of work. But on the other side, there's no sick parent, and he's out there enjoying a holiday on the other side of the world. If you ask me, I'd definitely expose him because there's no way that I'll keep doing someone else's work… not when they lied about a complicated family issue. He deserves to be fired… Mmm, I thinks is affecting me more than it should. Okay, I'll be quiet now; go ahead and read the story.

Most of the time, when I see a DIY fail, my immediate response is: why didn't they just hire a contractor?

It's the same response I have to people who cut their own bangs, attempt electrical work after watching one video at double speed, or announce that they're "pretty handy" while holding a screwdriver like husbands hold their wives' purses while she tries on clothes at the mall. There are professionals for a reason. They have licenses, equipment, insurance, and some og the time even decency.

But this list is proof that hiring a contractor will not always save you. Sometimes you can pay real money, schedule the appointment, clear your calendar, buy coffee for the crew, and still end up with a result that looks like a pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. The only difference is that this specific questionable decision comes with an invoice and somebody else's business card.

And that, my friends, might be even funnier.

Sometimes kids can be really weird, and teachers find themselves dealing with a lot of awkward situations.

Now that it's the moment to go back to school, all parents, kids, and teachers have a lot of mixed feelings. Parents are surely relieved to have a few hours a day to be alone and have some time for themselves without needing to entertain the kids. The kids must be thrilled to see their friends again, and at the same time a bit bummed to have to actually go to class every day. Teachers, in the meantime, probably want to curl up and cry for a little while. 

We're not saying that good teachers don't love their job; they most certainly do! You need to have a real calling to do this job properly and be the kind of teacher that everybody loves and makes the children actually learn something. But we can't deny that teachers are often overworked and underpaid. They take care of our kids for at least 6 hours a day, and they make sure they go back home safe and sound while learning new things. They are indispensable for society. This is exactly why they sometimes find themselves dealing with the most unexpected and unhinged situations. Kids are not always as well adjusted to society's rules as to know what is normal to do or say, and teachers just have to deal with it in the best way they can. They sure get some good anecdotes after that, but there's no denying that more than once they probably just stood there, dumbfounded, wondering: "Why did I choose this career, again?" 

These stories are not the exception. Here, different teachers told about moments when their students showed up to class with weird things inside their backpacks. Nothing was exactly illegal, but how or why did these kids have those objects with them? Are their parent blind or something? Their pets, random animals they found on the street, objects stolen from their parents, and even a rotisserie chicken are some of the things these teachers found in their students' backpacks. Reading this is a great way to get our laughs up and get back to class in a good mood! 

Hey, maybe he just needs someone to talk to for 35+ minutes every morning!

Back in the day, I worked as a barista, so I didn't know what it was like to be tired of looking at screens or not seeing anyone in real life for days. I sincerely don't wish to go back, but every decision in life has its costs. You have to choose to get tired of hearing angry customers complain about their coffee temperature or of pointless Zoom meetings.

Employees don't need to be reminded of every standard procedure there is every single morning. Maybe the pointless meetings are the boss' attempt to keep the team together, or maybe he just wants to micromanage everyone and make them listen to what he did over the weekend. It must be boring to live with himself.

In any case, you can always mute the window, or turn the volume down and turn on some music. How would they know? They'll probably only notice you smile more. Plus you can send some fantastic, petty texts to your coworkers about your annoying boss. It's a wonderful way to start the day!.

If the job is otherwise good, I don't think daily meetings are that big of a deal; one can always do something else while they're happening; that's the magic of the computer. You can have breakfast, you can meditate while the meeting is happening, you can start to work before, you can honestly do anything that doesn't appear on camera. Just imagine having to physically attend to one every day! Count your blessings.

Has anyone else become so tired of pointless meetings that you need to do something? Is it safe to try to suggest not doing them? Or is suggesting something to our bosses always prejudicial to our jobs?

As Dolly Parton put it famously, "Workin' 9 to 5, what a way to make a livin' Barely gettin' by, it's all takin' and no givin'."

And that song became an anthem for 9-to-5 workers everywhere for good reason. The idea of giving your all to a job for years, only to have it dissolve into ether like it never happened the minute it is convenient for your employer is a theme that is all-too familiar.

 

Maybe the child is acting like one, and so are you!

Teenagers are hard to understand and to manage. They get up one day hating your guts and the next one they love "unconditionally" because you bought them something. One week they love their best friend and the next they hate them and call them traitors. One month they are in love. The next they hate everyone. The next they are obsessed with a new band, but the other month that same band is trash. They think one thing today and are completely convinced about it… only to change their mind five seconds later. I don't know exactly why, but they act like that, and we have to accept it.

It's hard to get them when nothing seems to be definitely for over a day, but everything is important to them as if it defined their whole life. Parents have to go around their kids' lives trying to say the correct thing when they don't even understand what they are talking about. And that is the magic of teenagers. It's a phase, and we all went through it. But the important thing is to know that they are, in fact, kids starting to get into adulthood, but still kids. That's why parents have to act correctly and help them as much as they can.

In this story in r/CharlotteDobreYouTube, we get a stepmother that didn't get the memo. She's mad at her teenage stepdaughter because she is, supposedly, ungrateful. You know what she actually is? A teenager! That girl had a fun time one day, and she said it, not in the best way. After that, this adult took it personally and made a drama out of nothing. Then she didn't even talk to her and just made everyone uncomfortable about a dumb situation that could have been solved in two minutes. The girl is a teenager who was excited about a fun time she had. The woman is just an adult who doesn't understand her place. 

Would you stay to help train your replacement?

When you're leaving a job, things can be kind of awkward. If you're not leaving of your own accord, then you might have some feelings about them asking you to leave. You might feel like you want to get out of there as soon as possible to avoid making things even more awkward than they probably already are. But the boss in the story didn't quite understand that, and put their employee in an awkward situation after asking them to stay. They thought they were in for a long-term position, but they ended up giving it to somebody else. That stuff happens, but you shouldn't make the original employee suffer through training them to do their job. After all, if you can train them to do the job, then why can't you do it yourself? Keep reading to see what happened here. 

Some people are honestly too self-centered to function

By now, we should all know that no is a full sentence when it comes to rejecting an offer. Of course, with family, sometimes using that technique might turn things a little messy.

Family members sometimes think that family relationships don't need to follow most of the behavioral and moral rules that apply to every other relationship; and in a way, they don't, but loyalty has limits.

Of course you're not going to stop seeing your mother because of any random fight, but it's not like you can do whatever you want to a relative and then expect them to be at your beck and call, there needs to be some sort of equilibrium.

That's exactly what's happening to this brother, in my opinion, and that's why I think he needs to instill some serious boundaries. I don't think of it as revenge; I think of it as a normal reaction and a way to avoid drama.

Would you go to the apartment of someone you uninvited from your wedding and had a huge fight with, to get ready for said wedding and also bring a bunch of people? Isn't that a kind of crazy idea?

I'm honestly sad that this brother is doubting his thoughts so much that he had to post them, but I'm glad, at the same time, the internet will bring light to this otherwise obvious situation. No matter how much she hates his girlfriend, uninviting her brother is weird too.

I will definitely need updates on this marriage because I have a bad feeling about it, and I'm going to want to KNOW.

Do you think this sister knows she's taking advantage of her brother? Or is she so self-centered she honestly thinks he owes her that?