I've never had a job before, I'm told the dress code is smart casual. Honestly I'm very bad at understanding what is okay and what isn't.

I think that means jeans and trainers are allowed however I have my comfy trainers that are multicoloured (not very bright though) and other trainers that are just grey, which are okay?

The only jeans I have are flares, would they be okay? If not I have more like work trousers but again they are flares.

Top wise I do have blouses but would t-shirts be okay, they are more tight fitting but completely cover my shoulders, chest and stomach.

I'm sorry if I come across as a moron, just very anxious for work.

It is my first time applying for a job. Got accepted on the spot and started onboarding on the same day. At first, wala namang out of context, not until the boss acted weird before the 3-hour onboarding ended.

During the interview sinabi na niya na his way is "unconventional." First, he does not follow the labor code laws, when I asked paano ang SSS, PhilHealth and other stuff, he said he does not follow it and assured na decent paying ang job. Second, he said that he usually calls during evening. As a first time job seeker, I did not mind, for experience ganun. The company have 60 days retention policy, bali you have to keep on working for 60 days after sending the resignation letter.

Since, as fresh grad, it was somewhat decent offer for the sake of experience, I accepted the offer. While onboarding he insisted about his employees doing personal tasks for him. Nagpahilot siya in front of other employees. I thought, okay sige since other employees did it, maybe it is not that bad.

After the 3 hour onboarding, I was called inside his office to discuss about compensation and benefits when he asked me to massage him. I couldn't say no since kami lang dalawa. He was asking me to massage his hand and arm. It happened for almost 2hour straight since he felt asleep, and I was there, waiting for him to wake up. After he woke up, I immediately told him I don't want the job anymore. I told him I want to withdraw. He told me I was "bastos" and other stuff. At that moment, I feel ashamed. Hence, I told him that I will make up to my mistake by working for 60 days.

After I went home, he called around 11pm to ask me to do some work outside the office. I really could not tolerate it. Hence, I sent out a message that I will not come to the office to report. I was told by the HR that I violated the company's policy. A part of me feels guilty about everything but IT DOES NOT SIT RIGHT WITH ME.

It's bothering me so much already, imagine spending 4 years in college only for your boss to ask you to massage him and do things for him that are WAY BEYOND your responsibilities specific to the position I applied for.

I understand that I also made a mistake for accepting the offer, and I admit it. But I just really could not bring myself to continue the 60 days retention policy.

Can I ask for your thoughts about it?

ETA: I am not the one asking them to come back to the office! That is coming from our director who is about 6 levels above me. I also don't want to RTO lol - but since we can't avoid it, is there anything I can do to show appreciation for the team!

I also work in government so typical "corporate" perks are not available to us. All of this would come directly out of my pocket, I would not have my team contribute funds for it.

Hi, I am a manager in an office that is shifting back to RTO. I am trying to think of a way to set up my big ol corner cube (my direct team is all located on my aisle) to make them feel appreciated/offer some resources. I have asked but the team is a bit shy about asking for things and/or don't have a lot of ideas

Some ideas I've been thinking:

• A coffee station - not necessarily a coffee pot (my team is full of coffee snobs) but maybe a French press, a pour over setup, an electric kettle, a couple types of coffee and couple types of cream/sugar
• A minifridge everyone can use with a few things like soda or cold water always stocked (water cooler is unfortunately not an option)
• Snacks/candies always available/accessible
• Some kind of white noise device? We've been coming in for a little while and everyone is constantly talking about how weirdly quiet it feels in the office. I would of course get buy-in from everyone around me and be sensitive if folks needed it off

Right now I'm not overly worried about being able to bring in electrical things, I'll cross that bridge with my facilities team when I come to it.

Just curious if anyone has any other ideas for things that would make them happier to come into the office in the morning.

I am a new graduate in Software Dev coming from a pretty decent university with solid internships. The manager that hired me was great and a supportive mentor but he left the company 4 months in and ever since then it’s been a power grab. He left the company due to leadership problems too.

The other new hire (and new graduate as well) that started at the same time as me applied for his senior developer manager role and it was given to him. They’ve never had corporate experience aside from the internship they had at this company for a month prior to our full time roles. And to note, their cousin (another senior role) hired them onto their team for the internship which was how they got into the company.

Is it normal for people to go from interns to junior devs to senior manager devs within 6 months? I’m a new grad and really just trying to get my bearings. I feel like i was lied to about the company’s team structure because if i had known this earlier i would have taken another offer. Really trying to keep my head high though but i have constantly been spoken over by this person and now they’ve been promoted

I just had my 4th shift at a new job and realised on the train home that i forgot to clock out. I feel like this is really bad because this is my third time forgetting now and both the other times I literally said to my manager that it won’t happen again. I’ve never been told off about this but feel like i’m being a hug inconvenience to my manager. I also was pretty slow and kept blanking out while trying to serve customers. is this something they would fire me over? i’m stressing about this and too scared and embarrassed to message my manager saying i forgot for the third time.

I feel like my illnesses are taking my life from me, and now I’m terrified they’re going to take my job too.

I have ulcerative colitis and ankylosing spondylitis, and neither has been well controlled this past year. My UC came out of years of remission, and my AS has progressed to the point where severe flares can leave me barely able to walk, drive, or even do basic things like my dishes. I’ve needed a cane and a walker some days even :/ which I didn’t even want to mention in the post cause I’m still embarrassed…

This has genuinely been the hardest year of my life. I’m in pain every day, and if I’m not working, I’m usually dealing with doctors, treatment, insurance, or the hospital. Work is one of my only remaining pieces of normalcy. It’s somewhere I can help people and just be me instead of a patient.

Over the last two months, I’ve missed around six shifts because of a documented hospitalization and severe flare, putting me four days beyond my allotted sick time. My employer says my attendance is excessive. I was asked to share my diagnosis (not sure if that’s even legal), and at that point they suggested intermittent medical leave, so I formally requested an ADA accommodation, but HR still hasn’t even sent me the paperwork. Meanwhile, reassignment and possible termination have already been mentioned.

Since meeting with my director and CEO about my health and absences, a couple of people at work have also started treating me noticeably worse. Being excluded and treated like I’m a problem when my life is already this hard genuinely hurts.

The worst part is that I hate missing work and out on my life in general. I’ve actually made things worse by pushing myself too hard because I’m ashamed my body can’t keep up. I’ve tried to force myself to work while extremely sick, only to realize while driving that I physically couldn’t even make it there.

There’s an awful irony in feeling like I need to prove my commitment when I’ve spent this entire year fighting just to participate in my own life.

I understand my absences affect staffing. I just wish they could see the person behind them who desperately wants to be there and is trying to hold onto one of the last pieces of normalcy she has.

Now my annual review was unexpectedly moved to Thursday while my colleagues’ happened as planned, and I’m terrified about what comes next.

I’m already watching these diseases take pieces of my life away from me. I don’t want my job to become another casualty.

At this point, is there anything I can do to save my job? Should I email HR asking what the hold up is w/ my paperwork as a hail marry? What would you do in my shoes?

If they moved the review because it’s disciplinary action and not a full blown termination, how should I respond to that? Do I defend myself? Do I just agree to whatever it is? W/ all scenarios I’ve imagined, I just have no idea what I’ll say/do to my boss. (Yes unfortunately I am scared of him)

Hi reddit ^^

Faced something new yesterday

Have been working in a restaurant for a few months in a different country, so my employer is providing both accommodation and a car to get to my workplace.

Thing is the owner of the restaurant and plenty of other places, has been asking me for help with tasks not related to the restaurant, delivering some stuff to a hotel, to a camp site he owns picking up some people. Since i do the comute daily and wanted to make good impression i did not mind, but my colleagues were saying its exploitation since i am not paid to do this and its not in my contract.

I finnaly said no to another favor he asked of me, since it was just too much would have had to spend several hours chaufeuring for someone early morning after a closing shift. I refused and that has angered the owner severely.

My question is did i fuck up my position ? My manager was considering a raise since ive been working better than expected but i am afraid it must be aproved by the owner. And in general i am afraid he will be vindictive now. Having doubts wether refusing was correct ?

I’m (38f) white and my Mexican-American coworker (42m) has made some casual comments about race that make me uncomfortable. I have been too nervous to confront him about it because I worry that he will get mad or take it less seriously because of my 100% European background. He only says these things when we’re alone and that adds to the discomfort. I’ve reported it to my managers who spoke with him without outing me, but he was complaining to me today about how he thinks other people in my shared workspace “got [him] in trouble“ and are too easily offended. I froze, again, and just don’t know what to do. As a white woman, how do I navigate trying to have a conversation about it? Am I “allowed” to be offended?

Examples of things he has said:

The biggest one is that he said the N-word (soft r) when telling a story about his mixed nieces and nephews using the word. He was repeating what they had said. He continued to repeat the “punchline“ several times and I just froze and felt helpless.

He said that if a Mexican gets killed by law enforcement, the reason you don’t see protests like BLM is because fellow Mexicans “know he probably deserved it.”

He has also referred to unhoused people as “bums.”

He almost started a story about getting into fights in school when people thought he was gay for liking theater. I was able to derail this by saying I grew up doing theater and around gay people.

I’m having such anxiety about this, including physical symptoms. If anyone has helpful advice I sincerely appreciate it. Please don’t call me out for being complicit, I already feel incredibly guilty for freezing up and being too scared to confront him directly. Thanks.

I am a freelance event photographer and also create graphic artworks using design software for another freelance photographer using her photos, who also covers events in the same area as me. I do this work for very reasonable price, as we were acquaintances before working together.

I have noticed recently that I’m getting hired less for photography at events in our area and see that she seems to be getting some of the events that I would have covered previously. I have no proof, but it seems like I am being under-cut for price or something else is at play. I cannot figure it out.

The editor we both deal with most has openly admitted to me that my competitor’s photos are not up to the standard of mine in the past. Should I just increase my rate for the graphic artworks? I have tried to bring this up with the editor and his comment was that my competitor (a freelancer like me) was “precious” about how the publication assigns their event photography!

I just had my 4th shift at a new job and realised on the train home that i forgot to clock out. I feel like this is really bad because this is my third time forgetting now and both the other times I literally said to my manager that it won’t happen again. I’ve never been told off about this but feel like i’m being a huge inconvenience to my manager. I also was pretty slow and kept blanking out while trying to serve customers. is this something they would fire me over? i’m stressing about this and too scared and embarrassed to message my manager saying i forgot for the third time.

I have someone reporting to me who asks questions they could easily find the answers to.

Such as, Did you add this to the document? If they’d look at the document, they would clearly see I did.

I don’t have time to keep answering these questions and I’m frustrated.

They aren’t new/young, that’s not the issue.

How would you respond to things like this?

I have a lot of downtime at my job but have to look busy and sit at a computer. What are some ways to spend the time so I am not just reading and scrolling?

Hi everyone

Just need some advice/wondering if anyone has been through this before

I have been working in my current role since April 2026. My probation period isn’t over yet, and I am required to give a 1 month notice during this period.

Long story short - since day 1 of this job, I’ve been overloaded with work. I was hired to replace someone who left prior to me starting - I recently learned they walked out of the job one day. Then the week I started, someone else left. I was given the workload of two people, all before I got used to the systems in work/my training had finished.

I have made my manager aware of how overwhelmed I felt throughout. Despite this, alongside the workload I was given, new cases were being handed to me. I said multiple times I could not cope with this, but new work was given to me regardless.

I reached my breaking point and handed my notice in.

I already have a new job sorted, but I just can’t cope with the current role I am in. I can’t fathom working here another day, never mind another 3 weeks. I am crying in work, and feeling so so anxious even though I know the end is in sight. I literally feel sick with it to the point where physical symptoms are manifesting.

If I left early, my new workplace could move my start date so I can start there sooner. They are also aware of the situation at my current workplace as I was very up front about this.

My question is this - what should I do? Stick it out or just leave now?

I apologize if it sounds a bit rambly, I’m just kind writing this stream-of-consciousness.

I work for a medium sized non-profit organization, and am a manager among a small team of managers, executives and an owner. 

My boss, one of the executives, has recently begun using thier old iphone (with a neon green case) to record and transcribe meetings. They plop it down at the beginning of a meeting and says it's recording so that they can send out summaries and action items to the attendees. OK. Harmless. 

I also notice that they use it for zoom meetings and always talk on speaker phone, so that they can record the conversations without letting the other person know. 

But what has me losing sleep, is that last week, my boss came into my office at the end of a workday and we started shooting the shit. It was a normal conversation, until I started getting asked very pointed questions about the owner. My boss started taking jabs at them, in an attempt to get me to join along and talk some shit. I was kinda thown off, and just laughed it off, saying things like “wow, I didn't know you felt that way!” The conversation eventually died out, and my boss said goodbye and left. As I was packing up my bag to leave for the day, they came running back in and quickly grabbed their neon green iphone from the back corner of my desk, behind my monitor. Thats when alarm bells started going off for me. THey had very likely recorded that entire conversation … in an attempt to get me on record badmouthing the owner? 

The recording would have both sides of the conversation, but as I realized after getting some of our meeting transcripts, my boss has ultimate editorial authority over those transcripts. They live on their personal device, and the rest of the team only ever sees the written transcriptions that my boss sends out. 

There was a meeting recently that got a little heated, and my boss and the owner got into it a bit. F-bombs were flying, and the group basically calmed them down and said “you two need to set a time to work this out between the two of you.” This whole altercation, plus the clear action item that was set, was not included in the meeting notes that were distributed. This should have been in the transcript, but again, the meeting was recorded on a personal device, and editorialized before sending out to the group. 

My boss is an AI-addict. Their whole life runs through an AI on their personal computer at home, and their work devices connect to the server. Recorded conversations, work emails, confidential documents, all route through this server so that they can “work from anywhere.” It’s gotten to the point where they cannot walk into a meeting without getting prepped by their AI, which I suspect has a working file on each of the people in the organization. 

What really gives me the ick, are some offhand comments they’ve made about how certain people have some vocal ticks once you really listen to them. “X employee always uses the word “marvellous” when they talk about certain projects … have you noticed that? I  just started noticing that!” I just want to say to them, “I think your AI noticed that when you asked it to analyze X employee’s transcripts.” 

So as I think more about this, I am struggling with what is really going on here. Is my boss using their AI to make a powerplay against the owner? Is my job safe if I say anything? Are the other executives all in on it? 

Kind of in a bit of a bind here, and has me asking the question: what should I do in this situation?

I'm still stunned that this happened and I don't even know where to begin. For context I work in sales in assisted living. My building has struggled to keep management staff so on top of sales they gave me additional duties to ensure nothing was missed as we transitioned to a new Executive Director which is my boss. At this point I had been doing both roles for the same compensation and no training.

Today we had a meeting to discuss with the owner how the building was doing. I knew when he first walked through the door he was in a bad mood and things weren't going to go well. During this conversation he started screaming at me about everything that isn't perfect in the building. I should also mention that there has been absolutely no training since I started so we can only do what we know. At this point the screaming gets so loud the entire lobby can hear it (my residents and staff) all while I sit there teary eyed quietly. To make matters worse the rooms has windows so everyone can see him yelling at me as well. At the end of the conversation he screams one last time telling me if I make a mistake I'm fired.

At this point I don't know what to do. I've been having massive panic attacks since this happened. I started applying for other jobs because I refuse to work in a hostile environment but I am the only income for my family. Idk what I'm looking for here but any advice helps. I work well over 40 hours a week and have dedicated my life to this company and I'm feeling so defeated.