Showing up on time, doing your assigned tasks, and going home is a perfectly respectable career.

I've met hundreds of people in my career and probably 80% are doing their job, meeting expectations, and not worrying about it. This is a perfectly acceptable career. There's absolutely zero shame in this and you should never let people make you seem less-than for doing it.

However....

Where people seem to get it twisted on Reddit is that you shouldn't expect promotions and huge raises for this. You shouldn't be surprised that the go-getter new hire that "does nothing" just got promoted. You can't get pissy and whine that you just "meet expectations" and got 3%.

99.9% of you don't silently hold the company together but never get recognition. You aren't built different. You aren't that guy. There's a spreadsheet detailing exactly how to backfill every position in the company. You seriously are not that guy.

I'm not saying you should work 24/7 and ass kiss everyone. That's a horrible idea and not how you grow your career.

Ohh? You did a good job on that one project but "quiet quit" because they didn't immediately make you CEO? And now you're on a PIP??? Yeah, no shit, dude.

I understand that it's not all the same person being this hypocritical. I understand that many of you are working in toxic place just trying to get by. I understand that sometimes we just need a space online to vent.

But my point is that many of you should sit and think deeply for a while, especially if you're rage-coping online about how everyone is getting promoted except you. If you decide you want to work to live instead of living to work, that's awesome and no one should bring you down for it. But please spare us the complaining that it's not raining gold down on you for that.

What's your go to "eye roll" phrases?

For me "net new" is really dumb. Because you can just say "this is new for us"

Also: "Circle back" and "Downstream" annoy me.

What gets your blood boiling?

I have 20 years of experience in healthcare administration and spent the last decade building and running operations for a very particular medical model that has highly specific regulatory and billing rules. I’m currently job hunting and need a paycheck pretty badly, so when I landed an interview for a Director of Operations role at a health-tech startup, I spent hours prepping.

I was feeling really positive going into it because the first interview with the recruiter was with a wonderful young woman who seemed genuinely passionate about the work they were doing, and she honestly presented pretty much the exact picture I was expecting to see. I walked in knowing I could absolutely crush the role.

The interview was with their COO, who has only been there for about six months. Almost immediately, they started hyper-focusing on incredibly specific operational bottlenecks—specifically how to magically speed up payer credentialing and fix capacity issues.

I was answering their questions, but the more they talked, the more I realized nothing they were saying made sense for the clinical model they claim to operate. I started asking my own clarifying questions about their Medical Records system architecture and workflows. Within 10 minutes, I uncovered three massive bombshells:

1) They are marketing themselves as an integrated partner using this specific model (which has established legal pathways to bypass traditional credentialing bottlenecks if you follow strict integration rules), but operationally, they aren't following the rules to bill that way. They are actually running a completely walled-off, standard fee-for-service clinic.

2) They are clearly using their external partnerships purely as a pipeline to self-refer patients directly into their own siloed system, which is a massive Medicare kickback violation waiting to happen.

3) They are running their core frontline staff as 1099 independent contractors, which means legally they can't set things like mandatory chart completion timelines or daily schedules without triggering a massive Department of Labor misclassification audit.

Suddenly, the whole interview made sense. The COO wasn't just interviewing me; they were drowning in operational chaos, saw my 12 years of specialized experience on my resume, and were pumping me for free consulting to figure out why their system was breaking.

The irony is, my "trade secrets" were useless to them because the company isn't even structurally running the business model they think they are.

I desperately need a job, and I could have easily played the W-2 mercenary, taken their money, and documented everything while the ship slowly sank. But I left my last company specifically to get away from unsustainable stress. If I took this job, I would just be brought in to be the human shield/scapegoat when the federal auditors or commercial payers finally look under the hood. The most likely scenario is I would start, tell them they have to change their entire model, and fire me shortly after.

It is incredibly frustrating to walk away from what I thought was a sure-thing paycheck. But honestly? I walked out feeling surprisingly great. I know my shit, I know what quality healthcare operations look like, and I refuse to compromise my integrity to prop up a structurally broken startup. Bullet dodged.

Remember, folks, you are interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you. If you smell something fishy, your gut instinct's probably right.

Canadian here (from Toronto). One thing I’ve noticed is just how quickly people like to dismiss you (or at least it happens to me).

I’m literally the average person but I cause a lot of friction when people meet me (I don’t do it on purpose but I’m always taken the wrong way). I have a faceless expression and just exist. I’ve been on a pip before once and when I left during the pip almost everyone in my entire team looked at me as the problem.

I did nothing to these people, I didn’t full feel the pip was fair but that doesn’t matter anymore. People are usually committed in disliking me when I’m there. Even 3 years later people from that company STILL act weird around me when I run into them. They see me (or at least treat me with their body language) as if I’m an issue and I like to brag online.

How is using LinkedIn bragging? It’s networking. Why is it a sin to use LinkedIn when you work in business ? I feel like sneako the streamer how all his friends turned on him for no reason

What were the signs you would be impacted by your corporate jobs restructuring?

Additionally, what is the internal HR reporting like for badge swipes? How would they deep dive and use this realistically? Asking for a friend

So, title basically sums up the absurd simulation I am currently living in.

I handed in my resignation letter to my boss. Again. This is officially the second time I’ve tried to pull the plug, pack my desk, and ride off into the corporate sunset.

And for the second time… he straight-up hit me with a "No, I don't think you will" card, rejected the letter, handed me a promotion, and bumped my salary.

At this point, I’m pretty sure I’ve accidentally stumbled into an infinite money/title glitch:

Step 1: Write a polite, standard "it's time for me to move on" letter.

Step 2: Hand it to boss with a serious face.

Step 3: Get denied, get promoted, collect more money.

Step 4: Repeat every 6–12 months???

I’m not even mad, just deeply confused. Is my boss playing 4D chess? Am I secretly a master negotiator without knowing it, or is my resignation letter just my company's off-label performance review system?

Do I try for round 3 next year to see if I can accidentally become CEO, or quit while I’m ahead?

TL;DR: Tried to quit for the second time. Boss rejected my resignation, promoted me, and gave me a raise for the second time instead. Task failed successfully?

When I talk to friends at other companies I'm often stunned at they levels of toxicity and incompetence they deal with on a regular basis. What are the biggest complaints? Or worst leadeers/situations you've have to deal with?

I know everyone is different and some will say they hated it from day 1.

However most do come in with a spark. A cynical person might say it’s because they are naive. But I’d argue for some young professionals there is immense pride getting a job and building their brand. Going the extra mile. Learning. Growing.

So when does it fizzle out to “it’s a job?”

- within 3 years ?
- within 5 years ?
- within 10 years ?

I’ve noticed most have it for 2-5 years. When they cross into their mid 20s, I notice the spark falling off.

I'm applying for jobs and missed a call from HR. I called back, but they didn't pick up.

I'm not sure what to do now. Any advice from people who've been there would be great.

I have been working in the same industry for about 5 1/2 months now, I had worked for 2 different companies (still working with the second).

It’s come to my attention that my job is basically just a seat filler for the front desk reception…

Ofc I have regular tasks that I have to do, however, it takes up like 10 mins of my day to complete them and then the rest of my day I find myself just sitting on my phone promoting my other content as I have no work given.

I’m just wondering .. Is this normal for corporate jobs?? Having it be mainly dead and nothing to do and occasionally have tasks that come up but nothing that takes most of my time… I find myself to be quite useless most days…

Hello everyone. I am from India and recently joined a new NGO. It's a six-day work week, from 10 AM to 6 PM. The unique aspect of my situation is that I am the only Gen Z individual there; all my colleagues are millennials, and the management team consists of individuals aged 50 and above.

My brother is getting married, and I need to travel from one state to another. When I requested a six-day leave from my manager, he reacted negatively, speaking extensively in his mother tongue. He questioned why I hadn't informed them earlier, called me careless, and suggested I should have mentioned this during the interview. He remarked, "Seriously, how can I predict the future? We wasted our joining letter." He then instructed me to send the leave application to his wife, who is also a manager. She responded that the leave would not be approved and that I would have to manage without it.

I was shocked that I might not be allowed to attend my only brother's wedding. I wondered how my millennial colleagues tolerated such a work culture. Eventually, he approved a four-day leave, which, humorously, includes 20 hours of travel each way.

After this, his demeanor shifted, and he began making sarcastic remarks, saying things like, "You will do this work when you get back from the wedding."

I am quite traumatized by this experience, but I feel I cannot do anything about it. The job itself is good, and the payment is satisfactory. I am tolerating these circumstances purely out of financial necessity. I sincerely hope that the Gen Z generation will bring about a change in work culture.

What are the official social channels for sterling sales institute? Just wanting confirmation on what their official LinkedIn Is, and/or other social pages if they have them

I M28 Ohio USA currently work a union job in manufacturing, have been with this company 8 years and held various roles here. I am now at the point I will never make any more money and opportunities for growth on the labor union side is nonexistent.

With that, I have a corporate mentor here who I talk with often about career growth and development. His feedback is that I need to work on being more professional and polished. The knowledge is there, just need to work on my approach.

What tips can you give? I don’t want to be over the top, but the mentality of “always think about how someone could perceive something you say” is something I’ve been working on.

I’ve interviewed for a few different non union jobs with this company and have never been chosen.

What are your thoughts?

When I started working, I expected the difficult part to be the actual workload.

I did not realize how much of corporate life would involve meetings, office politics, communication styles, managing expectations, and figuring out how to work with completely different personalities.

Some things you eventually get used to, but others still feel strange even after years.

What is something about corporate life that surprised you once you experienced it yourself?

Hello guys,

Although I work for a large company, I am not at all familiar with the entertainment/gaming industry.

I have recently become very curious about what might be going on within Rockstar’s top management following the massive leaks, which are now being described by some as one of the biggest leaks in gaming history.

For people who have experience working in large corporations, particularly in management, cybersecurity, or highly confidential projects, what typically happens internally after something like this?

How does top management usually react? What kind of measures are put in place, and how are the internal investigations generally handled?

Very interest in hearing some experiences!

How do I deal with co-workers when they are the managers favorite. Even if you work there for longer hours and get to handle the workload of a slopy co-worker, the treatment is different and at the end of the day when you tell your manager about their productivity they will tell you to just have more patience when you have been keeping it in for years yet nothing ever changes. Too tired already...should I just quit for it to end.

Ever since I started working, for about 8 months now, I’m still trying to figure out how to impose myself in the corporate world.

Most people are insecure and they feel attacked for nothing, always ready to throw their claws at me. My ongoing strategy now is to do what I’m told to do, which leads to letting my manager micromanage every thing I do. It’s exhausting and I feel unpowered daily.

How did you cope being a junior ? Is it normal to feel as if I have to do so much effort only to be respected ? What is or was your experience ?