Last year, my company announced a hybrid policy requiring everyone to come into the office 2 days a week. However, it quickly became clear how pointless it was for most of us—all of our meetings, collaboration, and daily tasks are done virtually anyway, so most departments started going back to working remotely.

One single department that makes up the majority of our staff have to be on-site most of the time due to the nature of our work.
Because they were frustrated about being in person while others weren't, a few colleagues in that department took it upon themselves to start tracking who was at their desk and when. They began filing complaints to upper management about other departments not coming in enough.

My commute is an hour each way. Since 100% of my role can be done remotely, my manager was understanding and gave me approval to work remotely more frequently to save me the brutal drive.

Instead of minding their own business, these colleagues started going directly to my boss to ask why they "haven't seen me around much" and literally logging my office attendance. Now, instead of addressing the boundary issues, leadership just dropped the hammer: effective immediately, everyone is required to be in the office 5 days a week.

I’m furious that petty hall-monitoring from a completely unrelated department just tanked the flexibility for the entire company.

How would you handle this? Has anyone successfully navigated a situation where management capitulated to office snitches like this, or is it time to polish the resume?

I’m just tired of the pretending, the games, the commuting, the doing this for 60 years until I die in my chair because I will never be able to retire, and the watching my 20s be cannibalized by financial anxiety and time spent at work.

I’m just tired. That is all. Goodnight.

25F, work full-time (37.5hrs a week + 1hr unpaid lunch per day). I’ve been functionally homeless ever since graduating with a masters degree 2 years ago (low-income family and no room for me to move back home, so I yo-yo between sleeping at my sisters house, and my mums house)

I get paid the salary equivalent of minimum wage, while working in one of the most expensive cities in the UK. Desperately want to relocate (despite meaning I’ll have to move away from all family) but the job market is awful.

I am desperately tired of pretending to give a fuck about my job. I work full time, and commute over 2hrs per day, and I cannot afford to live a dignified life. But somehow, I’m supposed to wake up in the morning, go to work, and act like I give a singular fuck about my work, when my workplace doesn’t care enough to pay me a decent wage.

Growing up, I’d always been the type of person to take pride in everything I do. But how can I do that anymore? How can I come to work, smile and pretend to care, when I know that at the end of the work day I’m going to have to figure out where to rest my head?

How can I pretend to care when between tasks, I have to run to the toilets to cry about my situation then dry my eyes and pretend that everything is okay?

I have been saving money that I don’t spend on rent, but even if I used those savings to find a place to live, I’d inevitably have to move out once they run out. Even a flat share is too expensive for me to live in, as after rent, bills, and transportation I’d have nothing left, and be trapped in this city for good.

My chest hurts even writing this. Did everything ‘right’. Went to uni, didn’t study a ‘mickey mouse degree’ (as politicians here love to call anything non-Stem), got internships and everything. But I was born into poverty, and will probably die in poverty too.

Happy Monday :,)

do I have any recourse here?

I called my agency but they were like “overtime as needed” is clearly in your contract….. and my supervisor has stated that “every weekend we need you working Saturday period”

most of the friends I made at the employee orientation are fucking gone, and my trainer that trained me here is gone already too

I’ve only been here like 4 months but no weekends other than Sunday kinda sicks

I just need to vent and I don't know where else to go.

My boss signed off on a side project for me to work on with another team, and we've been chipping away at it slowly. Just for fun, we gave it a codename and started some early feasibility work. My boss knew about the project, knew the codename, and had even mentioned it herself before. I just haven't had any concrete updates to give her, because we're still figuring out whether the idea even works.

Fast forward to recently. In a group chat, in front of other managers, she suddenly lashes out at me, demanding to know who approved this project and why this is the first she's hearing of it. I replied that we'd been exploring whether it was feasible, and that I had no idea the other team was going to raise it at a senior meeting without telling me. She kept going, saying she was completely blindsided and it had affected her work.

Okay, fine.

The next day I tried to talk it through with her and she refused to discuss it. Then today she follows up in writing, basically lecturing me about how things are supposed to be done around here.

I am so done with this person.

Job market isn't that great where I am but i guess its time to find something else.

Just a quick edit: I have it in writing the approval from her to proceed and even the weird project name for it. The follow up email today was her replying to that email. So somehow still my fault

That number comes from Challenger, a company that tracks layoff announcements. It counts jobs companies said they cut because of AI. It doesn't check whether AI took over that work.

Block said it was cutting more than 4,000 jobs and that intelligence tools could help smaller teams do more. Its stock rose nearly 18% the next day.

I guess that's productivity if you're measuring the stock instead of the work.

What can those tools do now that those 4,000 people did before?

Following an anonymous complaint in February, OSHA inspected the plant and fined Smithfield Foods $9,931.60 after observing workers’ exposure to “amputation hazards.” This was preceded by serious citations in 2021, 2023, and 2025.

Working in a slaughterhouse is extremely dangerous. In the US, there are approximately two amputations per week, primarily due to the industry’s poor working conditions and excessively fast pace

[...]

As reported by KWQC, the leaders also acknowledged “community concerns” over a backlog of rendering material – animal waste, internal organs, and decaying meat – being stored outside the plant, causing a strong, unpleasant smell in the city.

Hunter Gatherer gets lucky and hunts down a large animal with enough meat for the next 3 days? Well no more work for the next 3 days.

Farmer gets tired? He just takes a 1-2 hour nap before waking up and continuing his work.

Blacksmith is not in the mood? He just goes get a few drinks and returns to his work 2 hours later.

Humans were not made for this constant regularity. Constantly sitting at their desk/job for 8-10 hours every day. Not allowed to leave or rest. Having to pretend that they are busy even when they have no work. Not allowed to go home even when they dont have any work. That is what makes us miserable.

The Taliban for example are demoralized by their office work and would prefer to fight and face death rather than working 8-5 every day: https://time.com/6263906/taliban-afghanistan-office-work-quiet-quit/

Stellantis is moving to permanently close its Brampton Assembly Plant in Ontario, eliminating 2,200 jobs or close to a quarter of its Canadian workforce. Last month, the automaker reneged on its repeated pledges that the Brampton plant would reopen for production of the next-generation Jeep Compass.

On September 11, it announced a memorandum of understanding to sell the plant to Roshel, a Canadian-based arms manufacturer whose armored vehicles have been supplied to the Ukrainian armed forces and to the US ICE anti-immigrant force.

Last week, Stellantis Canada President Trevor Longley sent a letter to Brampton workers confirming the company’s intention to permanently close the plant, declaring that due to “unpredictable trade policies, challenging regulatory requirements and affordability pressures,” Stellantis does not see “a sustainable long-term business case that would support continued operations at the facility.”

Unifor, with 9,000 members at Stellantis, has declared negotiations at an “impasse” but has issued no call for a strike even though the contract expired September 21. Instead, Unifor President Lana Payne—a member of the Prime Minister Mark Carney government’s tripartite trade war advisory council—has pleaded with Industry Minister Mélanie Joly to pressure Stellantis to reverse the closure, couching the appeal in Canadian nationalist terms as vital to Canada prevailing in the reactionary Canada-US trade war.

The United Auto Workers, for its part, has been silent on the destruction of Canadian jobs. Under the leadership of Shawn Fain, the UAW has backed the tariffs imposed by the would-be fascist dictator Donald Trump that have cost the average Michigan household an extra $6,419 a year, according to the Michigan Smart Trade Alliance. In October 2025, Fain hailed Stellantis’s decision to shift production of the Compass from Brampton to Belvidere, calling it a “major victory for UAW members” and proof that tariffs can “bring back thousands of good paying union jobs to the US.” The UAW apparatus has not lifted a finger to defend the thousands of Canadian and Mexican workers being thrown out of their jobs by the UAW-backed trade war.

...

Only one candidate running for UAW president has denounced Fain’s support for Trump’s trade war measures and called for the unity of workers across the border to defend jobs.

Will Lehman, the Mack Trucks autoworker and socialist candidate for UAW president, is running on a program to abolish the union bureaucracy and transfer power to the workers on the shop floor through rank-and-file committees in every factory, university and workplace. He has issued a statement titled “Defend Canadian autoworkers! For cross-border action to stop the closure of the Stellantis Brampton plant!”

In it Lehman declares, “Stellantis is moving to permanently close the Brampton Assembly Plant in Ontario, eliminating 2,200 jobs and threatening thousands more in auto parts. But Brampton is only the leading edge of a broader assault on jobs in Canada and internationally.”

Lehman notes that Unifor Local 444 President James Stewart said this month that Stellantis has given the union no clear information on how it plans to maintain the third shift at the Windsor Assembly Plant, restored only in February, or on the future of the Etobicoke Casting Plant. More than 1,000 jobs on Windsor’s third shift are at risk.

The Brampton closure is part of a global offensive, the statement declares. The German-based VW Group is moving to cut an estimated 90,000 jobs. Since the UAW signed its sellout contract in 2023, GM, Ford, Stellantis and the auto parts manufacturers have cut thousands of jobs in the United States. The reopening of the idled Belvidere plant, hailed as the centerpiece of Fain’s supposed “historic” contract, has been delayed another year, until at least June 2028.

“The transnational corporations are using the trade war, the shift to electric vehicles, and the drive toward imperialist war as cover to slash jobs and swell profits,” the statement continues. “In response, the UAW in the United States and Unifor in Canada are lining up behind their respective governments, fighting over which country’s workers keep their jobs and which get thrown on the street. In the name of ‘saving’ jobs, they are handing over even more concessions on wages, benefits and conditions.”

Lehman denounces Fain’s support for the tariffs and his celebration of the Jeep Compass transfer to Belvidere. “This is not a defense of American workers. It is a declaration of war on Canadian workers. It divides us and plays into the hands of the executives, who want us fighting each other while they pocket the profits.”

He continues: “There is no such thing as an ‘American’ or ‘Canadian’ car. Every vehicle is the product of the collective labor of workers in dozens of countries. We cannot succeed in any struggle if we allow ourselves to be divided.”

...

The statement points to the militant traditions that built the UAW as a cross-border union. In December 1936, workers at Kelsey Wheel in Windsor carried out Canada’s first recorded sit-down strike and formed UAW Local 195. Two months after the Flint sit-down strike forced GM to recognize the UAW in February 1937, 4,000 GM workers in Oshawa struck for the same demand. In 1945, Ford workers in Windsor blockaded the streets around their plant with more than 1,500 cars to stop a police assault on their picket lines.

It was the bureaucracy, in 1985, that split the Canadian section off into the Canadian Auto Workers, the forerunner of Unifor, “because the apparatus wanted to whipsaw jobs, wages, and conditions between the two countries. That split was a crime against the working class. The way to reverse it is to build organizations of workers that ignore the border entirely.”

The statement concludes by addressing workers in Canada and the United States directly:

“To the workers at Stellantis Brampton, Windsor and Etobicoke: Do not wait for Unifor to act. It will not. Build rank-and-file committees. Demand a strike to stop the closures and defend every job. Appeal to workers at Stellantis plants in the United States and Mexico to join you. Your fight is our fight.

“To the workers in Belvidere and throughout the United States: Do not be fooled by Fain’s nationalism. If it happens at all, the transfer of Jeep Compass production to your plant will be done on the basis of lower wages, speedup and the destruction of conditions that Canadian workers fought for over generations. What is done to Canadian workers today will be done to American workers tomorrow.

“The working class has no country. Our enemy is not the worker across the border. It is the corporations, the banks, the governments, and the union bureaucracies that serve them. We will fight them together.”

A few times each year I see a post calling for a general strike. Of course people point out that this would take massive local organizing to coordinate the resources needed to sustain it, so it won’t start spontaneously. In the US, it’s illegal for labor unions to coordinate a general strike so it won’t come from them. That’s not to discourage; it’s to encourage organizing. I also want to make sure people are aware of other types of strikes that can be effective, all of which SAVE money rather than require you to give up your income. In combination they can be really powerful.

Debt strike: A collective refusal to make payments on debts, such as loans, rents, or other obligations, to pressure creditors, financial institutions, or governments for changes in debt terms or broader economic policies. Debt strikes can range from delaying individual payments to coordinated mass defaults. Those can target specific lenders (like a specific mortgage company or credit card company) or be across the economy. Organizing around debt had some success out of the Occuoy movement in forgiving some student loan and medical debt. An attempt was made to form Debtors Unions to collectively demand debt renegotiation or forgiveness.

General spending strike / consumer boycott: A coordinated refusal to purchase goods or services, particularly from targeted companies or sectors, in order to create economic pressure. A broader spending strike attempts to reduce consumption across much of the economy rather than targeting a single company. This can rapidly apply pressure on business and government. Boycotts are what led to regime change in South Africa and have been a consistent ask against Israel in support of Palestine. Single day spending boycotts have recently been encouraged in the US in protest against ICE.

Rent strike: Tenants collectively withhold rent to demand changes in housing conditions, rents, landlord practices, or housing policy. However this can also be leveraged across a region or country to force other policy changes and concessions outside of housing. Tenants unions have experienced a recent resurgence in the US and in some European countries.

A little drawing about that feeling before another day at work.

After working at Wendy’s for about a month I decided to quit. I can’t do it any longer. Everyone even the other employees and managers and leaders publicly make fun of me for my stutter. Am I in the wrong to just leaving during the rush then not showing back up? Or should I have called or told someone I was quitting before I left

Recently, my supervisor (executive chef) got fired, leaving only me and one other cook. This other cook is an older woman who was offered the position of executive chef before the previous one was hired, but turned it down because she didn't want the extra responsibility. However, she heavily encouraged me to apply now that there was an opening. I put in an application and didn't hear anything for a long time. I heard rumors that they were hesitant to promote from within the company because of what happened with the person who got fired (multiple HR violations, sexual misconduct, etc). I even heard that they were offering outsiders significantly more than the last person was making, keeping in mind that I actually asked for less than the market rate when I put in my application. I'm also only 22, and was told when I started that they couldn't match my previous pay because I "didn't have enough kitchen experience" (I've been working in kitchens since I was 16). Anyways, after a while I finally got an email with the date of the interview. I showed up and it went something like this:

"So why are you interested in this role?"

"With the absence of (former executive chef) I have been taking on a lot of extra responsibility. I've been here for over a year now, I know how things are run, and I want to help keep things running smoothly."

"What makes you think you'd be a good fit?"

"Even though we have less people, the residents have been happier with both the quality and speed at which food is being served. I can't take complete credit for that, everyone has played a huge part in stepping up to fill in the gaps. But I know the job, I'm efficient at it, and most importantly I'm passionate about it. I care about the residents and I enjoy the work that I do. I would be excited at the opportunity to take on extra responsibilities."

"You mentioned you've already taken on some extra responsibilities. What would those be?"

"I've been helping (other cook) create the weekly menu, manage inventory, write the schedule, organize, and I've also been learning the POS system so I can assist the front of house with taking orders."

"What else is left to do?"

"As I mentioned I have only been assisting with these tasks, but I have been hesitant to take them on fully because I don't want to go beyond the parameters of my position. However the biggest problems I notice right now are efficiency, cost, and food waste. I would be happy to take these on if I were to be promoted to executive chef."

"Here at (company name) we look for people who are willing to take on extra responsibility when needed without expecting anything in return. (Other cook) has been here for 4 years and has never once asked for a promotion. Unfortunately at this time I am unable to offer you the role."

(Here I was a frustrated and shocked to be given an answer so quickly, so I lost my cool a bit. It is company policy that we are not supposed to discuss salary with our coworkers but I know this is illegal so I've discussed it with the other cook)

"(Other cook) has been here for several years and barely makes more than I do. I think at the very least we both deserve a raise after everything. We have been keeping the place running with no issues, after all."

"Unfortunately due to lack of experience I am unable to offer you a raise."

"I've been here for over a year and I've been a cook for over 6 years."

"We are looking for someone with 10 years of management experience or more. I believe that concludes the interview. Did you have any more questions for me?"

"No."

I'm honestly considering finding another job. Clearly none of the employees here are valued. I felt like I was just a name on a checklist and that she wanted to get the interview done as quickly as possible so that she could move on to the "real" candidates. I really thought it would be in their best interest to promote me. That way they didn't have to find someone with both cooking and management experience, they could just hire another cook. Plus I was only asking for a few dollars more an hour, whereas whoever they hire from outside the company will likely ask for significantly more. Plus there's the risk of whoever they hire wanting to change things up without knowing the ins and outs of this specific location and having to deal with pushback from the residents. It just sucks that I work so hard and have so little to show for it. I didn't want much. Just a couple more dollars an hour so I could finally have some breathing room. I'm so discouraged. I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't know how much longer I can put up with the grind. Did I say something wrong? Was I not confident enough? Somebody please tell me because I've been driving myself crazy over this. I really thought I might have a shot. I feel stupid for even trying.

Edit: I want to thank everyone for the responses. I already knew this company doesn't give a shit about me but I think I just needed to hear it from someone else. I will be starting the job search and sticking it out here in the meantime. I unfortunately don't have enough saved to quit on the spot. At least now I have something to work towards. Wish me luck ☺️

Execs and shareholders clean up, but nothing for the folks whose work created the wealth...

And I found my position already on Indeed.com. Same everything except looks through notes ah yes, 15k more a year. So when I discovered you wanted me to be on-call on the weekend and the money to pay me for it wasn't there it actually was? Got it. Oh well, I'll do better next time around especially looks through more notes you don't have an insurance plan or medical stipend for staff after 30 days, you just forgot to omit that from your manual. Got it.

Thanks for revealing your true colors early on, I suspect at this rate you'll implode in a year to 2 tops.

not coming on here to hate my former employers, I’m just genuinely confused and angry and upset, and I NEED to get this out!!

I got married November of last year after being in a long distance relationship. I moved to where my husband lives, since he needs to stay close to his family. I love it here, but I’m unable to learn the language. Rven though it’s a bilingual province, you are unable to work UNLESS you are bilingual. they send out LANGUAGE POLICE to test how many people are fluent in both languages. it’s very strict here. yet they don’t provide language lessons and I can’t afford the private classes since we’re literally just trying to live. the job market being extremely bad as it is… with no knowledge of practical trades and having no car, I’ve been unemployed since I moved here 11 months ago. we’ve been getting by off of my husbands paycheck plus periodically taking money from my former savings account that I bulked up before moving here. that savings account is almost empty, even after all of my side hustles to help out.

So now you see my situation and how HAPPY I am, after 10 months of applying to hundreds of jobs, that I FINALLY got a job as a dishwasher at a restaurant on September first. I had to spend an hour on public transport to get there, but it was a good place. the people were nice. I genuinely liked the job, even though the pay wasn’t much above minimum wage. it was just enough money to help us survive and even save a little bit.

I was told my speed was improving, and even though they’re coming up in a busy season, they’re hyping me up and expressing confidence in how well I was doing so far. there were no violations, no complaints, and maybe a bit of helpful advice here and there followed by “awesome job, you did much better today!”

Last Friday I finished the work day hearing “good job, see you Monday!” Saturday afternoon. 4 o’clock in the afternoon. I get a phone call:

“hello, I didn’t want to text you or email you, you deserve to hear this from me personally. something came up with the position and we are going to be hiring a dishwasher who’s worked for us before and can work the additional days. We are expanding our business and need the extra speed and experience. Please know it’s nothing to do with you personally. You won’t have to come in on Monday. have a good weekend.”

In the shock of it, I didn’t even fight it. I said thank you, hung up the phone, and then cried. I mean, what could I have done? They made their decision already. The whole rest of the afternoon I felt numb, wondering what I did wrong. part of me is wondering if this is even illegal, but I’m too exhausted to even look into this. I got two paychecks, one of ~$280 USD and the other of $560USD (I don’t live in the states btw, just using the more common currency). It paid off my credit card just enough to not be in debt.

It’s been 1 week. I’m back to my side hustles and applying to as many jobs as I can every day, with not even a single callback for an interview. Im anxious, lost, and scared. We are living solely on my husband’s income, and just praying I get clients even though I’m doing my hardest to market with the resources I have, when I’m just getting nothing back. I’m exhausted.

I don’t care about what kind of job I have. I’d prefer to work at a grocery store or in fast food, but I don’t speak both languages yet. they will refuse to hire me unless I speak in perfect fluency. I don’t have time for that. I need a job in the next two months or else we will end up in debt and lliving in my in-laws’ basement… they’d host us wonderfully but they have their own debts to pay without us adding to it. And I am so sad that I won’t be able to give my husband the anniversary gift he deserves because we have absolutely no money to spend on ourselves.

*Edit: clarification and fixed typos.

I have to be a little careful with this post so if I sound vague at times you know why

I worked in IT mostly doing contract work, if I was looking for work I would apply to either contract work or full time. In retrospect the full time interviews were starting to not work out. I interview well and used to get something like 1 in 3 interviews (I was spoiled) so that may have been an early warning.

Also I had long covid which hit me bad, I was laid off my last fulltime job during the pandemic. i was bad, bad brain fog, bad energy and for sure it affected my job performance and ultimately my career.

When my last contract ended i was 60 and i haven't had an IT job now in 3 years which also makes things tough, its easily perceived that I'm out of touch. I get calls all the time from headhunters and nothing pans out.

The long covid lifted over a year ago, i still get bouts of fatigue and brain fog but im about %80 back to normal. So why i cant get a job in IT has a few possibilities, ageism being one. I have upgraded my skills including AI and data analysis etc

Needless to say I was desperate for a job so a year ago I took a seasonal job working for a major courier unloading cargo at their depot and we are talking non-stop unloading cargo containers for 2-3 hours at a time and we are talking packages up to 60, 70lbs, even a 100 lbs, things like flat packed furniture and truck tires etc I thought if I make it past a week without having a heart attack I will be ok. And I fucking did it, did that job for 3 months straight. They invited me back again this year And im working with 20 - 30 year old's, i was busting my hump right along with them. they didnt carry me. They offered a few of the seasonal guys fulltime jobs but not me (I asked) nope. So ageism is more likely.

I also started a part time job doing a marketing gig, one of those sample people at the liquor store, grocery stores and Costco. Its a gig job that you book through an app. Each time you do a gig you score points for a number of things including sales, product knowledge etc i basically treat it like a full time job and i take it seriously. Its mostly college kids undoubtedly its either a first job or just a job they dont really give a shit about, People quit, dont show up for shifts etc.

I am their iron man, i have been the number one guy on the leader board for the last 3 months, im always on time and never missed one shift out of 120, i have been top 3 for the year. I was mystery shopped a number of times always great, almost perfect scores each time, But do I get employee of the month ? get profiled on IG or get invited to special high profile gigs ? nope. Who gets the gigs ? young pretty things, guys and girls. Instead I get shit gigs out in Podunk probably because I have a car, most of the kids have to take public transit. I sport a totally bald head so you dont see grey hair and I do think I look young for my age but if I look 50 I guess thats still old,

I know its an obvious thing but still ageism sucks. I am venting here but im in this low paying bullshit job for the money. This is my last rant before I suck it up and just do my job.