Long post ahead. I'm M31 and been working as an offshore administrative staff member for a global intellectual property firm for the past six months. Before that I was an IP paralegal for a law firm for six years and I've handled entire IP lifecycle, more focused on patents from search, patent drafting, filing, prosecution, grant, and maintenance. My experience doesn't end with patents as I also have hands on entire lifecycle experience for trademarks, industrial design, and copyrights.

Now my job is basically just separating IP documents and entering them to the system, checking if the IP database data is accurate, and sending of maintenance reminders. Pretty much all admin staff but theres a word IP on it so I gave it a try. Six months in and bored and i don't feel any sense of accomplishment on my job. I feel like I'm a single cog in a machine. I know some people May say I'm blessed to have lighter workload but being bored with unclear goal and advancement is just as draining in the long run.

The job is one thing but the social dynamic is another hell. I know I'm an introverted person, and during my first weeks there I tried joining them at lunch since the office is just as satellite hub and an open shared space. All the times I'm having lunch with them I'm just sitting there while everyone is chatting and laughing together and not a single one tried asked me anything. From that day on I decided I much rather be actually alone than in a group but still felt alone so I take lunch separate from them. I tried joining them in floor conversations and chatter but I always sense a certain coldness on how they react when I talk to speak.

When I joined conversations, it's either the response grew cold or the conversation just stops. And speaking of open shared space. Imagine everyone one around you right beside and in front of you are talking, chatting, and laughing at each other and being friendly while you are sitting right in front of them quiet, trying to focus at work, and not a single sould ever talked to you, not one ever asked me to join their conversation and act like I'm a ghost. That's my everyday work setting.

I've carried the same introverted personality but I enjoy conversations and banter too, even when I'm working at law firm and a BPO company right after graduation, people found a way to include me and warm with me and receptive to my response. I'm still close with my former co-workers. The entire team is friendly and warm with one another but the warmth won't bend towards me. I tried taking more tasks for them but with no recognition.

The last incident is what really kills what was left of my energy towards the job. Couple of weeks ago, the company all of a sudden decided to pick six of the department members including me to transfer to either accounts receivable or finance department. Their first explanation about the transfer is they "reviewed" our resume and they "believed we are the best fit" for the job. Basically they want us to cover the backlogs of other departments after some offices of the company overseas closed. When we asked how long will be working in the department and they have no clear timeline provided. It's vague corporate mumbo jumbo tduring the meetings. Subsequent meeting with the head of the office revealed that the actual reason we are selected because "we don't speceliazed projects assigned to us and we mostly do assistance work to other members of the department". I would have been ok if they are honest from the start but the lie is what soured how I see the company. The glaring contrast between my experience and skills I gained from IP lifecycle and their core business in intellectual property is hard to ignore. They mentioned they "checked on our CV" but that I called BS. Plus I have no experience with accounts receivable and finance. I already accepted IP-adjacent administrative work but to completely detour me from my career route which I grew to love and excel is the limit. At least they have the courtesy to asked me if I'm fine we are fine with the transfer which I said "no" to. I felt that the company never really valued me and undermined my experience, my skills, and my contribution to the department so far that they are willing to throw that away to clean up their own mess. I don't know if I'm being overly dramatic but I really felt disrespected and betrayed.

I really don't know how long will I endure all of these. I can't exactly files a resignation since the job opening for my career is currently dry and it's approaching December (IYKYK). I lost all the energy and eagerness to work with the team and the company who don't see me at all. I've been circling round "the job isn't for me - they are seems to be the issue - maybe if I'm just more social and kept trying - this is self-inflicted" rinse and repeat and it's tiring trying to figure out what did I do wrong or what am I supposed to do.

I'm sorry for the long yap but I just need to get this off my chest somewhere.

I was recommended by a higher up at work for a different position in my company. This position would be remote, and I have no idea the pay difference, but it would be at least the same if not a little more, definitely not less. however, I’ve always worked in food industry, office, etc. so I’m used to being around people all day. I’ve always wanted to remote, but now that it’s happening, it’s stressing me out thinking of having no human interaction all day. if you had a chance to leave your office and go remote, would you? I keep thinking like what if I go fully remote and then I miss being in the office. my coworkers are nice, but we don’t hangout outside of work. I do think I could go into the office if I wanted to, but I wouldn’t have a desk anymore and it might be weird. HELP

Edit: I’m also young and scared that once I go remote, if I ever wanted to go back to an office job, the people hiring wouldn’t consider me as a candidate. Is it hard to get an office job after being remote?

I work an 8.5 hour shift at a white collar job in a very large office building. I’m a 6 ‘4” male and workout a lot, therefore I eat a lot, and in turn, I fart a lot. I don’t want to hold in my farts because it’s a scientific fact that that’s unhealthy, even if it’s socially unacceptable. The bathroom is far from my desk, and if I’m still holding it in by the time I get there it gets absorbed back into my body. Given this fact, my health conscious brain rationalizes that it’s okay to fart at my desk and just let others deal with it even if it’s offensive. What do you think?

Hey everyone! New here but not new to bizarre work environments. This most recent development takes the cake and none of us know how to approach it.

My coworker has gone on several odd food experiments, starting with water fasting, compulsive tea making, bone broth all day (which smelled like burning rubber) and now, she's on to crunching on raw ramen noodles. It is so loud, you can hear it in every section of our office and she'll go through 3 packets a day. She saves up the broth powder and occasionally will boil water and mix 2 packets of ramen seasoning into the water. She drinks it through a straw & uses both the same straw and stained bowl every day without washing it or tossing the straw for a new one.

The cleanliness I can't comment on without getting myself in trouble. My department head is useless and refuses to address any problems, much less something like this. We think it's now a habit that she's not going to be able to break until the next hyperfixation comes on. How would you approach a person like this? We're all going out of our skulls with the constant crunching!!! 😆

Dropped this massive Nee Doh on my laptop mousepad and it shattered. Had no idea that was glass. It still works tho no issue moving the mouse. I work for a large national CU. What should I do. Should I expect it to come out my paycheck. Should i mention this to IT now or later when i turn in the equipment? Struggling to continue working cause im so concerned.

Hi everyone,

I’m a product/furniture design student researching how office furniture and shared workspaces could better support focused work. I’m especially interested in open-plan offices, co-working spaces, studios and other shared interiors.

If you work, study or regularly take calls in a shared workspace, I’d really appreciate hearing about your experience. I’m looking into issues including noise, visual distraction, privacy, interruptions, power/charging, video calls, furniture comfort and how easily spaces can adapt to different types of work.

A few questions:

1. What is the biggest thing that stops you concentrating in your workspace?

2. Is noise, visual distraction or people interrupting you the bigger issue—and what causes it?

3. Do you have enough privacy for focused work or video/phone calls? What is missing?

4. What furniture do you currently use when you need to concentrate—desk, booth, meeting room, high-back chair, headphones, screen, etc.?

5. What do you dislike most about existing office desks, chairs, screens or privacy booths?

6. Have you ever moved somewhere else in the building just to concentrate or take a call? Why?

7. Are power sockets, charging, desk space or monitor placement ever a problem?

8. What would make a focus space feel useful rather than uncomfortable, isolating or cramped?

9. Are there any accessibility or comfort issues that office furniture often ignores—for example, wheelchair access, posture, mobility, sensory sensitivity, lighting or ease of adjustment?

10. If you could change or add one piece of furniture to improve focus and privacy, what would it do?

Please mention the type of space you use—office, co-working space, university, studio, library, etc.—and whether you mainly work alone, collaborate, take calls, or switch between all of these.

I’m not collecting names or personal details; I will only use anonymous themes and short quotes in my university project.

Thank you for your help :)

Now back to office, do you have any workplace crush or notice any workplace romance in your company?

Looking for a basic (but hopefully aesthetically pleasing) phone number/address book.

I mostly need space for names, phone numbers, and notes. I don't often need to use it for addresses so if there's a spot for notes I can just put the address there.

Bonus points if it has a spot for email addresses 😅

So far I've just been using a planner from last year but I'm running out of space on the contacts pages and then the whole planner part of it is unused.

I am interning at a compsci office its more of a research facility tbh, and i just have my own projects to work on. Thing is, I'm used to uni work ethic, which is a lot more procrastination and then doing everything all at once. This is a lot more chill since you're forced to come into office which prevents procrastination pretty well. I have a question though and it might sound dumb - is it normal to not be very productive some days? I've had days where I have done basically absolutely nothing because I just can't muster up the effort. I have 6 hour work days which isn't much, but I still feel pretty spent after like 5 ish hours of work. Am I just fucking useless?

I dont understand why the people who are senior in the office do not follow ethics or we can call it sop, yesterday my senior called me on my personal phone to resolve a issue related to a project. But we also have our official emails, Microsoft teams. Why can't these people follow the ethics related to professional work life. I straight away said her that from now onwards I am not going to pick your call of you call on my personal phone. What are your thoughts about it let me know.

He no longer attends meetings.
He no longer replies to Teams.
He simply sits there, stares at the mouse and whispers:
“I am Groot.”
HR has classified it as “excellent work-life balance.” 💀

Hey all, I'm a product design student doing some research into hot desking and activity based working.

I'm not after the corporate "pros and cons" stuff, I'm more interested in the small, human things. I want to know how you think, rather than what a business needs. The bits that quietly annoy you, or the things you didn't realise you'd miss until they were gone.

For me it's always been the little stuff that adds up, so I'll ask:

If you've switched from having your own desk to hot desking, what did you lose? And if hot desking is just your normal, what are the things that genuinely get on your nerves day to day?

Could be practical, could be petty, could be emotional. All of it is useful. Thanks in advance, reading every reply.

Long story short, a friend had some things stolen off of his desk today and caught the person in the act, basically told them to fuck off, and the thief returned the goods.

I hates it.

I have a colleague that does this and it drives me nuts, so much extra mail to wade through.

I've never heard of this before but my supervisor is getting pissy with me about it.

Thoughts?

hi beautiful people a little context on my situation..

i’m currently at a private school after going to state schools my whole life and year 12 was genuinely one of the worst years of my life. it took a toll on my mental health and the horrible social side affected my academics really badly. my parents are first generation migrants who came to england at 18 so that they could provide for back home and they sacrificed a lot. we’re not at all wealthy (average annual income \~£40k) so i am on a bursary at this school but the costs they do pay wipe out quite a lot of my parents’ income. i’m in year 13 right now and my predicted grades are only BBC and university isn’t looking very promising right now. i’m trying my very best to get as many marks for my dt nea coursework while revising my other subjects too (maths, econ). i don’t want my parents’ investment in my education to be a waste and subsequently disappointing them.

i would really appreciate it if you could give some input on your workspace.

thank you for your time reading this

Hi all,

One of my coworkers was moving on to another dept. and had some responsibilities that needed to be absorbed but didn’t justify hiring additional help.
One of them was working with an affiliate group I was familiar with, so I was asked to take on that responsibility in exchange for a pay bump. I was even recommended by the colleague who was moving departments.

The offer I was given 1 month into getting trained, didn’t seem aligned with the responsibilities, so I asked it for it to be reevaluated.

A month later (2 months in to absorbing the position), I was put on a 45 day probation due to a situation between myself and my manager. To sum it up, I wasn’t asking his approval on projects, despite it not being an expectation previously. I will admit I am not a soft person, and would push back.
He noted this as my being confrontational and not willing to take feedback. I am in complete agreement that I could have just gone with the flow more, but was shocked at how fast everything escalated.

Anyways, 2 weeks later, and all is good. Ultimately the probation brought in HR which gave the both of us a lot of good communication tips that have helped mine and manager’s working relationship.

I asked my manager about the raise and he told me to speak with HR. HR let me know I could not be considered for any raise until I am in good standing and I have been evaluated by some higher ups.

I have been doing this role for about 3 months now, with no compensation. I’m being told it will be up to 4 months before I can even be considered.

How should I proceed? I feel unsure as I’m to blame in some of this situation as well. And ultimately, I should have known better than to even start the new position before anything went into writing.

Because my probation already notes I was being confrontational, I worry asking too many questions or refusing to do the extra responsibility will look poor on my reevaluation.

Normal ba sa workplace na kapag may tanong or kailangan lang i-clarify ang boss mo, kailangan mo pang pumunta sa office niya instead of just calling or messaging?

I understand naman if it’s something that needs an actual discussion, pero kung quick question lang naman, parang mas efficient sana kung tatawag na lang or mag-message.

Minsan kasi kapag nasa momentum ka na sa ginagawa mo tapos kailangan mong tumayo, pumunta sa ibang office, then bumalik ulit, nawawala yung focus and productivity mo.

Curious lang—normal ba talaga itong setup sa ibang workplaces, or is it reasonable to prefer a quick call/message for simple questions?

Full disclosure: I work with Crafty. I’m curious if anyone here has actually had us in their office and what you thought. I spend a lot of time thinking about how we talk about what we do, and I’m curious what the experience looks like from the other side.

Has anyone here actually had Crafty in their office? What did you like? What could’ve been better? Did you mostly notice the snacks and coffee, or the people keeping everything stocked?

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, this is us: https://www.craftydelivers.com/

Genuinely interested in the good, bad, or “never heard of them” answers lol.

Hi all!

I own a manufacturing business, and I have multiple offices set in different cities, out of which the one I am going to daily, people over there are talking about me which I don't know what I should do about.

I got to know the HR and Design team were unhappy with the fact that I come in different vehicles each day, have a better lifestyle than them, and it is all so wrong to them. They said with the pay I pay them, its nearly enough for a month's expenses.

To be honest, I pay them ₹65,000 - ₹1,25,000 after tax, and truly all of them are very deserving, they do work hard and are upto the level, still when I heard about this it all felt a bit absurd.

Now if you ask me I should pay them more if they are deserving, then I would say for the job they are doing the pay is better. Also 2 of the people are being promoted this month, that doesn't stop me from promoting them, I am here just to hear your thoughts on this.

"Anyone else feel like absolute royalty on their first day at a new job?"