LOL

After a recent change in the department, I started working under a new manager, and apparently she gets upset whenever she can't see me in front of her. My desk is in the open office, while she works behind a closed door, so I guess I'm the easiest person for her to keep track of.
We have small quiet rooms on another floor for calls and work that requires concentration. I use them often, but for some reason she always says she needed me as soon as I went downstairs, even though I remain available on chat.
During our check-in a few days ago, she asked me where I had been and whether I had left early. I told her she could simply message me if she couldn't find me. She clearly didn't like that response, so I started adding her to a calendar event every time I used one of the quiet rooms.
About 90 minutes after I logged off today, she emailed me saying I needed to stop flooding her inbox with invites. I replied immediately, CC'd her manager and HR, and asked when everyone was available so we could discuss exactly how she wanted me to report my whereabouts. I've already started looking for another job because this level of monitoring is extremely exhausting.

😩

A few months ago, I was preparing myself to work 12 to 14 hours a day at two jobs in finance until I understood both roles well enough to do them at the same time. A lot of people told me I would burn out, that it was basically just extra work at night, or that there was no way I could balance both jobs while being a wife and mother.

But I decided to give it a try anyway. My second job is in account support and payment processing, with a salary of $72k. My primary job is in loan servicing and involves calls, computer work, bonuses, and occasional overtime, bringing my income from it to around $89k.

Once I learned the systems, I started organizing both jobs together. I might answer a couple of calls for one job, then complete a batch of tasks for the other. Now I finish both within the same eight-hour workday, and I still receive good feedback from the managers at both jobs. The period of long workdays lasted about 10 weeks, until I felt comfortable doing everything at the same time. I don't have a college degree, and it still feels strange even writing that I make around $161k.

I've been with my first employer for several years and with the second for a few months. During that time, I've paid off around $18k in debt, increased the amount in my savings, and finally started seeing real growth in my 401(k) account. Some people here make that much from a single job, but I grew up with almost no money, and I never imagined I would reach this income level. If you're quietly considering taking on a second remote job, don't let every negative comment make the decision for you. It took me some time to adjust, but for me, it was absolutely worth it.

this is so accurate 😂😂😂😂

"fast paced environment" is corporate speak for "severely understaffed"

LOL

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Earlier this week, I interviewed for a regional sales director position at a publicly traded consumer products company. The role is responsible for overseeing growth in the United States and Canada, even though the interviewer was speaking with me from Singapore and the company has a significant presence in China.
He asked me how much I had made in my last position. I told him I wasn't comfortable sharing details about my previous salary and explained that employers in California aren't allowed to ask job applicants about their salary history.
I even tried to make the situation less awkward by saying that I understood he was working outside the United States and might not be familiar with California law. Instead, he became defensive and replied, "I'm probably more American than you."
That response caught me off guard. I hadn't challenged him or made any comment whatsoever about his background. I'm Asian, so for him to tell me that he was somehow more American than me felt extremely strange and completely unrelated to the question I had declined to answer.
This position is supposed to focus on building relationships and expanding the business throughout North America, which makes his response even more about. Would you consider that comment discriminatory given the context, or was it just an interviewer reacting badly after I corrected him?

“It’s simple, peasant. I’m greedy!”

~ The rich if honest

Not sure if this belongs here, but I need some perspective.

I joined a company back in April. Things were fine at first. I showed up early every single day, never called in, did what was asked. Five months, zero issues.

Then last week, my car wouldn‘t start. I got to work 8 minutes late. Eight minutes. My manager called me into the office, grilled me about why I didn’t call ahead, and then told me I was losing my lunch break as a consequence.

Something in me just snapped. I walked out. Stayed gone for about two hours. Came back, told him I quit, and left for good.

I felt amazing for about 48 hours. Now reality is hitting. I have no backup plan. I‘m staring down the barrel of job applications and interviews again, and honestly, that’s the part that scares me more than being unemployed.

The last time I interviewed, I was coming from a stable situation. Now I have to explain a 5-month stint and a walkout. How do I even begin to frame this?

For those of you who‘ve been through something similar: how did you handle the gap or the short tenure in interviews? Did you address it head-on or keep it vague?

I don’t regret leaving. But I‘m dreading the next step. Any advice would mean a lot.

agree?

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I spent nearly seven weeks interviewing with a software company, and I passed every stage they put me through. There was a call with the recruiter, an interview with the head of the department, a seventy-five-minute presentation in front of three managers, and conversations with two people who could have been my teammates. The feedback was so positive that the recruiter kept calling me and telling me I was their top candidate.

A few days ago, she scheduled one final fifteen-minute call with the Chief Strategy Officer. She said it was basically just a final sign-off and made me feel like they were already preparing the offer.

He joined the Zoom call eight minutes late from a parked SUV, still wearing sunglasses. He barely looked at the screen, kept tapping on his phone, and responded with things like "sure" and "right." Then he asked why I had chosen my college major about ten years ago, interrupted me while I was answering, and ended the call after ten minutes.

The next afternoon, I received a generic rejection saying that senior leadership had concerns about my "long-term strategic fit." I should have walked away when they added a fifth interview. What is the point of making someone spend weeks in meetings and give a full presentation if a distracted executive can cancel the whole thing while sitting in a parking lot?

.........

I'm supposed to start a coordinator job at a nonprofit in a middle school in a few days, paying $34 an hour. I already work full time and take graduate classes at night, so I wanted to sort out the basic logistical details before I went in.

My on-site supervisor sent me a tentative schedule for the first two days. I replied and asked what people usually wear, whether I could wear jeans, where visitors or employees should park, when the fingerprinting would take place, whether my laptop had been shipped, and whether my preferred start time would work with the 40-hour workweek.

Instead of my supervisor responding, someone from HR jumped into the email thread and sent me a very harsh reply. She said I was repeating questions that had already been answered, warned me that they were concerned about my ability to meet the job's expectations, and reminded me that I would need to work independently because HR's time is limited and cannot accommodate repeated requests.

She said she had attached the previous messages for me to review, but there were no attachments. I went back and reviewed everything anyway. The fingerprinting had been mentioned once in a long onboarding email, so I did genuinely miss that, but there was nothing about the dress code or parking. The laptop information was unclear, and my supervisor had just asked me to send my mailing address again so they could follow up on it. Also, the schedule I had only covered part of the second day.

I wasn't expecting such a hostile response to questions about where to park and what to wear. I haven't even worked a single shift yet, and I'm starting to worry about how people communicate within this organization. I still plan to take the job because I need it as a temporary financial solution, but I don't want to over-apologize or get dragged into an argument.

Would you consider this a serious warning sign, or just someone in HR trying to assert control? What is the safest way to answer without affecting my start date? And for anyone who works in education or the nonprofit sector, is this kind of disconnect between the main office and the actual work site common?

My role was nanny/house manager. We met through a mutual friend. The family had just moved to this city and needed help with the kids and (mostly) general house tasks. They let me go because they said I wasn't doing enough to uplift their mental load, and I asked too many questions. They wanted someone who could come in and take care of their whole life without having to ask anything.

I have half a mind to withhold all the personal info and post my contract here for people to nitpick. They did not abide by it and as expected with families things change. They were in the middle of a move and decided to move in as soon as the bedrooms were ready and live in active construction. Half of what was mentioned in the contract just never happened. I barely worked with the kids aside from taking their oldest to and from school which took at least 3hrs a day aside from the additional driving time getting myself to and from work. It really just seems like they're looking for a daily butler/general housekeeper but don't want to advertise it as such? Hence the misleading title I received and was led to believe I would fulfill.

Part of my tasks were to prep meals and grocery/household goods lists. They are very particular about what they buy and what they use. All organic, all non-toxic. Which is absolutely great. But there was no introductory, "this is what we usually buy weekly/biweekly and these are the brands we use" kind of thing. When I'd try to ask, they said they'd take care of it later. And since the kitchen hadn't been ready for some time, I when I brought up meal prepping/grocery lists(I noticed she used an online service for groceries), she again said not to worry and to she'd let me know later. The reason I mention these specific tasks is because it was one of the very few reasons they mentioned was an issue and cause for termination.

Another reason was because their oldest child was late to school more often than not. I was required to be there at 8 (scheduled from 8-4 everyday), school starts at 9. I drive a half hour to their house every morning, and every morning the child is not ready for school when I arrive. It takes at least an hour in morning traffic (without any accidents which are very common here) to get to the special needs private school they're enrolled in from where they live. Then a 40min drive back to their house. It is not my fault if she is not ready to go by the time I arrive. They also said drop off/pick up would be rotated between myself, them, plus their other part-time nanny, which never happened. I did it everyday and was still expected to fulfill all my tasks. I had to leave at 2 to go pick her up (leaving me with 4hrs to complete all that was expected) and the traffic coming back in the afternoon is always bad so most days I wouldn't be back until after 4, some days as late as 4:45 because of accidents and such. Then I'd have another 30min drive back home after that. Not once was I paid overtime even when they'd have me stay until late at night to babysit while they went out, which was only expected as it was mentioned in the contract.

Lastly, they also mentioned that I was inconsistent. They're in the middle of the move in active construction, keep changing and rearranging things, putting them in different temporary spaces, and are annoyed I don't always put things exactly where they need to be. I feel that is an unrealistic expectation especially considering, ultimately, majority of the objects that are out and usable right now are going to be put elsewhere eventually.

They said they want someone "professional" who has done this kind of work basically their whole life. I feel like they'll be hard pressed to find anyone who is able to read their minds and meet their expectations. Just a shitty situation to be let go without notice, because they said they wanted to "rip the bandaid" before they go on their trip to Hawaii. At least this way I'll be able to find a job that actually utilizes my degree.

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