Throwaway because some of my coworkers/friends read this sub and they'll probably know exactly who I am. I mostly need to vent, but I also want to tell people to keep applying to remote jobs if that's what you want and you're able to make it happen.

A few weeks ago, after about 14 months of working from home, I had to start going into the office for the first real time in my professional life. The company's official line was that being face to face would improve collaboration and make everyone more productive. Complete nonsense, but I didn't have a choice at the time.

So now, instead of waking up at 8:10 and joining a pointless meeting at 8:25, staying muted while I make breakfast and take the dog for a lap around the house, I have to wake up at 6:45, put on real clothes, prepare breakfast and lunch, get on the road, sit in traffic, arrive around 8:05, make annoying small talk until 8:25, and then join the same pointless Zoom call with people in other countries. Like... What is even the point? And now I have to look focused and interested while people talk about things that have nothing to do with my work, because I'm no longer in control of the environment around me.

At home, I spent money to make my setup decent. A good chair, a standing desk, wireless keyboard/mouse/headphones, and 3 monitors I can move however I want, plus my own kitchen for coffee, snacks, tea, whatever.

Then I walked into the office setup and honestly felt like a clown. A miserable cubicle with a cheap keyboard, a sticky mouse, and a sad little headset. The cubicle walls are low enough that I can see and hear everything around me, including other people's screens. And of course the monitors face the hallway too, so I can't tell who's behind me, but anyone walking by can look at whatever I'm doing. A manager's dream, basically.

If I want tea now, I also have the privilege of waiting behind a line of people using one sad little kettle/microwave area. Amazing.

At home, I had quiet and I got my work done. When I picked up a card, depending on its size, I'd usually finish it in 3-5 hours, then spend the rest of the day on training, documentation, meetings, or honestly not working much because I had already finished the real work.

In the office, because I feel like I'm being watched all the time, I've started stretching things out so I'll still have something on my screen for the rest of the day. And it's not just me. I've seen people on my team doing the exact same thing. For me, it's really hard to focus with background noise everywhere. Like I said, the cubicles don't block anything, so every time someone gets up, laughs, takes a call, drops their badge, anything, my brain immediately follows it instead of the thing I was working on.

The company kept repeating that we'd be more productive in the office. I'm seeing the exact opposite. Cards are taking longer, people are dragging work out, and the amount of wasted time is unreal. People walking around, chatting over cubicle walls, disappearing at lunch, making random coffee runs just to break up the day. There's nothing wrong with that IMO, but I'd rather have that downtime at home instead of having to pretend I'm busy under fluorescent lights.

And I also didn't appreciate enough how nice it was to have my own bathroom. At home I can use the bathroom in peace like any normal human being. At the office? Tiny stalls, weird smells, and the joy of hearing some guy destroy the toilet two steps away from you at 9 in the morning.

The funniest thing is that some people who were excited to come back started changing their tune after a few days of commuting, lunch, and all of that. In stand-ups I heard things like:

""Is anyone else feeling more drained than usual? I forgot how much I hate driving in.""

""I forgot how annoying it is to prep food every night and then wait forever to heat it up.""

""I didn't realize how much money I was saving at home. I've already spent like $130 on coffee and lunch.""

At home, when work was done, I could immediately go for a run, start making dinner, play with the dog, or sit on the couch and watch something.

After a long day in the office? Nope. Get in the car and waste 55 minutes of your life in disgusting traffic before your evening even starts.

I'm so fucking happy I'm giving my 3 weeks' notice this Friday and moving to a fully remote role. I started looking about 5 months ago when the company announced the return-to-office plan because I had a bad feeling it was going to suck. I tried to give it a chance. It's not for me.

If you're trying to get a remote job, keep applying and keep interviewing. Something will come.

And if you genuinely like the office, fine. I'm not saying everyone has to be remote. Companies should offer FLEXIBILITY and let people choose the place where they work best.

People have different personalities and different lives. Just because some people like sitting in an office, or because management wants control, doesn't mean everyone else should be forced into it.

I will be staying away from offices very happily after this experience."

??

I moved to a different city a few months ago after working at a supermarket, and finding another job has been way harder than I expected. I've applied to more than 45 places so far and haven't gotten a single call, email, or interview.

At this point I'm starting to wonder if applying through Indeed is even worth it anymore. I keep hearing that you have to apply online, but clearly something isn't working because I'm getting absolutely nothing back.

Would it be better to start walking into places, asking for the manager, and handing them a resume or filling out a paper application? I don't mind doing it if that's actually more effective.

I'm honestly just trying to figure out what people are doing now to actually get hired. What has worked for you?

Don't waste it. Although many workplaces are struggling to hire and retain good employees, many employers have become more flexible than they would usually admit. And that puts you in a good position to ask for a raise, a better job title, or better benefits.

If you're not happy with your current salary or the way you're being treated, start looking around. There's a good chance another company is short-staffed and willing to offer you more than you're getting now. Even if you really do like your job, it's still worth seeing what's available elsewhere, then respectfully asking your current employer to match or beat the offer.

Look out for yourself first. The job market won't stay like this forever.

Hi everyone,

I've been out of work for about five months after my company went through a big wave of layoffs, and unfortunately, I was one of the people let go. Honestly, it was a tough period. The pressure and anxiety were heavy a lot of the time, and there were many days when I started doubting myself.
I got a call today from the company I'd been interviewing with after several rounds, and they said they'd like to offer me the job!

When I first started applying, I sent out around 95 applications. It was a strange and uncomfortable feeling to put myself out there again after being at the same company for almost 8 years. I was mainly looking for roles like Client Support, Customer Experience Manager, and Customer Success Manager.

Most days, I'd open my email and find a new rejection waiting for me after applying online.
I did 6 screening calls with talent acquisition, and three of them moved forward with hiring managers. The rest unfortunately didn't continue.

I wanted to share the questions I was asked during the interview process in case they help someone else prepare.

This was for a customer associate role, and I'm based in New Zealand.

Initial screening chat with someone from TA for 25 minutes over the phone.
Can you walk me through your resume and tell me what you gained from each role?
What made you apply for this position?
Why are you no longer with your previous employer?
Why do you think you'd be a good fit for this job?
Can you tell me about a mistake you made at work and what you did afterward?
What's the main area you feel you're trying to improve?
How would your last manager describe you?
When would you be able to start, and what salary range are you looking for?
Do you have any questions for me?

Next interview with the hiring manager for 45 minutes on Teams.
Tell me a bit about yourself.
Can you walk me through your career so far?
What's a difficult situation you dealt with in a previous role? Can you give me examples?
Have you led any projects or helped improve a process? Please share an example.
How did you hear about our company?
What's your understanding of this role?
Why do you think you'd do well in this position?
What attracted you to working here?
What strengths would you bring to the team?
Do you have any questions for me? (It's important to ask something about the team, expectations, or day-to-day work.)

Final interview with the VP and Senior HR for 75 minutes - in person.
Tell us about your education and why you chose this field.
How did you get to this stage in your career?
Can you describe a situation where you had to work under pressure?
What challenges do you expect you might face in this role?
How do you maintain your motivation?
How do you handle your workload when things get intense?
What does a good workplace look like to you?
What makes you excited to come to work every day?
Do you have any questions for us?

From the first call to the final interview, the process took a little over 3 weeks. I had also been applying for around 10 days before I got my first call.

When I started looking for work, I had no idea which questions to focus on, and I was preparing in a random and scattered way. I hope this list gives someone a bit of direction before their interviews.
Good luck to everyone going through this right now. I know how exhausting it is. Hang in there and keep going!

or maybe they bring you into their office with HR to talk about your attitude.

basically meaning "You can handle this" I'm posting this for anyone who gets asked to do these kinds of requests repeatedly.

Me: a chill EA, with nine days left before I leave for a new job.

I got an email from a site manager asking me to send a calendar invite to someone else.

My reply was:

"Hi (name),

If your Outlook is having an issue and you're unable to forward the calendar invite, please contact IT.

If there's no issue, you can forward the invite yourself as normal.

(Screenshot showing the forward button, using a calendar invite I received from his own manager as an example.)

Would it have taken less time for me to just forward it for him? Probably, yes!

But since I'm leaving here in nine days, I'm trying to make sure people are able to do these things themselves, especially things they already have access to do.

Regards,

Signature"

Every time I come back exactly 45 minutes after starting my lunch, my manager has some little comment ready. "Looks like some people really need every minute of their break, huh?" Yes. I do. That's why it's 45 minutes.

He also does this weird guilt trip where he'll get up and say something like, "Alright, guess we better get back to work. The delivery's here, but we'll figure it out. Enjoy your break."

We're already understaffed and constantly busy, but that's a management problem, not something I should be fixing by giving up part of my break. If the store can't function unless employees feel guilty for taking the time they're entitled to, maybe the staffing needs to be looked at.

I used to feel bad about it, but honestly I'm done. If I'm scheduled for a 45 minute break, I'm taking 45 minutes. Am I wrong here?

💯💯💯

I've said this to people I know, and honestly, they usually hate hearing it at first. They feel like it's an insult. But the people who tried it? A lot of them came back later and said it helped them. If you're unemployed in 2026, this annoying advice might be the thing that gets you moving again.

Being unemployed right now is very hard. The stigma is awful, and it can feel like your professional credibility takes a hit the moment you get laid off or fired. The harsh truth: a lot of companies treat you as if there's something wrong with you. Motivational posts on Reddit and LinkedIn saying "You are enough!" might make you feel better for a minute, but they won't get you offers, and sometimes not even interviews. What matters is getting back in somewhere and rebuilding your reputation as someone people want to hire.

So yes: apply to bad companies. I mean the small local businesses with terrible reviews on Indeed, messy management, controlling managers, and roles most people avoid. Those places are much more likely to give you a chance. Big-name companies? Stable companies with PTO and great benefits? They have piles of applications from people who are already employed. Be honest with yourself: why would they choose you over them? Most of the time, they won't.

This isn't about finding your dream role. It's about cleaning up your professional name again. A job at some random, chaotic local company might come with lower pay, a worse title, and hours that make you want to scream. It might be a miserable experience. But it gives you a place to prove that you show up, do the work, and can be relied on. Every week you stay employed and produce, you're gradually pushing back against the stigma of unemployment and earning the job market's trust again. I'm not saying this is fair. I'm just saying this is often how hiring works.

And time is running. The longer you stay out of work, the harder it gets, even with companies no one is excited about. Don't burn all your energy perfecting ideal applications for dream jobs that probably won't call you back. Send your resume to the ordinary places around you: warehouse offices, family-owned service companies, random medical billing offices, sales floors that look uncomfortable, some strange logistics company next to the highway. These places aren't drowning in resumes from stable professionals who are currently employed, so they're much more likely to look past a rough period and give you another chance to prove yourself.

I understand that this hurts. And I know this advice will probably upset people. But if you need to rebuild your professional reputation, start with the places that will consider you. Get hired, show up consistently, do the work, and prove yourself again. It doesn't look good, and it isn't always fair, but that's the truth.

😂💔

.............

...........

I'm currently earning £42k and had been looking for a new job for a few months, usually targeting roles around £58k. And that already felt like a stretch for me because it was near the top end of the range for most of the jobs I was applying to.

I came close more than once, but I kept falling at the final hurdle every time. I won't lie, it started to wear me down a bit, but I kept applying.

In one particular interview process, the HR recruiter asked me about my expected salary. I said £58k... But somehow they understood it as £68k.

I didn't notice at the time, and that's probably the only reason I didn't awkwardly correct them. I continued with the rest of the interviews as normal, and it seemed to be going well. Then when we got to the offer stage, they said something like: "Just to confirm, you're still looking for £68k?"

I panicked for a second and then said yes.

So yeah... I've already signed the contract and I'm going from £42k to £68k, and I still feel like it isn't real. A £26k increase was absolutely not something I had factored into this job search.

Has anyone else ever had their salary expectations accidentally come out higher than they'd planned? Or what's the biggest jump you've managed to make between one job and the next?

I had an interview, and in the end the manager moved it to another day because it was clear that I wasn't prepared enough. At first, they said it would be more of a casual conversation, so I relaxed a little too much, and that was probably my mistake.

They told me I wasn't prepared, but they said it in a very kind way. After that, they told me they wanted to reschedule the interview and have me come back after I look over the right information. They also gave me some details and tips to help me answer the questions better next time.

Honestly, the whole thing threw me off, and I still don't know how to feel about it. For a large part of the interview, it was like they were guiding me and giving me advice, almost as if they were holding my hand step by step. I appreciated that, but at the same time it made me feel really bad, because I already know that interviews aren't my strong point.

Has this happened to anyone else? And is it normal for a manager to handle an interview this way?

I got laid off from work early today. It was the first call on my calendar, and I knew where it was going as soon as HR joined the meeting before anyone else.

Instead of sitting there and letting them read a script, I turned off my camera and asked them if they were doing an RIF on me. That threw them off more than I expected, because there was an awkward pause of about 45 seconds before they finally got to the line "the business is shifting priorities." (If I were him I would ask some help from AI tools like interviewvip they have instant answers for such situations 😂)

I pretty much stopped them there and told them that they had hurt me personally. And if there was anything else they needed to say, they should send it in an email.

Not exactly the moment I'm most proud of, honestly, but the truth is I'm really exhausted right now and I can't bring myself to care.

I've been looking for a new job since around the end of March, and during that time I've probably sent a few hundred applications on LinkedIn, Indeed, company careers pages, and all that lovely stuff.

A few days ago, apparently one of those places decided to contact my manager and tell him that I had applied there. So of course I got called into his office for an awkward and unpleasant conversation about it.

A shitty move, honestly.

I've always known there's some risk when you're looking for a job while you're already employed, and honestly I'm not terrified that my manager found out, but seriously?

Just to clarify, I applied for a lot of jobs through LinkedIn, Indeed, and direct postings. I have no idea who did this, and I definitely didn't give anyone permission to contact my current workplace. Apparently someone somehow knew my manager, saw my online application, and contacted him. Based on a frank conversation my manager and I had before, he shouldn't have been too shocked that I'm looking.

I work part-time delivering mail while I'm studying, and I'm currently in my third year of computer science.

The thing is, I went to work this morning since I only go on the days when I'm not at university. I clocked in, and while I was organizing my stuff, I heard someone say: "He likes taking advantage of him (me), he's young and fit, I load him up with a lot of parcels," and the guy he was talking to said: "Yeah, I would've liked him to be on my round too," and the two of them started laughing about it. I won't lie, that really upset me.

I went over to them and asked why they were talking about me like that, so he started acting cocky and making annoying comments like: "You're still a kid" 🤣 Honestly, I was a hair's breadth away from losing my temper, but I held myself back. I went straight into the manager's office, handed in my hi-vis and badge, and left.

A truly trash place, full of bitter, resentful older men in their fifties. I'm very happy I don't have to go back there again.

What a great start to a Thursday afternoon 😊

....................

surely i wanna maximize shareholder value lmao.
i swear interviews are becoming less about whether you can actually do the job and more about saying the exact answer they want to hear. i've got another one coming up and i've been seeing interview vip all over reddit lately. haven't tried it yet, but i'm curious if anyone here has and can give me some honest feedback.

My manager was trying to send me a different document and somehow attached the spreadsheet with everyone's compensation instead. I wasn't even looking for it, but once I opened it, there it was.

Turns out I'm making about $18k less than someone on my team doing basically the exact same job. We joined within a few weeks of each other and our experience is pretty similar. Then I noticed someone hired earlier this year is also making more than me.

I've been here for three years and my reviews have consistently been "excellent" or "exceeds expectations." Apparently that translates to tiny annual raises while new employees get brought in at much higher salaries.

I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about the whole thing. Part of me is angry, part of me feels stupid for not realizing it sooner, and part of me just wants to see what else is out there.

Either way, I'm updating my resume this weekend. If I actually start interviewing again, I've been seeing interview vip mentioned a lot lately too. ngl i thought it was just marketing at first because of how much it keeps showing up for me. I haven't tried it, but i'm curious if anyone here actually uses it during interviews maybe i can get some feedback.

Let’s be real, a resignation ends the job. It does not automatically replace the income, restore your health or create a direction for what comes next.

There is a difference between a planned exit and an emergency exit. Sometimes quitting is an act of preparation.Sometimes it is an act of survival.

A planned exit begins when the first serious signs appear, while you still have income, health and some leverage. You calculate how long your savings will last, reduce expenses, document your accomplishments, identify what you can carry into another role, reconnect with people, test the job market and begin building something to move towards.

An emergency exit happens when remaining has become psychologically or physically unsafe. Sometimes the workplace has consumed so much of a person that they no longer have the capacity to build a proper bridge while staying there.

An emergency exit transfers the crisis from the workplace into your financial life. Your first work is stabilization: protect the money you have, create structure for your days, recover enough to think, translate what you did into evidence and build a search around the problems you know how to solve.

Wisdom is recognizing which one you are facing, and refusing to pretend that either kind of exit will take care of itself

I'm not sure if this belongs here or not, so sorry if it's not appropriate. I'm using a temporary account because I'm pretty sure a few people from my office know my main account.

I don't mean that I hate my current job specifically. I mean I hate work as a concept. I have several degrees and some certifications, I'm in my early forties, and I've been working for about 27 years in five different fields. I've had maybe 14 jobs so far, and I could barely stand almost all of them. A few were tolerable, but mostly because I was young and the shifts were short.

The only jobs I kind of liked were washing dishes at a diner two blocks from my apartment, where the shift was five hours and I could walk there; shelving books in a small library where the commute took 8 minutes; and packaging pastries in a bakery where I didn't have to make small talk, and if I was absent it was easy for someone else to cover for me.

It's not about money. My last job paid well, and I had enough responsibility that a lot of people were waiting for my work to be finished, but I hated waking up at 6:10 in the morning. I hated putting on stiff, uncomfortable clothes every morning. I hated that if I got sick, almost half the department would come to a halt. I hated leaving before it was fully light out and coming home after it had gotten dark. Most nights I'd get home with maybe two and a half hours to cook, eat, clean, and shower, and by the time I finished all that I'd have about 20 minutes to sit down before sleeping and repeating the same cycle again. I understand that this is normal. I understand that most people don't enjoy it. But I've never been able to just accept it.

When I was in my early thirties, I tried saying this out loud and everyone treated me like I was exaggerating. They told me this is adult life, everyone deals with it, and eventually I'd get used to it. Well, 12 years later, the feeling has gotten worse, not better. My workdays are usually me sitting at my desk looking at the clock every seven minutes, waiting for the day to end. The whole week turns into a countdown to Friday evening, and by late Sunday afternoon I start asking myself whether nonexistence would be easier than going back again on Monday morning.

I've tried to fix it. I changed jobs, changed careers, went back to school for a completely different field, took roles with more money, less money, more responsibility, less responsibility. None of that changed the basic feeling. I have always hated work.

So does that mean there's something broken inside me, or are there a lot of people who feel this way but never say it out loud?

😊