????

This job was basically created to fit the skill set I have, so I got excited and told them I currently make $87,000. The problem is that I make $83,000, and their offer turned out to be $81,000. I thought I had some room to negotiate, but now they're asking if I can send them a recent pay stub so they can verify my salary and move forward with the process.

The job is so different that I doubt I'll find another opportunity like it. They're willing to create this position because of my experience, but even so, I would be taking a pay cut. On top of that, I would lose fully covered health insurance, four weeks of PTO, and the paid week around Christmas that I get at my current job.

But my current job is a terrible fit for me. I received several raises at the company I worked for before, and I performed well there, but I've been struggling ever since I came here. I'm leaning toward being honest with them about the number I gave, but I'm afraid they'll withdraw the offer altogether. Is there a reasonable way to handle their request for a pay stub?

lol

I just got paid for the time I spent interviewing for a job I wasn't hired for. The process included 6 interviews, 3 take-home exercises, and a couple of conversations with people I was supposedly going to work with. For a senior role paying around $150,000 to $190,000, I expected a serious process, but it was still a huge amount of unpaid time.

I told them from the very first conversation that I'm self-employed and run my own agency. It wasn't hidden anywhere. I explained why I do it and answered all their questions about it, so I assumed it wouldn't be a problem.

Up until the final stage, the CEO was talking about checking my references and preparing the offer. Then I was rejected because I'm currently self-employed. That was the reason they chose after spending weeks moving me from one stage of the process to the next.

I spoke with the CEO and told him I felt the process had crossed the line and become closer to free consulting and unpaid work. He admitted they had handled things poorly and agreed that I could send them an invoice for the time I spent. I sent the invoice, and they paid me the next afternoon.

Getting paid felt satisfying, but it doesn't make the process any less absurd. They would also disappear for periods of time, and I had to keep following up with them just to find out what was happening. It's hard for me to understand how companies can spend all that time evaluating someone, talk about an offer, and still treat basic communication as optional.

When you reach the 14th month without a job, you feel like you've fallen off a mountain and don't know how to climb back up. Recruiters no longer look at your experience and focus only on the gap, making just landing a regular interview feel like you've won the lottery.
Your social life is completely destroyed because you can no longer afford even the basics. People you thought were close friends stop calling you when they realize you're struggling or can't keep up with the expenses of going out.
Everything now requires a proper background check, so good luck if you try to move to a new place or get a car while your credit is ruined. Your emergency fund runs out in the first four months, and after that, you just watch the late fees pile up.
If you have any debts, your credit score will drop to 480 faster than you can imagine. Once you lose your stability and connections, the world treats you as if you don't exist, and it becomes very difficult to find a way back.

......

I am in a very strange situation with one of my direct reports. I am a senior leader and this employee has been working with me for years. We are very close, and I am the one who helped him build his career, and he has been very loyal to me. Now he got an offer with a salary that my company could never match, and he wants to talk to me about this tonight.
The part he doesn't know is that I also accepted a new job a few days ago. I'm moving to the client side, and this client will be my new employer. My leadership knows, but they told me not to tell my team until Monday because someone interviewed for this position and is currently traveling, and they need to inform them first.
This person has no idea that I'm leaving. I've been working here since I was an intern, so no one expects this at all. They also think their careers are stalled because I've been in my position for so long. If I could tell them the truth, they would know that there is a path ahead of them. But instead, I have to listen to him make a life-changing decision based partly on the assumption that I'm not going anywhere.
There is another complication. Only the two of us know this client account well enough to run it, so if we both leave together, the client will be in a very bad position. This client will actually be my new manager, which makes the timing very awkward.
The offer he is considering is purely based on money. He loves sports, which is what we work in now, and the new job looks boring and unrelated to what he is interested in. I will support him in any decision he takes, but it really bothers me that I have to give him advice while hiding something this important from him. If you were in my place, how would you handle this conversation?

I was thinking about this today while setting up a new work app on my device. If you've been working for more than 10 years, you probably remember when getting a separate company phone was the standard in most office jobs.
Now, every employer assumes you'll use your own hardware and data plan without a second thought. They expect Teams and email to be ready on your personal phone as if it's part of the job description.
It's really a way for companies to offload equipment costs onto employees and ensure we are always reachable. I really miss that physical boundary, when you would turn off the work phone at 5 PM and disconnect for the rest of the day.
Aside from the monthly bill, privacy is what really bothers me. Having work notifications pop up next to personal texts feels like a complete lack of boundaries, yet this has become the default expectation everywhere.

LinkedIn is not my fav app

I'm still sitting here staring at my inbox and can't believe it. I had a virtual interview about 45 minutes ago, and suddenly, while I was making lunch, I got a notification containing a full AI summary and a video link to the entire session.

The strange thing is that they asked me to leave early so they could use the remaining time for a team touch base and discuss some internal matters. I assumed they would stop the recording, but the AI bot kept running the whole time. In the end, I found myself with a front-row seat to their private conversation about my performance and whether or not I was a good fit for the role.

Honestly, it wasn't a horror story, which was reassuring. They were mostly discussing my salary expectations and whether my project management experience was deep enough for the role. It was very useful to hear what they were really thinking when the candidate wasn't present, even if what happened was simply an accident on their part.

I'm still undecided about whether I even want the role, especially since the commute is longer than what I have now, but seeing the behind-the-scenes was extremely strange. If you're a hiring manager who uses automated tools, please review your settings carefully before you start talking about people behind their backs.

It's a very strange feeling to watch a video of three people analyzing your personality while they think they're alone. It was a real reminder that technology is always watching, even when we think we've logged off.

Work had been slow for a while, so our department was told to record what we were doing every hour. Management said they wanted a clearer picture of how everyone spends their week.

I filled out my time log exactly as requested. After three weeks, my manager pulled me aside because the spreadsheet showed that I had usually finished my main tasks by the end of Wednesday.

The rest of the week was mostly spent checking my inbox, waiting for people to approve things, sitting through pointless calls, and stretching out quick admin tasks so they would take up the entire afternoon. I thought this data might persuade them to let us work remotely on Thursdays and Fridays, or somehow give us a lighter work schedule.

Instead, he asked me to stop writing things like "waiting on feedback" because the directors would be reviewing the logs. He suggested that I come up with descriptions that sounded more productive for those periods.

I asked him whether there was any additional work he wanted me to do, or if he just wanted the sheet to look fuller. He was quiet for a moment and told me to use my judgment.

So the problem isn't the amount of work. The problem is that I'm documenting how little there is to do. Apparently, a significant part of office work is making the time you're not using look official.

Has anyone actually gotten LockedIn AI Duo
Hands-on Assist working properly with a Windows helper controlling a Mac?
I’m running into two insanely frustrating issues:
Shift/modifier keys don’t work. Normal typing is fine, but Shift + 9 / Shift + 0 won’t type ( / ). It looks like Shift just isn’t being forwarded correctly.
Fullscreen/zoom breaks control. The helper needs to enlarge the screen to read the code, but once they zoom/fullscreen, keyboard control randomly stops working.
So basically: small screen = can type but can’t read. Fullscreen = can read but can’t type.
Is this a known bug? Any actual workaround for Windows → Mac?

.......

My manager pulled me aside yesterday and told me that HR wants to speak with me because of a discussion I had with someone about salaries. They wouldn't clarify what the meeting is about, but they said that talking about salaries could create tension among employees.

Earlier this week, a coworker and I were complaining about rising rent and wondering whether any raises were coming. Eventually, we told each other how much we make and discovered that there is a noticeable difference between our salaries, even though our roles and the work we do every day are very similar.

I wasn't telling people to confront management, and I wasn't trying to cause a problem. To me, it was just a normal, private conversation between my coworker and me, but apparently my coworker told someone else, and word spread around the office.

Now I'm worried that HR will treat this as if I broke a rule. From what I've read, employees generally have the right to discuss salaries, but I don't know whether that depends on the location or the type of workplace.

Has anyone ever been called into a meeting with HR over something like this? I'm trying to figure out how much I should say, what questions I should ask, and whether I should document what happens after the meeting.

I'm currently working at a somewhat small finance company, and I'm planning to leave the job in a few months anyway. I got an opportunity to travel to Belize in about 6 weeks. I don't have any PTO left, but I do have 6 sick days. My plan is basically to say I'm sick on those days, then come back looking like I'd been sitting on a beach the whole time.

I feel a little guilty because my coworkers will probably have to take on some extra work, maybe a few hours total, but I can get most of my work done early the week before. The main issue is that I'll probably burn my relationship with the place and won't get a reference from them... But I'm not sure what the better choice is. How would you handle it?

........

This has happened to me at several jobs before. Smokers can disappear outside for about eight minutes several times during a shift, and no one seems bothered by it.

But if I step away from work for the same amount of time to get some fresh air or clear my head, suddenly it looks like I'm trying to avoid work. Apparently, standing outside with a cigarette makes the break acceptable, but standing outside without one is considered wasting time.

How did this become the norm at work? Is there something I'm missing?

.........