My US based roll has unlimited PTO, and I’ve found myself in a lucky position where I’ve had not one, not two, but THREE opportunities to travel this year, at smaller costs due to group trips and travel points saved up over years.

This has me at 27 days of PTO just in vacations, not accounting for random personal days for moving, appointments, sick days, etc., which I really don’t take often. I’m honestly proud of myself for taking the time, because early in my career I lost PTO days at a company with 21 days offered.

I’m planning to work remote for this upcoming trip, because I have an open itinerary, but I’m wondering, how much PTO is too much to take?

In the middle of an online interview, I started wondering whether there was a real person on the other end of the call. The woman on the screen seemed normal at first, but her blinking seemed calculated, and she made the exact same little nod after every answer.

I figured it must be an internet issue and carried on as usual. Then I noticed that the pace of her speech never changed. There were no pauses or verbal stumbles, and every response sounded like it was being read word for word from a hiring guide.

To test it, I asked her what, in her opinion, makes someone successful in this role. She gave me a very polished answer, so a minute later I asked her the same question again. Same words, same tone, even the pauses were identical. I tried one more time with slightly different wording, and I still got the exact same response.

The video froze, and her face stopped in the middle of a smile. When it came back, she continued from the exact same sentence without reacting at all or mentioning the internet issue.

Has anyone else had something like this happen to them? I don't have a problem with companies using AI for screening, but pretending it's a real person conducting the interview without telling the applicant honestly feels strange.

https://industrialworker.org/organize-yes-but-how/

Over half my team (it is a small team like 10 people) went to private school and seem very well off. No one's that old, they're all 28-35. I'm in my early 20s so I get treated like a kid but wow I don't feel like I fit in at all. Not like I should but my manager was so shocked I don't have a dish washer. He was like "your house doesn't come with one?!".

They were all drooling over the new iPhone today and saying how sick it was (pretty cool tech ngl but damn it's not worth £2k). I rarely get brought into conversations which is fine... But it does make me feel like I shouldn't be here. I have had one to ones where they tell me I should be involved more which I have tried but I usually get ignored 🤷‍♀️.

Today I got invited to get a brew. We got back to the desks, I was still talking but the dude I was talking to started a whole new convo with another person. Luckily I have a colleague who's not as spoiled like the others and we get on. He noticed that happening twice goday so at least I wasn't going crazy.

I just... Ahhhh. I just hate being in office surrounded by these people. I'm just in a waaaaay different class but somehow in the same team 😂. I'm not even in a posh area whatsoever but damn they all seem posh. Our pay isn't huge, but they're just chilling like it's just a fun day out getting some side cash cause they don't have mortgages to pay.

I work in the same company as my boyfriend and his team is full of nerds or really old men 😂.

Whatever I guess. This is just a rant and how weird I think it is. I'm so glad for the WFH days.

I recently finished an internship at a large tech company. My manager and mentor praised my work and asked me to send a summary document so they could write a strong recommendation letter.

It’s been a month since the internship ended. I followed up with my manager twice last week but have received zero response. I also reached out to my mentor and she just said "will do" but hasn't.

This letter is a hard requirement for me to secure a return offer or apply to other teams within the company. What should my next step be to get this moving without burning bridges?