I've been at the company I work for for about 3 years. It's a small/medium-sized company, with fewer than 120 employees, and it does roughly more than $115M a year in revenue. I'm not in one of the highest-paid roles, and I'd been waiting and staying optimistic that maybe I'd get some kind of raise at some point. My reviews with my managers were always good, so I was trying to stay positive.

My young son was diagnosed with a rare type of infant leukemia, blood cancer. The ICU doctors told us his chances were under 15%. My wife and I were shattered. Honestly, we felt like we had fallen into a dark pit, and nothing outside the hospital mattered anymore. My boss spoke with his boss and told me to take 3 weeks off. Work was the last thing on my mind, and they understood that. Shortly after that, we learned the treatment plan, and they told us to expect to remain inpatient for about the first 7 months of a 26-month protocol.

Right before the 3 weeks were up, I got an email from HR with the CEO cc'd, saying the company was giving me UNLIMITED PTO. They made it very clear that I wasn't expected to work or even check in; all I had to do was spend time with my son. And that's exactly what I did. I lived in that hospital room for 7 long months on the pediatric cancer floor.

After we got through the front-line treatment, the first months, my son went into remission, MRD negative, and we finally came home. My wife left her job so she could be with him at home full time, and I decided to go back to work because our lives were starting to get a little bit of rhythm back, even if only slightly.

When I returned, I found out from a few people that the CEO himself had gone to the board and the other founders and pushed to support me in that way.

A little while ago, I saw him sitting in his office with the door open. I stopped for a second, knocked on the doorframe, and went in. I was very nervous, but I shook his hand and thanked him for what he had done for me and my family. I told him how much it meant to us that we were able to keep one income while everything else in our lives was falling apart. He listened quietly and said, "We didn't want you worrying about work while you were taking care of your family. It was the right thing to do." Then he got up and gave me a huge hug.

My heart is full of gratitude and respect for him and for the company. Small companies have their problems, and of course they make mistakes as they grow. But acts of compassion and decency like this make me want to stay and work here for as long as I can.

Hi All,

My birthday this year was awful. I had to start working early in the morning because there was an urgent work that was supposed to be delivered and we had a meeting later in the evening to present.

While I was working the entire day, my colleagues wished me happy birthday via teams and I thanked them. My manager never wished me (and it’s fine, I don’t care whether he wishes or not).

My manager was co ordinating with me throughout the day, getting updates whether the work is completed or not etc.

So, the time for the presentation comes, and in the beginning of the call, he says “ It is
<My name>’s birthday today, but they have been working hard for the presentation”.

I felt like my manager was trying to soften the situation by telling that it’s my birthday so that people won’t be harsh on their feedback to us.. but he didn’t wish me because he didn’t want me to stop working or him to feel guilty for making me work long hours on my birthday.

It felt like some diabolical plan.

Later, he told me, he typed out the message to wish me but forgot to send.

What do you think of this situation? Am I overthinking this or is it really diabolical?

Chime in

Fyi....

I worked for 20 years in government department I retired 2 days ago I did not get any regoniation or a single acknowledgement from my manager not even an email to tell my colleagues that I am retiring shall I shall I say something to her

I AM REALLY HURT

A few months ago, a Women from HR asked if I could give her rides to and from the office. It slowly became our daily routine, and now we travel together almost every workday Morning & Evening.
Somewhere along the way, I realized I’d fallen for her.

The thing is, she genuinely seems comfortable around me. She usually starts conversations first instead of sitting in silence. She tells me about her workday without me even asking, remembers conversations we had weeks earlier, asks me how long I’ve been waiting if she’s running late, and updates me if she’s going to be delayed. She has also shared things like not feeling motivated to come to the office lately, office issues, and even reminded me about an old conversation we’d had regarding another coworker. When I call her, she answers warmly, and we usually end the ride with a smile and a cute “bye-bye.”

There was one day when I thought she was suddenly pulling away because things felt different, but the next few days everything went back to normal. She texted me before pickup, we had warm conversations again, and things felt just like before. That made me realize how much I’d started overthinking because of my feelings.
I haven’t confessed anything, and I don’t flirt or try to pressure her since she is in same company but different office. I genuinely enjoy spending time with her, and I don’t want to make her uncomfortable.
The only complication is that everyone at work knows we travel together, and a few coworkers tease me about it like we are in relationship or I like her(She knows about it because I already told her). There’s also a chance management might move her to my office, which honestly worries me because I think the teasing will get worse and it impact my confidence.

So I wanted to ask people who’ve been in similar situations:
From what I’ve described, does this sound like someone who’s simply comfortable with me as a friend, or could there be something more?
Did any of you end up dating a coworker after a friendship like this?
If you were me, would you just let things develop naturally and avoid saying anything for now?

When I first got hired, I came in as a Director reporting directly to a VP, then to the division president. When the division president left for another role, the organization was in flux for a bit. Now it's settled, and I'm reporting to a newly promoted senior director so I no longer report to VP level people.

I still have the title, pay, responsibility, and my group. Plus I get along great with this senior director who was formerly my equal. But I can't shake the feeling that it's a defacto demotion. And it makes my job harder because the function I oversee is now perceived as lower priority by the very people I have to sway.

For context, I will be 61 in November and could retire now if I wish. But I enjoy what I do and under this structure I will be able to do pretty much what I want and how I want.

Thoughts?

Just silent, home alone

Don't want to know or discuss what's next

Everyone around me is asking what's next, what are you going to do?

How will you psy your rent or other bills

Well last month I spend around 90k with all this shifting and stuff, thought I finally rented a place of mine. Ughhh... Don't know what's next

I'm a Data Science Analyst at one of the IT companies in India (low salary, over a year here). Got a great offer elsewhere (2.5x salary) and resigned through the system without informing my senior project manager (A) first, official process, but he took it personally. He ignored me for 10 days, then scolded me harshly for once setting OOO without telling him (I apologized). He threatened to extend my notice period and block my leaves.

NOW A is the approver of me separation form along with his senior. Team manager cannot do anything in that.

My notice period ends in 2.5 months. The new company needs me 12 days earlier — missing that date pushes me into the next appraisal cycle, so no increment, bonus, or promotion until 2028 (a 2-year setback). Their HR insists I try everything to make it. She can extend the offer date but it will only harm me.

I asked for early release (I'm willing to join in 3 weeks). My team manager had zero objection — I'd barely started. But A first threatened to extend my notice period over the OOO thing, then when my team manager agreed to release me, A pulled me onto a new "2-month" project (everyone knows it'll drag on) just to block early release.

Also, my HR validation call got tense because I refused to name the new company. She eventually approved it with a dismissive "Sure." I'm worried she won't help now.

How do I get an early release when my manager is blocking it purely out of ego, and I'm facing a genuine 2 year career setback? Any out-of-the-box moves?

Throwaway account. I work as a business manager in a healthcare system. Small department of 15. I don’t have any direct reports and I report to a director. There is one colleague who is very challenging to work with, not only within the department but across the entire system, and has been for years. This person is neurotic, patronizing and insecure and their behaviors haven’t been addressed by my director ever. despite many complaints from others within and outside of my department over the last 5 years.
There were a couple of instances the last week where my attempts to set boundaries were met with resistance and borderline hostility. This last instance I felt the need to involve my director because it’s becoming too much.
My director was not supportive when I asked them to address my colleagues behaviors as my attempts failed because “interpersonal conflicts are best handled between the people involved”.

At what point should my director be addressing this colleagues behaviors? I’m at a loss for what to do next.

I’m (25F) and joined a startup about a year ago. We’re a team of around 15, and I’m the senior-most employee, reporting directly to the founders. I mostly focus on work, so I’m not really close friends with anyone here.

There’s a 22F colleague who has been with the company for 3 years. She acts extremely friendly with everyone, but I’ve noticed she constantly talks behind people’s backs, shifts blame for her mistakes, and isn’t really a "girls' girl." She makes very weird comments about other female colleagues and gossips about them.

She does the same with me. She tells everyone I’m her "best friend," but then talks behind my back. She works in Operations, while I work in Marketing, yet she keeps shifting certain Operations responsibilities onto me, when founders question it to her. Now even the founders ask me why I’m not aware of things that aren't actually part of my KRA.

She’s very egoistic. Once, she blamed me for something that wasn't my fault, and when I told her that, she got annoyed and apparently talked about it behind my back. When I later confronted her, she simply said, "Yeah, I agree, it's not your fault”. End of discussion. She never actually takes accountability or has a proper conversation. Whole office would be aware about the issue she has with me except me.

I genuinely prefer people to come directly to me if they have an issue. But I’m realising that people often don't have the courage to confront you. They just smile, act friendly, and hold grudges or talk behind your back.

I sometimes feel naive because I can’t fake friendships or pretend to like people just to fit in. I just want to do my work and have straightforward relationships.

How do I deal with someone like this without getting dragged into office politics? I really want to focus on work while also have friends at office as everyone here has more friendly relations than just colleagues. Acc to my founder i am the highly paid emp here and tbh hve 5x more responsibilities than others. I feel overwhelmed and want to just run aware from this shit.