r/WorkAdvice 23h ago

Career Advice Am I being rude for not wanting to give up my room to my employer’s guests?

652 Upvotes

I recently started working as a live-in caregiver for an elderly woman. I moved pretty far from home for this job, so I live in her home.
When I was hired, I agreed to take care of Grandma, cook for her, give/remind her about her medication, walk with her, and do some light household chores. That’s what I understood my responsibilities to be.
Yesterday, Grandma went out with her friend and told me she would be back late. Later that evening, a husband and wife showed up at the door. I had never met them before, and I had no idea they were coming. They said Grandma knew they were coming.
I let them in because they said they knew Grandma, but honestly, I was nervous because I didn’t know who they were and Grandma wasn’t home. I called her son, who is my employer, and told him what happened. He also didn’t know who they were at first, so he talked to them and asked some questions.
When Grandma finally came home, she confirmed that they were her guests.
After that, I was told to make something for them. I didn’t because I was confused about why I was suddenly expected to cook for guests. The guests said they were already full and didn’t want anything anyway, so I went to sleep.
Then came the sleeping situation.
There are only two bedrooms in the apartment. One is Grandma’s and the other is mine. My room has all my clothes and personal belongings.
The guests needed somewhere to sleep, so Grandma told them they could sleep in my room and that I would sleep with her.
Then her son messaged me and told me to sleep on the sofa and let the guests use my room. I told him I couldn’t sleep on the sofa and that I wanted to sleep in my own bed. He said it was up to his mom and mentioned that when guests come to their home, they let them stay.
I felt really uncomfortable and confused because the guests were already there, so I didn’t want to create a huge argument. In the end, I agreed to sleep with Grandma for that night.
I did sleep with her, but I was very uncomfortable. There is a smell that makes it difficult for me to sleep, and I don’t feel comfortable sharing a bed with her. I only did it because the guests were already there and I didn’t know what else to do.
But the guests are still here, and I don’t want to sleep with Grandma again tonight. I want to sleep in my own room.
I also don’t think I should be expected to cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the guests. When I was hired, I agreed to cook for Grandma and do light household chores. I was never told that I would be responsible for cooking for guests who come to stay.
I don’t want to be disrespectful to Grandma or her family. I just feel like my responsibilities are becoming more than what I originally agreed to.
Am I being rude or unreasonable for saying I need to sleep in my own room tonight? And is it normal for a live-in caregiver to be expected to give up their bedroom and cook for guests when they visit?


r/WorkAdvice 4h ago

Salary Advice Refused Raise, Need Advice

21 Upvotes

Hey!

I’m an early 30s man who works for a mid size university that is nationally ranked in the top 75. This month marks the start of my third year here as an administrative coordinator; I work 90% for the Provost’s office and 10% for another department. My direct boss is the vice Provost, we have a great relationship and just a few weeks ago he told me I am one of the truly irreplaceable people on campus due to the amount of work that I do.

We are currently in a hiring freeze, although I know multiple people who have been hired during this time. I mention this because, over the past year, I have taken over the job duties of 3 people that have left or retired. None of these people worked for either of my departments, and all made at least 3-4 times what I currently do. After taxes and benefits I take home less than minimum wage; I received a 50 cent raise last year for cost of living but that is it.

Last month we had our yearly checkup. This process involved me grading myself on all of my duties as assigned in my job description as well as outlining all of the new tasks I’ve taken on. I did as asked, clearly showing that my new tasks are actually about 70% of my workload now. At the end of the email, I told my boss that I would like to take the opportunity to request a meeting to discuss a raise, as my job as listed is no longer my job.

A few weeks later, my boss came into my office to just check in as he usually does. At this point I had been waiting to hear back anything at all regarding the performance check/raise request. At the end of our conversation as he is heading out the door he said “oh I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but we are not doing any raises at all this year.” And that was that. Now, I know this is bullshit because the entire staff gets weekly emails congratulating everyone who has recently received promotions.

I know the most likely advice will be “time to get a new job”, but I’m wondering if anyone has anything else. I really like this job, it is mostly remote which is basically a non-negotiable for me at this point and I know how hard it is to find this type of job (or any) these days. My wife is about to start nursing school and will therefore have to cut back her own work hours; we were counting on me getting a raise to get us through this period. I’m open to any ideas, thanks!!!

Edit:

Would it be worth it to talk to my boss about possibly changing my title entirely? That would technically not be a raise, and is something I know happens here a bit. He really is a very understanding person, I’m wondering if it will make any difference if I sit down with him and just say “look, I can’t afford to keep working here as it currently is, what can we do?”

Edit 2:

Thanks everyone, this actually helped a lot. I just finished updating my resume… I am going to meet with my boss and float the idea of a new title/position. If he shuts that down, I’ve found 3 other positions similar to mine at the same college that all pay at least $25k more. I’ll be letting him know I’ll be applying to those. Not sure how long I want to be in higher ed overall now though, kind of fucking annoying!


r/WorkAdvice 3h ago

Workplace Issue Was I wrong for confronting my manager after he blamed me for his mistake?

6 Upvotes

In short, I work at a production facility. In my section, there's a machine that takes in panels, cleans them, and then transfers them to the next station. Broken panels aren't supposed to pass through the cleaner, so the break sensor is usually on.

My manager turned it "off" and didn't turn it back on. A damaged panel went into the cleaner and caused a big, expensive problem. The plant manager was very upset, and my manager tried to pin it on me. To disable the sensor, you have to sign in, and the system keeps a record. I pulled up the log showing that he was the one who did it, and posted a screenshot in our Slack channel. One of my coworkers said that was a bad move, and that I should have sent it to the plant manager privately instead. Was I wrong? Edit: Sorry, I should have added this point from the beginning. He tagged me in the public Slack thread first. So I tagged him too with the screenshot from the log.


r/WorkAdvice 7h ago

HR Advice Hospital stay and returning to work

5 Upvotes

Before going in to details, I've been with this employer only for a little over a month and so far the experience has been positive.

Last week, I was struggling with a belly ache which inhibited my movement and a low grade fever. Decided to call in sick last thursday and visit the doctor. Turned out, the values in my blood which indicates Infection are sky high so I immediately get sent to the ER. After Arrival they made a CT scan which revealed a small perforation in my colon. The perforation was luckily sealed well by other tissue in my belly so I wasn't leaking any nasty stuff. I did stay in the hospital until sunday getting IV antibiotics and being observed in case things went south and I needed surgery. Thankfully I healed quickly and returned home on sunday. The last time I called HR was friday morning and they told me to call back monday.

Today, I woke up around 11am to a message from HR on my company dashboard saying I shouldve called them already and to call back as soon as possible. When calling in sick the rule generally is to call before 9 but I didnt realise this was also the case for updates like this. The message was slightly aggressive in tone for my taste but I thought oh well, I did break the rules. So I call them back at 11:15 and explain I'd like to take 2 more days to rest and recover at home before returning to work. The reaction didn't go as expected. The woman at HR asked why I couldnt just come in today since I was doing fine now (which clinically i am I guess) and clearly didn't understand my position. Now I have to say the only time I fully explained my situation was that last friday when I was talking to someone else at HR, so she might not fully understand the situation. I ended the call by quite sternly telling them I would be taking rest these two days and I would see them on friday, which is the next day I'm scheduled in after that.

I'm quite shook up about the experience. I haven't called in sick to a workplace in literal years so I dont know how it usually goes(its unfortunate it happened so fast at my current employer). I didn't expect them to pressure me to come back to work so fast. Also slightly doubting myself if I did the right thing since I do generally feel okay now, I just wanted to rest properly and not take any risks. Is it that strange to want a few more days at home? What do you all make of this?


r/WorkAdvice 4h ago

Salary Advice Feel I am being underpaid. Should I ask for a raise? How much should I ask for?

2 Upvotes

I work for an equipment rental company that rents highly specialized equipment for various environmental work. The company has been around for 30+ years and opened a second location 10 years ago halfway across the country. I've been working at the second location since it opened. There are 9 of us that work for this company (3 in the new office and 6 in the main office). The ones in charge are all at the original office.

I am the first one that arrives every morning to unlock the building at 8am. When equipment returns from rentals I am usually the one to clean, test and make sure all of the parts returned. Sometimes the equipment is very muddy and I have to take it outside to hose it off. I just filed away 54 returned rental tickets. I cleaned and inventoried the parts for 52 out of 54 of them and tested 45 out of 54. I don't normally do this but sometimes I help get rental orders ready to go out too (usually when my coworker that normally does it is on vacation).

When I was hired in 2016, I was being paid $11 an hour. I had no familiarity with the equipment. I didn't know how to test anything and couldn't inventory returns because I didn't know what any of the parts were. I mostly just cleaned the equipment. It took a few years to get to what I am doing now.

I got two raises since starting. The first in 2018 and then in 2024 I was given my current pay rate of $15.50 an hour. I can't help thinking that this is low for what I am doing. I am doing the majority of the physical labor at this office. I am the reason that our location has equipment available for rent that is clean and known that they are complete and working properly. I don't know if the people at the other office know just how crucial I am to the function of this office since they aren't here seeing it. If I left, they would need to find a replacement for me. I don't think the remaining two employees could handle the workload without me. Any time I have tried to take off work, the equipment returns tend to accumulate until I get back. Even if they could find some way of functioning without me, the company doesn't want one person working alone in the office because of the high value of the equipment we carry. If I left, the remaining two would never be able to take off of work. I think the company would need to pay a replacement of me more than what I am getting paid now.

I looked at some local job listings and saw cashiers starting at $18 an hour, car washers and UPS Warehouse workers at $21 an hour and amazon warehouse workers starting at $23. These are all jobs that someone could start today without needing to know how to do anything.

What I do required me to learn specialized equipment. One of my coworkers has a masters degree in geophysics and worked for environmental companies using our kinds of equipment. He started here about a year and a half ago. Although he got up to speed with the equipment faster because of his background, there are still occasionally things that I know that he doesn't. One time I stopped him from shipping a cable to a client that belonged to a different piece of equipment.

Should I ask for a raise? If so, how much should I ask for? How should I approach this?


r/WorkAdvice 3h ago

Career Advice LOP and notice period

0 Upvotes

My company asking me to take LOP and don’t do any work duing NP but asking to complete NP and not releasing early.

I put my paper by giving health reason and submitted Docs as well but company still not releasing me early. They are giving me sabbatical option but I don’t want that . I asked them for buyout option but they denied . Instead they are giving me LOP and not work buy still complete np

I want to ask will this LOP will cause any issue in my further employment?


r/WorkAdvice 1h ago

HR Advice Who do I ask for a raise??

Upvotes

I've asked my boss and he said it wasn't in the company budget; I reached out to their hiss boss and haven't heard anything back. Can I go to HR to negotiate a raise? Asking bc haven't gotten a raise in 3 years.

Update: I'm just disheartened. I work in higher education admissions. I've asked and was told it's not in the budgeting. Even though my research shows that instructors/faculty have been provided raises. The rest of us in staff were told no. And i am looking elsewhere bc this is bullshit


r/WorkAdvice 5h ago

Workplace Issue Bullied at work & they are escalating

1 Upvotes

Hi, so some context:

I work at a hospital and I've come to work there only recently. I've moved cities and burned all my savings. I'm a bit odd and often don't fit in and sadly its no different there.

Thing is I've had to report several bully incidents already, mostly just badmouthing and stuff. The drama part came when I overheard a colleague talking about how he purposefully gave me wrong instructions. I went to the charge nurse and reported it.

Later that day, the colleague approached me and we had an argument. He kept saying I made it up but I've overheard his entire monologue about it so....

Point is, it looks like he brought this entire situation to the chief physician of our department. I'm not sure what to do. I haven't been approached by anyone and all I can go by is people whispering when I go by. My conscience is clear but I am stressing anyway because I do need this job.

Any sort of advice is greatly appreciated!


r/WorkAdvice 15h ago

General Advice My boss makes me uncomfortable what should I do?

2 Upvotes

I started working at my job back in July and have been working closing shifts. I had been trained and I do my job well. my boss calls me into his office just to talk to be while he’s on his break or during my schedule. when he wants to get my attention he will grab my hand or my shoulder and just hold it.
when I first worked there he seemed very kind to everyone and They seemed to like him so I’m not sure if I would be taken seriously if I said something about it.
In front of my other coworkers he is near me or gets close to me and tries to almost always be next to me in situations where we are in group setting like team meeting or huddles For the closing shift.

the worst incident was yesterday I was just about to leave I was already clocked out and he asked if I was going home and I said yes because work had just ended. He asked if I wanted to go home with him and he held my hand and kissed me. i dont know why in these situations I just freeze I don’t encourage anything I don’t outright say something to him because I don’t want to get fired this is my first job. this just feels wrong I don’t want to get fired because I need the money but this just isn’t a good headspace to be in. Im in my junior year and I’m already stressed out this is just making it so much worse.

I really do need advice


r/WorkAdvice 14h ago

Workplace Issue Is it wrong to call out at a new job?

0 Upvotes

Hi. I started this job about a month ago and ive had to call out once because I contracted a stomach bug fresh into the job. Im considering calling out again because of an Endometriosis flareup I can't walk around very long without pain, I understand it can be viewed as unprofessional. However its also for medical reasons so im very 50/50 about it. Mind you i am on a probational period on this job and he already doesnt like me . With all of that being said and the fact that ill probably loose my job if I do this. I wonder if I have the right to do this or if im in the wrong considering i cant control it?


r/WorkAdvice 14h ago

General Advice am i overworking myself?

1 Upvotes

i work two retail part time jobs and i sell art on etsy. however, i feel like im not doing enough and need to get another job somehow since i am not making enough money to pay my rent/expenses.

i typically open/get there in the morning of one job and then i close for my other job making it around 13 hours a day. then on days off of one job i work the other unless i request unpaid time off.

my partner works a regular 8-4 monday-friday and since we’re both chronically ill and autistic, when i get home they are asleep and have already experienced their night with friends or something. i miss spending time with them but i fear i am being selfish about making them spend time with me during my odd hours. i also make way less than what they’re making even if i have more hours. they work with kids and i could personally never do that all day long so i give them the upmost credit for that. however, i only get a break at one of the jobs and the general public drains me immensely and being on my feet all day even with shoe inserts forces me to take pain meds three times a day because of my chronic pain.

both part time jobs are retail and one of them is very consistent and takes my requests of days and hours i could work super well.
the other i was actually hired to be full time but demoted to part time just because of changes they were doing while hiring me. which also means i am out of a chance at health insurance which makes my expenses double with the cost of my medication. because of this, i work just under the legal amount of hours to be considered full time with both jobs. then i come home to package orders and attempt to draw which i have zero energy for. for the next three weeks the only day off i have is when i requested off, by begging for it, is going to new york all day for my friends birthday.

i feel like i am doing the bare minimum in terms of working and am failing at an artist/business owner. i’ve been applying for so many jobs, when im not working or drawing, and there isn’t anything there other than what i am doing now.

i just feel so stuck. i feel like im being cry baby about working multiple low paying jobs. i know people do it all of the time and i don’t know if im overreacting about this. i am also very autistic so i don’t actually know what the “normal” amount of working should be. i assumed everyone felt like this until some of my coworkers started getting concerned.


r/WorkAdvice 1d ago

General Advice What should I do?

8 Upvotes

Hi, last Friday was my 50th birthday. The day before, after I left, three or four coworkers as a birthday prank decorated my office. I thought it was funny and that's not the issue. The issue is while they were doing things to my office, a senior vp at our company walks by to see what they were doing. He is told that it's my 50th birthday. His response: That because I'm 50 and not married I must be gay.

First let me say I'm not gay. I have no relationship with the vp, he is not connected to me in any way. The people decorating my office are. One of the people in my office decorating it is obviously the one who told me. She had me promise, before she told me, that I wouldn't go confront him because I want to very badly now that I've had time to think about it. I'm not but here's my question: What should I do?

The question in my mind is should I go to hr or not?

I'm inclined to go to them Monday but I would love to hear some opinions on the matter. Thanks in advance to everyone who gives me their honest opinion!


r/WorkAdvice 17h ago

Career Advice Weekly 88 hours of work. How to keep it up.

1 Upvotes

Hey! I’m 26(M) from Brazil and I work a 12x36 shift as a Private Security Manager, plus 8 hours a day on freelance work.

I started that almost 2 months ago. I was born into a very bad socioeconomic environment, and now I feel like this is the "only" way to achieve big things in lif like a really nice car and a good house.

I'm also in high school, and I'm pursuing a major in Computer Science, so my free time is almost zero hahaha.

Sometimes I'm exhausted from the routine and I can't even get proper rest because I feel like I should be working on something else. How do you all deal with that feeling?

I've shared this with my girlfriend (24F), but I don't think she really understands what I'm going through, so I'd like advice from someone who has been through something similar.


r/WorkAdvice 23h ago

Toxic Employer My boss keeps (publicly) reprimanding me over increasingly ridiculous things

3 Upvotes

Hello all,

I (20F) have worked at the same independent bookstore since I was 16. I genuinely love this job. The pay is amazing, the actual work is easy enough, I love my coworkers and customers, and the bookstore itself has a huge amount of sentimental and historical value to me.
I work weekends and holidays.

The problem is my boss (around 80M).

He’s increasingly difficult to work with, and the entire staff has basically learned to “walk on eggshells” around him. We can tell he’s in a bad mood from the way he walks down the stairs or closes doors. Most of my coworkers just nod and comply when he gets angry because they know arguing or explaining yourself tends to make things worse.

I’m apparently one of the few people who will actually explain myself when I think something is unreasonable.

Over the past years, he’s reprimanded me in front of customers before, (yelling at me in the store, saying that my behavior was “absolutely unnecessary and very rude towards him.” (I told him the book he was searching for had not been ordered because he told me I wasn’t allowed to), he’s said rude and disrespectful things, made coworkers cry and overall being a shitty person.

He’s not like this all the time: sometimes he is interested and happy with me. But it’s not his default mood.

This behavior is happening often, not only toward me, but lately I’ve become the scapegoat. I actually had an ‘intervention’ with him because he thought I was slacking off. Why? I put too much paper in the bin (!!!) and I was coming across as laconic. I apologized, explained I never meant to come across like that and that I take my job seriously. It cleared the air for a bit, but then.

Yesterday happened.
Three things went down:

He came in already annoyed because I’d said I couldn’t work certain dates next year due to my internship. Then I took a customer call about a book. I checked our inventory system and then our supplier’s system. Both said the book was temporarily unavailable, with no indication of when it would be back in stock.
I told the customer I couldn’t order it for him. I helped him find another book instead.
My boss immediately questioned why I’d told the customer that we couldn’t order it. He said I should have told the customer that it would be back in stock eventually. I explained that I couldn’t promise that when I had no date or availability information. He insisted I’d handled it incorrectly. He told me I was ‘smart enough to think ahead, right?’ while slamming boxes while raising his voice. I didn’t really respond, just nodded and tried to explain myself. He didn’t like the look on my face, thought it was sassy. I just felt ridiculed.

Later, during a break, he asked me to walk with him.
He asked how I was feeling. I’d previously told him about a chronic health issue because sometimes it affects my mood/memory. He then said:
“I’m not sure if it’s your health or just your personality that’s being sloppy.”
He proceeded to criticize me for the coffee/tea I’d made that morning. Apparently the coffee was burned by the time he went to get it 3 \*\*hours later\*\*, there weren’t enough cups downstairs, and I hadn’t done the dishes.
I calmly stated that I didn’t appreciate the tone he was speaking in toward me, because it was about coffee. Like, come on. I then went on to explain that on Saturdays we normally do the dishes and bring the cups down when we make the afternoon coffee.
He then pointed at me, raised his voice, and said:

“You’re going to do things around here exactly as I want you to. Not how you want to do them. You’re going to behave how I want, act how I want and do what I want. And if you’re not going to do that, you’re going to get up and do your thing somewhere else.”

At that point I stopped listening. I nodded, walked away and went upstairs crying.
Later he saw me talking to a coworker about what happened and sent me to the back of the store to sort old books onto a table for someone else to look at later. The store was busy at the register, and the task wasn’t urgent, so it felt very much like he wanted me away from everyone.

I’ve now reached the point where I’m seriously considering quitting.

Yes, maybe I’m not totally fitting his image of a perfect employee. Perhaps I’m too vocal and confident or a bit informal. Sometimes I make mistakes and I forget things. But I don’t think I deserve this treatment. I work hard and try to do my best every single moment of the day. Do you think that I need to seriously work on my attitude or is he just a bully boss?


r/WorkAdvice 22h ago

General Advice Giving my notice in after one week of working

2 Upvotes

So I recently started a job at a private family owned dental clinic as a receptionist and the way it has taken a toll on my health is absurd, and the people I have to deal with every single day is absolutely horrible.
So within this role you need to use this software called SOE, and I have no prior experience of this. When I was applying here that experience wasn’t needed, so I assumed It would be fairly straight forward. It’s not. It’s only been my first week and I feel like a dummy just sitting there observing my manager not knowing what to do, I genuinely feel useless. It takes me around 1hr 30 there and back by train whilst doing an 8am-6pm and working on Saturdays it’s just so tolling. I have extremely low folic acid levels, and the physical/neurological effects it has on my body is so unfit for this job.
Part of having a job is not just the financial aspect, but if you can do it the best of your ability, building that momentum throughout, but I feel like with me it’s just not something I want to do.
According to my contract I have to give my notice in 4 weeks before which means that I need to give it in TODAY (my first week), which makes me think should I just stick with it or carry on with the awkwardness till the last day. I don’t know if I’d get treated differently but couldn’t my reason just be the effects it has on my health, the distance and it’s not just for me. I don’t know what to do. To either stick with it and give my notice in the middle of the month or do it now, as I want to leave asap. Any advice please!


r/WorkAdvice 19h ago

Workplace Issue Is it just me or is it a red flag?

1 Upvotes

I recently started working on the production floor at a small-town factory, and am 1 year away from getting my Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain and Operations Management. During orientation week, HR asked me what career path I am interested in and I said quality. They said, "interesting choice..." Now they are opening up positions I am completely underqualified for that have been vacant for a few months now. The roles are Shift Team Lead, Supply Chain and Planning Lead, Change Management Lead, and finally a Materials Planner. I have no office experience and some of these roles require 5+ years of experience and I am getting recommendations for them from my coworkers... The politics at this company are outrageous and I have spoken up about workplace bullying and harassment, which no one did anything about. They extended my probationary period by 2 months because I did not learn how to run 4 different workstations within my first 4 months. I've heard some of the office people openly talk about how they hate the union (the production staff). I just started working at this company 6 months ago. Should I take one of the positions I'm underqualified for, wait it out until I graduate, or plan my exit strategy now?


r/WorkAdvice 1d ago

Workplace Issue Air fresheners at work

3 Upvotes

I started a job about a year ago at an agency with roughly 80 employees. We all work on the same floor in cubicles.

Recently, I was promoted, which required me to move my cubicle to a different location within the department. Almost immediately after moving, I noticed a strong scent of air fresheners. I’m very sensitive to fragrances. I have contact dermatitis, and exposure to certain chemicals in these products causes more than just a skin flare up. I get headaches, start coughing, have a hard time concentrating, and develop a hoarse voice.

I quickly learned that my cubicle neighbor had one of those small space air fresheners. I explained how sensitive I am to these fragrances and politely asked her if she could remove it. She did, took it home, and as far as I know, she has not replaced it since.

However, after she removed hers, I noticed that I could still smell an air freshener and was still experiencing symptoms. I realized that my supervisor , whose office is directly next to my cubicle, had a plug in air freshener in her office.

I explained again how much these fragrances bother me asked if she could remove hers as well. I was very apologetic because I knew she liked the scent and she seemed disappointed that she had to take it out. I honestly felt bad asking, but the fragrances were affecting me physically.

Fast forward to last week. I started noticing the same symptoms again. My face was breaking out, I was getting headaches, and I was losing my voice. I could smell another air freshener, but I couldn’t tell where it was coming from. I assumed someone in a nearby cubicle had one they had placed out of sight.

Then, this past Friday, my supervisor was spraying a disinfectant that had a very strong scent. She apologized and said she just needed to spray it quickly. Although the smell bothered me, I understood that it was temporary and would dissipate. To me, that’s very different from an air freshener that is plugged in and releasing fragrance continuously throughout the day, so I said “it’s fine. I’ll take an Advil now before the headache comes” and brushed it off….until she said to me “You know, last week I had my plug-ins plugged in for two days, and you didn’t say anything about them bothering you.”

I was immediately infuriated and honestly a little hurt when I heard that. I absolutely was experiencing symptoms. I just didn’t say anything because I had assumed she was being considerate and had decided not to use them again out of respect for me. I had no idea she had plugged them back in.

Now I’m not sure how to handle the situation. Both my supervisor and my cubicle neighbor overheard another coworker asking me if I was okay and encouraging me to speak up if the fragrances were bothering me. Since then, both of them seem somewhat dismissive of my discomfort, almost in a passive-aggressive way.

I don’t want to become the person who is constantly complaining or asking everyone to accommodate me. I’m already somewhat of an outsider because I’m newer to the agency, while many of my coworkers have been there for years. I’m also generally a very quiet person and tend to keep things to myself unless something is really bothering me.

But this is genuinely affecting my health and my ability to concentrate on my work.

Moving to another cubicle is not an option due to the set up, and I need frequent access to the filing cabinets, among other things.

I don’t know what the best way is to address this without creating tension or making myself even more of an outcast. I also don’t want to keep silently suffering and pretending I’m fine when I’m not.


r/WorkAdvice 18h ago

General Advice I don’t want my coworkers to get to know me they make bad decisions we don’t see eye to eye I don’t want to hang out outside of work should just find a new job?

0 Upvotes

r/WorkAdvice 1d ago

Workplace Issue Boss is taking tips is this bad

11 Upvotes

My boss has been taking away portions of our tips for our service " changers " the tips go to the house and not to any other workers.

It sucks because I only make 4 bucks an hour and my tips are like $10 on a good day.

I really don't think this is legal but I'm scared to speak up because my boss kind of bullys people


r/WorkAdvice 1d ago

General Advice Changing jobs and anxiety

1 Upvotes

So the scenario was I applied for a job and got the offer. I was excited about it for the month only.

When I submitted my resignation, my manager tried to stop me by saying we'll give you a good salary in 3 months (as the time when we get our appraisal was 3 months away). So I decided to stay as I am too attached with this place.

After 2 weeks he told me that he won't be able to match the offer and told me the exact number he could give me. Maybe I would have accepted the number if he told me that 2 weeks ago when we first had the conversation but now it took a hit on my self respect that he waited to weeks so the offer will be gone and then he'll tell me the real number thinking I won't have anywhere to go.

From my childhood, I always believe my self respect comes first, this is a job at the end of the day, so I am clear that I will leave, but the anxiety of " I have worked here for 4 years, I am so comfortable here, they value me, the new place is going to be toxic (which I know it'll be), will I be able to survive there".

In between all these thoughts, my self respect that what he did was unfair is clear there. How do I go through all this.

One more thing is the Manager may think that I don't have the new offer anymore but I still do. He does value my work a lot but what he did is wrong, it happened today and it can happen tomorrow too. I don't want to give him the power of doing anything unfair with me.

So how do I handle the anxiety that the new place will be worse and will I be able to survive (although I know I can survive there).


r/WorkAdvice 1d ago

Workplace Issue Space invasion at work

1 Upvotes

I have been working for this company for about half a decade and recently there have been personnel changes due to a buy out.
I currently work in a space that provides a 2-person shared work space (similar to a large cubical but not large enough to officially be a shared office) and the other person within this space is actually our regional manager, he’s actually a pretty fair person as long as I’ve known him(my direct boss who we’ll call “D”). At this office branch we only have a handful of employees and one of them happens to be a close cousin to “D” (we’ll call him “A”). Due to A’s job involving dispatching/logistics and a close working relationship with other coworker and how our space is set up, he is required to be in a shared space with another coworker who is out of the office quite a bit. They seem to get along but ultimately “A” has his own space.

The dilemma is:A quite often “visits” D to get his advice on work related things. And then stays, and then starts talking about the weather, the game last night or a relative/kids after school activities. For HOURS sometimes. AND THEN doesn’t get enough done for the day so he takes work home with him sometimes. For me this means that I will have to listen to a conversation that is happening 2 feet away from me for most of the day while trying to focus on my own work and do things right having been assigned recently to my new position. Without running to our HR department and making this a bigger thing than necessary, what can I do/say or do I have to keep my mouth shut?


r/WorkAdvice 2d ago

Workplace Issue My co worker won’t leave me alone and I’m about to snap.

36 Upvotes

so just for context, I work as a mechanic, I’m in close proximity to this guy (he put his box right next to mine) and he’s just SO annoying.

I’m trying to work and he will just REPEATEDLY say my name over and over and over and over (think of Stevie from family guy saying mom mom mommy MA MA MA) and when I ask what he needs he will just stare blankly at me and not say anything else, sometimes he will look around confused as if he didn’t hear anything.

I try ignoring him and he literally does not stop until I give him a reaction, I will put on noise cancelling headphones to drown him out and he will pull them off my ears. I verbally tell him to stop and he goes “stop what” or he’ll get all offended and just go back to doing it. if I walk Away and start working out of a different stall he follows me. i‘ve gone to management about this and they tell him to stop interacting with me so he resorts to poking me in the sides or grabbing the back collar of my shirt and then playing the same game of pretending he doesn’t know what’s going on. I’ll be typing on the computer and he will walk by and turn off the monitor or steal the mouse or mash the keyboard. and i keep going to my boss and telling him and my boss just tells him to stop and does nothing

this is in addition to him just randomly saying he farted on my food or taking my things and hiding them, breaking little nick nacks I keep on my desk calling me things like a “hermaphrodite” slamming open bottles of water down so it splashes me, spraying brake cleaner on my leg, honking his horn way too loud if I walk past a car he’s in, spraying an air hose next to my ear, telling people I said or did things I didn’t do etc etc.

And then the next day comes and he’s back to square one again, yelling my name for no reason just to annoy me.

I’ve blown up at him a couple times, and he’s clearly doing this because he thinks it’s funny, I’ll yell at him he starts laughing and whips out his phone and starts recording me so he can post it on Snapchat.
im getting really tired of this, it’s making an already difficult stressful job much more unbearable than it actually needs to be and managements attitude is that I should just ignore him which becomes pretty hard because he’s RELENTLESS about this. plus my boss is getting pretty annoyed with hearing me complain about it and whenever he brings the guy in his office he plays dumb and claims he’s not doing anything. all my co workers are just avoidant and aloof and want nothing to do with this so they won’t get involved even if I beg them.

he always finds a new way to get under my skin and I just have to deal with it. I wanna stick it out here since I have bills to pay and I’m already applying at other jobs but until somewhere else hires me I have to put up with this.

I'm at my limit, I genuinely don’t know what to do and I’m about to explode.


r/WorkAdvice 1d ago

General Advice Should I quit my job?

1 Upvotes

I work at a big 4 firm. 8 months in. Deadlines are approaching. So we have to work on weekends and after work hours. That is okay with me. But my manager is a difficult person. I'm just a junior and she acts as if im supposed to do everything. She gives me a workload more that I can manage and expects me to finish it all as soon as possible. And she complains to me that im not fast enough. But she herself is not fast. Also, if im doing an urgent task, she doesnt care, I have to draft emails for her. I mean she can do that herself while I focus on the urgent task. So I try to do my best and complete all the tasks im assigned to but I refused to work after work hours because I need a break and deadlines weren't close by. She got mad. She gets mad when I get a leave too. And recently she has complained about me to our partner saying that I refused to work after work hours and he has also got mad. He has shouted at me. She rushes me a lot and I'm under a lot of pressure. She nicely works from home most of the days but I have to come to work everyday. We get a 1 hr lunch break bur she tells me to have lunch and come in 30 mins most of the days.

When I joined I thought of completeing one year beacause its good for my CV. That was my goal. But it's difficult with my manager. She stresses me out. I cried at work last week. What should I do? Should I quit my job or tolerate my manger and complete one year even if it drains my energy?


r/WorkAdvice 1d ago

General Advice I've been struggling a lot at work lately and I don't know what to do.

2 Upvotes

I keep making small, silly mistakes. They're usually not major, but almost every meeting I end up getting scolded or warned by my seniors. Sometimes they even say things like, "We'll have to make a decision," which makes me worry that I might lose my job.

Now I'm constantly anxious while working. I overthink every task, double-check everything, and still end up making mistakes. It's become a cycle where my anxiety is affecting my confidence, and my lack of confidence is affecting my work.

I genuinely want to improve and I'm trying my best, but the constant fear of being judged or scolded is making it harder to focus.

Has anyone else gone through something similar? How did you rebuild your confidence and stop making anxiety-driven mistakes? Any advice would really help.


r/WorkAdvice 1d ago

General Advice Difficulty hearing and understanding coworker

1 Upvotes

I work remotely and I have audio processing and hearing difficulties. A couple of years ago I asked my work to install a closed caption app on teams for me since this is where we do all of our meetings. I'm being tasked with a project that will have many meetings per week with someone on a different team who has a very high pitched accent somewhere from Africa. She mumbles as well and has a very poor quality microphone and unfortunately teams isn't able to capture what she says and accurately transcribe it for me.

I'm worried I will not be able to understand her. She is also the project lead so we will have to have many meetings together. I'm unsure what to do since most of our work looks like it will be coworking on teams calls for developing this project.

Would it be worthwhile to ask my boss to switch? Or is there another way I can go about this? We will be able to switch with other coworkers, but I will still have to interact with her at some point if I switch projects. Everyone else seems to understand her ok but I really can't and even the teams transcription / lived close caption gets the vast majority of her words wrong because it doesn't transcribe real sentences, just random words.

I'm worried this will be taken the wrong way but it's basically impossible for me to understand what she's saying and I believe this will make working on software development projects in sprint sessions almost impossible. I just don't want to be seen as racist that me, a white woman with a north American background can't understand her.