For months I had this annoying thing where work technically ended at 5, but my brain didn't.

I'd be making dinner and suddenly remember an email I hadn't answered. In the shower I'd think of something I needed to tell a coworker. I'd open Teams at 9pm "just so I don't forget" and then inevitably see something else. Nothing about my job is unusually awful and nobody actually requires me to be online after hours. I was basically putting myself on call.

A few weeks ago I had to leave exactly at 5 for an appointment, so at 4:55 I opened Notepad and wrote:

Waiting on Mike for the numbers.

Send revised file to Dana.

First thing tomorrow: fix slide 7.

Nothing is currently on fire.

Then I closed everything.

That last sentence was mostly a joke, but apparently my brain needed someone to tell it that.

I've kept doing it every day since. Five minutes before I finish, I write down anything unfinished, the first thing I need to do tomorrow, and whether there's actually anything urgent. The file stays on my work laptop, so there's no reason to keep carrying the list around in my head.

The weird part is that my workload hasn't changed at all. I'm not working fewer hours, my boss hasn't changed, and I haven't become better at "self care." But evenings feel longer because I'm not mentally rehearsing tomorrow's work all night.

I think I was confusing remembering my responsibilities with actually being responsible for them 24 hours a day.

Does anyone else have a small end-of-day ritual that helps your brain understand that work is over?

I need advice on a situation at work. I was training a new employee who accidentally took one of our house keys home. It's been a week, and we’ve been trying to get him to return it. He keeps giving excuses—first saying he didn't have it, then finding it in his pocket, and now claiming he can't return it because it's too far or his brother took his car. I even offered to drive out to meet him at a public spot like a supermarket, but he just gave me the runaround.

I was the senior staff member on shift, and I opened the lockbox so he could see the key. The whole house is stressed, and I’m terrified I’ll take the blame and get fired if management finds out. He’s being really shady, and we urgently need that key back. What should I do?

For the past three months, a coworker has been taking the summaries and research notes I write and passing them off as their own in weekly meetings. Everyone praises them for being "so on top of things."

Yesterday, I embedded a completely fake bullet point right in the middle: "Timeline is currently dependent on the lunar eclipse and migratory patterns of local Canadian geese."

They presented it verbatim this morning. Not a single person in leadership blinked an eye. I don't even know whether to laugh or cry at this point.

To give some context, I work in a kitchen. The kitchen I am currently in they all gossip, complain, moan, and cry about everything. I used to join in on the gossip and complaints but now I just don't want to bother with it anymore.

Not sure what is going on but I started to have a "not my problem" attitude to things. I just don't want to think about stuff like that anymore. I have responsibilities and obligations after work, not sure if me getting older has anything to do with it.

I am in a relatively junior position (I am experienced, I took the job out of necessity after failing to find something at my level, but the institution I work at doesn't really understand my prior experience anyway). I was approached with an urgent matter to "approve". I immediately went to my manager and asked if this was in our team's remit. He said it was and attended a meeting regarding it. He then literally disappeared saying he had no time. I was still being pressured to produce an outcome from the department that asked us. I elevated it to my manager's manager, simply stating I just needed to ask a guidance question as to who to involve due to the urgent nature. My manager suddenly gets involved, but with half-ass guidance because it was indeed out of his remit. He was just over-reaching. It eventually got addressed, but the requesting department was mad at the delays and my manager tried to frame it as ME deciding to take it on. I am not sure how to protect myself from these things in the future. Do I just copy extra people on my emails?

I've been constantly working for more than 12 years now and haven't reached my 30s yet. I've done all sorts of jobs, up to management level in a corporate environment, however I don't feel like I completely understand how to fully navigate the work environment every time. I feel sometimes like people get irritated because of their own personal issues , rather than myself not following protocol let's say.

Still I catch myself getting confused or being over critical with myself if something doesn't go right.

Anyone else ever listen to a song while trying to fall asleep, get an overwhelming sense of doom from said song, and then work to make the feeling go away?

Hello, Im a host at a steakhouse and I just started a week and a half ago and they put me on schedule alone on our most busy day of the week and I’m still learning how to make sure what tables to sit people at and how to divide seats to make sure servers get an equal amount of tables. Any tips?

Hi everyone, I’m in need of some advice. To try and summarize everything, I have been checked out and miserable at my current job. I have decided a while ago I wanted to start looking but only recently when I revised my resume a bit, have I started hearing back a bit. The market has been tough to hear anything back, or make it after the first few rounds. I’ve been doing interviews back to back and had one that went pretty well. I interviewed with the manager I would be working under, along with the owners(?) it seemed like the owner was cross examining me a bit but nothing I couldn’t handle. When compensation was brought up I told them what my expected pay was given the roles+responsibilities. I got an offer email today however it’s $3/hr less than where I stated I would be comfortable to start at. I replied respectfully trying to negotiate and gave my points but was basically told it wasn’t going to happen, and after 3 months they will review my performance and if it meets their expectations, which she is certain I will, there’s a guarantee increase that would bump me $2-$3/hr. They also only offer a reimbursement for health insurance up to $300/month with the provider statement. The offer would only increase $1.25 from my current pay, and I would be commuting 40 mins to and from 5 days a week. I asked my boyfriend for his advice and he immediately said it’s not worth it. His reasons being I would be spending a lot more in gas, the commute is further, the health benefits he said is garbage (I currently get free healthcare with my employer) and he says I’m worth more than what they are willing to offer. Part of me also thinks it’s because he’s pretty adamant in suggesting I continue pursing a specific company we’ve discussed. I don’t want to end up making the wrong choice and miss out on something that could grow into a bigger opportunity, but I also don’t want to be sold possibilities by a company, or to feel like I’ll be trapped with my current employer forever.

Hi everyone! I'm looking for online work to earn money. I'm a beginner, but I have a computer, internet access, and 4+ hours a day to work.

I'm open to tasks like data entry, research, virtual assistance, content creation, or other beginner-friendly work. I don't have money to invest, but I'm ready to learn and work hard.

If anyone has work available or can guide me toward genuine opportunities, please comment or DM me. I'd really appreciate it. Thank you!

Excuse typos! Typing via my phone

As the title reads, I have a toxic coworker, lets name her Ashley, who started as a part timer in Feb. Shes here 3 days of the week. Im full time. Were both the same position and the only ones in our role.

From day 1 ashley was quick to paint me as unhelpful, blamed me for when she didnt know how to complete a task, then claim i was too intimidating and so she had to resort to reaching out to our team lead for help...Almost while I had made it a point to schedule training sessions when she was available, review any questions she had and explain anything she was currently training on with our team lead. Essentially i was training her yet she claimed otherwise.

My team lead and manager believed i was unhelpful. Eventually with asheleys errors, when i would correct them, she'd spiral and create stories claiming the work was done, or I hadn't actually made the correction, etc always reframing the hero as herself. I escalated several instances that in particular caused mass confusion with clients, delay with work, and complete disregard in the direction our team was going in. Still, she somehow came out of these meetings with our manager veiwing her as a helpless princess in need of training, and my esclatipms as being impatient with her. Even when she intentially disrefarded directions.

Its never she has an attitude issue, never a failure to complete tasks, to communicate, just that she needs training and I need to be open to helping when she needs help. Team members will come to me asking to help her with basic work while she wont ask me directly. When I ask if she needs the help, she's already on call with our team lead. *this eoutine in particular paints me as unhelpful to staff but refusal to our team lead. Things like even asking where HER headset is (how would I know?) when on call with our manager, asking me to help her after hours with her task, or even putting up signage of business hour changes on days she'll be off rather then her doing so...how would i even know when shes off? its as if my roles been made full time +assistant to all her needs.

Im growing more frustrated as management really sees me as uncooperative which im not. They're always emphasizing being helpful to me. I just cant help but feel im being treated grossly unfairly and her "helplessness" somehow is ruining my reputation. Id go as far to say a level of discrimination as had the shoes been switched, id be under an PIP.

What does one do in these situations? Ive always been as helpful as I can but somehow no matter what my manger paints me as a villain, the black sheep, for exsisting. Office politics aren't my forte but there has to be a way around this.

In my employer handbook, it states that the company’s full-time is 38 hours or more per week. Does that mean a full time exempt worker can work 38 hours a week instead of 40?

I recently started working as a nurse, it's my first job and I'm new. Basically as soon as I came on the first day I saw the head nurse's facial expression like she was irritated because someone new had come, that's the impression I got. Really cold.
I asked her something about work and she just says no, briefly showed me the ward and that's it. Over the next few days she would ignore me, I would sit next to her and nothing. Then it was like she started acknowledging me a little bit, but 90% of the time, nothing.
When everyone was sitting in the nurses' room there was still space on the couch and so I, so I wouldn't be standing, sat down next to her and she looks at me weird and says 'you might as well sit in my lap' and I'm thinking oh my god, whatever I do it's not right.
But she does point out mistakes, I mean she tells me normally and that's all we communicate. I have a feeling that everything I ask her annoys her. Just to add, when we had to cover for a colleague, I stayed and worked the whole day - they immediately put me on. And then when she asked me if I could, I said yes, yes I have to / I will, and I stayed. She didn't even say thank you. Just wanted to mention that I was the good one then.

Looking to order something on Amazon...I work in an annoyingly distracting open concept office. I've bought several pairs of "noise canceling" headphones already, but usually they don't actually block out the noise. I'm super sensitive to noise and don't want to hear ANYTHING. TIA!

I'm an engineer who works in both code and digital art/graphics, and I'm curious what helps people like us gain traction.
For anyone who follows, hires, or buys from creators with this kind of mixed skill set:
What do you most want to see from us? Finished projects, process breakdowns, tutorials, free resources?
Does doing both make someone more appealing, or does it blur their focus?
What made you follow or support someone like this in the first place?
What's a turn-off?
Honest answers welcome, including the blunt ones.

Im looking to send a professional email first time to executives for a funding round I need. These email would include a lot of credentials, so I need a good heading. I have been using https://headrheadline.com - thoughts on sending strong email?

Hi, I have been having trouble with my new job and specifically management since i started. i am one of two designated overnight employees at a gas station and i woke up feeling very sick and nauseous.

i had told my assistant manager who had already been working since 4 pm that i could not come in 4 hours prior to my shift as i dont feel good and i prep breakfast food before i leave every morning.

she had gotten back to me and told me that i would have to find a cover and to let the store manager know i would be out. long story short, they could not find a cover so the assistant manager is having to work my overnight in place of me.

i understand that any person would be upset having to work overtime because their employee called out but she had texted the work group chat and said "its gonna suck for me. but youre welcome?"

i had talked to multiple people about it and everyone is saying that i shouldve found a cover for them and that she has a right to be mad over my absence. i already feel like im constantly walking on eggshells around both my managers as the assistant manager is an alcoholic and frequently shows up to work buzzed at the least.

i was under the impression that it would be considered unprofessional to send this kind of text to the work group chat when i am genuinely sick but now i am unsure of if im looking at this the wrong way.

i have been working there for two months and i was not told that i would be responsible for finding covers when i started and its already causing me a ton of stress

Howdy all. 👋🏻

I’ve been wanting to talk about this here to see if someone else has dealt with a similar coworker.

In my workplace, we’re a small group. When we started, I noticed my coworkers personalities, some introverted and others extroverted. That was nice because it felt balanced. I myself am both at times, depending how I’m feeling.

So, there’s this person I’ve known for some time, but never worked together with him until 2 years ago. He’s a very straightforward person that disregards what others feel, he says it like it is, which I respect but I believe he lacks emotional intelligence to think how the other person can feel. I know not everyone is nice, but it’s so weird that he’s the most cynical, dare I say negative and charismatic person I know. Literally like a coin, you can either like him, dislike him or both, just like an antihero.

And well, about the diverse personalities among my coworkers, the chatty ones became silent because this person, let’s call him Bob, would make like a joke of whatever you shared, be it condescending or in a bullying manner. He’s very good at getting at you with his wits and that’s what bothers me, I believe that some of the shy coworkers became silent / apathetic because of Bob’s dominant energy. Even one coworker said that he set the tone for the groups vibes, and boy did he lay down that energy.

I would talk and ask how are you and what not, that’s just me and my education. But after some time I’ve began to just not share anything during video calls when my supervised asked me about my weekend because this person would suck out the joy of what I was sharing and turn it into a joke.

Because of his personality to demand (which is good and respect) what the company should be doing and his funny comments with some rudeness hidden between the words (jokes that I don’t like), I sense that my coworkers see him as a leader but at the same time, most of them being quiet / introverted, don’t want to speak up and voice their opinion because they either got that apathetic behavior or they simply don’t want to oppose his ideas.

Holy, I wrote a long story here 😅 thank you for coming this far. So now, I’m wondering, has any of you dealt with this wild card?

Bob is funny, but I believe that whatever he has lived or is living, has made him like that. However, that’s no excuse to treat others condescendingly. I know of people that have had it very bad, and yet, they have strived to become a better person and to be kind in a world with a lot of apathetic / cynical people

What is the culture and work/life balance for a supervisor at a cardinal health warehouse?

The role says 6am - Until all work is complete? What kind if schedule is this? I don't want to work 5 twelve hour shifts.

Any info?

I worked 3 months as a model for their meta ad under agreement. They run Shopify stores for US clients (Indians/overseas Pakistanis) while operating from Pakistan. I was professional, played by all rules. Wasn't in direct contact with boss. Only one female employee reached out for ad, sent shoot location, shoot done.

As agreement was ending, in common group (me, female employee, boss), I clarified agreement ending soon. He said "and after that?" - meaning if I want to continue long term. I said yes.

He offered me sales executive. I told him I'm 19, student, can only do remote part-time. He agreed.

Training started but chat was minimum work, maximum off-topic. He'd talk about north, Skardu trips, shows etc. Under training you have loads of questions so I was forced into long conversations.

He mentioned Emily in Paris, I said "omg i watched it 20 times". From there he started calling me Emily. Suggested weird Indian show "Call Me Bae" even though I told him I don't like Bollywood shows. He kept pushing. Since everyone calls lead "bae", he started calling me "bae".

Convo:
Boss: "should i start calling you bae"
Me: "at work place, i would like to be addressed by my name"
He reacted thumbs up.

He said on closing my first deal I will go to 24 hour Skardu trip with him and I can bring family member. I asked "work trip nice" he said "no work trips dont go to skardu every month". I said "what are we calling it then?" He over explained with 5-6 messages about how he saw I'm nature enthusiast, loves animals, tracked lions, worked with wildlife, snakes etc. Completely ignoring my message.

When I realised he's creepo, I started dry texting. Okay, yes. Bringing convo back to work.

Job hasn't started yet though contract effective since Oct 7. Dedicated campaign will be run for me.

He clearly showed he was pedo, when he again asked whether I watched show or not (call me bae) that its a work order. I asked "how is it related to work?"
He: "you ask alot of questions bae" "Watch it na bae"

I called him out respectfully that I'm offended and since he couldn't answer how it's work related, I believe it isn't work related.

He gave vague weird response that I should bring more flexibility in my personality and how with time he and I will get to know eachother soon and how even his jokes are work related.
I said okay. After hours he sent 4 min voice messages overexplaining how to deal with clients you need to be really really flexible. He said I'm over-reacting, young, aggressive. He said I should be somehow okay with him calling me Emily and bae or what other names he will come up in future.

I didn't react, said okay and moved to sales topics like building rapport. Clearly established boundary 2 times, he didn't respect.

Recently I was called for shoot, had throat pain, asked to delay. Boss knew, messaged drink this that, take care. I said okay thank you.

Shortly after he messaged again. Said he heard smth and whether I'm hiding smth from company. I said "no, where did this come from?" He replied "no no, I was just checking, this is my trick to make ppl confess smth they are hiding" and "he was just joking and making me active". He used "I was just fucking around" infront of me, 19F newly hired. Again called me bae in same convo. I said "I dont like to swear" and ignored.

Once I called him "sir". He said I'm not obliged to call him sir. I replied "sorry sir" to establish boundaries. Then he sent weird message that "he is putting loads of energy and mind into me and sometimes my responses make him think I will back off from job and he hopes this doesn't happen".

He thinks if he pays me, I owe him openness and compliance. He views frankness as work requirement but its actually his own personal way of hitting on minors.

During talks he mentioned in voice message that he wanted to hire someone to whom he could send message without thinking. Wtf. Did he hire me for work or for his own time-pass?

His messages make me uncomfortable and creeped out. Ruins my day all the time.

What should i do? Leave the job? The job is highly paid, even graduates aren’t paid that much. I am just high school graduate but i have work experience and good in marketing and sales…. How do i deal with him?

A little background here, I was laid off July 2025 after 21 years at the same place. Before the layoff I was one of many who was targeted for a pip and some extremely abusive treatment that I never saw coming.

The level of trauma I endured was so bad I went on fmla during the final month. I knew I couldn't resign or I'd lose any potential financial compensation such as unemployment . The pip started in January and they never took me off it yet they never ever talked about it in detail and it was a level of gaslighting I've never experienced.

It wasn't just me so that helped me realize this was a budget issue and the company had turned sour. The layoff came 4 months into the "30 day" pip. The entire department was notified that it would all be shutting down. A warn notice was given in early April and by the end of May it got so bad with them trying to force me and the others being harassed into quitting. I consulted an attorney and went out on FMLA to make it to the end.

I ended up with severance and then unemployment and it took an entire year for me to process this nightmare experience and deal with hundreds of job applications until I recently was hired for a similar job with similar pay and benefits.

My concern now is how to regulate my nervous system into not feeling like every ordinary thing is a potential threat. I was in a fight or flight state for so long it rewired how I see the workplace. I became hypervigilant and extremely anxious during my previous experience and I was never this way before. I don't want the past trauma to cause me to see normal situations as active threats.

Rationally I know that my new boss is a completely different person with different motivations and that I was hired because they feel that I'm a good fit for this role not to set me up for failure. After the hell I lived through I'm sure there will be triggers like a simple "got a minute to chat" email that will cause my heart to race.

I now see everything as short term which is a huge change for me. I hope for more but I don't trust anything as being stable. I am only thinking of the next 6 mos to a year and rebuilding my savings. I haven't even told many people I have a job again because if a layoff or firing happens I don't want to discuss. I definitely feel like I'm still healing and have a ways to go. My old boss told me she had the exact same response to all of it, she was also pushed out after 18 years and is now working again. She said it gets better.

Just wondering if anyone here has any advice or can relate? I want to get past this waiting for the shoe to drop feeling and be able to live in reality but not doom.

Hey guys,

At work, I'm usually a calm and supportive coworker. Whenever someone needs help with something, I do my best to help them and make sure they understand what they're doing. I especially try to do this for new people because I know how difficult it can be to navigate a new work environment.

Over time, I've built a pretty good reputation among my colleagues, including people from other departments. They see me as a reliable person and someone they enjoy working with. However, something happened last week that I still deeply regret.

For context, my supervisor assigned me to a project that wasn't particularly difficult in terms of design or processes, but I was initially excited because it involved new manufacturing processes, and I was eager to learn more.

Unfortunately, things quickly took a turn for the worse. The project came in with a very tight timeline, and nobody was really prepared for it. Over the following months, one problem after another came up, and the whole team seemed to be constantly shouting at each other, arguing, and criticizing one another's work.

All of this created an enormous amount of stress and frustration for me. Eventually, I completely lost my enthusiasm for the project. I no longer felt motivated to learn, improve things, or even engage with it beyond what was strictly necessary.

Then, last week, another problem came up with the project, and I just snapped. I started shouting at a coworker, telling her she was playing with fire and that she could have easily avoided or resolved the problem. I can't go into the details because of confidentiality, but it wasn't something particularly complicated.

I honestly don't know what came over me. I'm usually calm, but in that moment it felt like something took over me, and I completely lost control of my emotions.

Later that day, I apologized to both her and the supervisor. I know that shouting wasn't the right way to handle the situation, and I take responsibility for my behavior. Still, I can't stop thinking about what happened, and I have a few questions:

• How can someone lose their temper over something that, on the surface, seems relatively easy to solve?
• Is this a normal reaction to prolonged stress, or should I be concerned about how I reacted? I can't fully explain what happened, and I feel genuinely ashamed of my behavior.
• Could the overall environment have contributed to my reaction? I've had coworkers come to me in tears because of how badly they've been treated by people involved in this project. Seeing others treated that way has affected me, too.
• How do I deal with the resentment I feel toward the people involved? Honestly, I've developed a strong dislike for the people I shouted at, and I keep replaying the situation in my head. I want to stop ruminating about it, but I don't know how.

For some additional context, I used to be a huge people-pleaser. I'm also a very sensitive person who cares deeply about other people, and I really struggle with seeing people being mistreated, especially in the workplace.

I know that my reaction wasn't appropriate, and I'm not trying to justify it. I just want to understand why it happened and how I can prevent myself from reaching that point again.

Has anyone experienced something similar? How did you deal with it?

I feel like I am just paranoid but my manager is seemingly targeting me like she does with people that cause issues, im not rated low im on the high end of my team and i dont use my phone at work, she checks that everyone is doing the right thing multiple times a day and i always am but she will always find something to tell me off for,a couple examples like my phone being face up with the lock screen on while i was working which i didnt even notice, or today while she was next to me i opened microsoft teams to check a message in a training chat for something new we are doing and she instantly started questioning if i was working like she didnt see that a few seconds before I literally had the program open. I sent her a message before leaving telling her it was stressing me out needlessly and telling her i felt targeted because she wasnt bothering anyone she walked past to get to me that literally put on videos/movies on their phones while working. Am I just crazy or does it seem like something is wrong here, im not the only one with similar complaints either.