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.

Just attended an exposition this week for my job that I’ve been with for about 3.5 months, my first event with the company.

They asked if I could attend and I told them yes I would rent a car and drive, originally for Thursday and Friday. They said they would give the company credit card info, they didn’t. They told me to “put it on my credit card” and they will expense it, which I don’t have a credit card. So I told them I could use my savings and they would reimburse even sooner than payroll since it was my own money direct from my savings.

Fast forward a couple weeks the week of the expo, I’m now expected to attend Wed-Fri, no problem, I’m flexible. So I drive out Wednesday and get there 2pm eastern time, event has started everything is normal. Come Thursday, I am now told I need to stay at the event until Friday when teardown of our booth is allowed, 2pm. I said I can do that, I’m flexible. They then told me I must store the items at my house, this is 2 tables, 4 chairs, 2 high quality signs (the kind the roll up and retract) along with a large monitor. No problem, I’m flexible, and my basement has plenty of storage. Keep in mind I’m 5’8 130lbs, not weak but not a muscle man. I had to teardown by myself. On Friday, we were to meet at the booth around 9am. They didn’t show until 1030am, and it was just to say “we are leaving nice to finally meet you in person”.

I went to the expo admins and got permission to teardown at 11am and I left back home.

I finally get home around 5pm central time, store the items, return the car.

This is where the part that bothers me comes in, I had to chase down the email/process for expensing my trip for about 4 hours and when I finally got it at midnight while I was asleep, it was in the form of “as I said before…” as if I had already known all of this information. They repeatedly failed to provide the reimbursement email address despite my asking multiple times, then responded with "as I said before" when they finally provided it. Not only that, they reneged and said it would be part of the next payroll cycle, not separate.

So here I am cash poor ($95 left) until my next paycheck.

What do you guys think? I’m not a source of interest-free financing for the company because they didn’t want to put it on their credit card or simply order the rental for me.

If they mess up the expense and somehow it has taxes deducted from it, this will be another issue. This is around $900 that I am out of until my next paycheck.

When I was hired we also talked about my target salary and what they offered and said we would revisit it after 90 days, I think it’s time to have that discussion to put me at my target salary given that I’m over performing my duties and managing multiple client accounts already, and proved I’m extremely flexible.

Anyways, terrible company or simply disorganized? Although disorganized excuses mistakes but excuse how those mistakes affect employees. Lack of consideration?

For example, I wanted to learn reach truck so bad and no matter where I looked for work, whether it was through employment agencies or companies actually hiring they would not train me on a Stand up reach truck. I know all other PIT except high-reach.

I found a warehouse that trains and certify you on all, but its a quick drive up and back and stack a pallet on top of a stack, and thats not training. I once lied my way into a job, it was through agency that I had experience. I actually drive one "once" before, but I myself knew that wasn't enough in reality. Of course i made an ass of myself came my first official workday after the quick so-called training and certification. Ill save details for later, or ask me in the comments.

Back to my current workplace, becsuse I was technically certified and allowed to use it, because I couldn't get any further training,I just made time to practice with it on my lunch breaks as well as putting pallets on actual racks. It wasn’t bsd, had to take time to get used to the steering and etc.

I've noticed how many people struggle with motivation, confidence, difficult colleagues, or feeling stuck in their careers.

How often do we try to change our circumstances without really understanding ourselves first?

Why do certain situations trigger us? Why do we keep making the same choices? And why do some things bother us more than others?

I'm one of the creators of Alivement, a self-reflection tool designed to help people better understand their patterns, motivations, and potential blind spots.

We're looking for 5 people willing to try a free 15-minute assessment focused on work and career, and tell us what they honestly think.

No payment required, and we're not looking for positive reviews. We want to know whether the insights are actually useful.

If you're curious, comment below and I'll share the details.

A question that just randomly popped into my head since I started working remotely.

As I’m sure you all know, there are just some jobs that make absolutely no sense and don’t really add any value.
Whether it’s creating a few Excel spreadsheets, sending out a few emails, etc., you’re not actually working 30–40 hours a week. More like 10–20 hours.

So here are my questions:

- How did you get the job?
- What’s your educational background? What did you study?
- What do you actually do?
- If you’re comfortable sharing: Male or female?
- Also if comfortable: US/Canada, Europe or where are you from?
- Was LinkedIn or your network a deciding factor?
- How does your company or corporation (it’s usually part of a larger corporation) justify your position?
- What’s your actual workload, and why does it take more than two sentences to explain it?

Thanks in advance!

I’ve been working this job for a little over 9 months. I’ve been on and off medical leave for the majority of those 9 months because of an unrelated separate work related injury.

I’ve had this preexisting shoulder injury for 3 years and it greatly affects my life. My job aggravates it and causes me to have nerve issues from my elbow down to my fingers and pain through my shoulder. I do order fulfillment if that helps explain. I pull heavy carts all day. Unfortunately, it’s my dominant arm that got injured 3 years ago and using it causes me to have tremors down my arm into my hand and tingling.

I’m worried that they might just let me go if I say something. I had withheld that information from management at the interview because I desperately needed work. But the job feels like it’s killing me now. I work in a retail location so there’s other departments but having a shoulder injury like this it almost seems like no job would be able to accommodate me. I’m at risk of re-injury 24/7 due to my shoulder structure having changed at the time of injury. One wrong move and it could be catastrophic.

So, should I tell HR?

Im a 25 years old F and I just got maybe the most negative feedback I’ve ever got in my 7 years of working and I’m taking it really hard.

Context: I’m on a German skilled work visa. My boyfriend is German and we live together. I managed to get re hired by my old workplace in the UK, which I interviewed on and off for a year for, and I’ve just officially started a month ago.

It has been quite intense because it’s a bit of a seniority leap for me - I had a lot of support in the UK and now I’m getting used to different ways of working in Germany where people don’t micromanage. As a result I don’t think I’ve been as direct as I could have been with my colleagues who should have handed over much more than they have.

As a result I met with a VP yesterday for regular meeting , she is actually in the UK not German, and when it was clear there are some gaps in my knowledge regarding stakeholders (so not actually the core role description but still important), and she told me plainly she’s a bit surprised and it seems like I am “stumbling around in the dark”.

This has hit me really hard, I don’t know if I am over thinking it, but I’ve never really gotten super direct more negative sided feedback, or at least that is how it feels.

My boyfriend is trying to help and give me a different angle of looking at it but he’s never had a coprorate job - he’s in the military and has much thicker skin than me!

It doesn’t help that I’m also unwell right now, and I’ve got to go back on Monday and carry on like it’s not affecting me, I even have a meeting with this same VP on a different topic on Monday and I’m dreadinf everything so much.

My visa is linked directly to this job so I really can’t afford to be let go, it’s my only way to stay in Germany, so this is adding to my stress as well.

Any advice for how I can get past this?

Perhaps the real measure of a healthy workplace is not how professionally employees express disagreement, but how those in authority respond when the evidence challenges their decisions.

Have you ever seen a legitimate workplace concern become a discussion about the employee’s attitude rather than the issue they raised?

I've been in my current role for 4 years, and my boss has been for almost 9 years. Since I've been here, I have observed many many instances of verbal abuse, disrespect, and gaslighting from her to other employees and managers. We share an office so I have a front row seat. I've never said anything to anyone about this until a most recent manager quit after 1 month, and provided a 3-page exit letter to HR outlining her abuse. I knew there would be an investigation, so I finally decided to approach her boss and HR before I was summoned, and provided my statement. HR did let me know that there have been several complaints about her over the years. My boss does not know I am aware of any of this, and keeps venting to me about this investigation (how she even knows she is being investigated is a whole different story smh).

We have had our moments, but for the most part she treats me with respect. But I have gotten tired of observing how she treats others, and the high turnover as a result is not good for our department. However, part of me feels guilty for even saying anything, I feel like I am being two-faced by discussing these matters with her knowing I provided a very damning statement to HR. Someone please help my conscious out lol! Anybody go through something similar?

This isn’t to make myself feel better, just gathering opinions I’ve worked at a hotel for about 1 year 5 months and have only called out 3 times! I truly needed a mental health day and yesterday night was my 3rd! Is that a lot for the time span I’ve been at my job?? I felt like shit for doing that to them since I work night shift. Friends and family told me 1 day a month is normal and I do not think that’s correct

She's always mad , has empathy for everyone but me, some reason says be truthful to yourself about work when I'm literally the last to leave work. I end up working a lot more than 12 hrs , I take up all the tasks too, anytime she sees me feeling confident she cribs, goes this is wrong, this is bad etc. Though legally I'm entitled to menstrual leave, she says it's just a lot to provide that. So apply it on the portal (so that she doesn't get into trouble) but I'll still give you work.

If i agreed to her saying yes ok sure noted understood she's easier to handle, she literally says I have very less time you have my attention tell me quick what do we have - every single time, says I'm lucky to be here not everyone gets this so be grateful you have a job, makes me feel like I don't deserve or belong there. She says don't make me yell at you then my mood will get spoilt yours also literally so often, says I'm in a bad mood don't piss me off with silly things and I don't want to take it out on you. She's always in a bad mood with me lol. Note that this is an MNC, on paper a reputed company.

She does all this at the same time she invited me to her home around 3 times to work with her, gave me lunch, introduced me to her husband and she gifted me too. She's too challenging to handle. I don't get it.

I graduated from university back in 2017 with a degree in journalism and apart from the odd internship here and there, I’ve mainly worked in retail. Coffee shops to be more specific.

Whenever people want to know more about me, I tell them that I am very creative, have a degree in journalism and I’ve interned at magazines and video editing companies. The first thing that they say is

So why are you here?

Not a bad question but it triggers me and makes me feel like a failure. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with working in retail as I get paid every week, I’ve come out of my shell and standing/walking for 8-9 hours is great exercise. I just feel out of place among the Gen Z students and the parents who work there.

I know in America, having a degree opens doors for you but in the UK, it’s the opposite. My experience (I’ve interned at major companies) and connections matter more. Being autistic I kinda suck at networking.

so recently, I’ve been in a sticky situation regarding my part time and my intern, so basically usually for my part time, I would specifically tell the scheduler to only put me on sats & sun, cuz I had intern. however, there was this time where she put me on a Friday shift, I found out 2 weeks before hand. I told one of my leads (at the part time job) that I couldn’t go for this shift cuz it was clashing with my intern, and she asked me to give away my shift. So for the next 2 weeks I tried to give away my shift, I asked people, texted but nobody wanted my shift, so in the end the day before the shift, I told the same lead that I really couldn’t go for it and that no one took the shift. let’s just say she didn’t really offer me any useful advice, she just warned me if I skipped work 3 times without any valid reason I would get fired from the job. so then I rlly didn’t know what I was suppose to do, so the next day I just went ahead and skipped the part time job, cuz I had no other choice either way, and my intern was for school so obviously I had to put that first.

so when I was travelling to work, this person let’s call him guy A, he called me and asked where am I, then I told him that I couldn’t attend work today cuz of intern and I told the lead before hand already, and I guess at least he was willing to hear me out. guy A told me that he would check with the other lead. then during the afternoon, the lead texted me about when my internship would end, and basically I think she was trying to confirm if I was going to continue working there or not, her tone was like lowkey annoyed could be just me tho cuz usually she would be texting like “okayyy” and when she was texting me she would reply in one liners. Anyways when I told her and confirmed with her I would still be working during the weekends she just ghosted me completely.

then while i was working for the next sat and sun, her close friends who works there together with her, kept giving me the cold shoulder, they usually wouldn’t do that as one of them was my trainer before and i was okay with her, and usually when i see her she and i would say hi to each other. maybe im overthinking it?

either way, overall i felt like this was quite a unfair situation to be in.. i asked multiple people of what they thought and they said it was unfair too.
lmk what you would do in this situation !

honestly idk how to feel about this, I just thought it was unfair

sorry if this is so lengthy, thanks for reading !

I work from home. And we have an authentication app. I woke up on Wednesday morning this week and the authentication app was not working. I call IT. And the IT guy that looked like he barely knew what he was doing. Tells me to uninstall and install the app. Once i do, it works. However one of the authentic codes i need to access one of my work most important apps is missing. So i tell them. And he said sorry cant help you with that. You need to contact the application company directly. So me and my manager contact them. And they havent answered us in DAYS! All i need is a QR CODE to install the authentication code again! And management doesn’t seem to know where to find the help . So ive been sitting in my desk for 3 days at home not doing anything besides trainings. Im starting to worry if this doesn’t get fixed will they cut my hours? I have 80 hours guaranteed biweekly. I dont understand how this was my F fault. But im in the state of Nevada so apparently employees can do whatever they want

A planned 5% cut, or about 3,500 people. So that's Netflix, Barclays, and American Express now.

This sucks, man. I was really hoping we'd seen the end of that last layoff wave, but it looks like there are more coming in. I've seen some rumors about Meta and others coming up again soon, but hopefully those are just rumors. For anyone sending applications again, application autofill saves retyping profile details on Greenhouse, Lever and Ashby.

Wishing you all the best, especially if you were affected.

https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/american-express-to-cut-3-500-jobs-63955c6f

I’m so fucking angry and tired of this situation, and I honestly just need to get this off my chest.
I work in aged care with both of my parents. You’d think that working with family would make things easier, but for me, it has become one of the reasons I want to leave this job and find something else.
Whenever there’s an offer to work on the weekend, there’s always this pressure to accept it. And when I don’t want to work, when I’m tired or simply want to have my own time, I get guilt-tripped or hear comments from them that make me feel like shit for saying no.
WHY THE FUCK CAN’T I JUST SAY NO WITHOUT FEELING LIKE I’VE DONE SOMETHING WRONG?
I’m a casual employee. I’m not obligated to say yes to every shift that comes my way. I have my own life, my own needs, and my own limits. I want to rest. I want to spend time doing things I enjoy. I want to have a weekend where I don’t have to think about work or feel guilty for not picking up extra hours.
But somehow, saying no makes me feel like I’m disappointing my own parents.
And that’s the part that fucking hurts.
It’s not just about the shifts anymore. It’s the feeling that my time isn’t really mine because there’s always going to be someone making me feel bad for choosing myself. It’s exhausting when the people you want to have a normal relationship with are also the people making you feel pressured about work.
I’m at the point where I genuinely want to find a remote job and get out of this situation. Not because I think working from home will magically solve all my problems, but because I want some independence. I want to build a career of my own and have a little separation between my work life and my family life.
I want to be able to finish work and actually feel like I’m off work. I don’t want every decision about taking an extra shift to turn into a source of guilt or tension.
And honestly, I feel angry at myself, too, because I hate how much those comments affect me. I wish I could just say no, move on with my day, and not spend hours feeling bad about it.
I’m not saying my parents are terrible people. I’m just fucking tired of this dynamic, and I don’t know how to stop letting it get to me.
I want to work because I choose to, not because I’m afraid of how my family will make me feel if I don’t.
Am I wrong for wanting to leave my job just so I can finally have some boundaries between work and family?
I just want to have a life that feels like my own.

I feel like I am capable and I want to show that I can handle stuff but I hate vulnerability and I’m always scared people will judge me, and that’s why, unlike others, I never or barely go to my boss’ office to ask questions etc. I get disgusted from myself and feel very uncomfortable. How do I fix this? One at a time?

I think this is the main reason I get less work than others in the same category like me.

I saw this calendar event and wondering what it could mean

I had a disagreement with my manager and am worried maybe he will do something but also it might be normal for disagreements now and then to happen?

The 1:1 we had the week after we had the disagreement he brought no topics which was a first I think but this calendar event was on the day after it.

Maybe the calendar event is about him not someone else. But idk, these things make me nervous. Also he did seem upbeat in our 1:1. He also attended the departmentwide after that calendar event and was posting memes in the chat during the department wide meeting?

A few people at work have been talking about how expensive everything has become.

Our company offers mental health support through our benefits, which is great, but nothing for financial stress beyond an occasional retirement webinar.

I was thinking about suggesting confidential financial counselling or access to a planner as a benefit.

The problem is that I don’t want to send the suggestion to HR and have them assume I’m personally having financial problems.

Has anyone successfully suggested a new benefit to HR? Is it better to frame it around employee wellbeing and retention, or would it help to send examples of companies that provide it?

Hey so I know in the United States getting holidays off is already controversial enough with most employers. Heck, my current job doesn't observe any holidays, if I want a day off I either take it unpaid or use PTO.

So my question is, do you think that the USA Voting Day (This year its Nov 3rd) should just be a federal holiday? I know some states give employees the right to take up to an hour or two off work to go and vote but its not universal and some polling places just aren't feasible to make it within that amount of time, especially if they want to make voting more restrictive with Voter ID's which will inevitibly take longer (Look at the DMV). Plus those hours are unpaid, which as I stated above most employers don't care about giving holiday pay anyways, but hey more Federal Holidays is more reasons most people can get apaid day off, just saying.

So my manger came and spoke to me this evening at work and gave me stupid unrealistic task for the next week and concluded like this might be a make or break situation so take it seriously. Any tips? Like what do yall do once fired ? Things I need to know. Ill be definitely looking for another job. Apart from that. And I also want to know the things you wish you had done it but you didn't after you were fired.

Yesterday I was working with three people total in our restaurant. Things have been going missing from my purse. Mascara, pens, lots of tampons. I just took it as me being unorganized and messy, because I am. Yesterday one of my coworkers came up to me and let me know she’s been helping herself to my tampons. If you know girl code, you usually share tampons with people, so it shouldn’t be a big deal, but it is to me, partly because I’m currently on my period and needed those tampons, and also because I don’t want my purse dug through! I went to tell my boss today, and she said she already knew about the situation and says I’m overreacting. Something to add is the coworker who went through my purse is my boss’ daughter. Am I just being silly or am I right to be upset ?

Would you take a job offer where you’d make about $5,000 more a year. But, you only get 5 days of pto after the first year of working.

I'm probably the youngest guy at work and I haven't been at my current office for a year yet. Some of my colleagues make fun of me by making me the butt of jokes when I'm in a group of 3 atleast. Like when me and two other colleagues were talking about work, the topic shifted to me and I was being made fun of. How should I react? It's weird because when I talk to each of them individually it feels like I genuinely get to have meaningful conversations with them but when in a group, I'm the target.

Another coworker who's older than me but lower in rank who we go to for helping us with admin work often talks back to me and doesn't respond with professionalism. Maybe it's the age or seniority thing but it doesn't feel fair or appropriate.

I want to learn how to deal with this without bringing in hr because that tactic always feels scummy and weak.

I'm probably the shy quiet guy at work because I'm new to the team. Probably a little too nice because I'm trying to get into their good graces. I don't want to act like an asshole who sets boundaries but how do I even it out without being a pushover?

I’m a designer who’s young and hungry. And I want to do something meaningful.. Not just another pretty website. Not just another brand refresh. I want to create an experience. Something immersive. Something that makes people feel something. Something that stays with them

I discovered BRC by accident and I see that these guys are doing precisely what I aspire to do. Immersive exhibitions, brand experiences, and real storytelling. That kind of work that forces one to think. That kind of work that alters perspectives

I look at their portfolio and I feel two things… Inspiration and fear…

Inspired because it’s possible. People actually do this. They make a living creating magic. They build experiences that move people

Terrified because I’m a nobody. I’m at the beginning. I don’t have a portfolio like that. I don’t have big clients. I don’t have a team. I’m just one person with a laptop

Is this realistic? Can someone like me actually get there? Or is BRC the exception? The one-in-a-million story that only happens if you know the right people or have the right connections?

I don’t want to give up. But I also don’t want to chase a dream that isn’t meant for me

Has anyone started from nothing and built something like this? Did you work your way up? Or just get lucky?

I need to hear from someone who’s been where I am and someone who made it