What kind of workplace unfairness/BS have you dealt with on your job?

[ManOnFire]

Whether it's with your boss, co-workers, or the system entirely.

[Anonymous]

I got sick of being a nobody at my job and decided to apply for management. Day one I got a thick binder of about a 1000 things to learn, but I took it on. I was told that the probationary period was 3 months in training and I would have to get the approval by a manager and then be tested on every single thing in the binder in order to get the job. I worked so hard. This was non-stop 50 hour weeks, overnights, 3am calls, you name it. The manager training me was great and my co-workers took very well to me now essentially being their boss in training.

Four months passed and I didn't get the call up, so I met with my training manager and I was like, I don't want to overstep here, but I think it's fair to say I've been working hard, and you seem to be in approval as does the staff of my work here. He agreed, and told me to keep working hard. However, at 6 months, still nothing, so again I met with him and he said he would meet with HR to see what the problem was.

The next day HR needed to meet with me. I was fully expecting to hear that I've now got the job. I walk in and HR pulls out some type of performance review which she's reading off: this is great, that's great, you passed your proficiency in all areas. So I'm am stupid confused at this point. This woman then proceeds to tell me, the reason they have not proceeded with giving me the job is that I am (deep breath)...too nice. I wish I could have had a camera on my face when she said that. She said she didn't think I had what it took to be a manager simply because she knew from sitting in her air conditioned office, literally never having seen me doing my job, my work ethnic, the long nights I put in, my interactions with staff...literally nothing, she just decided that I was too nice because apparently I was so good at my job I actually didn't need to scream and make people feel like s---t to get their jobs done. Go figure!

I marched from that office straight into the training managers office and just went off. My training manager was not happy about this at all and marched over to the Admin building and actually went straight to the CEO to complain. Next day I was manager for another 6 years and when I left, they begged me to come back...twice.

[msc545]

You had a GREAT outcome!

[ManOnFire]

Daaayum. I honestly applaud you for your firmness in not giving up, and - assuming - that you weren't one of those slimy women who sleep their way to the top. What you went through is some serious bullshit, similar to what I once went through too. Employers will play that shit with people all the time, saying they're looking good for a manager position or will get it, just to be told later they won't. But you stayed firm on that.

[Opinion Owner]

I wonder if you are so brazen as to ask men in management if they slept their way to the top or is that only a question you reserve for women? Geezus. I busted my butt to get that job working long hours, barely knowing if it were day or night. Despite whatever small sample size of women you know, a lot of us are out here earning our way through hard work, thank you.

[ManOnFire]

Hey, relax. I was supporting you. I know for a fact that there are many good hard working women out there, but I also know there are a ton who sleep with supervisors and managers to secure their futures in a job. And I didn't ask you, I said 'assuming' you weren't.

[Opinion Owner]

You don't get how clearly insulting this is? I spent this time telling you how hard I worked to get that job and you out of no where came with "assuming you didn't sleep your way to the top." Again, how many men do you say this to after they say, "I worked hard to get my job?" Just because you know a few doesn't mean I am one of them. You could have literally just said, it's awesome you worked hard as I'm sure you would have to any man who said what I said. Do better.

[AMS700CX4u2]

They certainly don't want a member of the get along gang. And what ever you do, don't outwork union labor. You will get torpedoed. My only consolation was that it took 5 people to replace me.
.

[Opinion Owner]

@AMS700CX4u2 Agreed. I no longer work there, but I did go back and visit on two occasions because I never had an issue with any of my co-workers or bosses on our side. They were very decent people. It was clear from my replacements, that they had no clue how hard I worked and all that I did for them because they were kind of mad to discover my actual workload. I did actually get paid well for what I did, so no issue there. I even got some bonuses along the way. It is just unfortunate to have to deal with Administration side who had a goal of getting in the way and making things 20x more complicated than they ever needed to be at every turn.

[Smashingdoozy]

My first job when I was 15, It was just at a supermarket. I was stocking some yoghurt in the fridge and a man walked behind me, squeezed my ass. I was already having a shit day so I cussed him out he did the whole "it's just harmless fun sweetheart" bullshit. I kneed him in the balls. Was fired on the spot.

When I was 17 I was a receptionist and assistant at a childrens psychologists. We did a few hands on therapies, like baking, music and arts and crafts. I was assisting in one of the arts and crafts sessions with 5 kids, was left alone for 20 min, one of the kids went to the bathroom and slit his wrist with a razor blade from a pencil sharpener. I handled the situation really well considering my age and my own issues with self harm. I talked to the kid and helped him calm down all while holding pressure on the wound and calling for help.

I was asked to resign after because I wasn't supposed to be left alone with the kids (obviously not my fault) and the parents weren't happy with how I handled the situation (?). The person who left me alone never got any punishment.

But wait there's more.

My last job, working as a receptionist in real estate. Was sexually harassed by a coworker, but only lasted a week since I'm tight with the owner and I complained straight away. He was fired and then blew up my phone cussing me out, saying I ruined his life and marriage blah blah blah. I changed my number 😊

[ManOnFire]

My head is just blown the first 2. A dude touched an UNDERAGED GIRL... but you got fired for defending yourself. You helped a kid who was trying to kill himself... but they wanted you to quit.

This world is truly sick.

[Smashingdoozy]

Yeah truly felt like the world was against me in my teens.

The kid is doing alright now which is great, he's almost 16 now, he got in contact with me about a year ago to let me know how he was doing and to thank me for that day.

[ManOnFire]

Oh that's really great to hear. He actually wanted to reach out, that's so awesome.

[D_Bone_Steak]

I think working with women while in the military. Not the women's fault but more to do with the leadership. See... anything that is dirty or involves heavy lifting would automatically go to the men. I was a paper bitch and we're all expected to be especially "pretty" as compared to the command as a whole. We're talking crisply ironed clothes, mirror shine on boots, and extremely clean.

Well, kind of hard to keep up those standards as well as keep up with the same amount of paperwork when it's always you and just the dudes that has to go do things at random like clean a bathroom that is dirty like people taking shits in the showers type of dirty. Lift heavy boxes... you. Chip old paint off old pipes with a paint scraper all day... you. Carry refrigerators up four floors and out to the trash cans... you. Anything hard or dirty... you.

Meanwhile, why haven't you done as much paperwork as these girls that are eating Subway with 2-hour lunch breaks? Are you lazy or something? Why do you have marks on your boots or some dirt on your uniform? these girls here are sweat free, so why do you have sweat and stink?

I liked the chicks but my gawd man... they basically get easy street and it allows them to do the shit that gets you advanced faster, while I'm stuck fixing a random air conditioner or scrubbing a toilet somewhere with a toothbrush. All that "equality" bullshit goes out the window when it comes to certain types of work. There were other privileged classes as well... oh you're Philippino? No shit-work for you either... stay here with the girls. Obviously gay? stay with the girls. And so on. It was bullshit.

[ManOnFire]

Dude, I know exactly what you mean! On one of my old jobs I used to have a girl on my team who did the least work of all of us. She would disappear many times for over an hour, and when she came back she would stand there and do nothing but talk to the other supervisors who all had a thing for her fat ass.

This girl was also getting paid more than me, who lead the team, and she would get higher bonuses too. She had the favor of so many people there it wasn't even funny. I get so sick of that shit on the job with females.

[D_Bone_Steak]

Yes, that's exactly the same stuff I would put up with. Not only did I have to work harder, longer, and have to be a lot more rigid with my punctuality... any award would always drop for a nice pair of tits first. It always made me look at the average feminist rant about equality and mumble "STFU" to myself. Any sort of specialized training or school... for me, it was "figure it out and just do it" but it was being sent to special schools for the ladies (which is basically a paid vacation with some classes to take). It was like that with anything from like being able to take some time off to handle personal issues to who's taking the trash out.

Yeah that "equality" bullshit goes right out the window when something heavy has to be moved or any reason to kick us dudes out so the supervisor can chat with her for hours.

[Leapfrog00]

I had a job working at this customer service center, doing cable repair over the phone. Every phone call that came in, they kept track of how long you were on the call for, how many times you transferred them to another department, how often you sent a technician out to their home, how many services they dropped (Like HBO, Disney plus, stuff like that),.

Here's where it becomes chaos. If you transferred a certain number of customers to other departments, sent out a certain percentage of technicians, if you dropped too many services, or the customer called back too many times, you got fired!

The company was Charter Cable communications and when I worked there, it was almost 6 years. One day I came into work and they told me my first call resolution (More than 5% of my customers called back) and they fired me.

And people think these customer service center jobs are easy. People don't know what working in the real world is like until they worked a job like that, lol. Especially when your living paycheck to paycheck.

[ManOnFire]

I absolutely understand where you’re coming from. Working in cloud is similar to what you describe.

[FunkyMonkee]

I used to work at a bank where we processed IRS tax checks all day, every day and it was up on the 28th floor, at least 100 people on that floor, the ceilings were so low I had to duck part of the time and my particular job was to bust ass all day moving the work all around the floor from one section to the next so, between the hard work I did and all the body heat up there (and we weren't allowed to open any windows) I was always sweating like a pig up there during the summer months!! Guys weren't allowed to wear shorts but it was okay for women (99% of whom sat all day) to wear short skirts! So, one day, I asked my boss if I could wear a skirt. She said there's nothing in the dress code that says I can't so, the next day, I wore a short skirt to work! She told me she'd back me if anybody stirred any shit over it and, she did! But, I wasn't on the floor 10:00 before they (her bosses) told me I had to change into pants! Nearly everyone on the floor (most of them were women) was genuinely pissed that they wouldn't let me wear the skirt!! They considered it discrimination and even suggested I I make a big deal of it! Next day, there was a new rule in the dress code that said men couldn't wear skirts!!

[ManOnFire]

Lmfao. Totally unfair, yeah. And they knew they had male employees who were sweating but didn't care. Fuck the system, dude.

[FunkyMonkee]

And, the thing about it is, they should've known that I was one of the most trustworthy people there because I'd already found and reported dozens of lost checks worth a total of a few million dollars!! My bosses, on the other hand, were the REAL crooks!! About 3 years later, they all got arrested for trying to steal billions in tax checks!! One of them was even on suicide watch in jail!!

[ManOnFire]

Haha! Talk about corruption!

[FunkyMonkee]

Exactly!! The last peak that I was there, there was a LOT of strange stuff going on!! They hired a couple hundred temps to help us and decided NOT to bother training them! (When I first started as a temp a few years before, we got at least 2 days of private training and then a few days of on the job training.) One of the temps was SUPPOSED to be candling the processed envelopes to find checks and vouchers that weren't removed from the envelopes and, instead of going through each envelope one at a time, she dumped the entire bag of them on the light table and then shoved them all into another bag without looking at a single one! I spotted her doing this and told the head guy about it! He was standing right there about 20' away from her! He said, :"Yeah, I know but, when I confront her about it, she growls at me!"
And, this was the third head guy that we had in just under a month!! That's 5 guys in just 4 years!! The guy there when I got hired left 2 years later. The new guy stuck around for about a year and then the guy that replaced him left 2 weeks later!! My guess is that the guys that quit did so because they were told what was about to happen and didn't want to be involved in this scam!
At one point, the people in my section had to go to the supply room and, when they came back up, they said there were dozens of bags of unopened mail down there marked for destruction! In other words, they were loaded with checks that were going to be stolen!! Then, they fired me for "being a few minutes late" one day and a couple days later, all the bosses were taken to jail!!
The claim they made about the bags of unopened mail in the supply room is that it was being destroyed because they didn't think we were gonna get it done in time! Well, MAYBE if you BOTHERED to train the temps!!

[msc545]

I had a job managing a prison crisis unit, which is very high pressure in that I had to make a lot of decisions and judgment calls that had a direct effect on people's lives, and in some cases, on whether they lived or died. There were many suicidal inmates, and I had to often decide on measures to protect them in the context of the limited resources available to me. At the end of each day I was exhausted.

I did this job three days a week, and I had a co-worker who worked two days a week. Except she didn't really work. She would show up, and spend the day reading or gossiping with other staff, or drinking in the parking lot, and do absolutely nothing to care for the inmate. Most importantly, when I arrived at work after she had left, all of her work was left for me to do and inmates who needed interventions had not received them. SO - I was being paid for three days, and was expected to actually do the work of five days while nothing was done to address or correct her behavior. I complained to no avail.

All this did not last long, but it lasted long enough to make me very angry and miserable before I quit.

[ManOnFire]

If you complained about this repeatedly and nothing was done, it had to be because she either had connections with higher ups, or was sucking somebody's dick. Cuz if she was a guy I'm sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that he would've been dealt with.

[msc545]

I did complain more than once - nothing was done but later after I left she was arrested twice for drunk driving and was fired. You are absolutely right about her gender privilege.

[Sour-rose]

My favorites

• Telephone interviewer- I tried to pick up hours and help of my own decision... but i wasn't on a list they didn't tell me about. So i spent money to stay nearby ahd help them and they kicked me out. :)
• Event staff- we were to stop anyone with a drink and tell them to toss it before they left the concert. There was 300 people leaving at once out of one gate. Lol... fk you, boss. Also they ripped me off the list because I didn't respond due to I didn't have my car at the time.
• Security job at a plant- I worked the whole week and I was going to my bank and my boss calls me saying to arrive at this gate. She didn't tell me I needed to come in that day, and said since they were short staffed, everyone needed to do it. I said hell no, write me up, bitch. Well, she didn't. Nor did she apologize. Bitch.
• Data entry- i did a whole week for these folks and when the time came, they didn't pay me. they said i messed up my bank info or something; i didn't. They did. I told them that Monday I don't work without my check... so they fired me. Claimed "absence issues". Got me my check 2 weeks later. I... and they got me banned from that place because of THEIR fuck up.

[Anonymous]

Work equality between men and women. Now mind you I never gave a shit about it because I’m much bigger, about 280, 5’11, which yes isn’t the biggest compared to many other man but I got some size. So when you work medical, there are many times when you’re expected to sit w a patient who may require a sitter for many reasons. Some reasons being dementia, alcohol or opioid withdrawal, suicidal, combative, etc. But in this day and age w women wanting equality they pick and choose what equality they want. As one of the few males who work where I work, I’m always placed w the hostile patients because a lot of the women don’t want to deal w them. I also feel as though if someone is being put in this position where they’re in potential danger, then they should be compensated more. So you want equality or you don’t want equality? Like I said before I never gave a shit about it because I know what my role is as a male, just don’t pick this or that because it’s easy for you but demand equality in pay or whatever it is you want when you aren’t doing the same job.

[Googlemyahoo]

I worked at a paper mill with very strict safety rules. I was on afternoons & this conveyor belt wasn’t working so we told the foreman. I was training a new guy

Few minutes before shift change the maintenance guy arrives. My relief shows up I explain the situation to him and start to leave. I didn’t want to get involved with repairs as they have a huge lockout procedure that takes longer then fixing the issue.

Maintenance guy jumps on the conveyor and walks up it. Thats a major no no especially when it isn’t locked out. I tell my trainee lets gtfo I don’t wanna be involved here he’s going to get in trouble so we leave. I tell him just to say we left at shift change thats it

Next day I arrive one of the guys in the change room tells me the maintenance guy got fired and to go see the chief steward then snarls at me to watch my back. I’m like what? As I walk through mill guys are mouthing off at me calling me a rat.

I was told to goto HR where the management was with union steward. I get there and union chief is outside gets right in my face snarling about the maintenance guy is a close personal friend and I’m lucky to be walking.

We go in sit down & management asks me what happened. I state we left it was shift change thats it. I see the chief look up at me, then HR shows me safety paperwork the maintenance guy filled out. They ask if its my signature and its not even the right name the maintenance guy forged signatures saying i was there.

They proceed to read testimony from everything by the GUY WHO RELIEVED ME. He literally went straight to management. Someone had went around starting a rumour it was my fault he got fired. They told me to stay safe and I could go back to work. As we left the chief steward tried apologizing I told him where to go.

[Anonymous]

I got a couple here. For starters my last job I enjoyed 100% but there was this guy that sexually harassed me. Not with words because I am in a male dominated career and words never bothered me. He physically touched me and I brought it up to HR and they literally told me there was nothing they could do about it. How can you work for a company that doesn’t have your back? So I left. My new job same thing, but I had an interview for a safety position. I told them a couple things I would change and I was asked about the training, so I told them that someone mentioned that the last training wasn’t good enough. A week later they brought that into my evaluation and extended my probation out. I guess they didn’t really like my criticism that much.

[ManOnFire]

Missed this answer. The dude touched you and they did nothing? I thought HR ALWAYS dealt with those kinds of things.

[Opinion Owner]

Yep my last job they did nothing about it. And joking touching is fine like a simple push, but no this guy literally touched my legs on the inside of my coveralls as well as my waist. This was two different times about a year apart from each other. I like to call it the good old boys club over there. I can’t really say the same thing at my new job as no one has touched me but it was the stupid probation and having it in for someone that didn’t do anything wrong.

[ManOnFire]

If he touched you like that, that is very serious sexual misconduct. That's way to intimate.

[Opinion Owner]

I agree. A hundred 100%. And I enjoyed what I did. I’m thinking about going after them not going to lie.

[ManOnFire]

You actually could. You could file suit against HR or the company for not dealing with a very real case of sexual harassment. Normally companies fire a guy for misconduct to avoid a legal suit, but in your situation you could very well do it.

[Opinion Owner]

Couldn’t agree me. Just need to get out of the probation and then worry about that next! You have been really good to talk to about this. I honestly had a hard time going through it!

[ManOnFire]

I completely understand. I hope you do sue for the anxiety they caused you.

[Adam1978]

Some people getting payed while others doesn't, me getting payed because I actually involved the court system.

HR listening and taking action only by the word of a complainer. Not checking the other person's story. An incompetent person got me to lose an extension of a contract. Just because I exposed his incompetence.

Oh and the regular favorism where people saying what they want to hear, not the actual facts get put in higher position despite their bad work results.

And the list can go on quite a while. Work life isn't fair.

[BCA6010]

Regardless of wherever I've worked, there has always been a double standard favoring certain employees over others, despite the fact that they are supposed to be impartial towards just about everything irrelevant to the job. I've also seen people kept from promotion because they were considered too good in their current position.

[Sixgunsound]

I was a public safety officer at a local hospital when I was tasked with babysitting a guy who took 40 Adderall pills until he calmed down. A few minutes before shift turnover the patient decides now is the time to jump on me and try to choke me from behind. Because it's a hospital I couldn't just bash his head on the concrete until he let go, and instead of helping me out my Black Panthers member supervisor just sat in dispatch laughing the whole fight. I know he was laughing because a small town judge who moonlights as a dispatcher at the hospital told me so. The door to dispatch was a few yards down the hallway from the problem patient storage area for the sole purpose of decreasing response time if an officer needed help. I got a shout off on the radio and the whole thing was live on camera. We didn't have guns yet at the time, or batons.

[blissinanarchy1]

Worked for Renewal by Andersen, which meant going into people’s houses to do windows. Customer, a big dude, locked the door behind me and tried grabbing my dick. I told him I’d punch him in his mouth. I got fired.

[ManOnFire]

You should've filed a lawsuit.

[Potteplante]

This was at the institution I just moved from - had coworkers refuse to help out at the wing I was working at since they didn't want to get hit. Which I do understand but you HELP your co worker - when they've been dealing with someone who's been phsycally aggressive for an hour.

Or when you've to FORCE some of them to come and sit on a god damn chair for a little while so that behaviour can be AVOIDED. Which is preferable for everyone involved.

[inhua]

not me directly but a few of my colleagues lost their job or at least had their reputations ruined due to rumors of sexual misconduct

[Anonymous]

I got wrote up for something that someone else did wrong. I could show documentation that the person was trained for the task. I couldn't watch every employee at all times. If that person was trained and did it wrong (nothing of any consequence anyway), how could I be responsible? Dumb stuff. I was furious.

[Pinay_ako]

Worked for the same place for 17 years and they can’t even allow me to use 3 paid weeks vacation in one go even for an emergency to the Philippines but will allow some newbie to go to India for two full months! Wtf so I quit bye ✌️

[ManOnFire]

Wow, totally unfair. I would've quit too.

[Pinay_ako]

Yes 🙌

[Fuentes]

I never experienced anything personally but I have seen back then some girl I smashed out after i quit the job on my team always come in late for work and never get introuble or written up at all because she was friends with the manager lol but to be fair she told me later on she got fired cause she was always late when she got a new team lead months after I dipped.

[sage2021]

The other females were jealous of me and some of them gave me a bad time. But one in particular was down right mean to me.

[najekim]

That I have to be there to be productive. Luckily my boss is reasonable and makes me go into the office one day a week just long enough to attend three meetings & catch up with him for a bit and then go back home to finish the day.

[CoolCatsims24]

work bully that didn't get anywhere and bosses didn't do nothing. i just left and stopped going.

[FatherJack]

As a single dad , having partnered women ( mothers ) given precedence & preference over me. when it came to some shift cover & working more flexibly.

[LiamJHayden]

I own the place. The only BS I have dealt with is high maintenance clients. If they do bank, fine, but in my experience it is those who do the least who want the most.