r/Employment

Ive worked at DairyQueen as a assistant manager for a year i got offered a new position at Menards starting at $18.50 FT. Anyway i put in my two weeks 4 days in and i quit…. I told them i no longer work for them someone is going to have to cover the rest of my shift for the week thank you i wish you the best. So now my boyfriend is telling me that was a bad idea because now i cant use them as a reference and my resume is ruined and that 1 year experience i did was for nothing and went down the drain but honestly who checks references now a days?

serious question for bosses and supervisors who have employees who are currently enrolled in college. How do you feel about your employees doing schoolwork during down time or periods when it’s slow? I work FT and go to school FT and honestly I have started doing coursework during work when there’s downtime (i am not neglecting essential tasks, i am referring to when everything is complete and there’s no immediate thing to work on). I feel a bit guilty but i have managed to get a lot done that has alleviated stress from me. I’m just curious to see how it’s viewed from an upper leadership perspective.

TLDR: is it normal to have 2 unpaid trial shifts (12 hrs) before being offered a job when other candidates are also being trialed?

EDIT: thank you all for your input i now understand that this is illegal 😪 i sent the manager an email

hi there! i had an interview for a receptionist job and they invited me for a 4 hour trial shift which i completed today. i have 5+ years of experience in a similar clinic using the same softwar3 as this one, so i essentially worked a shift with minimal instruction bc i didn't require training.

they asked me to come back tomorrow for another shift from 10-6, and i asked if it would be another trial and they said yes. i know that they have other candidates completing trials as well. is it normal to be doing 12 hours of work without compensation/an actual offer of employment? during my shift today i answered the phone, booked appts, took payments, and returned calls to ppl who left message so i was clearly able to do the job without any training/instruction.

i think what rubs me the wrong way is that i overheard two other employees talking about how things have been hectic since the previous receptionist quit unexpectedly. if i'm not guaranteed the job even though they think im qualified enough to do it for a full day by myself it just seems a bit odd? like i'd be working a day and a half for free and potentially end up with no job. i've never been asked to do a trial before so i was just curious if that's normal.

Went back to graduate school to get a Master's in Business Administration and as soon as I graduate, Wall Street Journal publishes an article saying that universities are cutting tuition rates because of low-demand, and 40% of companies admit to not hiring any recent MBA this whole year.

HELP.

Anyway, I passed four stages, a weird skills assessment, a personality quiz, and they even called my references. The recruiter called me to schedule the final interview and told me I was the last remaining candidate. It was supposed to be with the Head of Operations and a senior engineer, but I was surprised when the founder/CEO suddenly jumped in.

He then proceeded to ask me stupid questions like, "If you were a piece of office furniture, what would you be and why?" and asked me to "summarize my personality in three words" (even though I had just taken their quiz). Three days later, I got the rejection email. The reason? Apparently, I "lacked conviction" in my answers. Conviction in what, exactly? In my answers to his ridiculous, unanswerable questions.

Honestly, the whole thing is very frustrating. But in hindsight, that guy seems like a nightmare to work with. I honestly feel like I dodged a major bullet.

There are a lot of posts these days about people leaving their jobs or getting fired in a very dramatic way, and I understand why those things spread. So I thought I'd share something a little calmer.

I recently left a job that was paying me $92k/year, and accepted a role at a small nonprofit. The old job paid well, but it was literally eating my brain every hour I was awake.

The nonprofit offered $76k/year, and instead of pushing them on salary, I asked about time. In the end, we agreed on $76k/year for 34h/week. So yeah, what I take home is less, but I genuinely got back space to breathe (and if you do the math, it comes out to about 12% more per hour). I had also prepared myself with research and numbers, but I focused on work/life balance and productivity instead of market rates.

Honestly, I feel like I'm flying now:)

I'm saying this while knowing that I'm already in a comfortable position, and that people closer to minimum wage often don't have this kind of choice. But when we do have room to push, I think we need to push for more than just salary.

Try to remember that antiwork isn't just about giving your boss the finger. It's about changing the way work exists in our lives, and making negotiating hours as normal as negotiating salary.

Spent years in customer service/retail. Got tired of the hours and the unpredictability. Last year I committed to a short healthcare training program to get into something more stable. It was about 4-5 months of evenings and weekends while still working my day job.

Just finished and started applying last week. Felt weird putting something completely new on my resume after years of the same thing.

Anyone else here done a career focused training program (healthcare or otherwise) later in life? Curious what your experience was with the job hunt afterward.

I received my 2025 performance review and it was surprisingly awful! I got the lowest score possible and didn’t get a raise. This came as a surprise because prior to this all my reviews were great and there was no previous coaching, warnings, etc.

My supervisor claimed my performance was inconsistent and I made someone “uncomfortable”. I asked her for examples and she provided me 1 example from Jan 2026 (not 2025!) and I was able to prove that was a lie with screenshots. After my meeting with my supervisor, I met with my senior manager. He informed me he would meet with the supervisor to obtain the examples she used on why she gave me a low score.

A month went by and I reached out multiple times but nothing was sent to me. I was even left on read for 2 weeks. I then proceeded to reach out to HR to start an appeal process.

HR did not have a formal process in place so I was basically the guinea pig. HR asked my supervisor for proof as well and it took them over 2 weeks to obtain anything.

I then met with HR & my supervisor. During this meeting, HR told me to let the past be the past and focus on the future (which made me upset). HR stated that the supervisor sent them data showing my numbers were low. I asked for the dates and they were refusing to provide me any. They finally gave me an example.. I was then able to prove that the example date was not accurate because i had worked 6 hours and was on pto for 2 of those hours that day but HR did not care. They have refused to send me the so called “proof”.

I then met with another manager and he admitted that they were “fudging” the numbers daily because the system did not accurately capture our hours worked. He also asked me to stop going to HR because he does not want Hr to know they were giving us discretionary pto because we would all get in trouble.

He said he will try to get the numbers for me to “ease” my mind. It’s been 3 weeks and no numbers from him either. He even sent me a message saying he was unable to retrieve anything and had to ask an expert for help.

I am at a standstill now. I did not get a raise, no one wants to send me proof and I was able to prove the 2 examples were not accurate. My manager even mentioned me getting a promotion soon but I am confused as to why are you offering me a promotion if I supposedly did such a bad job? It is confusing.

I do not have attendance issues, no write ups, no previous warnings, I do my job every day! I even have proof of them giving me shout outs and praising my work.

What should I do? I’m scared to continue to go to HR because I could be fired and so could my entire team if they find out about the discretionary pto our managers allowed us to take… but at the same time I want to be able to defend myself.

I’m a vocal person by nature, but right now I’m seriously questioning what I’m actually going to gain by voicing my real opinions about why I resigned from my job.
My life experience has taught me one consistent, brutal lesson: every single time I speak out, it doesn’t change a damn thing, and most of the time the shit just blows up in my face.
To give you the raw context, I resigned because:
• My boss is a ghost: I don't see how they have my best interest at heart at all. They have zero idea what I actually do on a day-to-day basis, provide absolutely zero direction, and commit to everything under the sun without thinking about the consequences for the team.
• The workload is breaking me: Following a company merger, I’ve inherited 2x the accounts.
• The culture is toxic: The new sites we absorbed are incredibly disrespectful, both to me personally and to our customers.
• Zero life balance: I am completely tired of working weekends and never being able to take a vacation.
I’m checked out. But now I'm facing the exit interview dilemma. Part of me wants to lay it all out, but the realistic part of me thinks it's a trap.
Should I just keep it completely basic and tell them I left because of the workload and my mental sanity? Or do I actually tell them the truth about the leadership and merger disaster? What would you do?

Industry: Supplier to the Automotive Industry, based in Michigan, small industry that you don’t want to burn any bridges.

I've worked quite a number of jobs throughout my life, everything from management to line cooks, factory work, day labor, fast food, gas stations, butcher work, you name it, I've probably done it.

Plain and simple, I do not want to answer to a boss thats anyone other than my wife. I cant stand waking up before the sun, knowing I have to commute to some job most likely working customer service and put on a plastic smile all day, to make less than what will cover my cost of living.

I also cant stand sitting at home all day job hunting again and again making unemployment knowing im just part of that problem.

I've had numerous "great ideas" ranging from get rich quick schemes to handy man jobs, finishing work, construction, advertisement.

The problem is that i dont have any REAL experience worth offering to the world, at least no more than anyone could just go get from some major corporation instead.

Basically the jist of this rant being. What the hell do I do, how do I become my own boss. How do I secure a real future for me and my family without having to sacrifice my entire life away, thus defeating the purpose of it all.

I do not want to just leave my family all day every day for 16 hours at a time, come home once everyones already going to bed, and never be able to actually enjoy any time with my family. Im one of the very few who actually like the people around me. And it genuinely makes me extremely fucking depressed when i always end up reverting back to the whole 9 to 5 suit and tie bullshit. Im tired of being a sheep. And im starting to think thats exactly what i am.

what do I do. ​​

Tl;Dr : I dont want to go to work every day. I want to work for myself but im not sure where to start.

I recently tried to resign from my position, and this was the shocking response I received from management (see attached chat screenshot).

They are demanding 6 months of my net salary to release me, claiming 3 months for leaving before 3 years and 3 months for a notice period. When I pointed out that no bond, notice period, or terms were ever communicated to me when I joined, their response was: "Informing you is none of our business... You never asked for an offer letter, so we didn't give one."

To make matters worse, they are now threatening to withhold my experience letter and actively sabotage my future job opportunities with negative background verification reviews.

As a fresher, you pour your hard work, time, and energy into helping a company grow. Where is the basic professional gratitude? What kind of respect are freshers receiving from startups?

This is not just unfair; it is completely toxic and predatory. No employee should be held hostage by unwritten rules and intimidation tactics.

I have difficulty speaking so I've never really had a job I haven't created myself. My spoken fluency is very low, a lot of stuttering/cluttering, trailing off, even shutting down. Every public speaking engagement I've ever had has brought me close to a heart-attack (hyperbole). I just can't keep cool and manage the stress of speaking. It's not all the time, but it's most of the time. It manifests the most in presentations, phone calls, webcam chat. In person it is much better.

I've been doing online marketing and sales from a very young age (pre-teen), I've been at it for over 20 years. Copywriting ads, customer service/support, product photography, organizing meetups or shipping, packing, dealing with couriers. I'm not employed by anyone, it's just something I've done as a side-job. I have around 6,000 feedback across a dozen or so forums and P2P classifieds sites.

I started a home business selling products. The product doesn't really matter, 95% of the work was advertising, logistics, and customer service. The business wasn't incredibly lucrative depending on how you look at it: I probably made on average 30-40k/yr but I only ever worked 2-4 hours a week landing it around $200-250/hr. I had an exit when the business was acquired and I left that position having accrued 5,000 or so clients. This was a lightning-in-a-bottle stroke of luck I don't think I could repeat, nor do I really want to start a new business unless it was service-based.

Concurrent to my business, I took two degrees: a BA in writing and a BSc in compsci. I wanted to improve my written ability (and I would say it's very high despite my spoken ability being rock bottom) and I built the business tools from scratch so the BSc gave me a formal education in best methods and practices to that end.

When I sold my business, I took a few years to focus on starting a family and personal pursuits. I picked up a technical writing hobby, I write CS-related educational material online for free. It's time I start working again but I'm lost. I don't know how to reconcile these factors together:

Cons

• zero employment history unless you count the business
• very low verbal ability
• getting on in age

Pros

• very high ability in advertising copywriting
• very high ability in customer service (online)
• high technical ability
• proven business spirit from inception to acquisition
• 20+yrs experience digital marketing and sales
• two degrees

I'm working with an employment coach and they keep pushing starting jobs like retail, fast-food, call centers, or other customer-facing positions when this is my absolute weakest point. It never even gets that far since I bomb every interview. I have a desirable skillset but not the means to present it fluidly to land the job.

Any guidance or direction you guys can give me?

I (F23) am a recent graduate (Bachelors in Biology) and I plan on going back to school in August for a Master's. In this in-between period of my life, I'm trying to find a job in my field (lab work specifically).

I've been telling potential employers about this plan, and I'm wondering if that is why I haven't been receiving any job offers (you know, aside from the current job market issues). While I thought I was promoting myself as a student that favors learning, I'm wondering if I've been unintentionally advertising myself as unreliable for long-term employment.

When my Master's program starts in August, I won't be able to stay at the job that I am employed with.

I have another interview on Tuesday for a lab position. Should I avoid mentioning my career goals? What should I be saying instead? I don't want to straight up lie, but I'd appreciate any advice that people can give me.

I had to go to unemployment for snap purposes. The woman was looking through my employment history told me that I hadn't worked since 2024 according to their records. 🤔 I spent 2 years as a line cook. I have paystubs and W-2's. I know I can't get unemplyment but why would it show the 2 years I spent at that job never happened? I remember when getting my W-2 we had to go in and have them handed to us. There was no mailing them out. When people no longer employed there came in to pick theirs up, my boss had to fo something on the computer to prove they were there. Is this something I should talk to a worker at the unemployment office about or just keep trying to look for another job?

My position is about to be outsourced and I’d rather just go work at my new job. I want to do the right thing and leave on good terms because my wife still works there, but after being told I’m not needed, I’m ready to get on to the next thing… advice?

Edit to add clarity: there is no contract, and there is no severance. Company policy is just that if you are no longer needed, they give you 90 days notice before you get laid off. I’m running out of stuff to do and they’ve just got me working half days anyway, but I still get my FT salary.

so everyone says the job market is bad right now but i really didnt expect it to be THIS bad. been applying since december for tech roles mostly remote or hybrid. sent out probably 35 apps before i got a single response that wasnt automated

what killed me was the ghosting. not even rejections just nothing. id spend an hour on a cover letter for a specific role and then complete silence. started wondering if my applications were even making it through whatever system companies use

my sister used globalwork ai when she was job hunting last year and kept telling me to try it. i really didnt want to pay for a job search tool but at that point i was out of ideas

first week i wasnt impressed. the interface felt clunky and it kept recommending senior director roles when im clearly mid-level. the job matching part was bad for my field straight up. what changed was when I stopped messing with the matching and just used it to fix my resume keywords - running each application through it and letting it adjust stuff. its not magic but the keyword stuff actually works

things started moving after that. started hearing back from actual humans instead of just automated rejections. have a second round interview lined up and a phone screen this week so idk. its not like everything changed overnight but at least it doesnt feel completely hopeless anymore

not saying globalwork is the only thing that helped. Teal has a free version that does basic keyword stuff so if youre broke id start there. but figuring out the keyword thing was clearly what i was missing

I am really wanting to get a job at a specific retail company (Aldi) due to the higher pay, the benefits, and future transferability of the job. I am currently working retail in another sector (auto parts). I'm currently living in an area where I only know the people I've met in the last two years of being here as we moved from out of state to get here. So local connections/names are not in my favor. Would it be weird, or wrong or bad, to search up (basic Google stuff, nothing not easily found on a quick, beginner level Google search) for local area/store managers and add them on LinkedIn.. ? I'm not planning to specifically reach out via private messages to them, but just reach out to have a chance to be seen among the local competition. I do plan to go to the local store and express my interest (forgot to mention, they are opening a new store in this area, but have not posted any jobs for it yet). I want to network better with local people but im not very good at it. Would it be wrong or creepy to add them to LinkedIn?

Maybe it's just a coincidence, but I've talked to eight people I know, and all of them have always had a good work history - they show up, do their jobs, don't constantly call out or come in late - and suddenly all of them are having problems at work.

Four of them were laid off, and the other four started getting written up or "coached" over small and strange things. Things like someone taking a personal day very close to a holiday weekend, or minor policy issues that no one seemed to care about before.

Almost all of them are in their early forties, and they've been at their jobs for a while. They're also in different fields: healthcare admin, tech support, manufacturing, logistics, and finance.

Is anyone else seeing this, or am I the only one noticing a strange pattern in my circle?

I had a phone interview this week and next week I have an in person interview with them. Do you actually make $175k-$200k your first year?? Or was that just complete BS?? The money is tempting but I’m worried with the current economy that I won’t be able to achieve that.