r/corporate

My day ends at 5:00 PM, but like clockwork, quick questions would pop up at 4:55 PM. Extra 15 minutes here and there didn't seem bad, until I realized it adds up to over 50 hours of free labor a year.

So, I started logging off right at 5:00 PM and situation got depressed

By day three my boss called a 1 on 1. She asked if I was feeling overwhelmed and said the team needs people who go the extra mile.

When I pointed out that all my tasks were done and my output was solid, she just said, Your output is fine. It’s about the culture.

I am very curious to know about your thoughts and experience that how you get guilt-tripped just for working their actual contract hours?

For me, it’s not always about how skilled or experienced someone is. Sometimes, it’s the small things like being respectful, helping someone without being asked, giving credit to others, or simply being kind on a difficult day.

What about you?

Curious to know…from your experiences..

“Work hard and you’ll get ahead”?
“Your company is your family”?
“Do what you love”?
“Job hopping is bad”?

What did you learn the hard way?

Our CEO speech when something like this after more than 500 people were let go.

I know that may seem… confusing.

And, frankly… uh… I understand why people might ask…

“Wait… if the company is doing so well… why are we laying off 500 people?”

And… uh… that is a very good question.

The answer is… well… strategic alignment.

I’ve been at this company over 10 years. It didn’t used to be like this but in the past 5 years or so it has been taken over by lizard overlords. It seems a couple times a month a new policy or program is introduced and I feel like the walls are closing in. As the place gets bigger, I feel smaller and smaller. We have very good reviews on indeed and glass door. (Of course I haven’t written my own honest review in order to read more of them)
I see positive attitudes in the chit chat in the company forum, and we’ve long been discouraged from discussing with each other what’s really going on.
“If you have something to discuss, bring it to your team leader.”
Do people really like it here?

EDIT: To clarify, I am not asking if I should stay here or move on. I’m asking if people really like this or if it’s all fake.

My personal favorite lately has been "i’d love to help, but i don't have the bandwidth right now to give this the attention it deserves."

works almost every time and sounds super professional, but in my head i'm literally just saying no.

Curious what corporate jargon/phrases u guys use to set boundaries without sounding like a bad team player? drop ur best ones below lol.

To create a sense of urgency, we are frequently told (by a specific senior) "this is going to blow up", "a lot of higher ups have their eyes on this project even till the CEO level".

Hear this constantly and it feels that it is a lie sometimes.

How do you deal with the fact that sometimes we are told lies to create urgency. Sometimes we are given hearsay "some was not happy about this".

Is it okay to say "could you please provide documented email evidence about someone not being happy".

​

I’m generally a very jolly, supportive, and friendly person at work. I like helping people, sharing whatever I know, and keeping the workplace environment positive. I get along well with almost everyone.

But there is one coworker whose behavior towards me is really starting to frustrate and confuse me.

He never directly says that he dislikes me. In fact, whenever he talks to me personally, he behaves completely normally and sometimes very nicely.

But when I’m not directly interacting with him, he seems to constantly make fun of me in front of other people.

For example, if I send some documents or work to my manager, he will apparently go around making jokes about it with others. Then later he’ll come to me and talk as if absolutely nothing happened.

Today I gave a demo to my manager. During/after the demo, this coworker was making faces, gesturing as if I should “add more sugar” / being overly sweet with the manager, and at one point even made an obscene gesture while mocking me.

That genuinely irritated me.

The confusing part is that I have never treated this person badly.

Quite the opposite.

I’ve always spoken respectfully to him. I’ve openly appreciated his knowledge and experience. I’ve even told him that whatever I know, I’m happy to share with him, and I’ve never tried to compete with him or make him feel inferior.

Sometimes I actually go out of my way to make him feel respected/superior because I don’t want unnecessary ego clashes at work.

And yet this behavior keeps happening.

I’m starting to wonder whether it’s insecurity, jealousy, dislike, competition, or whether he simply enjoys getting laughs by making someone else the target.

I also don’t want to become a cold, serious, guarded person at work just because one person behaves like this.

I genuinely like being cheerful, supportive, approachable, and helpful. I don’t want someone else’s behavior to change a part of my personality that I actually like.

At the same time, I don’t want being nice to be interpreted as “this guy won’t say anything, so we can keep making fun of him.”

So I’d genuinely like perspectives from different kinds of people — managers, senior professionals, people who have dealt with workplace politics, people who have been on either side of something like this, etc.

How would you handle this?

I’m especially interested in how to set boundaries without becoming bitter, aggressive, or changing my naturally friendly behavior with everyone else.

I don’t need this guy to like me. I just want basic professional respect and I want to know how to handle this maturely.

Out in the wild, without any explicit clue about what someone does for a living, what’s a sign that the person in front of you is a corporate manager? How they dress, talk, act, etc.

I'm working at a tech company and a colleague from my team is leaving the company soon.

My manager wants me to "wrap up" my current responsibilities asap because they need my "support" in the other project until they hire someone else to replace the colleague. They frame this as "helping them".

My schedule is already super packed and I already have some additional responsibilities on top of my current role. Adding more responsibilities and dividing my focus in two completely different projects is not feasible and honestly I really don't want to do it without any additional compensation.

How should I navigate this?

Additionally:
Last time someone left my team, upper management acted like they were looking for someone new but at the end another colleague took over the extra responsibilities no one was hired. I don't want same thing to happen here.

Also sorry for any grammar mistakes. Im super nervous and dont have the mental capacity to think properly in another language.

I dont want to be recognized so Im skipping some details. I can share further details if someone would like to provide guidance. Thanks

I’m often on Teams meetings with 10+ people, many being higher up in the company. They’re often more outspoken vocal personalities than myself. It seems like as soon as someone is trailing off their sentence, someone is already butting in with a new thought.

How do you get a word in? I do try to be confident and assertive and chime in when I can but it seems impossible to get a break. I raise my hand in teams sometimes but it just feels corny to keep doing that. Or there is a lull and I go “oh sweet now’s my time” and then someone starts talking as soon as I do. Then we go back and forth and go ope no go ahead go ahead.

Any tips?

Because sometimes I’m nodding in meetings like “absolutely” while internally I’m fighting for my life trying to understand what bro just said 😭

Is this imposter syndrome or is everyone just collectively winging it?

Two jobs ago (last date of employment was in January of 2025), I was placed on a 30 day pip. I quit like 1.5 weeks in and found another job within 3 weeks.

I had previous coworkers who didn’t vibe with me at all come and stalk my LinkedIn without adding me (they just wanted to collect information). My manager is the back stabber type but will play nice in your face.

I ended up doing well at the job I got after the pip place then I transitioned to an even bigger entity (let’s just say the place I work is the place that sets the interest rates). No one from the pip job has added me but I did have a few who were connected to me on LinkedIn (they didn’t like me though and I know it as a fact) who deleted me shortly after I quit that job.

My manager and his other managers that I had on LinkedIn did not delete me but they halted Any form of engagement with me since I left. I’ve seen them drop by my profile a few times but I have premium that’s how I could see.

Roughly 6-7 months after I left that pip job, I had a coworker message me directly saying everyone missed me (then she corrected herself and said she guesses she can only speak for herself and not the rest) and asked if everything was ok. I responded by saying I missed her back without engaging about the others and said all is well and hoped she was well too.

The thing is, this coworker (who messaged me$ told me she visited our city and was surprised to hear I don’t work there anymore (she works on our team but from another city). Mind you, she visited our city 3 months after I quit and I use to talk to her everyday about work related tasks then this message comes 4 months after she visited. Seems weird that she’d message me 4 months after visiting.

She later deleted me like 3 months later and I saw she doesn’t work there anymore and is actively looking for employment and seems frustrated based on her posts (she’s 60 years old).

I’m sure everyone talks shit about me but idk if they still do but I’m just curious, quitting during a pip is seen as a bad thing? Am I blacklisted from ever going back?

I recently had an interview with Nipp*n Paint and I left the interview with the heaviest feeling in my heart.

I applied for their marketing role and I had 2 interviewers - Assistant General Manager (AGM) and Senior Marketing Manager (SMM). Throughout my interview with the AGM it was the worst job interview I’ve ever had in my life.

She asked about my experience part timing as a barista for 10 minutes just for her to say “tbh I don’t take barista as a working experience” ok valid, I mean it depends on how you view it.

tldr, she asked how I could market their Nipp*n Paint Brushes, I gave her my answer and she wasn’t satisfied as she stated that I as a consumer is not their direct consumer as they mostly do B2B businesses, then she said the most disrespectful thing ever: “have you held a brush? have you ever held a paint brush? have you ever painted a wall?” In the most judgy and sarcastic tone.

I was taken aback and felt that I should fight back for the way she was judging me because clearly she’s in no position to judge me. Shockingly, I’ve painted walls before wow. 🙄 so anyways, what’s your worst job interview you’ve had.

I’m about to start my first full-time job in a robotics company , and honestly, I’m excited but also a little nervous about entering the corporate world for the first time.
For those of you who’ve already been through this phase, what advice would you give to someone starting their first job?
Anything you wish you had known before starting whether it’s about work, colleagues, managers, communication, money, career growth, or just adjusting to a new environment?
Would really appreciate any honest advice, especially things that people usually learn the hard way.

Being an Indian, its hard to say but still saying that the tags of CEO , COO, and CTO and Senior VPs doesn’t suits on Indian people.

Indians doesn’t seems fit for these roles because of there toxicity in there nature of work, communication gap and lack of culturalism .

Thankyou.

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