38 Employees who called out their bad workplaces

These employees found themselves stuck under some truly difficult bosses and chose to vent by sharing their stories online.

Keep reading to uncover the daily challenges they face—and how they managed to get back at those tough managers.

A Shiny Ring

This guy definitely knows how to make a statement at work. As the head of a construction company, he sports a $50,000 green diamond ring while laying asphalt.

Looks like he’s having some fun showing off, don’t you think?

That Doesn’t Add Up

Turns out, grabbing a six-pack of macarons ends up costing more than buying six individual ones.

When an employee called out this odd pricing, the boss just shrugged and said, “You weren’t meant to notice.”

An Unwelcome Replacement

One day, an employee showed up at the office only to be greeted by an unexpected surprise.

The boss had cleared out all the desks and replaced them with glass panels balanced on old dressers.

This Building Has Over 300 Employees

Acknowledging your employees’ hard work is an important part of strong leadership.

But a half-hearted effort like this can sometimes feel more insulting than getting no recognition at all.

Getting Back At The Big Man

This manager set up a security camera at work to monitor his staff.

But one quick-witted employee turned the tables by placing a photo of Nicolas Cage directly in front of the camera.

That’s Not Free Water

When their employer refused to pay for drinking water, the employees took matters into their own hands and pitched in to buy a water cooler. They even put up a sign that reads, “Please don’t assume the company provides this ‘office’ water cooler.

As ridiculous as it sounds, they don’t. If you’d like to help out, it’s $5 per month.”

A Horrible Tips Policy

It’s probably for the best that this restaurant owner put up this sign—now customers know they’re better off not leaving a tip at all.

This completely misses the point of how tipping is supposed to work.

You Don’t Have To Touch It, Sir

This boardroom TV is a mess of smudges and fingerprints, thanks to the boss who insists on touching the screen every time they point something out.

And then they have the nerve to ask why it looks so dirty.

Merry Grinchmas

This employee received a $50 Walmart gift card from the boss as a Christmas present.

It seemed like a nice gesture—until he realized the amount had been deducted from his paycheck.

A Tiny Monitor

This employee shared a photo of their workstation with the caption:

“Take one day off, and my boss swaps out the large monitor I use for designing prototypes and engraving products with this miniature one.”

Wouldn’t An Email Have Worked Better?

Abby definitely should have showed up for her shift, but publicly shaming her by using the sign out front is definitely unnecessary.

I’m sure an email or phone call would have sufficed.

This Is Just So Annoying

This boss tried to give out “color-coordinated” sets to their employees but somehow ended up mismatching every single color and its name.

It’s not malicious, just incredibly frustrating.

A Long Afternoon

This man’s boss mistakenly ordered 6,000 packets of pepper instead of a regular bag or shaker.

Now, he’s stuck spending the entire day cutting open each packet.

They’re Melting!

This boss loves keeping her office warm, to the point where the thermometer can’t even measure how hot it is in there.

The whole office is sweating, but she couldn’t care less.

We’re Sure She’s Joking

This boss asked her employee to order more pens with this lovely note.

Is that a veiled threat at the bottom of the note? Nope, that’s clearly a blatant threat.

You Can’t Park There

This boss parks like a real jerk. That’s not even a parking spot!

With a car that fancy, he’s pretty much just rubbing everybody else’s noses in it. This is so not cool.

Merry Christmas

This is the very “generous” Christmas gift that employees of this very successful company received this year.

Just some Post-It notes, a pen, a couple of Santa shaped chocolates, and a coupon giving them permission to wear casual clothes for a day.

That’s Not Safe

This boss of a trucking company thought it would be a good idea to play Drag Racing on his iPad while he was behind the wheel of a large truck.

Do you think it’s a good idea? We don’t, either.

That’s Just Gross

This is the drinking water filter at this employee’s place of work.

It is getting darker by the day, but his boss still insists that it’s in good working order.

The Reason She Quit

This employee quit her job the day before she received this text because she wasn’t a fan of being in an unprofessional working environment.

Clearly, she was right to get out when she did.

Working Over Thanksgiving

This note looks like a joke, but this employer was deadly serious when he posted this note on the bulletin board in his office.

It looks like everyone is working over Thanksgiving.

Asking For Vacation Time

This employee asked very nicely to use the vacation time that she is entitled to by law.

Her boss said it wasn’t a good time. It’s never a good time. So she quit.

He Refuses To Fix It

This pole is kind of important to the structural integrity of this entire warehouse.

As you can see, it’s on its last legs. The boss of this warehouse refuses to get it fixed.

No Chairs For You

This boss didn’t like the color of the chairs in his office’s break room, so he just took them out.

Now nobody has a place to sit. What color chairs would be acceptable in this situation?

That Was Fast

The shift manager at this place of work was diagnosed with colon cancer. One day later, the store manager put this sign on the door.

That’s a little fast, don’t you think?

Theft Of Electricity

Now this is just ridiculous. Is theft of electricity even a real thing?

If you work in a place, you should be allowed to charge your phone in that place.

That’s Perfectly Good Pizza

This guy works in a pizza shop and there’s always pizza leftover at the end of the day. His boss doesn’t let him take any of it home.

It all ends up in the trash.

That’s Not Suspicious At All

This employee found a recording device hidden under a table in his break room at work. That’s not suspicious at all… Just kidding.

That’s very suspicious. Run away as fast as you can.

Goodbye Pie

This very nice employee made a pecan pie and brought it to work to share with her coworkers.

An hour after setting the pie down in a communal space, she walked into her boss’s office and saw this.

When You Get To Arrange The Meeting Room

This employee got called into a meeting on his day off. His boss asked him to set up the meeting room.

This is how he set it up. Take that, boss.

“But We Just Got New Tools!”

The employees at this mechanical shop told their boss that they needed new, updated tools to use, but he said they just got new ones.

Sir, these tools were made before the Soviet Union became Russia again.

This Person Spent Way Too Much Time Making This Sign

This boss really expects their employees to prefer working to taking vacation time and never wanting a raise.

I hope the employees countered with a similar sign that said: Just Once I Wish My Boss Would Shut Up.

Great Thank You! I Will Not Show Up

I understand that, as the person in charge, sometimes you need a little extra help from employees to keep things running.

However, if they can’t make it for a shift you’re asking them to pick up, don’t try and force them to come in.

Make The Employees Pay For Your Mistakes!

At this coffee shop, the boss absentmindedly poured a large batch of unroasted beans into a container of roasted ones.

Then, they made their employees hand sort all 10,000 coffee beans back into the right categories by hand.

Don’t Annoy Employees Off The Clock!

This person’s boss’s son decided to call them for seemingly no reason at 3:24 in the morning.

This person had to be up in three hours to work on the weekend.

Even The Cat Knows Better!

Despite the health benefits and his perfect capability to work from home, a man’s boss is demanding that he return to the office.

His cat even started sleeping on his backpack to protest him leaving the house.

Revoke Her License

Every single morning, this boss drives into the parking lot and parks over the lines like this.

It wouldn’t be so bad if the lot didn’t fill up later, leaving some people stressed without a spot.

That Isn’t Rust…

This spoon has been sitting out on the counter in the office’s kitchen every day for months. Why?

The boss uses it to stir the coffee he makes twice a day and refuses to wash it.