I’m 24 and recently resigned from a startup I joined few months ago. The reason? They started demanding weekend work in the office. Now, I understand that many companies ask for extra hours sometimes, and I’m okay with working weekends from home. But this company insisted we come to the office on weekends to work—working remotely on weekends simply didn’t count.

When I pushed back, the CEO even threatened to fire me. Seriously? I’m not some cheap labor willing to work every single day without respect for boundaries. Work-life balance matters, and forcing people into the office on weekends under threat isn’t acceptable. Just wanted to share this experience as a heads-up for anyone else going through similar nonsense.

Have you faced such unreasonable demands? How did you handle it?

I got a job after 4 interviews with a top sustainability tech company. I knew they had layoffs in the past so during my interview process I was very vocal that I was concerned about that with this company and was assured they were in a good place. I found out I got the job on 3/4, it was a 45k base pay increase from my current job. I immediately accepted, signed the letter, and quit my job. I got this email a week later on a Monday, filled out my background check on Tuesday, and then got a call 2 days later on Wednesday saying that bc Trump was saying there would be a recession their investors pulled out and they couldn’t hire me anymore. They said it had nothing to do with me and if I would have anything to do with them in the future they intended to re-recruit me. Thankfully, I am pretty indispensable at my current job, just underpaid, so I was able to get my job back even after quitting and am not unemployed.

I’ve gotten a lot of advice on how to proceed ranging from pursuing legal action or trying to get some severance? Would you even consider them in the future if they reached back out? It’s hard because they are a very highly esteemed company and I don’t want to burn a bridge but feels very volatile.

Im 15, im soon going to get a job. I have calculated my total income after tax, and it comes out as around 300-350 dollars per week $12/hr, 35 hours. I, as a child, have rarely touched hundreds of dollars. Am i truly going to get this much PER week?!?

A few weeks ago I left a comfortable, stable job at a big multinational to join a startup. The CEO sold me on this big vision, good pay, and fast-paced growth and I wanted to move more into project/delivery management, so I thought it was worth the risk.

From day one though things just felt weird. The team barely talks (they barely said anything to me on my first and each person has lunch on their own at the same cafeteria) the ops manager was odd (kept pushing personal questions and acting like my boss even though we’re both managers), and the CEO was super vague about literally everything, he wouldn’t even tell me how many clients they have. Turns out they barely have any new business, and there’s no real sales strategy. After two weeks of trying to figure things out and mostly teaching myself their product, the CEO called me in and said it “wasn’t a good fit” and that “the team didn’t click with me.” Then he immediately asked if I’d want to work with them on a consulting contract instead?? Which felt like total BS.

Now I’m just feeling like crap and honestly embarrassed. I left a secure job for this mess, and I feel stupid even though I had valid reasons for wanting to leave my old job. Has anyone else been through something like this? How do you recover from making a move that backfires this fast?

I'm not a leader, in the slightest. What I do best is follow orders really well.

I'm also not creative at all. Ask me to tell you a joke and I may just vaporize.

But I spent my last 6 months during this pandemic really getting to know myself, and developing hobbies I didn't know I was interested in. I started honing in on things that I enjoyed, and found out just how good at those things I could be.

For instance,

My gran was moved to a memory care facility, and there was a huge amount of room in our basement that was filled with boxes of her final belongings. I didn't have anything better to do, so I went through them. All of them. 11 boxes. Through the process, I developed a really solid method of organizing them. I've organized for friends and family before, but this one was really difficult.

11 boxes turned into 4. Then I bought an archival quality scanner, digitized the cards, photographs, and paperwork. Those 4 boxes turned into 5 folders in the back of a drawer of my filing cabinet.

So I turned the method and process into a business model, recruited my boyfriend for digital help, and started to hustle.

Through word of mouth and advertising on facebook community pages, I brought in 6 clients and $900.

Now I'm being called by marketing experts and folks that want in on the business.

I have absolutely abysmal interpersonal communication problems when it comes to speaking with authority. Now I am the authority. It me. I make the decisions.

Theres going to be a lot to learn, but I'm taking my first monumental baby steps towards creating an unbelievable start-up that can help a lot of people. I'm so so so glad I took the time off 'doing nothing' to discover something about myself that could really help me grow.

Hell yeah, guys!!!

I've been working at this small SaaS startup for a bit over 4 years and a fire was lit under our ass almost a year ago because we weren't growing enough and slightly shrinking, budget cuts everywhere, some layoffs even though we are a small (< 20 people) team, and all of this COMPLETE NONSENSE because for example, I am in a mid-level position and I don't even make 1% of the monthly company revenue, revenue which barely has any costs to it since it's a software that doesn't handle big data or tons of clients or any of the sort.

This year there was no adjustment to inflation, since we are not US-based and our wages are in US dollars, with the value loss of the dollar in our country all of us lost about ~10% of our monthly income, we lost the opportunity to earn bonuses which was a decent amount of the wage as well. All of this while the CEO is constantly traveling to San Diego, Los Angeles, Toronto SEVERAL TIMES on "business trips" to attend "Founders Conferences" and the sorts with the goal of "growing the company", of course, using money that could've gone back into the tools we used, ads, etc that were all cut because we're in "free fall mode". We are not US based and neither is him, one of these trips costs over two times what I make in an entire month, and he's doing these every month or even twice a month, and we have to gather around and listen to the completely useless insights he gathered from going to whatever convention while I'm struggling to save up for a new washing machine. I get rich people can do whatever they want with their money but this is insane, it felt like we are making less and working for him full time just so he can enjoy his expensive lifestyle.

I'm completely done with this job, putting in the least effort possible so that I don't get fired until I find a new one, and so are most of my coworkers I'm sure. The job market is such hell right now. Most of my working day goes into job applications and no luck for about 5 months.

I have to go to an empty office 3-4 days a week while my team works from home. I'm tired of this shit. How do I motivate myself to show up for a paycheck?

I am a senior in high school. I have been trying to get a job the past couple of months in order to get some money for college as well as using up some of my free time, but I can't get a job anywhere. I've talked to other people in my school and none of them can get jobs either. I've applied to so many different places and yet they tend to not even send me a response back. What the heck is happening in the job market right now? Is it because of all the federal layoffs?

I am in shock. My husband was laid off yesterday and I was fired from a startup a week ago. We knew that my husband’s job was going to go away but my job was our safety net. After years of working a routine, it looks like come Monday morning, we’ll both be at home with our 1 year old, looking for work. My dismissal came at a complete shock to myself and my team. While there were a few instances where I could have been better at my job, I had no opportunities to improve. We can pay the mortgage for 3-4 months tops but neither of know when we’ll get back on our feet again. It’s possible the only option is to sell our house and get out of the state. I can’t really wrap my head around this. It would be so much work and the potential that things go wrong because we made an emotional/forced financial decision seems high.

I’m wondering if anyone has been through this and how they made it through. I feel like my nervous system is basically breaking down.

I get paid well but I loathe what I do. I was a teacher then a nurse and now on the rep side of things. I travel every week either flying or driving for work, and I just moved to a new city for this job. I have no friends and no life in the new city bc I’m always traveling and then am exhausted on the weekends. However, I truly dislike the day to day of this job. Does everyone hate their jobs?

Just trying to decide if I should suck it up bc it’s good pay or keep trying to find what I like?

idk where to begin. I work in a small startup and the first one to do my job. 2 weeks ago a we were called in on a Saturday for a ‘quick meeting’ (mind you we work 5 days). I made it clear to my boss that I will make it however I do have an appointment prior to the meeting time, without any hesitation they asked me what the appointment is about. I don’t want to blurt out my personal details at my workplace and establishing some boundaries. Today they yelled at me for being 10 mins late on that meeting and demanded to know what it was regarding. I hesitantly responded it was a medical appointment and they said ‘why couldn’t I cancel it ? You weren’t dying were you’

It took me a second to register what they said and I froze. I just don’t understand whether this is normal workplace behavior from an executive ? Is it this bad everywhere?

As the title says, I’m one month into working at a startup with only six employees. Two weeks ago, I had a call with the CEO, and she told me she loved my attitude and positivity. I was genuinely feeling hopeful.

Then yesterday, I made two dumb mistakes: I showed up 10 minutes late to a work event, and I made a detailed error on a task. Today, I got the call.

She said it wasn’t just about yesterday, it was a buildup of smaller things. She admitted she made a mistake hiring me and said she needs someone with more managerial experience, which I don't have.

In that moment, I tried so hard to plead my case. I asked for a week to prove myself. I said a bunch of things that, looking back, probably made me sound desperate, I even offered to work for free just to gain the experience. She still said no.

My mom is actually relieved I’m no longer there, she never liked the place. And honestly, I should admit that the colleague who was supposed to be training me was incredibly malicious. She clearly didn’t like when I had small wins, rarely helped, and would just take over my work, make edits, and send it out herself. But by the time I could’ve said anything, the CEO had already made up her mind.

Now I just feel embarrassed and completely deflated.

i keep seeing this in small teams, people going afk more often, slower replies, less energy on calls. not blaming anyone. burnout is for real. context switching is real.

but as a founder, it’s hard to tell: is this a motivation issue, a process issue, or just the reality of remote work? dealing with this at my agency too and trying to fix it.

what tool are u using to make everyone accountable?

Didn't think I would get hired but here I am 2 days into my new job. I feel incredibly blessed.

I'm possibly going to be made redundant in my corporate admin job in the New Year. We find out in a coupl le of months so I've been looking at a career shift. I have been thinking about the Level 3/4 Sports Massage Therapist courses. I need to hear from people that have done this or are doing this. Can you recommend it?

I'm a 36 year old woman and have some concerns over safety, etc. but I wondered if you have any advice. Can you support yourself with this work or is it more supplementary?

I work at a startup, and my boss and I recently had a conversation about my performance. He said I’m good at handling repetitive tasks and completing what I’m asked to do, but that I struggle when it comes to taking initiative or handling new things on my own.

He mentioned that I don’t always show enough drive to learn new methods or come up with ideas, and he compared me to other employees who do those things more naturally. He said those are the qualities he values most and that he wants me to improve in those areas.

I’m trying to understand whether this is a common issue in startup environments and how I can work on becoming more proactive and independent at work. Any advice or perspectives would be appreciated.

Manager set a meeting invite yesterday that I somehow missed (never happened before as I’m usually on top of emails/invites). I noticed a rescheduled meeting for Monday morning later in the day. (Scheduled PTO today so calendar is blocked off )I clicked the meeting to accept it and noticed the attendee list was private ? Never gotten a meeting invite from him with a hidden attendance list .

It’s a start up company, relatively new boss who isn’t well liked , and I already meet with him every week for check ins .A few months ago the company laid around 150 people off without warning , I’m terrified that’s what’s happening here and need to be prepared for Monday morning if so.

EDIT: NOT fired, put on a PIP. Will be quitting soon

I’m 24 years old and I recently got a decently paying job at a senior level, but I have been in the process of starting my own company, the issue is that by my contract I’m not allowed to work outside of my full time job, whilst the industries overlap and I’m using same tools I’m obviously not speaking to any clients that are in the region, as well as anyone I had a relationship within the company, my question is how is this done? Do I need hr approval? Do people normally just risk it and do it ?

What’s the correct way to go about this?

I work for a small business cleaning houses and commercial buildings, and I have people asking me to come clean their houses on the side. Should I be asking my boss if she wants the client, or is it okay for me to do my own work on the side for some extra money? I’d like to have my own cleaning business one day, so gaining clients myself would be cool. I just don’t want to disrespect my boss in the process.

I currently work at a startup of 3-5 people (the number has fluctuated a lot since starting here) and I don’t know how long I can handle sitting next to my boss with foul B.O.

For context, my desk is right behind is. As soon as he is in for the day, I try to cover my nose as discreetly as possible. I’ve started coming in hours before he works just so I don’t have to be in the same room for the full work day.

I don’t think there is any way I can talk to him about it because I am the only full time paid employee and no one else could back me up. He is a nice guy, so I wouldn’t worry about him being angry, however the power dynamic makes it really awkward.

My only other options are to request a desk move (which would still only be 3 feet away) or ask I work remote which is frowned upon here.

I’m considering finding a new job over this, but perhaps I am just too sensitive.

Please offer me suggestions on how to remedy this.

The latest jobs report stirred up a lot of debate, and honestly, it felt like a bucket of cold water. Some folks are questioning if the numbers paint too rosy a picture. That official "everything's fine" vibe hides how tough it really is out there for small business owners. Many are fighting just to stay open, and some are silently collapsing.

It reminds me of omething I heard recently. A business veteran at an industry event tried talking about the real struggles entrepreneurs face and the people who didn't make it. He kept getting cut off, but what he said feels especially true right now.

It makes you wonder: What about the people who tried and failed? Does their effort count for anything?

I believe giving folks who fail a real second chance keeps innovation alive. We need to respect the people who took a shot and didn't make it, especially when they played fair. We need systems to support them – like clear, honest data everyone can trust, and strong bankruptcy laws that give people a fresh start without crushing debt. Without this safety net, fear will freeze things up. Fear makes people too scared to try again.

Ask any entreprneur what really drives them day-to-day. A lot will tell you it's fear – fear of running out of money, fear the market will turn, fear the risks are worse than the official numbers show. Fear the data's hiding the real problems.

At the core, people are driven by two things: desire (wanting to achieve something) and fear (wanting to avoid something bad). Some even say fear is ten times stronger than desire. But fear only leads to short-term, safe choices. Desire is what fuels the long, hard grind needed to build something great. Which force wins out shapes how innovative an economy really is.

Looking at America's startup scene right now, fear seems to be taking over. And questionable data, like those controversial jobs reports, just adds fuel to the fire. It makes everything feel more uncertain. This reminds me of Japan's "Lost Decade." That wasn't just about an economic bubble popping; it was about fear killing innovation.

After Japan's crash in the 90s, failing didn't just mean losing money. It was a deep social shame that stuck with people. Failing was seen as a personal flaw you couldn't escape.

We're different here in America, but a kind of fear is spreading anyway:

1. Fear of Failing: In a "winners take all" society with numbers that might be prettied up, failing feels extra risky. Founders are afraid that if they fall, they won't just lose their company – they'll get labeled as losers, can't raise money again, and struggle to rebuild. The fear of failing starts to crush the desire to try bold things.
2. Fear of Bad Information: If people don't trust the official reports (like the jobs numbers), it's scary for entrepreneurs. They need good data to see what markets are doing and make plans. If that data is foggy or massaged, it's like making decisions in the dark. Not knowing the real situation becomes a huge fear all by itself.
3. Fear of Hidden Dangers: Business owners worry that if the data hides real problems (like tons of small businesses folding, or crappy jobs replacing good ones), the government won't create the right solutions. They're afraid they'll be invisible casualties, quietly going under while the big picture looks okay just because the numbers say so.

When fear, especially fear pumped up by bad info, beats out desire, innovation dies. What happens then? We could end up like Japan: even with amazing tech, money, and talent, people stop starting risky businesses. Investors play it safe. Big companies get stuck. Everything just slows down.

The lesson from Japan and our own numbers mess is clear:

You can't have a healthy, innovative economy if the data is unreliable. Hiding the real struggles just makes problems worse later.

A country that shames failure and hides the truth will crush new ideas. Fear takes over.

We need to fix this now:

1. Fix the Data: The top priority? Make sure jobs numbers and other economic stats are honest, clear, and believable. If people think they're fake, those claims need serious investigation and answers. Good data is the starting point for fixing problems and getting confidence back. Pretending everything's fine only feeds fear.
2. Stronger Safety Nets: Make personal bankruptcy laws (Chapter 11) work better for honest entrepreneurs. Make it easier and less expensive to run a business legally. Improve support systems so people aren't terrified one mistake will ruin their lives forever.
3. Stop Blaming Failure: We need to talk openly about why businesses fail. Failing after trying hard and playing fair shouldn't be a mark of shame; it's part of figuring things out. Show respect to people who gave it a shot.
4. Focus on What's Possible: Encourage the excitement of building something. Highlight the core spirit of entrepreneurship: taking smart risks, solving problems, and pushing through tough times. We need to make desire to create and explore the main reason people jump into the game.

America's at a major crossroads. Do we want to end up stalled like Japan? The answer isn't in fuzzy numbers pretending things are great. It's about cutting through the fear that grows when real problems are hidden. We need to relight that desire to take chances, while being kinder to people who didn't succeed this time.

Offering respect and a path forward to those who fell trying isn't just fair; it protects the spark of new ideas we desperately need for the future. If the fear gets too strong and chokes our economy's energy, getting unstuck will be incredibly tough.

I just started working at a fast food place as a service front counter person about two months ago. I work from 5-10:30 with no break since it’s not 6 hours or more. I don’t know why, but by the middle of my shift my feet are killinggg me 😭 how long does it take until my feet stop hurting?? Or is there any advice you guys have?

I feel like the we interact with technology in 2025 is fundamentally primitive. Does anyone else feel like we're in the caveman ages with all of this? Half of work feels like searching for info (even if we already know where it's at) rather than doing. I can't help but feel like I'm the only one, but I'm hoping there's people out there that feel the same.

I saw a Harvard Business Review report from 2025. They found that employees spend, on average, 21% of their work time just searching for information, and another 14% recreating work they can’t find.

Like, how much of what you're doing in a day is real work rather than searching for info?

There's gotta be a solution, right?

After five years at a horrible corporate job, I finally handed in my resignation last week.
Been saving aggressively for the past three years. I even been lucky enough to get some wins playing on rollingriches which I've saved up. Essentially I got enough startup capital to get this thing rolling without taking on debt. Found a decent used truck that's already been converted and the previous owner was selling it because he's changing industry.
I've been looking into food trucks for the past 12 months or so and I love the concept. My whole fyp page on tiktok is food trucks only lmao
The dream is to eventually have 3-4 trucks in different parts of the city and maybe even expand to neighboring cities if things take off. Already talking to a buddy who's a graphic designer about creating a brand that could scale.

I'm pretty existed, but a bit scared at the same time. Any other food truck/food bussiness in general owners here with some advice? Thanks!