Company and office politics can get very nasty, very quickly. And employees are usually at a disadvantage when negotiating for a livable wage, better working conditions, and the bare amount of basic respect from their superiors.

While many workers tend to quietly accept whatever their entitled bosses tell them, everyone has a breaking point. And all it takes is one last act of rudeness to spur even the shyest employees to finally stand up for themselves.

We’ve collected some of the most powerful conversations showing employees putting their bad bosses in place from the r/antiwork subreddit, and they show just how bad things can get at work. However, there’s a flip side: some people are willing to fight for justice and their own dignity. Scroll down, upvote the pics that impressed you the most, and let us know in the comments if you’ve ever confronted your manager, dear Pandas.

#1 So This Just Happened And I’m Almost Numb ATM. I Hope I Don’t Regret This Tomorrow As I Do Enjoy My Job, But Management Is Rough

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#2 Between A Friend And His Manager At A Small Packing Plant

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#3 Quit My Job Last Night, It Was Nice To Be Home To Make The Kids Breakfast And Take Them To School Today! Off To Hunt For A New Opportunity, Wish Me Luck

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The r/antiwork subreddit is home to nearly 2 million members and focuses on helping people with work-related struggles, as well as sharing advice on life without work.

The sub has been going strong since 2013 but has been incredibly popular during the coronavirus pandemic, as the lockdowns and economic shakeups left lots of people without jobs and inspired others to quit as part of the Great Resignation.

#4 Please Note The Timestamps. Any Suggestions On How To Deal With This Outrageous Unfairness?

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#5 When You’re So Antiwork You End Up Working

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#6 Finally Decided I’d Had Enough Of My P.o.s. Boss On Monday, & Damn Did It Feel Good

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Financial expert Sam Dogen stressed that an important part of office politics entails maintaining good, constant communication with your superiors and managing them. That is, if you want to climb the corporate ladder and get a raise

#7 Boss Ate Half Of My Lunch While I Was In The Bathroom

I went to the bathroom and came back to find my lunch box open and half of my meal missing. Confused, I asked about what happened from an older lady who sits next to me. She responded that our boss came in, noticed the food on the table, took half of it on a plate, and left for a meeting. I got angry and complained about how unacceptable that was, but she told me to just shrug it off and that it’s “to be expected”. I mean..???

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#8 Never Told A Boss Off Like This. And It Felt Amazing

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#9 Im Not Allowed To Quit

hi everyone! basically what the title says. im 17 years old, still in high school, and working 40+ hours a week. i just put in my letter of resignation (NOT my two weeks) and my boss spammed called me saying that i wasn’t allowed to quit and if i do i’ll never be allowed to work at another insert fast food place here again. im so pissed

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“Managing your manager entails keeping him or her abreast of what you are up to. It means highlighting your key wins and reminding them at the end of the year about what you did in the first half of the year,” the expert told Bored Panda that we have to constantly remind our managers of ourselves and what we’ve done without overwhelming them with information.

#10 This Sub Gave Me The Motivation To Finally Quit My Abusive Job. I May Not Have Health Insurance, But I Feel So Free!

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#11 Who’s The Boss Now?

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#12 Just Rotten To The Core

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“It is very important to keep everything in writing. Over time, we tend to forget our interactions. By keeping things in writing, we can better remember situations and better argue for ourselves when it comes to asking for a raise and a promotion,” Sam stressed that leaving a paper trail is very important and can help avoid a lot of potential headaches.

#13 This Motivational Quote When I Walked In This Morning

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#14 Manager Steals Tips; One Upvote And He Gets My 2 Weeks Today

Edit: I am going to quit tonight. Not even finish my shift. He’s getting my keys and uniform and im gone. Thank you guys for the words and the help! I’ve been working since I was 14 under incredibly [lousy] bosses so I never realized how illegal his actions were. I’m going to call him out tonight and leave during my shift. I truly do appreciate you guys. Ill update it when i do quit :)! Sorry for the format, I am on a phone. Your guys’ favorite thing to hear. I recently started work at a pizza place in Washington state. I should’ve known my interview was a red flag when the entire time my manager talked about his medical issues. A delivery driver ended up quitting a few weeks after I started because of the verbal degradation our manager was giving him. ‘This boy went to college but is too dumb to remember what’s garlic butter’ type stuff. he verbally insults everyone that walks into the shop to or behind there face. I should’ve left then but I stayed. I made 30 cents more than Min wage for being a TL. (which he took away january first) and I thought everything was okay. until it was me and him working one night and we made over 1k in food. I received $105 worth of tips that night and my manager gave me 45$ which really made me mad since he was told not to take tips by his boss. My final straw was last night. from 11am to 9 pm we made 34$ in tips total. At 7pm when my manager left we had made 24$ in tips and he decided to take 30$ out of the till leaving me with a 2$ tip at 9 pm. He stole money from the store. He continued to take tips when he didn’t do any work. The entire crew is quitting because of how [lousy] he treats us.

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#15 I’m A Skilled Tradesman Who Is Supposed To Get A $3000 Bonus At The End Of The Year For Making The Company $150,000 In Profit, Per My Contract. I Doubled It, Which Is Supposed To Increase My Bonus. This Is What I Received. 100% Done With This Industry

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According to Eddy Ng, the Smith Professor of Equity and Inclusion at Queen’s University, there are certain traits that can help workers distinguish between a good leader and a bad boss. Strong leaders are humble and always try to do the right thing. Weak leaders are insecure, ego-driven, and change their minds. In short, what can set apart a good, capable boss is that they focus on supporting their employees.

#16 My Boss Said To Me “You’re So Skinny!”

I replied, “Yeah I don’t really eat a lot.”

She asked Why??

So I looked her dead in the eye and said “I can’t afford a lot of food.”

The resulting 5 minute awkward silence was the best five minutes of my life.

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#17 Boss Told Me After Massively Overworking Me That If I Want To Play In His Sandpit I Need To Toughen Up. Told Him I Don’t Want To Play In The Sandpit, I Want Time To Lay On The Lawn With My Cats. He Told Me To Take My Cats And F**k Off. He Was Bluffing. I Wasn’t. I Quit! Coming At Ya From My Lawn!

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#18 Proved My Boss Wrong (By Getting A 40k Raise)

For almost a year, my boss has been constantly letting me know how lucky I am that I have a job at this company. He would have me do tasks way outside of my job description (and comfort zone), tell me to work overtime off the clock, ignore every suggestion I’ve made, micromanage everything I do, and undermine me at every step. I currently get anxiety attacks every time I see his name on my phone because there’s a good chance he’s about to yell at me about something that’s his fault.

I asked them to change the work environment and treat me with respect. He told me “no”. He reemphasized that I should be grateful for this role, I need to try harder, and I won’t find a job elsewhere.

I just proved him wrong. I’ve been secretely applying and interviewing for the past 5 weeks and have received about 10 offers at this time. I’m about to sign the paperwork to officially accept one for a much better job that pays 40k more. The interviewer will be my future boss, and he actually treated me with respect and as if I was a person *gasp*!

Drafting up my resignation letter now and I can’t stop smiling.

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“The notion of servant leadership is gaining attention in the workplace. Although it is associated with many of the strong leadership traits such as empathy, selflessness, and humility, the focus is on the leader’s propensity to serve (or support) their followers. Servant leaders empower and lift up followers (employees) to motivate and fuel their passion,” Professor Ng told Bored Panda.

#19 My Boss Is Asking Me To Come Into Work While On Vacation

I just received an early morning text from my manager asking me to come in. I politely responded that I am on vacation. She said that she knows but that they are short-staffed due to the recent snow storm, and that she knows that I live close enough to walk to work, even in the snow. I asked how me working today would work with me getting PTO, and she said, “an employee cannot work and get pto on the same day so you will not get pto for today”. I am just going to say no. This is silly. One time I texted her a question without realizing she was on vacation and she responded with, “I AM ON VACATION. DO NOT EVER CONTACT ME WHILE I AM ON VACATION. PLEASE RESPECT MY TIME”…I am tempted to say the same thing to her now

Update: damn, some people are mean. I got this message from somebody on here: “get a real job you gay loser, then your boss will respect you enough to not call you in on pto. Or as much as a person can respect a gay”. Uncalled for homophobia…Goddamn.

I ended up just saying “I can’t come in” and the only response I got was “K”. While I would love to throw her words back at her, I have to go in and deal with her as my manger when I get back to work. Next time, I will just not respond at all. LESSON LEARNED.

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#20 Found This Posted At My Job After A Mandatory Meeting

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#21 Please Don’t Ask For A Living Wage

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According to the professor, communication between followers and leaders is key. Employees need to manage their relationships with their bosses to have better work satisfaction.

“Employees need to communicate what they need (tools) or work conditions (autonomy) in order for them to perform optimally when working with a controlling boss. Employees need to convey what they can and are able to perform,” he said.

#22 I Put In My Two Weeks And My Manager Said I Have To Tell Her Where I’m Going

So I told her no I don’t and she insisted by law that I do. So I told her no I don’t and she can ask all she wants to but that’s not going to change it. I said if it’s company policy that they’ll just have to discipline me for it. She dropped it afterwards.

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#23 I Quit My Job!!

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#24 So My Best Friend Just Got This Email… What The Actual [hell]!?

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Unfortunately, just because someone is incredibly skilled and talented at work doesn’t automatically make them a good leader. Managing people well is another ball game entirely. Alas, not all bosses are true leaders, even if they have all the power. Similarly, you might find leaders lower down in the company’s hierarchy who inspire their coworkers but don’t have much official authority.

#25 I (16f) Was Sick Throughout My Shift Last Night And Had Another Shift This Morning. Clearly I Called In. My [jerk] Boss Didn’t Take That Well

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#26 Employer Gave Me A 4$ Raise Today.

That’s what I’m talking about.

I work as a welder and today my employer individuallly talked to all the welders and offered us a raise because they want to keep employees and they also want to attract new people, when he told me my hourly pay rate when up by 4$ hour l almost couldnt believe it. I work a lot of OT and I work the Night shift. I was feeling burned out from the hours but once I got the raise I was so happy I went right back to work and now I’m working all the OT I can get. I’ve been with this company three months they have bought me a pair of boots, uniforms, prescription safety glasses, and give me a lot of free equipment for protection, and my morale just keeps getting higher while I work till 3 am with a smile on my face.

Invest in your employees, when you treat them like an asset and not a cost, you get better as a business.

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#27 A Competing Company Is Offering Us 20 Percent More To Work For Them. Management’s Response:

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The Harvard Business Review explains that the best workplace leaders have very high moral standards, strong ethics, good self-organizational skills, and are efficient learners. They also help their employees grow and focus on creating an atmosphere of belonging.

#28 My Boss Exploded

After the 3rd person quit in a span of 2 weeks due to overwork and short-staffed issues, he slammed his office door and told us to gather around. He went in the most boomerific rant possible. I can only paraphrase. “Well, Mike is out! Great! Just goes to show nobody wants to actually get off their butts and WORK these days! Life isn’t easy and people like him need to understand that!! He wanted weekends off knowing damn well we are understaffed. He claimed it was family issues or whatever. I don’t believe the guy. Just hire a sitter! Thanks for everything y’all do. You guys are the only hope of this generation.” We all looked around and another guy quit two hours later.

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#29 Boss Wouldn’t Accept My Resignation Letter

After several months of having my vacation time off requests denied, my staff being fired and not replaced and my work hours increased without my consent, I walked into my boss’ office and handed her my resignation letter. I was giving 4 weeks notice, which I thought was nice. She looks at me, says “No. I can’t deal with this today.”, packed her stuff and left for a day of shopping on company time.

I went to my office, cleaned it out, finished off a day’s work and put my keys in her mailbox.

The next day I got a call from HR saying they were giving me the day off without pay to think about what I did and that I was expected to be at work the next day.

No thanks.

2 years later i’m living my dream life.

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#30 Is It Normal To Not Want To Discuss The Base Pay?

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Something that good managers do is create a safe, trusting, fair environment that allows workers to thrive. A part of this means communicating expectations very clearly so that everyone’s on the same page and knows what to expect. The safer and more stable your employees feel, the more they can focus on being creative, innovative, and ambitious.

#31 Job Was Described As Work From Home Regularly But Must Be Able To Come In-Person As Needed. After Learning On Day #1 That “As Needed” Meant M-F 9-5, Had To Pull Teeth To Wfh T/Th. Expressed My Concerns A Couple Of Times To No Avail Before Putting My Foot Down. Felt Good

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#32 My Boss Denied My Medical Request A Month In Advance, First Time Ever Even Requesting A Day Off

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#33 Subway Near Me

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#34 A Text Conversation I Had The Day I Was Supposed To Go Sign New Hire Paperwork

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#35 A Friend Of Mine Who Had Been Clean From Drugs For 7 Months, Relapsed Last Night And Ended In The Er. This Was Her Job This Morning. Remember That Most Jobs Don’t Give A [damn] About You And To Do What You’re Paid For And Nothing More

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#36 I’m 41 And Job Hunting, Applied At A Large Fast-Casual Restaurant Chain For An Entry-Level Position. The Manager Sent Me This The Next Day…

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#37 Amazon Tornado Text Exchange. Your Life Is Just Numbers In A Machine, Make The Correct Call

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#38 I Quit My Job 2 Weeks Ago And They Reversed My Final Direct Deposit Without Notifying Me In Retaliation

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#39 Boss Wanted Me To Come In On Days That I Requested Off. Then Threatened Me When I Said No

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#40 Fact: [lousy] Managers Is Why No One Wants To Work

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#41 I’m A Caregiver/Dsp For Developmentally Disabled Adults. My Boss Just Scheduled Me A 20hr Shift Without My Consent So I Quit

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#42 Unprofessional Boss

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#43 She Said F**k You I Quit!

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#44 I Quit This Morning. I Sent This Email To Everyone In The Company

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#45 Capitalists Have Too Much Of Two Things: Wealth And Audacity

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#46 I’m Quite Annoyed And Want To Reply Accordingly, But I’m Unsure If My Words Hold Any Truth. Full Reply In Comments:

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#47 Never Told A Boss Off Like This. And It Felt Amazing

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#48 I Have Finally Put My Foot Down

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#49 I Was Told To Post This Here. I Worked At This Store For 4 Years (Longer Than Anyone In The Entire Store) And We Recently Got A New General Manager. This Is How She (Yellow) Speaks To Us In Our Work Group Chat (I Am Purple). I Quit After This Conversation

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#50 I Did It. Posted This Question For My Entire Company To See During A Meeting – Seeing The Reactions In The Faces Of The Execs Was Amazing. It’s Up To 20 Likes Within 14 Minutes

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#51 I Just Quit My Job Because I Lost My Right To Lunch Break

Been working there for 4 months. I was never late and always ready like 15 min before my shift starts. Today I had a tough morning, in a bad mood and I was 6 minutes late for work. My manager called me to his office, complaining about why I didn’t call him to say I’m going to be late. I told him that I didn’t think about calling him as I knew that I’ll only be late for a bit.

After going back and forth, he told me that I’m not allowed to take my lunch break because I’m late and it’s super busy. I didn’t bring my lunch, so I asked if I could at least grab a sandwich before starting my shift. He agreed, but only to cut half an hour of my pay..

I agreed and left “to grab a sandwich”. It’s been an hour and a half now since I left and I still haven’t returned. My manager just called me and I told him I quit. I don’t regret it (yet?)

Wish me luck!!

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#52 Came Into Work This Morning To Find This Taped To The Wall. Boss Went On Tirade Against Me And Co-Worker Yesterday For Taking To Each Other With No Customers In The Store

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Source: boredpanda.com