Working in HR is no picnic. The warning about the job is in the title... "Human Resources." You know right away that you'll be dealing with people, constantly. That can be a bit much, as most workplaces are wrought with drama. Of course the HR department is an essential branch of a business, and the people who run it are supposed to be a safe place for employees to go for questions. So it is unfortunate when one discovers the department whose purpose was designed to look after the little guy is actually a viper's den.
Redditor u/ceowin wanted to hear why the HB department is s place where we all need to watch our backs most by asking... What's the worst "HR is not your friend" story you've witnessed/experienced?I know that some HR departments are overseeing a large number of people, but that doesn't mean you aren't supposed to be able to identify the person you need to seek out. You can't just pull a rando employee in and give them the what for. At the very least know with whom you are scolding or praising. How embarrassing.
And you are...
Excuse Me Reaction GIF by BounceGiphyPulled into a meeting with two HR reps in the middle of my shift. Taken to this really nice boardroom, which was confusing because I was just a grunt and this is literally floors above where I should ever be.
They sat me down and said basically what do you have to say for yourself. Me, still confused, tells them I have no idea what they're talking about. Everyone is really quiet and serious and I'm scared. And they say you know what you did, this is cause for termination, blah blah. I'm literally thinking this is really excessive for being a few minutes late sometimes.
I insist I don't know what's going on. One of them maybe realized something was wrong and flips open a file and says you're xx right? Turns out they got me mixed up with someone else who has the same name. On the elevator ride down by myself I was still sweating. Don't know what that other person did but man, HR does not play.
Nametags Necessary
I had the Air Force Office of Special Investigations do that crap to me back in like 2002 or so. I got told OSI called and wanted me to go over to their office. I got interrogated for about 10 minutes, them accusing me of doing cocaine and hanging out with some other dude I barely knew. After me arguing with them for those ten minutes or so, they finally said "aren't you this Airman super common last name?"
And I was like, yeah but there's multiple Airman super common last name in my shop alone. Yeah turns out, they meant a different person completely. They saw my last name and never checked my ID or asked my first name. I had to get read into the investigation because they messed up.
Once you survey the terrain and understand the dynamics of the job, you can devise a plan. If you know HR is full of jackals, then you know you're on your own. So never let them leave you hanging. Keep proof. Beat them at their own game.The proof is all you'll ever need. And be ready to be sneaky about it.
Show the Logs
I went to HR to report that my team's manager was illegally shorting all of our paychecks. HR's response was to adopt a new, company-wide policy addressing the paycheck issue and back-paying most people for a certain amount, and also to frame me for work avoidance. HR and IT disabled part of my login account to a tool we used, and then fired me a few months later after failing to fix the problem and allowing me to actually do my job.
They tried to deny my unemployment claim afterward. Told the unemployment rep that they "had logs" showing that I did something to break the tool I don't even have access to break in the first place. They also didn't think to disable my email access in a timely manner, so I was able to back up all my emails with IT documenting exactly what went down. Unemployment approved my claim and hit them with a major penalty to their insurance.
I have receipts...
HR ordered me to downgrade my three excellent employee reviews to satisfactory because management didn't recognize their names. I got written up for telling my employees this.
HR denied that they told me anything, even though I had the emails from them documenting it.
Totally worth it. My employees were excellent and got the raises they deserved.
You gotta watch out for the little things. That is how they get you. See they know you're staying on top of the big things. That is exactly what throws us off our game. We miss the small details being blinded by the elephant in the room. Trust me when I tell you, they've been plotting your demise and it'll be for something you never thought possible. Be prepared.
Take my Badge...
Im Out Shark Tank GIF by ABC NetworkGiphyThe HR/Payroll manager at a small hospital I worked at had a bad habit of not paying out the sign on bonus that was paid out incrementally in three payments through the course of a year and sign on bonuses for picking up extra shifts.
After repeated request to be belatedly compensated, I took it to corporate who addressed my issue immediately.
A couple weeks later I was terminated on what amounted to a technicality where I forget my badge one shift and my relief was late to take over sitting with a patient, causing me to receive more points against me than if I had called out for that shift.
When I was called in to receive my notification, the director of nursing was shocked but ultimately not much she could do.
Let's Excel
Overall I've been able to get along with HR departments with one exception. I was working a help desk job for a company during college and the head of HR called in for help. He was making an Excel spreadsheet and couldn't figure out how to make a formula do what he wanted. I offered to come take a look as we were in the same building and he told me I couldn't because the spreadsheet was full of confidential information. So I asked then if he could describe what exactly he was trying to do without giving away any specific info, and he told me that what he was trying to do was confidential.
So I clarified that he wanted me to tell him how to do something but I couldn't see it and he wouldn't even tell me what it was he was trying to do. At that point he agreed that I wouldn't be able to assist him since he couldn't divulge anything. As soon as we hung up he called my boss to complain that I was useless.
Of course some people are just straight up dumb, or rotten to the core. In a perfect world people in positions of power deserve to be where they are, or they're at least competent. Well, competent enough where you're not wondering... "how did you get here?" And rotten people can be movie villain level, true story.
A Quick 6
I worked at a smallish company that grew big enough to hire a hr person. Her office was down from mine so in the mornings I'd swing by and say hi. That turned into grabbing a cup of coffee she had just made, the into having a pastry and talking about life. I found that if I mentioned someone's name in passing, a few minutes later she would spill the beans about that person's life. What work issues they had, health issues, family issues etc. I learned really quick any issues I had not to take them to her. She made it like 6 months before she got fired.
Completely Inept
The HR supervisor of my former company. She didn't have formal training in HR but still got the job because of connections. She would tell anyone she was close with confidential details about certain employees like their health and family issues. She would also divulge information that only the management should know like business negotiations. And it was all voluntarily done. Anyone with formal training who worked under her never lasted a year. Last I heard, they finally hired an HR manager she would report to.
Sneaks...
HR hired consultants to run morale building employee input sessions. Basically saying "We're not from the company. You can tell us all the things you don't like about working here and would like to see changed and we'll put it all into a report for management. Don't worry, everything is anonymous, we just need material for our report and you guys get to have your say in improving things around here."
Turns out HR and the consultants recorded all the sessions and played the highlights for management. People were disciplined for criticising the company or their immediate superiors and any shred of faith or trust in management that the employees may have had was instantly incinerated.
Managers now complain that they don't know what's going on in their teams because nobody tells them anything. I wonder why.
Villainess...
the little mermaid villain GIFGiphyHR person used her position to collect intel to get people she didn't like fired.
Bad Performance Issues
The company has a policy where 10% of the workers had to get bad performance reviews which meant no raise that year. What the company didn't take into account is that some teams are small and hyper specialized. You can imagine what happened next, a bunch of crucial employees quit and that policy was cancelled (but the damage was done).
Edit:wow people really enjoy corporate incompetence, let me tell you another. The company has a policy that limits an intern to 5 years. I started there somewhere during my bachelor's and now near the end of my masters, it took over 5 years so now they are letting me go. My boss doesn't want to let me go and his boss doesn't want to let me go, but you can't argue with corporate.
At the "Real" Job
At my last "real" job before striking out on my own I had an exit interview with the HR lady. Who was actually just someone who was friends with the company president who was filling in because the actual HR lady with a degree in HR and everything quit.
A lot of people at this place quit. It was a terrible place to work with out of touch management and delusions of grandeur limping along building websites for a business niche that was mostly old people who thought the Internet was magic.
During the exit interview she asked why I was leaving. I told her I liked my coworkers a lot, but hated the company. She got this exasperated look and got genuinely upset, and told me that she'd been getting that same line from everybody else who quit and had their exit interview recently.
It boggled my mind that they could hear the same thing over and over again from so many people putting in their time until they could go on to something better and not stop to think they should change something.
Being a Junior
Fed Up Reaction GIFGiphyOur entire IT department get tested based on our skills level.
Turns out, more than half of us were suited for higher categories (meaning we were getting under-paid - I was not a junior but a semi-senior, for example). Suddenly the test doesn't matter and HR basically forgets about it, but now you have a bunch of employees that know they're being played. Everyone left eventually.
I Dare You
After 4 years on the job, I was given a first and final warning for asking why the hell HR was behind a locked door and now dominated over half the first floor, filled with new furniture that was unused after 6 months, meanwhile, my chair was taken by another employee and I was told to use the chair without padding.
An executive from another department heard my complaint, stole one of the unused chairs from the HR expansion, and gave it to me, explaining that if I did it, I'd be fired, she did it daring them to fire her.
Damn Sprint
I worked in a call center for a cell provider when I was younger, let's call them Sprint Mobile. We had a bonus structure that was based on our call metrics; hold time, handle time, call resolution and all that. A lot of the metrics were obtainable but one was hard, call resolution. Some times people had to go to stores, wait for replacement devices, or needed software updates that required follow up calls.
But they got surveyed right after the call and asked if their problem was resolved. Well my last year there we got our metrics at the beginning of the year and by November about 60% of the floor hit them. Two weeks before bonus time they changed the metrics and only 20% of the floor got their bonus.
ANYTHING
Not HR but heed my warning: don't type ANYTHING into your work computer that you wouldn't say directly to your company's HR person's face. I have seen people had cases built against them for poor work and ultimately fired for the crap they say over Skype.
Damages
I worked in a warehouse that regularly concealed the shipping of dangerous goods to save money. This went on for years. As time went on, I bubbled up though the ranks and was eventually made manager of the warehouse. I outright refused to ship anything anywhere until we started to claim our dangerous goods shipments properly. Their solution? The boss started to sign his name instead. This went on for a few weeks until HR found out. (They obviously knew how much trouble the president could have got in to).
So the next time a shipment had to go out, the got the newest guy in the warehouse to start signing his name instead, claiming they were training him how to do paperwork but the poor kid had no idea.... so when the driver showed to pick up his shipment I told him that there were a bunch of dangerous substances concealed in the shipment. So he refused it and left. I got told later that my actions were "damaging to the company image" and it had to stop.
I told HR exactly what was going on and how I would not be a part of it. Less than a week after that, I was removed from my position due to "company restructuring" and laid off. Some of the most crooked shit I've ever seen. My rough estimates ballpark the money they saved at about $250,000/year. Scumbags... the whole family.
The next 2 weeks...
Upon giving two weeks notice, I get this stupid rant about millennial snowflakes, how we can't take the stress of a real job, and how we think we're so important and unique, but in reality the only thing that would happen, is that they would find another engineer to fill in for me, and things would be like I never existed.
After the initial shock, I replied with a "you are absolutely correct. Me staying or not is meaningless. Consider my resignation immediate from this moment, please give me the paperwork to sign."
crazy nicolas cage GIFThe sister/HR had very little actual life experience because they both came from a big pharma family and never really had a sense of what working a real job was like. Boss could do no wrong in his sister's eyes, so complaining about anything just got you gaslit. Glad I'm not there anymore.
Out of lIne
At my job we used to hire a few special needs individuals who would do some cleaning and light duty things. One day one of them did something wrong (it was very minor but I can't remember the specifics) and the manager said out loud, right next to this guy, "why do we keep hiring these retards?"
And referred to his job coach as his "handler". One of the girls that saw it happen was rightfully pissed off and reported it to HR. The next day she was put on unpaid leave for "creating a hostile work environment". Same manager is still here... she is not.
Luckily, I myself have had very few encounters with people from an HR department, and the few times I did they were quite lovely. In the end, no matter the job, no matter the company, the position, title or department we must realize, everyone is out for themselves. You sort of have to be. Everyone wants their share of the pie. It would just be nice if everyone didn't play the villain to do it.
Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.
Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?
But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.
It would be so great to be sure there is something else.
But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.
Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:
"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"
Sensations
Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."
PeachesnPain
Recovery
"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."
"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."
"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."
good_golly99
Take Me Back
"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."
"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."
rayrayrayray
Free
The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."
TooReDTooHigh
This is why I hate surgery.
You just never know.
Shocked
Giphy"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."
Admirable_Buyer6528
The SOB
"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."
"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”
1-cupcake-at-a-time
Colors
"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"
Hannah_LL7
"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"
huntokarrr
The Fog
"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."
"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."
Fluffy-Hotel-5184
Through the Walls
"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."
"She's quite alive and well today."
Hot-Refrigerator6583
Well let's all be happy to be alive.
It seems to be all we have.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.