Businesses putting profits over people is nothing new.

But while the average worker rarely gets a chance to do anything about it, one Redditor found the perfect way to challenge their company’s blatant corporate greed.

The opportunity presented itself when management announced they were hosting an appreciation event for the employees—except, audaciously, they were expected to cater it themselves. Refusing to let such a ridiculous plan slide, the Redditor spoke up in a way that not only exposed the hypocrisy but also forced the bosses to scramble for a solution. Read the full story below.

The company thought forcing employees to cook for their own appreciation event was reasonable

Image credits: bokodi / freepik (not the actual photo)

Until one sharp employee exposed just how absurd that idea was

Image credits: massonstock / freepik (not the actual photo)

Image credits: tvcity6455

Praise addiction is why you’re not happy with your job, experts argue

Image credits: KamranAydinov / freepik (not the actual photo)

Complaining about work has become so common that it feels almost normal. After all, what else would you do if your company—who hired you as a contractor—forced you to cook for your own appreciation event? And that’s usually just the tip of the iceberg, on top of classic workplace frustrations like low pay, difficult coworkers, or incompetent management.

You might be surprised to learn that, according to last year’s Gallup International Association poll, two-thirds of workers worldwide say they’re happy with their jobs, and about half are satisfied with their pay. Meanwhile, only 17% report being unhappy overall.

The research suggests that job satisfaction is largely influenced by income and education—the better educated or higher paid someone is, the more likely they are to enjoy their work. Interestingly, factors like gender and age appear to have little impact on overall job happiness.

However, compensation isn’t the only thing that determines job fulfillment. As the numbers show, more people report being satisfied with their jobs than with their salaries. This suggests that it’s possible to enjoy your work while still feeling underpaid.

J.T. O’Donnell, CEO and founder of Work It DAILY, has spent years studying why people dislike their jobs. She believes there’s one key reason why so many workers feel unfulfilled—praise addiction.

“We’ve been trained to seek out incentives like good grades, stickers, trophies, and yes, praise. We like to be liked,” she said in an op-ed for Inc. magazine. “More important, we like to be respected. We want people to be impressed with us. It gives us a temporary feeling of happiness.”

“The problem is we end up making career choices to impress other people so we can feel that fleeting rush of validation,” O’Donnell explained. “In the process, we lose sight of what makes us truly happy. With each career move, we get unhappier. The more we try to impress, the more frustrated we feel.”

As a result, O’Donnell notes that we also tend to judge others based on how prestigious or impressive their jobs appear. Until we break this habit, we’ll continue to judge ourselves the same way—making it harder to pursue work that genuinely aligns with our purpose.

“The right job for you creates a state of mind that transforms your life,” said O’Donnell. “Ask anyone you admire who has deep career satisfaction and they’ll tell you it’s their connection to the work that makes them so happy. It also gives them the motivation to not give up, which leads to higher levels of success and satisfaction.”

Some readers noted the irony of the phrase “appreciation potluck”

While others praised the author’s bold response

Many took the opportunity to share similar experiences

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