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‘Employee Tears’: 80 Memes That Office Workers Can Relate To (New Pics)
Interview With Expert
Going to work for many is becoming like going to school when we were kids: fewer and fewer people are excited to do it. In a 2024 poll, 12% of all Americans said they were not satisfied with their jobs. And while going to work may not make them cry per se, they're still hardly happy.
There's a page on Instagram called Employee Tears that collects relatable memes about what it's like to not like your job very much. "My dream job is not having one," they proclaim in their bio. If you feel the same, check out the funniest pics from their account that might make you cry – but, hopefully, not out of sadness.
To know more about how we can deal with excessive stress at work, Bored Panda reached out to a trauma and relationship therapist, Ioana Rotaru. She told us how people can differentiate between normal work-related stress and burnout, how to create better boundaries between work and personal life, and she gave our Pandas some self-care tips. Read her expert insights below!
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Although every job is different, most workers experience stress in some form. In fact, in Headspace's yearly Workforce State of Mind report of 2024, 86% of working Americans said that they feel either moderate, high, or extreme stress. What's more concerning is that out of those who feel extremely stressed, 83% claimed that their stress comes primarily from work.
Prolonged stress can inevitably lead to more serious long-term problems like burnout. Research from SHRM shows that a whopping 44% of American employees feel burned out, 44% say they're "emotionally drained," and 51% feel "used up" when the workday ends. All these numbers raise serious alarm bells, so, what can we do to start feeling better?
#4
kzys59pcrp 10 hours ago
Start crying too. Sob I tried so hard to find it for you! I have failed you and I dishonored the company. I must now take my punishment. I will refuse the ambulance after my punishment and walk to the ER instead
#6
I'm.Just.A.Girl 3 hours ago
Dude, my coworker does this for the first hour of every shift... Has for a couple years. I've been paged for being 5 minutes late on a break 😤
First of all, it's important to differentiate between normal work-related stress and burnout. Trauma and relationship therapist Ioana Rotaru tells Bored Panda that the latter is much more extreme. "While we all have experienced some degree of work-related stress, perhaps when we were working towards a deadline, burnout features a state of exhaustion both physical and mental."
"Burnout is chronic stress that has been left unchecked and manifests as a lack of fulfillment, fatigue, emotional numbness, detachment, and cynicism," the therapist explains. "Burnout doesn't quickly improve with rest or self-care, it really needs deeper, more intense recovery that would involve work and lifestyle changes." She notes how research has shown that recovering from burnout can take anywhere from weeks to even several years.
#8
Serial pacifist 3 hours ago
Someone on the other end of the line must have been mansplaining the hell out of options he had come up with after not listening to the lady’s advice and screwing up in the first place.
#9
It can be hard to differentiate between work and personal life. Say, Pandas, how many of you have had to answer a work email well past your work hours? Balancing work and personal life can be even harder when you're working from home, and the popularity of remote work hasn't yet subsided since the pandemic. In 2023, 35% of employed Americans did some or all of their work from home.
#12
I'm.Just.A.Girl 4 hours ago
This seems so extreme but realistically? I could see a supervisor upset for this exact reason. Ask me how I know lol
Creating boundaries between work and personal life can be a challenge, but, when there's will, there's a way. Trauma and relationship therapist Ioana Rotaru distinguishes two types of boundaries we should be setting if we want a better work-life balance. The first are practical and behavioral boundaries, and the other ones are emotional and psychological.
Practical and behavioral boundaries, as Rotaru explains, include solutions like creating a designated workspace at home and avoiding working in the bedroom, as it interferes with sleep.
Some other behavioral boundaries might be turning off notifications after work hours are over, answering emails, and even deciding to end work at a certain time. To have a better work-life balance, we can also learn time-management skills, how to delegate tasks, engage in hobbies or other fun activities.
#16
I deliver for amazon, this came up halfway thru my route. A little drastic I'd say lol.
#17
Roni Stone 10 hours ago
D**n, this makes me feel so seen. I feel seen-like-a-Robert-Pattinson-vampire-above-a-cloud-bank kind of seen.
Emotional and psychological boundaries, Rotaru says, demand us to reflect deeper. One might ask themselves questions such as: "Why am I even allowing work to spill into the personal?" or "Am I over-identifying with work achievements or failures?" Some people might also wonder whether they're taking on too much responsibility for what's happening at work.
Ioana Rotaru also recommends asking yourself: "Why do I struggle to advocate for my needs?", "Why do I so easily sacrifice my needs for work?", and "What part does perfectionism play in how I work?" "The answers to these questions would tell us the boundaries we need to set," the therapist explains.
#22
Crystalwitch60 4 hours ago
Who says unless your part of the emergencies ie police fire etc n hospital staff , military , that you gotta care lol
#23
Child of the Stars 6 hours ago
Because I work for a healthcare organization, I have to regularly do modules on patient care and where the crash carts are and such. But I don't work in a patient-facing position. I don't even work in actual healthcare. I work for a kind of hotel owned by the organization for friends and family of patients. I don't even work with the friends and family. I fold laundry. Alone.
#24
Arthur Waite 4 hours ago
And it's seventy years, about three generations, since the invention of television. Brains rot, just like your Dad said.
The trauma and relationship therapist points out that we often ignore the signs of one emotional regulation system when we're stressed. "When we are going through work stress, two emotional regulation systems are activated: the threat system (our fight or flight response) and the drive system (our achievement and reward response)," she explains. "But a third one, the soothing system is often ignored, and we need to increase the level of activation of this system."
The easier way to activate our soothing system is to regulate our nervous system. We can do that through such tactics as soothing rhythm breathing or safe place imagery. "It can also be activated through sensory comfort and grounding, such as walking in nature or warm baths, weighted blankets, or massages, connection with others or animals as well as engaging in creative in playful activities" Rotaru adds.
#29
Klondike Penguin 42 minutes ago
Don’t forget the companies you set up your mortgage and home insurance with.
#30
Earonn - 9 hours ago
80 year old ladies who call you crying as their telephone bill went from EUR 30 to EUR 800 because their s****y grandson visited them to use their phone for calling s*x hotlines, and his parents refuses to pay. Idc whether "violence is no solution", sometimes it's justified and the correct response.
"The more we increase the activation of the [soothing] system, the more we decrease the threat system, thus managing stress," the therapist explains. She also emphasizes how practicing self-care can prevent burnout. "If we are too much in the drive system without soothing, we can end up with burnout, so, implementing self-care is crucial."
#36
Klondike Penguin 40 minutes ago
So should dancing while clanging a pair of cymbals together, and doing it for three years with no word of being promoted or moved to something else.
#38
Nicola Roberts 4 hours ago
I've been working on my mental health. Instead of me saying "I'm telling you this because I might get run over by a bus" to "I'm explaining this because I might win the lottery tonight"
#42
#49
Moana Manana 6 hours ago
I have a colleague who alway sends only a screen shot in the e-mail, and in the subject he puts "please take over" or something... I stopped trying to figure that out and just reply "could please be more specific". Because he will send just another screenshot, I will repeat my question as long as he finally types a meaningful sentence and I understood what he actually want from me...
#53
Klondike Penguin 35 minutes ago
George Carlin once said, “I think a guy (or girl, too) should declare themselves legally tired. That way, they can get out of doing things they don’t want to do.”
#56
Lost Panda 12 hours ago
Or at least be able to understand (or repeat) what I tell you to your bosses... This is big in IT... Bosses might not know everything their subordinates do, but at least have the ability to listen and repeat...
#58
#62
Child of the Stars 6 hours ago
And this is one reason I love my job. My boss encourages us to take our PTO. We are also not responsible for getting coverage if we call out; we call the boss and she either finds the coverage or does it herself.
#63
Crystalwitch60 3 hours ago
In fact you can be sure they 100% haven’t ! Cos you can’t have common sense and be intelligent it’s a true fact !
#65
#69
#72
MushroomHead22 42 minutes ago
thats not a signature, thats a postscript. how some people have that "is it important to print this, think green" things... a signature is your name, company, phone/email...
#73
#74
#78
#80
zovjraar me 2 hours ago
"I'm sorry, I'm not sure I understand" = what in all the absolute fuckery are you talking about.
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What do you think ?
Lady Eowyn 5 hours ago
This would have been a fun list if it had been edited to that fewer of the posts were from the same person and there were fewer items. It got repetitive very quickly.
MushroomHead22 37 minutes ago
most of these lists like this are often from the same contributor... think of those ones where its all tweets about kids; always the same girl or fake dad account, and they're often rehashed jokes.
Lady Eowyn 5 hours ago
This would have been a fun list if it had been edited to that fewer of the posts were from the same person and there were fewer items. It got repetitive very quickly.
MushroomHead22 37 minutes ago
most of these lists like this are often from the same contributor... think of those ones where its all tweets about kids; always the same girl or fake dad account, and they're often rehashed jokes.
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