50 Painful Yet Hilarious Memes About Work That May Make You Laugh, Then Cry

Bored Panda was incredibly curious to find out why Chloe and Peter decided to branch off from 'Thirty AF' and create a separate Instagram page, 'Employed AF,' mainly for work memes. "We have always posted a variety of different topics on @iamthirtyaf and it has been fun to see which topics really strike a chord with our followers and inspire conversations in the comments. Over the years, we have found that posts related to the workplace always spark engaging and relevant conversations," they told us during an interview via email.

"You know when you develop a close friendship with a coworker who you bond with over venting about work, a process that not only makes you a new friend but can also be in a lot of ways pretty therapeutic? Social media has kind of taken that experience and broadened it, we can vent about what goes on at work with strangers on the internet and learn that our experiences are actually commonplace," they said that this can range from small things like everyone rolling their eyes over the coworker who heats up their leftover fish in the break room microwave (everyone knows someone like that). Or it can be about calling out jobs that don't list the salary in the job description.

"It has also created a sort of networking space where people can share ideas, problem-solve and give advice, give interview tips... you name it!"

Chloe and Peter both founded AF Media in 2009 when they graduated from college at the height of the recession. "It was a very sudden and unexpected wakeup call that the professional world we were entering (with our 6 figure + student loan debt!) was very different than what we thought/had been told it would be. We couldn't find jobs anywhere!" the duo opened up to Bored Panda.

At one point, they even had to take their degree off their resume to apply for a job at a local movie theater that was paying $6.75 an hour at the time... and they were rejected.

"Similar experiences were shared by so many millennials, and together we have had to figure out how to navigate our careers differently than generations have before us all the while hearing the 'no one wants to work these days' and 'millennials can't buy houses because they drink too many lattes and eat avocados on toast' narratives from the same generation that told us that going into extreme debt to get a bachelor's degree was what it would take to have a prosperous career. This, like the shared experience of venting about microwaved fish, is a topic that millennials are able to bond over and share their own experiences with."

Chloe and Peter, who curate 'Employed AF,' noted that we all see how the world of work continually changes around us. "We aren't finding one job and sticking with it until retirement like many of our parents have done, whether by choice/job hopping to improve salary and benefits or because of nonstop layoffs that are rampant in seemingly every company!" In short, more and more people aren't willing to work 40-hour weeks at companies that don't even pay them enough to cover their basic expenses. Substandard wages in this economy?! No, thank you. 

"We're pushing back on what had previously been considered norms in the workplace like saying no to unpaid overtime and working weekends, we're advocating for our needs, we're unapologetically using our vacation days and sick leave, and we're calling out our employers for unethical workplace practices. People have a lot to say on these topics, and we've loved hosting a platform for these conversations," the page founders said.

"Employed AF is growing faster than any other account we run—it was previously our 30AF backup account and on Jan 1 of this year we had around 3,000 followers when we switched it over to Employed AF. Three months later, we have 116K (and growing!) super engaged followers who we love connecting with every day."

A recent survey by Deloitte found that a whopping 77% of respondents have experienced burnout at their current job. Bored Panda wanted to get the 'Employed AF' team's take on how to address burnout, establish work-life balance, and to find some fun in the 9-to-5 grind.

They opened up to Bored Panda that burnout is a very real issue that they've faced themselves. Some days, even answering a single email felt "like an insurmountable task" that'd be put off, even if it might only take 5 minutes to do.

"The pandemic, the switch to WFH, non-stop Zoom meetings and reorg after reorg along with the existential crisis of having to log your Q2 goals whilst the world crumbled around us was a mind-f to say the least." Some ways to get over burnout include realizing that working during working hours is enough, and that employees don't owe their boss their time and energy when they're off the clock.