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30 Signs That The Workplace You’ve Entered Isn’t Worth Staying In, As Shared By Folks Online
Whatever you do, do not decorate your office for Halloween using "ghosts" of people who used to work there. Like, specific employees with names and everything. You're gonna have a bad time. Just figured this should be included in the list.
Oh, what list, I hear you saying, dear Panda? Why, the list you can find below, of course. A list of red flags Redditors were pointing out that are sure to make anyone regret ever applying to work at a certain company. But like, red flags as in ones that scream "don't work here".
And Bored Panda has collected some of the most spot-on observations and turned them into a list. So, scroll down, upvote, comment, and share your thoughts and red flags in the comment section below!
More Info: Reddit
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#1
At the interview they offer you water. Suddenly you start feeling groggy. Next thing you know you are waking up in a bathtub full of ice with your kidneys missing.
Fool me once Hobby Lobby. Fool me once.
Headless Roach 2 years ago
Yeah, waking up with a missing a kidney *might* suggest there is something off there. Keep observing.
RELATED:
#2
Everyone you meet has been working there less than 2 years and it isn't a startup.
#3
When your initial interview doesn’t start on time, and you’re waiting. They don’t respect your time. Which essentially means they don’t respect their workers.
#4
The owners children are in high management / executive positions
#5
"Were like a family"
"Be willing to work in a fast-paced environment"
This is just code for "we will guilt you into doing things beyond your job, and we are poorly managed"
#6
If all of the other employees look sullen and depressed. If you walk into the office area and feel like you've walked into a funeral service. Nobody's smiling, nobody's laughing. Nobody looks remotely happy or content.
Just turn around and walk back to your car. That is not a good place to be working at.
John Topper 2 years ago
This one is extremely important for highly competative jobs. You see a much of people d doing a cool, high status job and they all look miserable to be doing it. I get that it was hard to get that job, but for your own sake turn and walk away. It's not worth it.
#7
If you ever hear a higher up say anything along the lines of “I don’t have to do that because I’m a X”
As a manager/owner/lead/etc… Your job is to support your team, if that means as a store owner you’re cleaning puke off the bathroom floor guess what, you’re cleaning puke off the bathroom floor.
If you ever see a boss refusing to help when it’s busy or delegating a task poorly (eg the blind guy has to go pick stock while ur boss hangs out in the back room taking calls) quit.
Thegoodboi 2 years ago
This, I used to work in fast food and we would be getting hammered with orders and complaints. The manager and his favorite worker would be kicked back having a good time in the office knowing we were busy and a phone ringing non-stop right next to them.
#8
Information overload. They expect you to understand everything and will somewhat train you Day 1. But after that day, they expect you to do everything to a tee.
Training takes a while.
AndThenICommented 2 years ago
A more practical way to say this: ask about onboarding process during interview. Be specific about how they will guide you through, how well organised policies are, can you look at their org chart and understand how to navigate, etc… Doesn’t have to be a deal breaker but it will expose HUGE red flags
#9
Team activities that happen every week. Casual fridays, team meetings, group presentations. Just let me do my job we don’t need to dress up for halloween at the office
Karl Baxter 2 years ago
God I hate teambuilding events with a passion. I was even once put on a disciplinary for refusing to wear their stupid T-shirt.
#10
I had a job interview a long time ago where I asked if there was any office dress code. The response I got was, "Just try not to wear your gang colors all the time."
#11
If a larger company buys your company out but says "Nothing is changing but the name and address that your paycheck is coming from" But then everything changes.
#12
If you get asked in interviews about how you deal with workplace conflict and how you get along with difficult personalities. If they’re asking about how you deal with difficult customers, that’s one thing. If they basically ask how you handle a toxic work environment, it’s going to be a toxic work environment. I very naively learned this the hard way.
Jerry Mathers 2 years ago
I disagree with this one. Conflict is an inevitable part of dealing with people. Asking how a potential employee handles conflict can tell you things like are they likely to try and resolve it themselves vs running right to a manger, do they involve others, how things went afterwards, and you may also get a feel for how often they are involved in conflict and to what degree do things get escalated. All these are important to try and understand before bringing someone in. Hiring someone who always runs to management or doesn't have the skills to deal with disagreements could be toxic and could turn a tight, well functioning team into a toxic mess.
#13
Morning screaming and chants. Ringing a bell when you hit your quota.
#14
Oh man i feel like my work place is filled with red flags. Like tonight for example, we had a 16 yr old get fired for being drunk while on the job and unable to function. They fired the kid about a month ago, I show up today and that same kid who they fired got his job back and was at work tonight.
It's sad when a place of business is so hard up on finding workers that they will rehire a 16yr old drunk
#15
High turnover. A team with 10% turnover in three years had a few bad employees. A team with 110% turnover in three years is a bad employer.
Lakota Wolf 2 years ago (edited)
Sounds like when I worked in the Vitamins department at a certain farmer's market. I was there 2 1/2 years. While I was there, we went through probably 20+ employees; average time they stayed in the job was a few months. It was all because we had an utterly toxic, narcissistic dept manager (who sported a Karen haircut, outwardly hated other female employees, thought COVID was fake, and kept a kitchen steak knife in the desk drawer to open our load boxes with). I was the only one who was there for over a year. I was mysteriously "let go" after I'd had enough and reported her s**t to HR. From what I hear, she was "out sick" for 8+ weeks recently, but is back to her old shenanigans of chasing off every vitamins employee.
#16
The hiring manager who brought you in quit.
Hypoxia Smurf 2 years ago
Worse: An interview, apparently successful, but the firm files for bankruptcy the next week. Are such new-hires merely more liabilities on a balance sheet?
#17
They’re looking for “rockstars”.
VodkaInMySweetTea 2 years ago
There's a chiropractor in my town that says they're looking for "an individual who can demonstrate amazing multitask abilities (workplace kung-fu) ... self-motivated, hard working, high energy, as well as loves games and rewards for reaching targets." They have had this listing continuously reposted on Indeed for over 2 years, and a sign out front of their building that says *always hiring*. Like that's a positive thing???? They literally can't keep their staff. They also say in ALL CAPS that no masks or vaccines are needed.... but that's a different conversation. Related. But different.
#18
One thing I look for when interviewing onsite is checking out peoples desks as I walk through the halls. If there are no personal effects or decor in workers cubicles, then that makes me think people just hate being there. I think if there are decorations, people are more comfortable and enjoy their job and workspaces and it's likely a more friendly place to work.
Oerff On Tour 2 years ago
Or the opposite is true: they live there! Pictures of their children? They only see them when they finally have a day off
#19
Trainers sleeping with the trainees.
Poor retention of staff.
Wine bottles in the toilet bins.
People constantly phoning in sick.
Companies that outsource majority of staff from agencies, 0 hour contracts are the norm.
Constantly having to speak with HR because of incorrect pay or not paid at all, bonus missing and all that s**t.
Companies not being able to supply all the kit needed for the job, you having to spend own money on kit.
Has a team specifically for beefing up its own reviews online.
An absolute huge team that deals with complaints and all things f****d.
I could go on but that’s kind of the flavour.
#20
Extremely high pay for what is a very simple, low effort job.
Bonus points if they have a sign that says 'Now hiring' outside, year round.
This indicates that even with a high pay rate, they cant keep people on.
#21
“Work hard, play hard” = “You won’t have a life outside the office, but we’ll pump you full of booze!”
#22
Employers acting like they are doing a you a favor and they own you.
Michael Largey 2 years ago
If they act like that in the interview, they are doing you a favor.
#23
If they're plastering "It's so much FUN to work here!", all over the place, RUN. I believe in good workplace morale, but if they have to advertise it, it's not.
#24
If they have a black out period for PTO from November to January 2nd.
Mobey Drunk 2 years ago
I can see this with some jobs. However, if it's a medical/emergency services job. That's what you signed up for. Also, be thankful for those who dedicate themselves to care for us when needed.
#25
Machinists , if the shop is dirty and disorganized, if the coolant is disgusting and stinky, if everyone working there looks pissed off or dead in the eyes, if the person walking you around talks about how smart and important they are. Do not work there
Chucky Cheezburger 2 years ago
This all damn day. If it's nasty and disorganized, they are probably worked like a rented mule trying to meet B.S. deadlines made by some salesperson or manager that wouldn't know an end mill if it was stuck up their butt, much less how to use it.
#26
If there is a staff parking lot and all the cars are older / beater cars besides the management/owners cars.
Shannon Epps 2 years ago
I got hired many many years ago at Red lobster as a server and my first day of work when I was walking in I noticed five cars parked in front of the restaurant that all had all four tires slashed. I later learned that that was the entire management team and a former employee had done it. That should have been my first red flag! First of all why is the management team parking directly in front of the front door those spots should be reserved for customers anybody who works in a restaurant or retail knows that. So that shows you how entitled the management team is. At the end of that first day the chef and prep cook would take two lobsters out of the fish tank take the rubber bands off their claws and take bets on who would win in a fight and then let the lobsters fight. And sometimes they would actually eat the lobsters but sometimes they would just throw them away. I only went back the second day to return my uniform and training book and never went back.
#27
When your supervisor and/or coworkers act like they think you hung the moon and stars by the end of the first month.
In my experience, this behavior just means that 1) they are two-faced backstabbers who talk s**t and spread rumors about you, and/or 2) they have very black-and-white thinking, and you’re handling a time bomb. Meaning if they think you’re an “amazing” person, and you do one little thing they don’t like such as make a mistake or ask them to correct something, they do a hard 180 and decide you deserve their eternal hatred.
#29
This might be controversial, and its probably not universally applicable... but for the sake of something original: Nobody on staff really seem like they are "friends" with one another.
This comes from personal experience with a large portion of my life where I used to job hop a lot. I feel like I could always tell whether the job would be good or not within a few days of starting just by seeing how the staff interact with each other. If your co workers talk a fair amount about non-work related stuff, or have inside jokes or hang out OUTSIDE of work hours, those are all generally super good indicators of a really solid and happy workplace culture.
Every job I have ever had where the workers only discussed work and didn't seem to have any interest in a more casual work relationship all ended up being miserable jobs by the end of my time there.
There truly is a "vibe" to a workplace... It doesn't take long to pick up on. I have had really tough jobs (for example, being a dockhand) that were incredibly fun and fulfilling, as well as jobs that should have been incredibly fun (like a rock climbing instructor) become the complete opposite purely off the vibes of the team.
Mark Fergel 2 years ago
Nah. I have no real interest in being friends with coworkers. I have my own group of friends. I don't need work people knowing a lot of personal stuff about me. There might be a couple people I chat with about outside stuff but that's it.
#30
There are some very very new workers and a group that has been there from the start,youre going to be treated like s**t by the latter.
What do you think ?
Kate Jones 2 years ago
I would add to this to look at the rent for apartments in the 5-10 mile radius you're required to work at. If the rent required is 3300 a month on average and they pay you 15 an hour, they don't pay you enough to live reasonably and they probably don't care and will never pay you well. They know there's no way you can afford to live in NY, Boston, etc. with the 15 bucks an hour they pay. There's no point in working somewhere that far away if you're talking 60-80 bucks a week to fill your tank twice plus upkeep.
Nolan Wolhart 2 years ago
Not saying these are not good reasons to not take a job. But if you fallow all of these it covers ever job everywhere. So if you are not willing to put up with some of this at least in varying degrees you probably won't work anywhere. And yes that would make me happy but turns out you need money so live so...
LucyGoosey 2 years ago
Not true. There are good jobs and good employers out there who don't follow this kind of stuff. How do I know that? I found one myself after job hopping since I entered the work force at 18. I'm 23 now and in the trucking industry with a company that actually cares about safety and respect. I got here because I didn't put up with s**t. Yeah, it was a struggle, but I know my worth, and I know that I deserve to be treated with respect and earn what I've worked for. If you're saying that this advice shouldn't be followed - you've given up and resigned to misery. Get your head up and out of the clouds and see the sun, it's possible to have a good job. You just gotta keep going.
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Tabitha Nanney 2 years ago
I had a boss that required woman to wear full make-up. They said it was equal to require men maintain their beards.
Kate Jones 2 years ago (edited)
Ugh no. And I feel like that should be illegal or something. I was watching The Good Wife the other day and there was an episode where one of the male judge was forcing the female lawyers to wear skirts in 'his courtroom'. I know it's just a tv show but I was infuriated anyway, lol. That stuff still happens.
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Kate Jones 2 years ago
I would add to this to look at the rent for apartments in the 5-10 mile radius you're required to work at. If the rent required is 3300 a month on average and they pay you 15 an hour, they don't pay you enough to live reasonably and they probably don't care and will never pay you well. They know there's no way you can afford to live in NY, Boston, etc. with the 15 bucks an hour they pay. There's no point in working somewhere that far away if you're talking 60-80 bucks a week to fill your tank twice plus upkeep.
Nolan Wolhart 2 years ago
Not saying these are not good reasons to not take a job. But if you fallow all of these it covers ever job everywhere. So if you are not willing to put up with some of this at least in varying degrees you probably won't work anywhere. And yes that would make me happy but turns out you need money so live so...
LucyGoosey 2 years ago
Not true. There are good jobs and good employers out there who don't follow this kind of stuff. How do I know that? I found one myself after job hopping since I entered the work force at 18. I'm 23 now and in the trucking industry with a company that actually cares about safety and respect. I got here because I didn't put up with s**t. Yeah, it was a struggle, but I know my worth, and I know that I deserve to be treated with respect and earn what I've worked for. If you're saying that this advice shouldn't be followed - you've given up and resigned to misery. Get your head up and out of the clouds and see the sun, it's possible to have a good job. You just gotta keep going.
Load More Replies... Tabitha Nanney 2 years ago
I had a boss that required woman to wear full make-up. They said it was equal to require men maintain their beards.
Kate Jones 2 years ago (edited)
Ugh no. And I feel like that should be illegal or something. I was watching The Good Wife the other day and there was an episode where one of the male judge was forcing the female lawyers to wear skirts in 'his courtroom'. I know it's just a tv show but I was infuriated anyway, lol. That stuff still happens.
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