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We all have different definitions of a bad day at work. For a chef, it could be finding your trusty knife bent to the point of inutility. For a hardware store employee, it could be spilling 12 buckets of paint all over aisle five. For a building security guard, it could be getting stuck in an elevator in the wee hours with no one to call for help.

Whatever the case may be, we’ve been there. Fortunately, the internet gives people a platform to share their workplace woes through online groups. We’ve compiled some of the most relatable posts into this list just for you.

If you’re at work, take a break and enjoy scrolling. And if you’re having a bad day, don’t worry. We feel you. Hopefully, this can lift your spirits even just a tad bit.

#1 Scene Outside My Apartment Today. A Crane Was Holding A Big Crate Of Paint. Then It Wasn’t

Image credits: skhadem

#2 5000 Litres Of Spilt Ink

Image credits: tandyman234

#3 That’s Tough

Image credits: Anchondo45B_L

We’re all wired differently. Some people have a much more difficult time recovering from an unpleasant workday.

If you’re one of them, author and academic Dr. Caitlin Demsky advises detaching yourself from the negative energy by relaxing after work. It could be doing yoga, listening to music, or watching a movie, as long as it helps you sleep better.

“Those who can take mental breaks from this fare better and do not lose as much sleep as those who are less capable of letting go,” Dr. Demsky said in an interview with Inc.

#4 Looks Like Someone Forgot To Put On The Parking Break

Image credits: No_Insurance6599

#5 My Classroom After A Preschool Tantrum. 3.5-Year-Olds. The Parents Insist The Child’s Behavior Is Not The Problem

Image credits: Luka-the-Pooka

#6 Customer Left A S**ty Tip, Quite Literally

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However, some days are heavier than others. They could be taxing enough to break you down emotionally. If you’re pushed to the brink, New York-based psychologist Dr. Junhong Cao advises allowing yourself to feel your emotions.

In an article for her website, Dr. Cao encourages catharsis through a sad song, a heart-wrenching film, or journaling. If you need to cry it out, go for it.

#7 I’m Stuck In An Elevator, And I’m The Only One In The Building. I Work Security So There’s No One Else Here

Bonus, the emergency phone in here doesn't work. Double bonus, this isn't the first time it's happened.

Image credits: saintjimmy64

#8 Company Enforced Monthly 2-Hour Drive In To The Office To Improve Collaborative Working

Image credits: Let_it_stew_forabit

#9 Decided Today I Was Going To Take A Different Route In The Construction Zone To Get To Work

Image credits: Countdankula19

Self-care isn’t selfish, and even the American Heart Association says so. Dr. Cao says it is most important during stressful times, like when you’re having an awful day at the office. Exercising after work could be a way to decompress and relax.

For downtime, Dr. Cao urges focusing on interests. Take a break from social media and engage in your favorite hobbies, such as painting or playing an instrument.

#10 Just Happened To Be Right Behind The Wreck

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#11 Crane Tipped Over Onto A Mostly Completed School

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#12 It Was Pajama Day At Work. Guess Who Was The Only One Who Participated?

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Work-life balance is essential for longevity and sanity. Dr. Cao recognizes that it can be intimidating for some to exert that right, but you can start with small steps each day.

Some excellent examples include limiting screen time, logging out from your work platform after a specific time each day, and avoiding checking emails on weekends. But this is probably the most important tip from Dr. Cao: “Saying ‘no’ more often and not people-pleasing as much.”

#13 Wife Was Surprised Coming Back From Her Break At Work

Image credits: ChronicMoto

#14 Apparently Our Delivery People Don’t Know How To Stack Boxes Without Them Falling Over

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#15 I Caught Hand, Foot And Mouth Disease At My Job As A Daycare Teacher

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Work-life balance can also mean drawing a line between the two and keeping them apart. Bringing home your stressors won’t do you any good, and Dr. Cao advises making a conscious decision to “leave work brain at work.”

According to her, even simple acts like washing your hands or changing clothes before leaving can help reset your mind before heading home to your family.

“Remind yourself that you work to live, not live to work,” she said.

#16 Made These For Work On My Birthday, Nobody Really Ate Them

Image credits: Luu-69

#17 That’s Why I Window Share, Not Full-Screen Share

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#18 I’m The Only Person In My Entire Office Of 30 People Who Dressed Up Today, And I’m In A Full-Body Banana Suit

Image credits: Srob87

We’d like to hear from you now. What do you do after a forgettable day at work? How do you unwind and prepare for another day of the same grind? Let us know in the comments!

#19 The Businesses In My Shopping Center Decided That The Recycling Chute (Two Units Down) Was Too Far To Walk. That Door Is My Store

Image credits: reddit.com

#20 Customer Ordered All This Food On Uber Eats And Canceled The Order The Moment I Finished Making Everything

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#21 Glasses Broke On The Way To Work

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#22 My New Desk At Work

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#23 Right Before Closing, A Customer Came In And Got $60 In Diesel For Their Truck. Now I Get To Count And Roll These Bad Boys. He Was Also $3 Short

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#24 Thought I Would Get A Nice Base Tan Helping Out At My Customer’s Farm For A Couple Hours

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#25 You Had 1 Job! My Boss’s Name Is Brian

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#26 My Old Office Once Held A Birthday Party For Me And Served Pork Tacos, I’m Muslim

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#27 In Chicago For Work, Paying $65 A Night For Parking, Wake Up Ready To Go To Work, All My Equipment Is Gone

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#28 Contractor Fell Through My Sister’s Ceiling

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#29 I Brought Muffins To Work Because Of My Birthday, And 5 Minutes Later They Told Me I Was Being Fired Because Of Budget Cuts

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#30 First Day Back From Maternity Leave. They Gave Away My Office And Left My Stuff Boxed Up In A Broken Cubicle

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#31 Kids Trash Thrift Shop’s Toy Section, Parents Don’t Care

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#32 Came Out On My Break To This

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#33 Orientation For My New Job Is Today, And My Eye Decides To Look Like This When I Wake Up

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#34 Our Work Christmas Bonus

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#35 My Chair At Work

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#36 I Let Someone Borrow My Knife At Work, This Is How They Gave It Back To Me

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#37 There’s A Massive Hole In My Pants And I Only Noticed An Hour Ago. No One Said Anything To Me

I have a puppy who is almost a year old. My adorable, tiny turd loves chewing on clothes. Shirts, pants, underwear. She doesn’t care; she will eat it.
I lost a pair of black pants to the destroyer of clothing a few days ago, and I thought I threw them out (the pants, not the dog.)
I now realize, with horror, that I put the wrong ones in the discard pile. Meaning, I wore the ones with a huge hole in the bottom. To work. With people. Lots of people. I dropped a couple of things and had to pick them up.

Image credits: stalkerofthedead

#38 My Boss At Work Plays The Same Playlist Every Day For The Past 6 Years. I Feel Like I’m In My Own Personal Purgatory

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#39 New 0.05-Ply Toilet Paper At Work. Might As Well Use Your Hand

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#40 Construction Trapped Us In The Office. This Is Our Only Door

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#41 My Monday Morning Office Greeting. I Got This When I Was 9… 33 Years Ago. RIP Kevin Mitchell

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#42 Boss Says The Office Has No Roaches

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#43 The Landlord Refloored The Lobby In Front Of My Wife’s Restaurant And Now She Can’t Open The Front Door

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#44 Some Jerk Keeps Eating My Food At Work. This Is The Third Time Now, They Eat It Even Out Of My Own Containers. I Have No Idea What To Do Anymore The Manager Won’t Do Anything About It

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#45 They Scheduled A Retirement Dinner For 1:00 Today. Almost Everyone In The Warehouse Leaves At 11:30 On Fridays

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#46 Ever Made A $100,000 Mistake?

I was recently moved to shipping for an ink-making company. While unloading a dark trailer, I punctured a 2000-pound tote of water-based ink; the entire thing emptied in seconds. The whole trailer, dock door, and outside were turned blue. Even though it's water-based, it still had water pollutants in it, so the EPA had to be called in due to it getting into the sewer. The specialty company that was called in to clean up has spent the last 3 weeks digging up the sewer and surrounding ground that had been contaminated. A few days of heavy rain haven't helped the cleanup at all. Needless to say, I had a nervous breakdown and missed 2 days of work. I got a call asking if I was quitting, which would possibly lead to criminal charges (don't know if that's possible, but I know I can fire back for not having dock lights and fork trucks with dim headlights). Being close to 3 weeks out, I can finally think back and laugh at this situation.

Image credits: M0NG00SY

#47 Someone Stole The AC Unit From Where I Work

We still have one for the other half of the store, but… why?

Image credits: reddit.com

#48 Can’t Get To Work

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#49 A Car Drove Into The Store I Work At Today

Driver and workers on-site are okay. The police chief said to my coworker that she mistook her gas for her break. We have a sidewalk and an incline to the building. We all think she could've used something spicier (common for the area; we see it every day.)

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#50 So This Is How I Learned My Work Calendar Wasn’t Private

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#51 I Was On My Way To Work

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#52 I Keep A Pack Of Gum On My Cubicle At Work. Tried To Grab A Piece And I Discover This… I Hate My Coworkers

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#53 Ice Truck Making A Delivery To A Local Dock Decided That Even The Ice Needed To Cool Off

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#54 Won What I Thought Was A VR Headset At My Company’s Christmas Party

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#55 Gambling With Pasta

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#56 I Got A King Size Payday For Christmas Bonus

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#57 First Day Back To The Office From Vacation. I Have A New Employee Starting. It’s -9°F Out, So I Pulled Out A Pair Of Boots I Hadn’t Worn In A Long Time

They disintegrated on the walk from the train station to the office, and I had to introduce myself wearing them.

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#58 My Pizza Hut Was The Target Of Prank Orders Today. All Of This Food Now Has To Be Thrown Out

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#59 I Have A Meeting At Congress And No One Showed Up

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#60 Got Dressed In The Dark Yesterday And Arrived At Work Wearing Two Different Shoes

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#61 A Customer With Her Child Spilled Goo On This 60-Dollar Children’s Recliner. She Didn’t Even Apologize

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#62 I Got Up At 5:30 AM To Dress Up For “Whoville Day” At Work, Only To Find Out I Was The Only One Who Dressed Up. I’m Embarrassed Now

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#63 I Work In A Minimum-Wage Grocery Store. The Fire Exit Has Been Blocked Like This For Months, And My Boss Threatened To Fire Me After He Saw Me Taking This Photo

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#64 This Wins The Internet

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#65 Boss Gave Me The Keys. None Of Which Are Labeled

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#66 Got Off Work To No Road Home

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#67 My Boss Thinks It’s A Great Idea To Randomly Pull The Fridge Plug To Save Energy

At first it was only on the weekends, now it’s just randomly. You don’t even save any energy by turning the fridge on and off, also this makes just the perfect environment for bacteria and mold to grow.

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#68 This Is How The Shipment Arrived At Work Today

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#69 Everything My 500$ Work Allowance For The Year Got Me

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#70 I Gave A Coworker My Screwdriver (Not The Work’s) To Use For Literally A Day, And This Is How It Came Back

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#71 Came In To Work This Morning, Only To Find That Someone Lit Our Toilet On Fire And Left Graffiti On The Walls

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#72 Accidentally Left My Coffee Pot On In My Office Over The Weekend

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#73 We Have A Bulk Ice Flake Machine At My Work And Last Night’s Shift Forgot To Turn It Off, This Is What Happened Because Of Running It All Night

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#74 My Trainee After He Says He Can Work Fast On Night Shift. We Still Have Many Things To Do. I Can’t Wake Him Up, He Got Coma Type Of Sleep

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#75 Guess We Can’t Put On Christmas Movies At Work Anymore

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#76 I Had To Take A Leave On The First Day Of My First Ever Job

One day before my first day of training at the company, this allergic reaction happened because of God knows what. I still don't know what caused this.