Workplace Woes: 35+ Hilarious Memes That Aptly Describe The Daily Grind

Some people are in a position to like their work (the lucky few). Or, at the very least, they are okay with working more than 40 hours per week. You see, working in an office can frequently be quite frustrating. Not everyone can put up with the petty drama, awful coworkers, autocratic superiors, and constant annoying murmurs around the water cooler.

Therefore, we have the perfect gift to make your day brighter if you’re feeling low as a result of being stressed out, underpaid, and underappreciated at your workplace courtesy of ‘Underpaid Employee.’ This is an Instagram page devoted to dissing the hardship of being compelled to work our lives away.

We have gathered some of the best memes and jokes from this account that we are sure most of you will relate to. So, take that well-deserved break and scroll down for some laughs.

Talk about dedication to work!

The first thing we did after seeing this meme was googling how much a broadcast camera weighs. A modern Sony equivalent (HDC-5500 4K/HD) weighs around 11 pounds. And since this is an older version, we can only assume it’s heavier. Maybe about 15 pounds.

So if this cameraman can run at the same pace as these professional athletes, wearing clothes that are in no way suitable for running while stabilizing with one hand a costly broadcast camera that also weighs around 15 pounds, he deserves a massive raise! Or at least a career change!

The inescapable truth

Now this is something nearly all of us can relate to or have experienced at least once. The only prerequisite is that you must have worked at one place for at least two years. One year won’t count and with good reason.

In any company, the first year often makes you feel like you made a very good decision career-wise. Everything seems to go your way. Unfortunately, after your first year, you usually start to see the reality as the rose-colored glasses wear off, leading to this.

Wisdom

Chris Rock is obviously making a joke here, but like most of his jokes, he is also telling the truth. Try to gather as many credentials as you possibly can pertaining to your career path. These will come in handy when you decide to seek greener pastures.

All those credentials, and the work experience you have racked with your current job, will be an essential asset to you later in life. But if you have done the same thing for a long time with no plans, God help you!

It could have been worse!

The possibility of something like this happening after a mid-week night of partying is relatively high. You come home feeling pretty buzzed and happy. But there’s the lingering feeling that you will oversleep though you must be at the office tomorrow.

So, you decide to set an alarm. Sadly for you, in your inebriated state, you open the calculator and type in the numbers instead! But because you’re one of God’s favorites, you wake up fifteen minutes before 8 AM which gives you just enough time to dress and wash your face.

Be careful when you party!

One of the worst feelings in the world is having to go to your workplace after having next to no sleep. If it’s a weekday, and you were out partying with friends, it’s understandable. But what if it was a Sunday night?

Can you even comprehend the ramifications of going to work on a Monday morning with only 2 hours of sleep? It would take half the week for you to feel right. Just like this banged-up car, no amount of coffee can fix that!

Yawn to locate any lapse in attention

As you know, yawning is contagious if you happen to see someone yawning. It’s also an excellent way to determine if someone is looking at you. If they are watching you, if you yawn, they will yawn too. It’s all because of a thing called social mirroring.

Because of the pandemic, workplace norms have changed pretty drastically. Thanks to the rise of the work-from-home culture, everyone turned to Zoom or Microsoft Teams for meetings. And now you have a clever way to see if people are paying attention in a Zoom meeting!

This relates to us on a spiritual level

This meme is closely related to that ‘grumpy grandpa’ situation we covered previously. In a way, we veterans feel really bad for the new interns who come in all fresh-faced, psyched, and hopeful with so many dreams about their future.

After working in the company for a couple of years, you are perfectly aware of how numbing corporate culture can be. This places people in a dilemma, though. Should you tell these newly-minted colleagues the truth and burst their bubble, or let them figure it out on their own?

If only they would meet!

Parallel lines never meet. That’s basic geometry. But when expressed like this, it hits us like a brick wall. Because what you see here is a sad truth many of us know too well. These two lines should be perpendicular to each other and form a graph.

The graph should then show a direct correlation between an increased salary and the subsequent happiness that follows. Sure, it could also mean increased responsibilities and more time spent at work, but at least you’ll have more money. If you manage your finances well, this could mean early retirement!

Voice your opinions!

This is a huge red flag in any workplace. Come to think of it, in any situation in life, for that matter. Your opinion should matter. Unless there is a good rational reason, there is no way your opinion doesn’t matter.

If that’s the case, and you can find a better place elsewhere that gives you a chance to voice your opinion, then go for it. You are paid for your work, yes. But that does not mean your freedoms and input should be restricted.

Improvise, adapt, overcome

With the current fluctuations in the global economy, we have no option but to let go of small luxuries that were once readily available to us. If you want to survive today’s exceedingly high cost of living, you must sacrifice.

This is in no way sushi, but if it does the job, that is what matters. Plus, you could always save money and visit a high-end sushi place as a treat every three or four months. The wait makes the experience worthwhile.

Keep it real and achievable

It would certainly be best for all parties involved that a risk assessment is done before promises like these are made. If you are the team leader, this will give you an idea of what you can do for your team. Don’t promise big if you can’t deliver.

Plan accordingly and give the team something realistic. It would be so disappointing to get all hyped about something as grand as the Eiffel Tower, only to get a simply wannabe tower instead. Take care of your employees, and they will take care of you.

That’s what’s up, doc

Bugs Bunny perfectly encapsulates how daunting the task of getting up early for work can be. But doing the same thing on the weekend when you have no backlog and two entire days at your disposal is almost effortless! We can’t understand it!

A four-day workweek is what we all need in our lives right now. Three whole days to rest and rejuvenate so that you can actually get up early on a work day without feeling completely miserable. That would be fantastic.

At least he’s honest.

Well, at least the boss in this scenario is honest. We think it was a very good idea to use Kevin Spacey’s portrayal of an absolutely evil boss in the movie Horrible Bosses in this meme. We can actually picture the conversation in the meme happening here.

Well, the decent thing to do when you’re making good money thanks to your employees is to at least offer them a decent salary so they have a chance of surviving this economy. A Ferrari is nice, but there are many other things that would make a person happy.

It’s like that sometimes

Replying to emails can be a real chore, most of the time. Mainly because you are forced to be polite at the expense of your sanity when your co-worker, supplier, or client is being a total pain. Sarcasm is usually your best friend at times like these.

Also, the desire to scroll through social media becomes irresistible when you are faced with the chore of replying to office emails. But if your colleagues catch you online while they are waiting for a response, that will lead to some exciting office drama!

Modern problems require modern solutions

This meme reminds us of that popular Asian folktale where a monkey wanted to eat some roasted nuts, so he put them in the fireplace for them to get roasted. Sadly, he had no way of picking the nuts because they were so hot.

So, what it did was use the paw of the cat sleeping nearby to take the roasted nuts out. The poor cat burned its paw, but the monkey got what it wanted. Basically, this coworker used the other one to test the waters. Brutal!

Things should go both ways

We firmly believe employees have the right to say no, especially when it comes to working over the weekend. That’s sacrificing the only two days you can rest in this rat race called a career! Employers should be able to compromise.

The boss should be willing to offer one day as a holiday if the employee is willing to waive their weekend for the sake of the company. That way, both parties get what they want in the end. Try negotiating next time.

Oh no! Not the excuses drawer!

If coming up with excuses was an Olympic event, we, as employees, would nominate our bosses for the event in a heartbeat! But this privilege is limited to employees who are honest and actually go the extra mile at work.

If you put in the work, you deserve to be compensated. But if that’s not the case, then the only thing your boss is doing is tolerating you. That’s why appraisals are important. If your work has no impact, that doesn’t bode well for you.

In need of motivation

Now that’s a good joke, thanks to the clever use of the Nike slogan. It actually makes you think. Do you own Nike sneakers that you often wear to work? If so, would you confidently say you are an employee who delivers on all their expectations?

We understand that some workplaces are not stimulating enough for you to be motivated. If that sounds like something you relate to, trust us, you are not alone. Maybe all you need is a pair of shiny new Nikes to get you started! Well, if they pay you enough to afford them!

Haha! Gotcha!

Now as far as dad jokes go, this is one we’re sure would qualify for the hall-of-fame. This is one way to land a job we’re sure no one else thought of. Maybe they used the “hide the pain, Harold” meme because it’s a dad joke?

Dad jokes are known to elicit groans and eye-rolls, so that could be the case. In reality, though, do not try to use a joke like this during an interview. The chances of it going in your favor are extremely slim.

This is the norm now

This is the reality of our work lives now. Quarantine sure turned culture upside down. Those who managed to adapt at a moment’s notice survived the hardships brought on by the changes. But those who couldn’t had to admit defeat.

The work-from-home culture brought about a boom that video conferencing apps were actually not looking for. Some of these apps became popular to the point that their names became nouns and verbs! The resulting consequences are clearly shown in this meme.

That’s the way it is…

Ahh! The bliss of being able to finish your emails on time on a Friday! If you manage your time well, it means you can go home early for a change and enjoy the sweet weekend you have undoubtedly earned.

Unfortunately, that’s not always the case, and most of us know it. We actually smell trouble brewing if everything seems to go our way. All of a sudden, when only fifteen minutes of your work week are remaining, you get seven new emails that you have to attend to urgently.

Don’t be a brown nose!

That’s the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Nearly every single job that mankind has created for its progression requires team effort. So don’t be a brown nose. Be a team player and work towards the goal together.

Can you imagine how insecure a person has to be with themselves and everyone around them to be snitching on them? It can be justified if the person is informing the higher-ups about some illegal activity but doing so out of spite and personal gain? Despicable!

Clowning around

Well, you can laugh at this all you want. It is funny; we are not going to deny that fact. But we think this reality should change for the betterment of both sides. Just because the employees don’t do everything exactly how and when you say it doesn’t mean they’re clowns.

This perspective should and must be changed; that’s our personal belief. Unless the employers can put themselves in the abnormally large clown shoes of their employees and see things from their perspective also, everyone will look like a clown to the other.

Bugs knows what’s up

This meme places things into a very clear perspective and puts us in a position where we can’t figure out whether to laugh or cry. Student loans, mortgages, taxes, and other deductions have the ordinary worker in a vice grip.

When you factor in the insane cost of living and rent in certain metropolitan areas, you barely have anything left for yourself after payday. You can hardly set something aside for your essential needs, let alone savings. All we can do is hang in there and hustle harder.

If only…

There is no lie in the statement that money would be the solution to almost everyone’s problems. If you know how to manage your finances properly and have common sense, even a few million dollars can render you stable for the rest of your life.

But unfortunately, not many of us achieve millionaire or billionaire status. Ordinary citizens, even after working all their productive life, barely make a ripple in the pool. Which is why so many of us work so hard towards making our first million. Or billion in this guy’s dad’s case.

Always have a contingency

It is really important to have someone you know and trust who has your back at all times. When a friend you hold dear decides to take the same risk and quit out of solidarity, the feeling can’t be adequately put into words.

But in these dangerous times we live in, ensure you have another job offer in hand before you quit. Staying at home and burning through your savings isn’t a pleasant experience. You and your friend could be jumping up in joy today and homeless on the street tomorrow.

Make use of the words at hand

Aww, now who doesn’t love “Grogu?” He is the cutest thing to have happened to Star Wars in decades. If we were to start expressing our love and admiration for Grogu, we would be doing it till the cows come home. So, let’s not.

There are so many words in the English language, but most of us still use the same vocabulary in our correspondence. You don’t have to use overly Victorian words to sound smart. Just use words like “furthermore,” which will easily do the trick!

Well, that’s not good

Here is another relic from 2020. We remember quite vividly getting stopped before any and all entryways and having our body temperature checked by infrared thermometers that looked like radar guns. These things sold like lemonade in the middle of a sunny day!

But what the person in this cartoon tested positive for was something entirely different. An affliction most of us have been living with for years without any sign of a cure or vaccine in sight. But we still have hope.

Change must come soon

If you have never experienced this, consider yourself one of God’s luckiest children. You often get so tired at work to the point that you literally pass out on the couch whenever you have a day off, which is sad because days off are supposed to be enjoyed doing things that bring you joy.

That is the whole point of having a day off. Yes, you should rest and recuperate, but that doesn’t mean sleeping the entire day and waking up the next day feeling even worse because you didn’t do all the things you’d hoped to do.

Play on words

How many times do we have to ask the same thing of our employers? Words don’t mean a thing if you can’t back them up with a much-needed raise! But no! It’s always the same thing. “We have not been doing well for the past two quarters, but definitely next year.”

And that stops there. Maybe there will be a pizza party if they want to do something different. But no monetary incentive will ever be presented. The sad thing is that this kind of behavior slowly kills your morale, which in the end, affects your productivity.

Boss makes a dollar, I make a dime…

Well, it is not every day that you get some sort of retribution against your boss. Provided that you have a terrible boss, that is. If you happen to have a decent human being for a boss, you wouldn’t do this to them.

The joy of seeing your boss get what has been coming to them for a long time from a client they can’t afford to lose can make any disgruntled employee’s day. So, make sure to treat your employees as human beings.

Where there’s a will…

If you have ever been in a place where you really need a job and are willing to pull a sneaky so you can land it, then this meme is for you. Most jobs usually have ridiculous requirements and experience levels that only an elf could manage (because they live longer).

With the effects of the pandemic, most leading countries in the world are facing shortages in labor. So if there was a way to offer training on the job for vocations involving manual work, they should be done. But sadly, that isn’t the reality for most jobs.

They are called comfort food for a reason

People who know that food can really provide comfort cherish that. In a way, all that savoring, biting, chewing, and swallowing can temporarily take your mind away from the unavoidable stress brought on by your workload. As harmful as it is, sometimes stree-eating works to make a hard day a bit easier.

That said, too much of anything can be bad. But there is a way you can turn this in your favor. Stick to a diet of fruits and fiber-rich snacks with one cheat day. Sounds like a drag, but it is the healthy option!

Goodbye 20/20 vision

This kind of squinting can be caused by staring at a computer screen for an extended period of time. Those who do not have to strain their eyes like this and have good eyesight should really treasure what they have. So, eat your carrots and practice the 20-20-20 rule.

Add sleep deprivation and a huge workload to the list, and you would not be able to recognize your closest friends even in close proximity. So, try to take care of your eyes lest you lose those closest to you because of that job!

Oh no, you don’t!

We feel like we are in a very precarious place when it comes to this meme. The existence of the colon should mean a connection or a similarity in the sentences on either side of this statement. That said, we still doubt we understand the intended message fully.

This definitely seems like something the virus would say if it was sentient. It would say this to lure people out so more could get infected. Guess the people at BBC News have a thing for dark humor, and we love to see it!

Thank God for that!

This is a common problem that nearly all of us are facing now or will be facing in the future. The more you engage with social media and the world wide web in general, the more you need to rely on passwords for security.

God forbid you forget one crucial work password. That would mean wasting time resetting the password, and God help you if you have forgotten two-factor authentication! This meme highlights the lack of privacy in a corporate setting and the importance of IT guys in our lives. Long live tech bros!

No matter how tempting it is, don’t!

If you have ever experienced the difficulty of getting back in rhythm after a long holiday, you know how easy it is for this to happen. The same applies when you pull a long string of all-nighters and have to wake up early again.

The reason why it’s not safe to sleep after snoozing your alarm is because the moment you wake up, snooze and go back for that “five minutes of sleep,” you start anew a new sleep cycle. This means you will end up oversleeping and missing work!

Oy vey!

This meme ought to be a new saying! When a person is doing something absolutely pointless in the hopes of receiving praise, it should be said that it’s like “giving your car a wash when it’s raining.” It’s simple and self-explanatory.

It’s sad, but sometimes it is the reality, especially when it comes to interns. The chores these poor young employees are given are borderline inhumane when you consider the fact that they are not paid for the work they do.

Everything is important

Do most people even pay attention during those tedious morning meetings? Unless you are well rested, you are bound to fall asleep during these meetings. Keeping your eyes open can be a chore, especially if you get a comfortable seat in the meeting room.

With all those obstacles present, can you even imagine being in the right state of mind to copy what the higher management is saying? So, naturally, you end up doing a thing like this. So maybe schedule the meetings accordingly so this doesn’t happen?

Paying for a bag of air

There is a reason why a bag of chips has that much air in it. It is done so as to keep the chips fresh and crispy. But is it really necessary to fill nearly three-fourths of the bag with an inert gas?

Well, if you are after profits, none of that matters. That’s what’s highlighted in this hilarious meme. To land a job at a place like this, you have to have a capitalistic view. The ‘glass half empty’ perspective won’t cut it here.

Happy, happy, happy!!!

Not every moment in life is a happy one. No one gets to live a perfect life on God’s green earth. That’s the way things have been, and you can be assured they will stay that way. That said, you shouldn’t give up on trying to be happy.

All you need to do is compare where you are at the moment with where you were some time ago. Now this won’t make you smile all the time, but if the setting is right, like in this meme, it can end up making you happy!

This isn’t what we asked for!

If you have had a manipulative boss in your life, you would know how relatable this meme is. We remember working under this one employer who would regale us with his hardships the moment we decided to ask for a raise or leave.

Just because he can’t cope with the workload because he was born rich and never had to work a day in his life doesn’t mean that we should end up suffering. So be very careful about what you ask your boss if he’s not the caring and empathetic type.

What to make of a deadline?

This is why you should always plan ahead when it comes to deadlines. No project on this Earth comes without a deadline. If they didn’t have deadlines, what are the odds of a project ever getting done? In a way, a deadline offers motivation.

It is up to you to decide what kind of motivation you need to meet a deadline. And the worst part is, most of the time, especially if you are a champion procrastinator, you always feel like you have all the time in the world. Until the day before!

Oh no! Not this!

Now we can all attest to the fact that we have been at the receiving end of this farce! Can you even imagine working in a way that tips the work-life balance towards the negative and not being compensated adequately?

We already feel triggered! Reminds us of that one employee who was given a pizza party after almost three decades of service. Is profit all employers can think about so much so that basic human decency is out the window?

What in tarnation?

Well, this will end up being the case if you are forced to focus on quantity over quality. This road is a mess, and can you even imagine the level of work that has gone into making this? Makes our heads hurt!

Not even the Road Runner would take this road for fear that it could be the one road that finally enables Wile E. Coyote to catch her! That said, we actually understand the relief that comes with finishing a task. But trust us, it’s more fulfilling when you do things right.