It’s pretty interesting when you get out into “the real world” and you see how different companies operate.

Heck, I even thought it was eye-opening when I started working in high school and learned about how some businesses function…and it wasn’t always pretty.

And, let’s be honest: in the corporate world, there’s a lot of sucking up and kissing up going on.

The person who wrote this story got their first adult job recently and they’re pretty shocked at what they’ve seen so far.

Read on and check out what they had to say about this.

First real job and the brown nosing culture is insane, is this normal?

“I’ve been working at my first “real” job for about 6 months now.

It’s a small-ish company (around 50 employees), in-person. Before this I only did an internship, so this is my first time seeing office culture up close.

It’s not pretty out there…

What’s blowing my mind is how intense the brown-nosing is towards the bosses. I knew this kind of thing existed in theory, but seeing it daily is another level.

I’ve seen this kind of behavior from multiple coworkers (not just one person), but here are some of the most extreme examples:

Every single day, they go to the CEO’s office door at the end of the day just to knock and say good night. They’re literally the only person who does this, and it’s every day.

This is kind of hilarious.

They got the exact same haircut as one of the female managers.

In the team WhatsApp group, they agree with and laugh at everything one of the bosses says, even when it’s not funny at all.

They adopted a cat just because one of the bosses adopted a cat. They don’t even like animals that much.

Good lord, this is dumb.

They started going to a super expensive gym just because the bosses train there, bought a Whoop because our manager bought one, and even started smoking just to join him on smoke breaks.

They even came to work on a public holiday. Like, actually showed up at the office on a holiday.

And there are more little things I’ve seen but can’t even remember all of them right now.

Meanwhile I’m just here doing my job, being polite and professional, but not trying to become the bosses’ best friend or copy their lifestyle. Watching this stuff every day makes me feel like I’m in some weird simulation.

What’s the point?

Is this kind of brown-nosing actually common/normal?

Does this actually work long-term in terms of promotions, or is it just cringe?

I’m genuinely curious about your most absurd brown-nosing / bootlicking stories.

Make me feel less alone, please.”

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a team that agreed to work overtime, but then not everyone showed up, leaving the rest holding the bag.

Reddit users shared their thoughts.

This person weighed in.

Another individual shared their thoughts.

This Reddit user spoke up.

Another Reddit user shared their thoughts.

And this person had a lot to say.

As annoying as it can be to see how places like this operate, the best thing to do is work hard, keep your head down, and not get involved in any kind of office politics.

Well, that’s my advice, at least…

But that’s just me! To each their own!

Brown-nosing is alive and well in the workplace, friends!

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who stops speaking up in his Zoom meetings after getting constantly interrupted.