Ask a bright-eyed HR professional fresh out of their graduate program why they chose this path, and you’ll likely hear some variation of the same heartfelt declaration: “I love people! I want to help them thrive!” Their eyes sparkle with possibility. They speak of organizational culture and employee engagement with the enthusiasm of someone who hasn’t yet received an email with the subject line “URGENT: Someone microwaved fish in the break room AGAIN and now there’s a petition.”

Ask that same professional five, ten, or twenty years later, and you might get a weary chuckle, a knowing look, and something closer to the truth: “I solve problems so people can tolerate each other for at least forty hours a week.” Somewhere between idealism and reality, the rose-colored glasses didn’t just come off, they were accidentally left in a conference room, sat on during a termination meeting, and never quite fit the same way again.

But here’s a secret that took me two decades in this gloriously bizarre profession to fully understand: the term “Human Resources” has been misunderstood from the start.

People hear “Human Resources” and assume it means people are the resources, widgets to be managed, assets to be allocated, inventory to be optimized. But that’s not quite right, is it? People aren’t resources. People have resources: talent, creativity, resilience, that uncanny ability to remember everyone’s birthday but forget to submit their timesheets. As someone who has spent over twenty years in this field, I’ve come to realize that the term means something else entirely. I am the resource that other humans rely on for answers. I am the person they find when they don’t know where else to turn, when the situation is too awkward for their manager, too complicated for their handbook, or too human for a policy.

You may have seen those decorative signs. You know the ones that describe Human Resources in the style of a dictionary entry:

Human Resources (noun): The unofficial lawyer, psychologist, event planner, detective, mediator, referee, and occasionally magician, rolled into one exhausted but caffeinated professional.

We laugh at these signs. We buy them for each other as gifts. We hang them in our offices as both badge of honor and warning label. But here’s the thing about humor: it’s only funny because it’s devastatingly accurate. Each day in HR is genuinely unpredictable. One moment you’re helping plan the summer employee event, the next you’re unraveling a harassment claim, and by lunch you’re explaining to a senior executive why, no, you cannot legally ask an employee to donate their kidney to the company softball team “for morale.”

The emotional plot twists come fast and frequently. Some days you navigate raging rapids such as discrimination claims, workplace violence threats, the termination that will change a family’s trajectory. Other days you float through peaceful streams like successful mediation, a promotion that brings someone to tears of joy, the small victory of finally getting everyone to use the new time tracking system. You never quite know which you’ll encounter when you unlock your office door each morning, but you learn to pack accordingly: tissues, antacids, a sense of humor, and an ironclad poker face.

The following satirical short stories posted on this site are inspired by the real world of Human Resources, though details have been changed to protect the innocent, the guilty, and the merely confused. These situations can happen in any industry, at any company, to any HR professional brave or foolish enough to choose this path. Some of these stories will tickle your funny bone. You’ll laugh at the absurdity of human behavior in the workplace. Some will strike your heart in devastating ways, reminding you that behind many “HR issues” is a person navigating their own struggles. Others will warm that same heart, revealing the profound privilege of bearing witness to human resilience and growth.

A word of caution: some of these stories may trigger feelings or memories you’d rather not revisit. Workplace trauma is real. Difficult professional situations can echo into difficult personal ones. If a story begins to stir something uncomfortable, give yourself permission to stop and skip to another story. I promise no two stories are alike, and there’s no shame in protecting your peace. This site will still be here when you’re ready, or it will be just fine if you never are.

So, welcome to the world of Human Resources, where people will amaze and appall you in equal measure, often within the same meeting. Where you’ll need the wisdom of Solomon, the patience of a saint, and the investigative skills of Sherlock Holmes, sometimes all before your morning coffee kicks in. Where you’ll sit in the front row of the human experience at its most vulnerable, most ridiculous, and most authentic, and somehow, you’re also expected to have solutions, answers, and a plan of action by end of business.

It’s messy. It’s unpredictable. It’s occasionally horrifying and frequently hilarious. It’s never, ever boring.

And honestly? I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Now then, let’s begin.