In any job, it pays to be aware of the small print.

Countless employees have found themselves screwed over because they didn’t pay attention to some contract or rulebook, and conversely, many more have also played a situation to their advantage by knowing the law of the land better than those who are supposed to be experts on it. In these corporate environments full of power trippers, snitches, general ne’er-do-wells, you never know when this knowledge might be useful.

However, even many of those who know their company handbooks inside and out don’t have the power to change what is inside them, much as this might be something that they long for at times. For those who do have this rare privilege, it is a perk that has to be used wisely. Coworkers should know better than to provoke somebody who has this kind of access, but that isn’t always going to be the case.