you be the judge: the extra, unpaid hours most people willingly do setting the expectation you do that too, some people coming in 30 minutes before the shift starts and proud of it (what for? Are you going to be paid more?), obsession with presenting a good image to both coworkers and clients, the fake interest in getting to know you, conversations that feel scripted, forcing you to share about you, controlling the way you speak, yelling at the foreign coworkers when they don’t speak English among themselves, taking your breaks together with the whole group, ostracizing you if you want to take your break alone, getting snippy if you state boundaries (“I don’t talk about that with coworkers”), some people ranting openly and loudly in a room full of people about a coworker they don’t like for whatever perceived sling, your manager expecting you to enjoy her stories (no, I don’t really care about you, Andrea), then expecting you to be the one doing the most demanding tasks nobody wants to do.
I even have coworkers complaining I waste too much paper and that’s bad for the company. Who gives a flying fuck about that Karen? I really don’t understand why some people are like this.
Holy shit, I was so naive. I don’t know if every workplace is like this, but I just didn’t question it and went along with it because 2 years ago the workplace seemed good enough and pays better than everyone around afaik. I don’t know if I should look elsewhere.
If I start applying elsewhere, do I even mention this? Because I don’t want this to happen to me again.
There is a chance this also happens elsewhere. Do I stick with the devil I know?


When applying to jobs, it’s usually not a good idea to badmouth your former employer. No matter how true your statements are it can come across as you being whiny and having a bad attitude. It sucks that we have to lie like this but it’s not like employers are totally honest with us so turnabout is fair play.
Anyway come up with something ambitious-sounding like you wanted to contribute more/in different ways, you wanted a new challenge, etc. Make it sound like you’re excited for the new job, not fleeing the old one. Save telling the truth for anonymous online forums and friends.