u/NegotiationOk888

My manager called me in for a meeting today and humiliated me about my Teams chat. He snooped on my Teams chat and asked me whether I came to the office for work or for fun.

I expressed my disappointment about my chats being snooped on, and he got furious. He said he'd send the report and screenshots to the owner and let him decide my fate.

Now, for context, the HR resigned a week ago because she refused to do the dirty work of firing and snooping. The owner developed HR management software (using claude code) that monitors our check-in times and pee breaks. The average time I spend inside comes to around 6.5 hours.

I get paid 28k per month, with an incentive that fluctuates between nil and 12k depending on performance. There's no insurance or any other benefit whatsoever. For every minute we've logged in late, we have to redeem it as leave.

The thing is, I've been late by about 10 minutes every day because I suffer from hypothyroidism and live alone with my wife. I do the cooking and stuff like that because my wife is protein- and nutrient-deficient and we're trying to have a baby (despite many failures). Cooking her good food takes some time, and if I were to sacrifice my sleep, I'd be as productive as a zombie.

I was never given a ChatGPT subscription. Instead, we had one subscription that we had to share among five members. I paid for one out of my own pocket.

I redesigned their website and taught myself coding to do so because their site was from the Stone Age. I was humiliated by the owner for this. He said aloud in front of everyone, in an insulting way, that anyone can code with Claude Code, and that I am lazy.

In another instance, I designed infographics for blogs because I had some free time. But all I got was a scolding for doing so without his approval, despite him asking me to do so a month prior.

Anyway, my manager yelled at me, saying that I'm immature and that I spend a lot of time on entertainment in the office. The catalyst for this was a message that I sent to my coworker a week ago. I expressed my dissatisfaction with the uncleanliness and the fact that I had to spend 5k on ENT treatment due to a mold infestation in the office.

I'm not sure what to do about it now. I'm neither angry nor sad because I find this disgusting and unworthy of a reaction. But content writing, as it was, is dead now. I guess I'll have to do something real instead. Jumping to another SEO sweatshop doesn't seem to be the solution.

They're hiring freshers for 12k per month, and fooling white clients with AI-generated content now.

(Generated the TLDR using a-i)

Too Long; Didn't Read (TL;DR) :
My manager humiliated me over private Teams chats after I criticized the office’s poor conditions, strict monitoring, and unfair treatment.
Despite low pay and no benefits, I’ve gone beyond my role, but the toxic workplace has made me reconsider content writing and SEO jobs altogether.