u/SensitiveNote3780

Honestly, it was a joke. There were tables everywhere, probably around 18 to 25 organizations, and I don't think a single one of them was hiring.

Most of them were promoting job-search programs, unpaid volunteer stuff, and a few certification classes. I found one booth for a tech support company, so I gave them my resume. They took it and set it aside without even looking at it. I asked them if they had any openings, and they said they weren't hiring right now.

I asked the person who told me about the career fair how many people had shown up, and they said around 1,800 throughout the day.

A completely pointless waste of time, and my afternoon was wasted for nothing!

The shift people made in the early days of COVID honestly felt like the first sensible thing workers in the US had done in a long time. Everyone was saying we would never put work before our health again.

And after barely 4 years, a large number of us are back going to offices every day, we're earning less in real terms, and we're more afraid of being laid off than ever before. It's depressing.

We get one chance at this life, and somehow we're still letting a tiny handful of billionaires squeeze everything out of us and toss us aside when we're worn out.

So at the start of this week, I arrived about 8 minutes before my shift started because the roads were weirdly empty. I didn't think it mattered. I went in, put my stuff down, checked a couple of emails, and waited for my actual start time.

After that, the manager pulled me into the office and gave me a warning for "unapproved overtime." Like... Excuse me? I wasn't trying to squeeze extra money out of anyone. I just wasn't in the mood to stand outside like some lost NPC until the clock hit the magical minute.

What's annoying is that they're always nagging us to come in early when someone calls out or when they need help covering the floor. But when you come in early, suddenly it's a policy problem. Tbh, I feel like they've been looking for any petty reasons to write people up lately.

So yeah, apparently I'll be waiting in my car until the very last second I'm allowed to be inside the building.

Has anyone else dealt with this absurd logic at work?

I'm 57 years old - nearing the end of my professional journey, and I've been a senior leader before. I found a role that felt incredibly rare: less senior than jobs I've had before, but it still engages my mind, pays well, and the people around me are genuinely respectful. I oversee a small admin/support group, but most of my day-to-day work is IC work.

Unfortunately, I work under the worst manager I've dealt with in my entire career. Almost all of it seems to come from insecurity. He seems to think that if he can point out a flaw, minimize something, or find a reason to criticize, then he's managing effectively. But if he senses even the slightest criticism coming his way, he treats it like a personal attack. So the whole environment turns into constant negativity, questioning everything, and an emotional chess game. It's draining in a way I didn't expect at this stage.

My plan was to work another four years. Practically speaking, I could leave early if I had to, but I don't want to. And honestly, finding another role that fits me this well right now would be a long shot.

So I'm torn. Should I be direct and try something like Radical Candor, and let whatever happens happen? I'm not convinced I could tolerate the atmosphere if it became even more tense than it already is. Or should I quietly start planning my exit? Put my head down, emotionally detach from the situation, and endure it until the time passes? He's done a few things that probably belong in an HR conversation, but in my experience, that path rarely solves the real problem. I genuinely love the work, and my team clearly trusts me a lot. I also think they see me somewhat as a buffer, which makes this harder.

I'm writing here because I've seen sensible responses in this sub - and honestly, if even one person who sees themselves as a strong leader reads this and asks themselves: "Could one of my direct reports be saying this about me?" then I'll feel like writing it was worth it.