What is going on with jobs lately?

Persis said:

Hi W2L, very interesting to see that and certainly validates my concerns. I'm just so cautious or hypervigilant now that I don't want to enter into another toxic cesspool of a workplace..

Change of topic.. and I have a question for you , or anyone.. It just popped up actually. All of Jesus' apostles were cruelly killed, I think, except for one of them. For sure this was worse than 'most' workplace harrassment. I wonder if my belief that God does not want us to be abused, is really true. Is it ? I mean its very possible I was harrassed because it was a satanic attack, or that others saw I was a Christian. For sure there are other cases where the person harrassed isn't a Christian. But for the sake of the question let's just use Christians in the example. As a Christian shouldn't I have been willing to stay and suffer the abuse and be an example of Christ witnessing to them, as the Apostles were even to death? They were abused but they continued to witness and love and stand firm in Christ. I can't seem to reconcile the differences now, if there is one. Thanks, and Thanks for the law portion, it so fits!

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Suffering abuse for the sake of preaching the Gospel has a great reward. I dont think God wants us to be abused at work though. God wants us to love our enemies however, and that may include abuse. This doesn't mean you need to stay in a bad job though. IMO

Persis said:

The whole company was full of bullies and management and HR knew about it.

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Right. There's literally nothing you can do, and your job performance suffers for it and all you want to do at that point is your job but they bear false witness and put up stumbling blocks and tear you down. Gossip is cancerous and metastasizes into enormous sin, and those that gossip either don't realize the harm it is capable of promoting or are too cold to care. Romans 1:29-31 puts gossip right alongside the likes of murder and lovelessness. Gossip can ruin peoples jobs, emotional and psychological well-being and subsequently affect whole families. It's deplorable.

Persis said:

They made me out to be the bad guy when I wasn't at all.

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Right. Gas-lighting is psychopathic in the Nth degree. It's a form of psychological abuse in which the abuser(s) denies the reality of the victim's experience. Setting up misdeeds, questioning targets sanity, denying history, willful daftness in the face of exposure, provoking negative emotions, using tonality arguments (you didn't sound very nice, so you're in the wrong) and then delegitimizing the victim's concerns. Those employing this abuse are manipulative, unapologetic cowards who often operate under cloaks of plausible deniability, rank and/or position.

Persis said:

I have never been in such a heavily oppressed place and no matter how much praying I did and my sister who prayed fervently it just got worse and worse.

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Persis said:

But I regret I did not leave right after the abuse happened because it has traumatized me every night since then and only now is it fading away, even though I have forgiven them and asked God to help me to forgive them. Healing takes time.

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Bless your heart, dear sister. We will pray for you! It is in times like these that we must remember the persecution our Lord and Savior Jesus faced. He looked through all the contempt and wickedness that nailed him to the cross, and to those possessed with hatred who spat at him and cursed him and made him into an object of derision, Jesus said, "I love you" and "forgive them Father, they know not what they do"

1 Peter 4:13 But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.

Romans 8:17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Persis said:

I would heavily implore you to pray about your situation and not wait until things get so bad that you end up being traumatized like me.

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I think the Lord has given me the same advice about changing jobs. What good is it for me to endure such miserable treatment and vex my soul all for the sake of steady work? It's something I will definitely pray about this week before I return.

Persis said:

It may just even be on a deeper level in the way of a satanic attack.

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Right. Those that reject Jesus are in rebellion toward him whether they realize it or not. They are of this world and are by no means above the influence of the spirit of this world. The Devil does not attack those of us with so much fervor because we are weak but because we are strong.

Persis said:

It is true what you say it's very possible that this happened to me because I was a Christian and they could see I was different

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Me too!!

Luke 6:22-23 Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.

Romans 8:18-25
18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

May the Lord bless and keep you in your hour of need.

I don't have any firsthand experience with this type of job interview, however, from this article this seems to be method used by some companies,

Consider Knack, a tiny start-up based in Silicon Valley. Knack makes app-based video games, among them Dungeon Scrawl, a quest game requiring the player to navigate a maze and solve puzzles, and Wasabi Waiter, which involves delivering the right sushi to the right customer at an increasingly crowded happy hour. These games aren’t just for play: they’ve been designed by a team of neuroscientists, psychologists, and data scientists to suss out human potential. Play one of them for just 20 minutes, says Guy Halfteck, Knack’s founder, and you’ll generate several megabytes of data, exponentially more than what’s collected by the SAT or a personality test. How long you hesitate before taking every action, the sequence of actions you take, how you solve problems—all of these factors and many more are logged as you play, and then are used to analyze your creativity, your persistence, your capacity to learn quickly from mistakes, your ability to prioritize, and even your social intelligence and personality. The end result, Halfteck says, is a high-resolution portrait of your psyche and intellect, and an assessment of your potential as a leader or an innovator.

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Persis said:

Is this the new acceptable style in how to conduct business that it's no biggie to talk about?

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Yes, it is everywhere.
All respectability and honour has departed. I can say this because I have noticed in my field, which was previously very respectable and depends on these qualities in order for things to run correctly.
I have asked others in different fields and the same thing is happening there as well.

Persis said:

That is a good tip W2L! Thank you.

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You're welcome.

If things are so bad that you think that demon possessed people are in control of the corporation, try the following:
1. Turn the other cheek giving room for God's wrath
2. Shake the dust of your feet at the company if you're fired

If it's just humans acting like the animal kingdom:
1. Pray for them if they're misusing you
2. Treat bad behavior with kindness

If this doesn't work in your situation, pray and ask God what you should do and stick to whatever that is.

It seems to be the norm as of late. I have noticed it within the past year or so whenever I went into job interviews for retail, or even filled out applications for retail. They hold their customers in high regards - if they are happy then nothing else matters. There are some companies who sincerely do not care about their employees, and would rather please the customer at the risk of harming their employees out of the fear they will lose money. I can understand the concern but to a certain extent. Unless my job is really important to me - say corporate, because that will ALWAYS happen, I'm not going to be a punching bag for someone because they are upset about some little thing.

Persis said:

Hi JCFantasy, wow what a nightmare.. and very scary! How did your mom handle it? Did she ever go back to that restaurant to work? I am sad to say I believe you when you say the restaurant didn't fire the cook who did that or you boss. I have read that happens all the time. It happened in my past job. It's always about money. It's quite shocking when it happens to you and you realize they are not on your side.

Thank you for sharing and I hope all is well with your mom and you have a better job now.

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I do have a better job now, thank God!

My mom tried to ignore it but thankfully got out of there not long after.

Persis said:

I've been going on job interviews lately, and keep getting this running theme that is completely distasteful. Why do they tell me that they bite each other heads off when it gets busy, or ask me what would I do if I get an aggressive rude pushy person that doesn't takes no for an answer? Is this not abuse? Why would I as an employee choose to enter into a situation where I will be abused? Is this the new acceptable style in how to conduct business that it's no biggie to talk about? I came from a job where I was bullied to the hilt, and in the end when I stood up to the bully, they scratched my car. So hearing this kind of thing from interviewers mouths is causing me alarm. I wonder why this is happening, or is this the new normal? For sure I will pray about it, I may not even get those jobs.

Anyone on any job interviews lately experience the same type of informal confidence?

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We have authority in Christ and we need to put it under the blood. God's rock solid promise to use is that all things work out for the best for them that are called to His purpose.

Customers have become more and more difficult to handle. So the interviewer wants to see how you handle the situation.

All we have to do is look in the mirror. Everyone thinks they are right and are the victim. People lash out more than ever. They go on the Internet to give bad reviews. They want the manager to bypass store policy on returns. They complain and ask stupid questions to workers who are not qualified to answer like when they ask a stock boy when will they bring in a certain brand. Reminds me of when i was inline at the register at a department store. An adult woman with an exchange began asking the cashier how long would the difference appear on her credit card. Why they have the policy they do, how does a credit card terminal work etc. She was asking a 17 year old girl working the register how her credit cards work on returns !! Those same difficult customers which are on the increase also are the same unbearable co-workers.

And this is why I would not hire the original poster. He sounds like the type of guy to key up a co-workers car if things go wrong.

Persis said:

I've been going on job interviews lately, and keep getting this running theme that is completely distasteful. Why do they tell me that they bite each other heads off when it gets busy, or ask me what would I do if I get an aggressive rude pushy person that doesn't takes no for an answer? Is this not abuse? Why would I as an employee choose to enter into a situation where I will be abused? Is this the new acceptable style in how to conduct business that it's no biggie to talk about? I came from a job where I was bullied to the hilt, and in the end when I stood up to the bully, they scratched my car. So hearing this kind of thing from interviewers mouths is causing me alarm. I wonder why this is happening, or is this the new normal? For sure I will pray about it, I may not even get those jobs.

Anyone on any job interviews lately experience the same type of informal confidence?

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Not normal at all. Something is very wrong about the whole thing. Stats show that everything is fine, but many young people seem to be losing jobs. I'll be in prayer.

body camera works for me....in case I decide to report or sue.

You can sue if violation of law did occur and if you have enough evidence/witnesses.

And uh... evil rules in this world (1 John 5:19), not surprising...

That is why Jesus said "I am sending you among wolves, be gentle as doves as wise as serpents"

Almost there said:

I agree. Adults don't need the government to protect them, though. Of course, this depends on the level of hostility we're talking about. If it is extreme, sure, get the nanny state involved.

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Adults don't need protection from the law? Gee golly, let's bring back Jim Crow laws. Even better, let's bring back slavery. Those silly adults thinking they need protection from their bosses.

How does one get to the point that they think the powerful have a right to exploit them?

Re the comments about a "hostile work environment". I was in a hostile work environment and went to HR. A week later I was laid off (and I had been there about 1 1/2 years). That's not a coincidence. In point of fact, HR is not the employee's friend - HR is a tool of management. Keep that in mind if you ever think about talking to HR about anything.

Persis said:

I've been going on job interviews lately, and keep getting this running theme that is completely distasteful. Why do they tell me that they bite each other heads off when it gets busy, or ask me what would I do if I get an aggressive rude pushy person that doesn't takes no for an answer? Is this not abuse? Why would I as an employee choose to enter into a situation where I will be abused? Is this the new acceptable style in how to conduct business that it's no biggie to talk about? I came from a job where I was bullied to the hilt, and in the end when I stood up to the bully, they scratched my car. So hearing this kind of thing from interviewers mouths is causing me alarm. I wonder why this is happening, or is this the new normal? For sure I will pray about it, I may not even get those jobs.

Anyone on any job interviews lately experience the same type of informal confidence?

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I would say one very old fact of life is not everybody is going to like you and abusive people know how to get around the law. That's been my experience since I entered the workforce in the 70's. There's nothing new about that and more less you could call it a normal situation found in the vast majority of workplaces.

However not all workplaces are the same, there can be large differences in the amount of "friction" in different workplaces. Basically it can be near impossible to find a workplace without any significant hostility, things do happen beyond your control and there will be nothing you can do about it. So you're going to have to learn not only how to handle rude pushy people but also be able to recognize what it is that you do that pushes their button. The latter will drop the amount of hostility expressed towards you with all except the most irritable of persons.