Sometimes your workplace reveals its true intentions without you realizing it. 

When you’re starting out at a new place, you might not know what to expect. You might think you’re in for one thing, but really you’re in for another. It’s not until you’re there, boots on the ground, that you really know what is going on in your workplace. And things have a way of creeping up on you. Maybe you’re coasting along doing just fine, and then suddenly management asks you something that you couldn’t have anticipated. You’re unsure how to respond, and you wonder whether or not you’re in the right for feeling weird about it. When you work somewhere, you have some level of investment in it. You put so much time and effort into it that you hope to get some sort of reward for it. But this doesn’t always happen. Sometimes you’re constantly disenfranchised, and before you know it, you’re in a workplace situation that you’re uncomfortable with. Your manager has asked you to do something way beyond the pale, and you’re left wondering if it’s all worth it. The manager in this story was certainly doing that, to a degree which may or may not have been legal. Punishment is never a great tactic in the workplace. Sure, you can incentivize good behavior, but if you can’t do that without cruelty, then you need to seriously take a look in the mirror. People don’t want to work somewhere where they’re being condescended to or threatened.