There’s nothing more condescending than when the person who is exploiting you demands that you show them gratitude. There’s a kind of song-and-dance a lot of workers have to do to get ahead. They’re not allowed to complain when something is unfair. They cannot raise valid concerns in a manner that appears ungrateful or abrasive. They have to give the appearance of being a humble hard worker who will do anything to gain their higher-up’s approval because anything less than that is simply unacceptable. 

Most CEOs won’t say the quiet part out loud. They won’t explicitly admit that they don’t care whether their employees get paid adequately or not, even if they don’t care. They won’t yell at their employees for putting pressure on them for bonuses. Unfortunately for the workers of the furniture company Millerknoll, their CEO was more than willing to do these things. What CEO Andi Owen didn’t anticipate was that the video or her tirade would go viral on Twitter.