My boss is the literal personification of “wayang.” You know those kind of dinosaur leaders who think that if the office lights are still on at 9:00 PM, it means the company is thriving and everyone is a “star performer”? Fing hell, it’s 2026, not 1984.
Today he actually had the audacity to walk around the office at 5:45 PM—mind you, we official knock-off at 6:00 PM—and say, “Eh, everyone so fast want to go back already ah? Business is so busy, must show some passion and commitment right?”
PASSION YOUR KEPALA.
I finished all my tickets by 4:00 PM. My reports are submitted, my emails are cleared, and my KPI is actually exceeding. But because he wants to “look hardworking” to the big bosses upstairs, we all have to sit there like idiots, staring at our screens, refreshing LinkedIn, or pretending to read some long-ass PDF just to stay until 8:00 PM.
What he doesn’t realize is that this makes us look completely inefficient. If I need 12 hours to do 8 hours of work, it means I’m either incompetent or the workflow is broken. He is literally incentivizing us to work slower. Now, everyone just spends the afternoon watching TikTok or “coincidentally” taking 2-hour lunch breaks because they know they’re stuck there until the sun goes down anyway.
The toxic culture in this SME is next level. It’s all about the “optical performance.” He wants to play office theatre, but we are the ones paying with our mental health and our Grab fare home. My dinner at the hawker center cold already, my girlfriend is pissed because I keep cancelling date night, and for what? To help him wayang to the MD?
Is it so hard to understand that Productivity î€ = Presence? If I can finish my work fast, it means I’m good at my job. Let me go home and rest so I don’t burnt out and quit! Honestly, if this continues, I’m going to start “quietly” looking for a new role. Cannot stand this boomer mindset where “face” is more important than actual results.
Anyone else’s boss like this? Or is it just my suay luck to land in this circus?
TL;DR: Boss thinks OT = Hardworking. I think OT = Inefficient and Wayang. Now I’m stuck in office writing this Reddit post while he’s in his cabin watching YouTube. KNN.Boss make us OT just to “look good,”