Every single day at work now is like walking on eggshells. Last time when we started working, boss screw you upside down, you just say “yes sir, sorry sir” and clear your work. Now? You tell a Gen Z intern or junior exec that their slides look a bit messy, the next day they take mental health leave. Smh.
The other day during lunch, we were just talking cock singing song, joking about how the interns always look like they haven’t wake up yet. Just a standard, harmless office joke, right? Tell you, one girl face straightaway go black. Then afternoon, my manager call me into the meeting room. Say got “feedback” that my comments created a “hostile work environment” and made someone feel “unsafe.”
UNSAFE? Hello?? We sitting in an air-conditioned office in Changi Business Park, not fighting war in Ukraine leh! Since when did standard Kopitiam-style banter become psychological warfare?
Everything also want to bring in those American “woke” terms. Microaggression this, gaslighting that. Last time we call this “having thick skin” or just laughing it off. Now, if your tone of voice is 10% too firm, they say you are “toxic.” If you ask them to stay back 15 minutes to hand over properly, they say you are “exploiting” them and violating their work-life boundary. They got time to write long-form essays on LinkedIn about empathy and corporate wellness, but no time to proofread their own report. Excel formula error until like what, but cannot talk about it because it will “damage their confidence.”
I really worry for our country’s future, man. If small, harmless joke also want to cry, next time real crisis come how? When NS time how? Oh wait, now even BMT also got air-con or not?
Can we please bring back some grit? Life is hard enough without having to police every single word that comes out of my mouth just to protect someone’s fragile ego. If you cannot even handle a bit of office roasting, please stay at home and let your mother feed you. End of rant. Going to drink my Kopi O Siew Dai to lower my blood pressure.