I hear many stories from this subreddit about unreasonable demands. Bosses demanding you work after a close loved one dies, being sexually harassed, not being paid for work, etc. If we take a sociopath's view of it, then it's because the bosses (either correctly or incorrectly) figure that they have enough power over you to coerce you into doing what they want. I wouldn't want to work a 36-hour long shift for example (actually happened to a coworker once btw), but if there were no other jobs available and having a job was the only way to avoid starving to death in the streets, I'd do it.
However, even if sociopaths make up most of the CEOs in a business, people who are closer to the ground should be much more likely to be decent human beings. And yet oftentimes, they still ask completely unreasonable requests what gives?
I know that in a subreddit dedicated to detailing evil bosses and work conditions, the reports given won't be a perfectly representative sample of the whole population. And yet part of me wonders if there are other factors besides just being an asshole that go into unreasonable demands. Maybe desperation? I don't know…