I'll try not to ramble but I just am so tired of how bosses/employers generally seem to exhibit extensive and unusual behavioral problems. I know the economic system we live in rewards narcissistic and sociopathic behavior, there's the Dunning–Kruger effect to consider, etc.
But it's still so jarring for me to try and picture how these people manage to function their daily lives. How do they maintain friendships or family? Do they truly believe what they say and do, or are they aware, deep down, that they're mostly hypocrites and frauds? Do they spend so much time around worse hypocrites and bigger assholes that they see themselves as saints in comparison?
I work in game development and am currently reasonably compensated at an okay enough studio. Nevertheless, like essentially every other workplace I've been in, there is:
- Terrible to non-existent planning. Mgmt doesn't seem to do their work competently or at all. Can't even handle making simple schedules, offload the inevitable problems that result on workers.
- Mgmt/bosses generally have extremely thin skins, eg take suggestions for improvements like direct threats and respond accordingly.
- Mgmt by and large absolutely consider themselves Special and Above the rest. They belittle, demean, insult, deride workers when in a bad mood, but take grave offense if the workplace or its processes is in any way critiqued, no matter how politely. This is essentially cult mentality and I'm so tired of it.
- Mgmt and leadership is obsessed with Narratives over demonstrable facts. As long as you are quick at noticing a pattern you can cruise along for a while with minimal effort by maintaining whatever Narrative they have going on.
Eg, boss dislikes X for whatever usually illogical reason, but you and your coworkers know you need X in the project for it to function. Just don't mention X, use other words/descriptors, no problem you can get it in.
On the other hand, if Mgmt has flagged a worker as Bad in some way, there is essentially nothing this person can do to change that. They can work themselves to death and spin gold, the rest of the team can sing their praises, but the bosses will still shit-talk them and look down on them. Best thing you can do if you find yourself in this position imo is to change your workplace. - Mgmt contradicts themselves, openly, in text even, frequently. What's worse, is when you point out the discrepancy and ask which should be followed, they often just deny there is a discrepancy. This really is gaslighting and again, I'm so tired of it.
- Mgmt is overly suspicious of everyone, as if every single worker is out there trying to screw them. At the same time, they expect total and complete loyalty and good faith towards everything The Company says, is, and does. Again this is just cult shit, it's exhausting.
- Every boss/ceo/founder I've known, without fail, thinks they are objectively Better Than 99% Of Other Bosses. They sadly shake their heads about other studios, problems in the industry, and openly eviscerate their practices and products. Of course, they are nothing like that. Again, empirical facts don't seem to matter in this mental equation.
- They expect you to be grateful all the time for like, the bare minimum decency. It's pathetic and I have no tolerance for it. They seem 100% convinced every worker should be grateful for having this incredible (ie sub-par to average) job. No, buddy, you should be grateful for every worker you have. You need us more than we need you.
- They seem to be awful with money. If I had half the income some of these people had, I'd have retired long ago by their age. Why are they still trying to make it big? Did they dump all their money into shitty investments or spend it all on blow or something? Do they have monomanic fixations on being some big influential genius creative ceo, while never actually working on their craft? Are their lives so empty and meaningless without logging on/coming into the office to push people around and hold meetings, that they can't find something else to do with all their money and time?
Sorry for the kind of vaguely philosophical vent, I just don't get it. I don't get what they want, how they think, why they behave the way they do. They mostly act like bizarre aliens (not in the cool way) and are extremely difficult to predict. They seem to have sharp moodswings and honestly come across behaviorally disordered to me.
It's like they exist in some kind of parallel dimension. They see themselves as the big boss but have to be coddled all the time, and don't really do any productive work or contribute anything beyond stressing people out. You generally can't focus on the material reality of the project first, you have to focus on their emotions about things (but keep in mind these change frequently).
You can get away with working very little if you simply spin them the kind of story they want to hear. Conversely, you can work your hands bloody but if you don't paint them the right kind of picture when verbally called upon, you're often considered a failure and a detriment. I've seen the latter happen to many talented people and it's so disheartening and senselessly cruel. Actual product seems to matter very little to most bosses and is rarely examined in any meaningful way. It's just so depressing, maybe especially in a creative field.