How do you stay in a job when a manager is nothing more than a clown wearing a crown?

[Jalan Kayu]

Freshly promoted, zero real leadership.
Just a smooth-talking manipulator who trauma-bonds you into loyalty, tests you like a lab rat, all so you become his obedient pawn.
In front of higher-ups? Wag tail like a hardworking golden retriever. Behind the scenes? Power trip king.

Team culture?
Either dead inside or inflated egos with some skillsets.
A place where sincerity is met with cold betrayal—你用真心，换来绝情。
No one helps, everyone watches you sink.
And the whole toxic system produces this kind of environment like it's their proudest export.

Management? High up in ivory towers—blissfully unaware or wilfully blind.

Pay? Stable… but stably shxt.
Their favourite HR strategy:
Burn the newbie, starve you of support, then push you till you self-implode.
You resign = they save money, get another headcount, and still act like you “didn’t meet expectations.”
表面关心，背后 appraisal 写你一文不值，只为了盖住他们自己 leadership 的屁股。

How to survive in this type of toxic sinkhole?

Meanwhile, your freelance gigs and side hustle growing steadily.
Is this a sign from the universe?
Time to flip the table, go full-time, and stop being someone else’s punching bag? Lai jiao please teach me!

 

[zhihau]

What’s your end goal?

 

[Scrooball (clone)]

Side gig? Make sure u got savings to tide u for at least 1 year if u quit your regular job.

Otherwise, just kneel down and suck the clown’s cock!

 

[laksaboy]

That is to be expected. Read up on the Dilbert Principle.

 

[bigozt]

must ask the boss…if i support you, whats in it for ME?

 

[A Singaporean]

But Sinkies are retards which is even worse than clowns.

 

[syed putra]

This is why I prefer to deliver food.

 

[True Believer]

That is to be expected. Read up on the Dilbert Principle.

Most of us have been brought up to believe that working hard and displaying competence at the workplace should be rewarded. However, many who excel at work not only get ignored, but marginalised. In the world of office politics, there is a clear and present danger about being too competent in what we do. Those who shoulder their duties with customary aplomb, risk showing their bosses that they are not only talented, but evidently too talented for their own good.

 

[True Believer]

If you see a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that is a post turtle. It didn't get up there by itself. It doesn't belong up there. It's out of its comfort zone. It doesn't know what to do while it's up there. It's stuck and unproductive. You just wonder what kind of dumbass put it there in the first place! A post turtle is in a position of power that he didn't achieve through his own efforts. Someone put him there. He lacks the necessary skills, knowledge or understanding to perform effectively. He is stuck, like a turtle on a post. The term is used to point out cronyism in leadership roles.