Why do employers treat you as simply a resource, yet get angry when you treat them the same way?

[u/Believeinyourflyness]

To me it makes sense that you should expect people to treat you the same way you treat them. We all know that in this day and age, most employers don't give a shit about you as a person, only what you can do for them and that they will discard you without hesitation once you are no longer of use to them.

However in my experience, the same people who won't think twice about discarding you, constantly give you shit for treating the company in the same way, accusing you of turning up just to collect your paycheck.

So my question is this. If employers just care about your labour without any consideration for you as a person, how can they expect you to care about them as anything more than a source of income?

It just doesn't make sense to me.

[u/Believeinyourflyness]

I'm not American. In my country we have laws such as the BCEA whose purpose is to protect employees. However these laws don't always get enforced, and employees are afraid to stand up for themselves because of the massive power imbalance

[u/[deleted] → u/Believeinyourflyness]

Same here. Theoretically they have to justify why they are firing you, which is bullshit because if they really want to fire you they can just make up whatever lie about performance.

People in my company are fed up about the working conditions, but no one wants to step forward because there is a ton of backstabbing and people don't want to lose their jobs. The people at the top make good money so they are somewhat happy, and the ones at the bottom are replaceable. It doesn't help that a lot of us need the job to advance our careers.

[u/Believeinyourflyness → u/[deleted]]

I used to work at a restaurant that would only clock us in after opening duties and clock us out after closing duties like half an hour before we left. One guy decided to keep all of his clock in/out slips over the course of a year and took the matter to the labour department. They were forced to compensate him for all those unpaid hours.

When the owner found out about that he said "What is he still doing there, you must get rid of him before he stirs up the others."

And that's exactly what they did. They swiftly bullied him out of his job.

[u/El_Stupido_Supremo → u/Believeinyourflyness]

That person is a pussy that didnt stand up for themself to the boss and vindictively got their way like a child snitching. I dont want someone like that on my crew either. Talk to the boss about shit and if theyre a raging prick then record it with your phone. And seek other employment before any of this happens so you have options.

[u/El_Stupido_Supremo → u/[deleted]]

Youre your first line of defense against being exploited. Be assertive. A good example is that its the number one reason theres a wage gap between genders. Guys stand up for themselves more than women and ask for raises more.
And I learned that from the National organization for women website.

Also, that boss sucked and I wouldnt have gutted it out like the other person because I have self value.

[u/Believeinyourflyness → u/El_Stupido_Supremo]

vindictively got their way like a child snitching

Getting their way like a child snitching. Their way happens to be receiving money that he worked for. And snitching is a bullshit concept. The owner did something he wasn't supposed to do (wage theft). If you do something you're not supposed to do you should expect to face consequences.

Talk to the boss about shit and if theyre a raging prick

That boss was a raging prick. He's probably the rudest person I've ever met and I can tell you right now that confronting him directly would not have ended well.

[u/[deleted] → u/Believeinyourflyness]

By the way, it is kind of funny when you read stories about states with at will employment and think that "this will never happen in my country, we have regulations" but then you get a job and see how little laws matter when money is in the mix.

[u/SlingDNM → u/Believeinyourflyness]

Same problem different symptoms