Employee quits ‘psychotic workplace’, says boss monitored screens and forced 7-day workweek: ‘I finally escaped’

An employee recently detailed an extremely toxic workplace, alleging that their boss monitored employees through CCTV cameras, enforced a 7-day work week and made staff stay in the office until 2 am. The employee shared their experience in a Reddit post titled “I finally escaped the most psychotic workplace on earth, and my exit email was a scorched earth masterpiece.”The employee alleged that the boss used CCTV cameras to monitor work. (Representational image generated using AI)In the post, the employee said that they initially believed they were joining a “standard corporate job” but soon encountered a workplace characterised favouritism, a lack of transparency and constant fear of the boss.“I thought I was signing up for a standard corporate job to build my career, but I somehow walked straight into a psychological thriller run a paranoid, micromanaging nightmare of a human being. The toxic office dynamic hit me from day one: the hierarchy made absolutely zero professional sense, defined unexplained extreme favoritism, zero transparency, and a workplace culture built entirely on walking on eggshells,” the user wrote.The employee alleged that the boss used high-definition CCTV cameras to zoom in on employees’ computer screens in real time, allowing him to monitor their work and allegedly read their personal chats. They also said that the working hours were another major concern. The employee claimed that staff were expected to work 7 days a week, with no weekends, public holidays or emergency leave, and were required to remain in the office until around 2 am every night.“Those final two hours weren’t even about productivity; they were pure psychological hazing. He’d demand that the entire team gather on the balcony while he smoked, using that time to viciously trash talk and bitch about whichever employee happened to be absent or had dared to leave early,” the user alleged.The employee also claimed that arriving even a minute late could result in the boss ordering them to stand outside the office as punishment.After months of mental burnout, the employee said that they decided to resign. They said that they wrote a detailed resignation email outlining their allegations about the workplace and sent it to the entire team. “The cherry on top? The next morning, I went into the office super early before anyone was up. The office was basically his home where he lived full-time, and while he was fast asleep in his cabin, I quietly packed up every single piece of my belongings,” the user wrote.“I didn’t give him the satisfaction of a face-to-face confrontation or a dramatic exit. I picked up my stuff, walked out the front door, and left that absolute circus forever without looking back,” he added.(Also Read: ‘I gave up on having kids while I’m at Meta’: Employee cites layoff fears, says family planning seems ‘absurd’)Social media reactionsThe post drew sympathetic reactions from Reddit users. One user wrote, “I’m glad you got out. There are better things ahead.”“Dude idk how you made it that long. 7 days a week? Until 2am? I’ve literally never heard of this before. I’d be out after the first week, especially if he’s using cameras to monitor your work. He is seriously unhinged. I’m glad you got out because no one deserves to work in an environment like that,” commented another.“All of this sounds incredibly illegal. Good for you for getting out,” wrote a third user.(Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. HT.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.)