SINGAPORE: A Singaporean candidate revealed on a Reddit thread that he walked out of a job interview after witnessing the employer yelling at a junior employee.
In his post, he mentioned that this incident happened in one of the Big Four companies in the tech industry. “The final interview was with the guy who managed the entire region and someone I would need to work closely within the role,” he wrote.
“5 mins in, and he starts tearing into me. I thought he is probably role-playing because it was from a customer persona.”
He initially assumed that the manager’s harsh demeanour was likely a test to evaluate how well he could handle pressure and solve problems in challenging situations. However, what happened next proved him wrong.
A junior employee entered the room and politely informed the manager that the “room was needed for another meeting.”
It turned out that the room had only been reserved for 45 minutes, but their interview had already been extended by an additional 15 minutes.
“She was super apologetic, soft spoken, despite being in the right,” he went on.
“Now this interviewer starts shouting, and screaming at this poor girl, how dare she interrupt him and he is the regional blah blah. The girl starts sobbing and leaves the room.”
At that moment, the candidate realized that the manager’s behaviour wasn’t part of a role-playing exercise.
When he asked the manager if this was his usual approach with employees, the manager responded, “People need to be kept in line.”
“I got up, told him that I don’t work with people like him, and I’ll withdraw. The look on his face was worth it,” he said. When the HR called him later to discuss what happened, he recounted the incident.
“The HR says ‘oh he is like that, over a period of time you’ll adjust to his nature’. I was seething in anger so I literally told her I don’t want to adjust to people like him. Not my best moment, but I don’t fully regret saying it either.”
“Made myself a promise that if I can help it, and with a bit of grace, I will never work for this company. And mind you, this is a >100 billion company. Also notorious for treating their employees poorly.”
“Why every Singaporean company has at least two or three people like that?”
In response to his post, Redditors applauded him for standing up to the tyrant boss.
One Redditor commented, “I love this. Thank you for standing up to bosses like this. Many people suffer the indignity of working for them because they need the money.
They think because they are so clever, so hardworking, so perfect that they can treat people like crap. And because they churn out results despite or because of such behavior they are further rewarded.
It’s disgusting that capitalism perpetuates such behavior.”
Another said, “Luckily you held tight to your boundaries of never working with such bosses!!! Great story.”
A third Redditor asked, “Why every Singaporean company has at least two or three people like that ?? And no one bothers to fire them instead they keep the talent away from companies.”
Others, meanwhile, questioned why HR would condone the boss’s behaviour, expressing concern over the toxic environment it creates for the rest of the employees.
However, one Redditor pointed out that HR is only there to “protect the company” and not the employees.
If the company views the manager as a valuable asset contributing to its profitability, there’s a high likelihood that it will continue to retain him, regardless of his toxic behaviour.
He added, “His supposed ability to achieve profitability and gain clients outweighs the negative reputation. What can the HR department do to him? When the orders from above are to keep him?
Standard HR personnel don’t even outrank him. He might be friends with the Head of HR, seems like he’s a regional/APAC head. Do the normal HR employees dare to even touch him?”
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