workplace drama

Let’s start by acknowledging the obvious: if your boss staged his own death just to measure “loyalty,” you’re not crazy for questioning your career choices. That’s not team building—it’s theatrical manipulation with lasting emotional consequences. No handbook prepares you for a boss pulling that kind of stunt.

When a boss goes too far, it usually looks like micromanaging or unfair deadlines. But what if your boss staged something darker—a fake stalker designed to make employees feel scared and grateful for his “protection”? It sounds like a plot ripped from a thriller, but for some workers, it’s disturbingly real. The question is, how should you respond when your manager manipulates fear instead of building trust?

Imagine this: you're a new employee at the office when your boss casually suggests, “We already have a Jessica. Can we call you Jess 2?” Or worse, they ask you to change your name entirely because it’s “too confusing”. Sounds ridiculous, right? Unfortunately, it happens more often than you’d think. So what do you do when it happens to you? Are you allowed to say no? And what are your rights if they won’t back off?

Sometimes, a toxic workplace doesn’t announce itself with shouting matches or public humiliation—it sneaks in through smaller, subtler demands. A reader recently shared that their boss told them: Bring me coffee every day, or I’ll mark you as “non-collaborative” on your performance review. It’s the kind of situation that sounds almost laughable until you realize it’s a genuine abuse of workplace power

Non-Compete clauses date back to the 15th century and were intended to keep workers from stealing trade secrets and sensitive company data from their former employer. But what if you want to open up your own business? Would you have to move outside of their non-compete radius? Let's examine that very question.