Workplace Problem Report

Toxic / exploitative bosses

A manager who rules through anger, public humiliation, favoritism, or boundary-crossing · making daily work feel unsafe.

• Scolded, sworn at, or “แซะ” (sniped at) in front of others, sometimes over nothing.
• Contacted at midnight / on days off; no separation between work and life.
• Favoritism and nepotism · the boss's pet can do no wrong.
• Micromanagement and credit-stealing that drain motivation even when the work itself is liked.

Prevalence: n=64 · pain 3.6/5

New manager in over their head

Suddenly responsible for people, with little or no training · drowning privately while pretending publicly that everything is fine.

• Imposter panic: “how did I even get this role?” and fear of being exposed.
• Insomnia, crying, burnout within the first months of the job.
• Realizing the skills that earned the promotion are not the skills the job now needs.

Prevalence: n=46

Managing people older / more senior than you

Leading · or disciplining · someone with more years, more tenure, or more clout, where authority feels illegitimate.

• Older long-timers who resent taking direction from a younger boss.
• Difficulty setting expectations without seeming disrespectful.
• Power imbalances where the “boss” is actually the owner's child or a connected hire.

Prevalence: n=21

Managers who don't actually manage / absentee

A boss who is physically or mentally absent, delegates nothing clearly, yet still takes the credit · leaving the team to flounder.

• No direction, no decisions, no follow-through · work stalls.
• The team carries the load while the boss is unreachable.
• Subordinates get blamed for gaps the manager created.

Prevalence: n=18

Wrong people promoted / Peter principle

Strong individual contributors promoted into management · and then flounder · while politics, not competence, decides who climbs.

• The “good at the job ≠ good at managing” trap.
• Subpar performers mysteriously rising; talent stalling.
• Being promoted past your own competence and dreading exposure.

Prevalence: n=10

Difficult colleagues, gossip & political games

Coworkers who deflect blame, hoard influence, exclude others, or make the team a battlefield rather than a workplace.

• Defense-minded peers who never admit fault and rewrite the SOP instead of fixing it.
• Gossip, backstabbing, and cliques that isolate people.
• Work dumped on the reliable one, who then takes the scolding too.
• Politically savvy colleagues hoarding credit and control.

Prevalence: n=37 · pain 2.8/5

Too much work, no boundaries, spiraling stress

Volume and after-hours demands that exceed what a person can sustain, with no recovery · manifesting as insomnia, panic, and tears.

• Bosses assigning work at night with a “by tomorrow morning” deadline.
• “วันหยุดไม่ได้หยุด” · no real days off; calls chasing work on weekends.
• Intrusive thoughts and insomnia: can't switch the boss off in their head.
• Manager-level burnout: drowning in responsibility with no one to hand it to.

Prevalence: n=39 (+ manager burnout n=22) · pain up to 4.3/5 · highest

Pay & recognition not fair

Doing more for the same (or less) money, while slicker or favored colleagues are rated and rewarded higher.

• Promoted into more responsibility for pay that still equals a peer's.
• Slackers rated the same as the hardest workers · “สายเลีย” wins.
• Promised raises that never arrive, or threats to cut pay.

Prevalence: n=25

Rigid / unfair HR policy

Rules and processes that feel mechanical or punitive · PIPs that are really exit ramps, benefits weaponized against promotion, quiet constructive dismissal.

• “A PIP always ends in a firing” · performance plans used as paperwork for termination.
• Being slowly stripped of work and frozen out to force a resignation.
• Using benefits or leave as a reason to deny advancement.

Prevalence: n=32

Career stagnation, no room to grow

Hitting a ceiling · nowhere to advance, and the market offering younger or cheaper replacements for the same role.

• “ตัน” · feeling stuck with no clear path or next step.
• Age bias: at 40+ or 45+, companies prefer a cheaper thirty-something.
• Teams that visibly “ย่ำอยู่กับที่” (tread water) under a stalled boss.

Prevalence: n=24

Discomfort of firing / PIP

The human cost of termination, on both sides · managers sick with guilt, employees pushed out, and a process many find dehumanizing.

• Terminating a liked or capable person and feeling “gross” afterward.
• PIPs forced through with “no choice,” even when someone is struggling.
• Trivial mistakes weaponized as firing threats.

Prevalence: n=76 · pain 3.8/5

Guilt & loyalty around quitting

Wanting to leave but feeling responsible for the people left behind · or being told a departure is “because of you.”

• Guilt that leaving will let down the team or the boss.
• Staying in a damaging job out of obligation or fear.
• The sting of being named as someone's reason for resigning.

Prevalence: n=18

Quiet quitting / disengagement

People who are still physically at work but have stopped caring · the reliable ones quietly withdrawing, or the apathetic coasting along.

• Star employees losing the spark while still delivering and smiling.
• The dependable absorbing more work as they silently check out.
• Apathetic staff doing the bare minimum, annoying both peers and bosses.

Prevalence: n=10

Hiring & interview pain

The grind and humiliation of trying to get hired · rejection after rejection, ghosting, ageism, and interviewers who are rude.

• Repeated rejection that curdles into burnout · “what's the point?”
• Age as a silent filter: older candidates pushed toward contract work.
• Rude or disrespectful interviewers; referrals that backfire.

Prevalence: n=41

Job doesn't match what was promised

Bait-and-switch roles · a polished title that hides manual labor, commission-only sales, or work nothing like the interview description.

• “Unit Manager” or “ผู้ช่วยผู้จัดการ” titles that are really insurance sales.
• Office jobs that turn into heavy physical labor on day one.
• Wasted time and dashed expectations right after starting.

Prevalence: n=12 (mostly Thai)

Losing meaning / purpose at work

A existential flatness · work that no longer feels worth doing, and the question of who you are once the title is stripped away.

• Repeated failure or futility collapsing into “what's the point now?”
• Burnout reframed as “หมดไฟ” · a loss of fire, not just tiredness.
• Identity anxiety: without the job title, who am I?

Prevalence: n=11

AI disrupting the workplace

Fear of being replaced by AI, companies shedding staff to cut costs · and, tellingly, a wish that an AI boss might be fairer than a human one.

• Mid- and higher-skill work being automated; layoffs dressed up as “restructuring.”
• Resignation and listlessness fueled by “ยิ่งมี AI ยิ่งท้อ.”
• A signal of how bad human bosses are: some would rather report to an AI.

Prevalence: n=18