Detached manager shocked employees fear they would lose their jobs after temps got axed, pay raises got denied, and AI started replacing people: ‘She was stunned I swear, managers live in another world’

Author image for Etai Eshet
Etai Eshet • Editor
Aug 10, 2026 7:15 AM EDT

Some managers live in a parallel universe where layoffs are a rumor and job security is a given. The rest of us live in the real world where every paycheck can be your last

A floor manager calls a meeting. Panic spreads instantly. One person blurts out a plea for clarity before the meeting even starts. The manager looks genuinely shocked that anyone thought this was about firings. The explanation lands like a reality check delivered by someone who has been paying attention.

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  • Manager stunned when we explain that we fear for our jobs

    Man in a blazer looks at the camera in a bright office with blurred coworkers in the background.
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     Serious office worker with a defeated look on his face 

    Subject is a model

  • Today in my mortgage company (not directly handling mortgages just internal paperwork) my
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  • floor manager took my group into a meeting room. Now, I knew we weren't all being laid off, but others had that concern.
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  • As the meeting started one blurted out right away "Please tell me what this is about right now." And as
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  • predicted it wasn't about firings. She was dismayed to think that it was even considered.
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  • Man in a blazer sits at a desk in a bright office with coworkers blurred behind him.
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    employee sitting tensely in a bright office

    Representative image

  • I explained, "This is a cyclical business, you just laid off every temp in the sector, Al is on the rise,
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  • You've outsourced in the past, you've made it clear that there's not enough money for a cost of life
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  • increase in pay. The Job market is horrendous and nowadays it takes three interviews to get a
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  • minimum wage job, where at least one 'interview' is with Al. Inflation is going up and people in this
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  • company are working two jobs, going without meds, going without insurance, and going without proper
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  • health care. Every single day of my life, I expect to be let go because 'l make too much money, and can be easily replaced"."
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  • She was stunned, and reiterated that that was not going to happen. It did not change our feelings at all of course.
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  • I swear, managers live on another world.
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  • MusicalMerlin 1973 "That's not going to happen". That's double speak for you're on the list next month, but I need you to do your work until then".
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  • Sazapahiel The worst of it is it doesn't even have to be a well paid manager. I know a guy that went from working entry
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  • level at a pot shop to every step along the way to "regional manager" in a short four years due to the company's well deserved turnover.
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  • He is like the manager in OP's post now. He is paid pennies on the dollar for the profit he generates, is barely
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  • scraping by despite making more than the people he manages, and is continually astounded why those people live like terrified serfs. Mind boggling.
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  • This is a cyclical business. Temps just got axed across the sector. AI is creeping into every role. Outsourcing has happened before. Pay raises get denied because there is not enough money. The job market is brutal. Minimum wage jobs require three interviews, and one of them is with a chatbot. Inflation keeps climbing. People in the company work two jobs, skip meds, drop insurance, and avoid healthcare entirely.

    Every single day feels like a countdown. The expectation is simple. You make too much money. You can be easily replaced. The axe could drop at any moment. The manager hears all this and looks stunned. They reiterate that layoffs are not happening. The words do not change the feeling.

    This is the disconnect that defines modern work. Managers act like job security is a given because they have never lived without it. Employees act like every meeting could be their last because they have lived that reality too many times. The gap between those two perspectives is a canyon.

    The manager probably thinks this was a routine update. The employees think this was a life-changing experience. Both are right in their own way. One side sees stability. The other side sees survival. The truth sits somewhere in the middle, but nobody is comfortable admitting it.

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management workplace discussion employment issues boss workplace-stories hr coworkers colleague Horrible Bosses
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