SINGAPORE: A woman who had been mentally preparing herself to resign from her job has since had a sobering change of heart after realising that the so-called “failsafe jobs” she thought she could fall back on are no longer as readily available as before.
In a candid post on Reddit’s askSingapore forum on Sunday (Dec 21), the woman shared that her current work situation has been steadily wearing her down.
She explained that her boss had been “driving her mad” and that she had been coping by repeatedly telling herself that if her mental health took a turn for the worse, she could always leave and return to roles that had traditionally been easy to find, particularly retail work.
“I’ve worked in retail before as a student last time with long hours and shift work, and I can survive,” she wrote. “It was always a “failsafe” for me, but today I went to two different job portals to take a look, and to my horror, these roles, which I term as “failsafe,” are not abundant at all.”
“Is the SG job market so bad that even ‘failsafe’ roles are all snatched up?” she asked others.
She also mentioned in her post that her current struggles stem largely from a sudden change in management. After her direct boss resigned, she was placed under a matrix reporting structure and now answers to a new superior whom she described as deeply difficult to work with.
According to her post, the new boss frequently “misquotes work frameworks out of context, weaponises her ignorance, repeatedly changing work direction that does not value-add to better work outcomes, virtue signals, twist and turn, and basically is a closet narcissist.”
“Don’t want to go too much into details, but the long story short is, she had affected my mental health so much I’m thinking of switching,” she wrote.
“I’m not new to toxic environments. I’ve worked in customer service and also was in companies previously with toxic bosses and culture, but this time it’s different. There’s no way to adapt to her, and I’m literally going crazy working under her. ”
She added, “I know the job market is terrible and everyone I spoke to says to tahan. Which, if I’m the third party, I’d say the same thing too, but she’s really driving me mad, and I don’t have savings.”
“There are no fail-safe roles anymore.”
In the comments, many agreed that given how bleak the current job market is, the idea of “failsafe jobs” no longer really exists.
“I think most people are clinging to their jobs right now. The job market is tough for many industries. If your finances are okay and you really cannot work with your boss, by all means, quit, take a break, and search for a new position. If your finances are limited, hold on a bit, especially if you need income,” one commenter advised.
“There are no fail-safe roles anymore. Most blue-collar roles are filled with foreign workers, and employers don’t want white-collar workers in between jobs who are less able to commit and may come and go,” another wrote.
A third shared, “There are more people in SG now than ever, and jobs are way lesser due to restructuring and advancement of AI. Can’t imaging what is going to look like in next 5-10 years.”
Some, however, encouraged the woman to wait a little longer, noting that more openings may appear after the holiday bonus period.
One said, “Wait a bit. Bonus time is just around the corner, and resignations usually follow right after…so more jobs will likely open up.”
In other news, a man was left stunned after discovering that the woman he had been dating for nine months had secretly registered her marriage to another man, all while continuing the relationship and accepting tens of thousands of dollars from him in the name of “wedding savings”.
The story was shared by the man’s friend on Reddit on Friday (Dec 19), where he detailed how the pair began dating in March and remained together until early December.
Read more: Man shocked after GF takes S$30K ‘wedding savings’ and marries someone else
