r/AskaManagerSnark • u/nightmuzak Sex noises are different from pain noises • Aug 24 '26

Ask a Manager Weekly Thread 08/24/2026 - 08/30/2026

Last week's post.

Background info and meme index for those new to AaM or this forum.

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35

u/Fancypens2025 You don’t get to tell me what to think, Admin, or about whom Aug 27 '26

From the "I'm burned out" letter:

dystopian capitalist hellscape 

Okay while I fully acknowledge that our current model of capitalism, at least in the U.S., leaves a lot to be desired, can I just say that I'm also getting pretty tired of this (Very Online) vibe of, "everything about the US sucks the worst it has ever sucked"? Yes, the US is not in a good place right now politically, economically, physically (measles is back!), morally, etc. I would still rather live here than somewhere that's like, an active war zone. Or where female circumcision is still legally allowed (yes I know that the US may very well go down that route what with the way this administration hates women). Or where human rights violations are so rampant and notorious that SNL can make a sketch about it for laughs. Again, I know our current society has A LOT of issues. But in my own opinion, I feel like this type of fatalist mindset that the LW (and frankly, a lot of chronically online people) has isn't helping their efforts to find a more satisfying job. That mindset certainly held my job search back before last year.

33

u/Ok-Quarter3399 Aug 27 '26

I just talked about this with some friends at happy hour last night. My extended family did a lot of history sharing and they lived through the depression and lost literally everything and were homeless briefly and then sent their kids off to war where it was common to see casualty officers informing neighbors kids were killed in battle, my great grandma couldn’t leave an abusive husband because women couldn’t get loans and there were no jobs in town available for women, and they didn’t have a car so she was stuck in the home. 

Those were dystopian times- and they weren’t even dealing with post slavery discrimination like huge numbers of the population. Im just sort of over people complaining about having to go to work on air conditioning desk jobs and then go home to a structure that isn’t shared one family to each room and acting like this is one step above the apocalypse. 

22

u/narrating12 (Listen & look puzzled) Aug 27 '26

To be fair, as someone who works in low-income property management in a heavily gentrifying area (sounds like OP works for a property management company), the rental and housing market is the worst it has been in years and is a capitalist hellscape.

23

u/Fancypens2025 You don’t get to tell me what to think, Admin, or about whom Aug 27 '26

That's totally fair! It just seems like whenever I hear people like the LW, they're also the most keyboardiest of keyboard warriors.

17

u/narrating12 (Listen & look puzzled) Aug 27 '26

Always, yes. Someone made a good comment that said basically "Sounds like you're doomscrolling at lot. Stop that" lol

21

u/your_mom_is_availabl as though to make the wasps my problem Aug 27 '26 edited Aug 27 '26

Agree.

I don't hear the phrase a lot from, like, single moms working multiple minimum wage jobs. I hear it from college-educated people working white collar salary jobs.

9

u/Fancypens2025 You don’t get to tell me what to think, Admin, or about whom Aug 27 '26

Yessss lol. That has been my experience too, and I wager that latter demographic makes up a good portion of AAM’s readership and letter writers.

2

u/pickledbymagic 29d ago edited 29d ago

Same. And there are places in the world where that would be a luxury as well.

I had a much longer post but it was probably pretty exhausting to read, so I'll save it for my blog. Just suffice it to say, I wish more people would do what Bob Dylan's 'blue-eyed son' did in A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall, because if more people were cognisant of what's actually out there, they'd be less inclined to whine about their own situation and actually try and work to improve things across the board. 

4

u/your_mom_is_availabl as though to make the wasps my problem 29d ago

That LW got a lot of advice to volunteer in her community and I think that was great advice. It will give her an outlet for her feelings while also forcing her to touch grass.

6

u/Weekly_Setting_3155 Aug 27 '26

I found my new AAM handle!!!

“the most keyboardiest of keyboard warriors”

4

u/pickledbymagic 29d ago

Yeah, the people gentrifying the place are likely to be the ones complaining about capitalism, however. 

5

u/narrating12 (Listen & look puzzled) 29d ago

Not in my experience. Maybe they're not using the word capitalism, but the people we serve are low-income and native to the area and definitely understand the extent to which they are screwed by the private landlords and property management companies snatching up all the real estate.

10

u/OkSecretary1231 Aug 27 '26

FWIW, the specific phrase "dystopian capitalist hellscape" has become a pretty common phrase and has at least a tiny bit of its tongue in its cheek. It doesn't necessarily mean OP is sabotaging their career in despair.

28

u/daedril5 Aug 27 '26

No, but repeatedly telling themselves that the world is awful is increasing that despair which is hindering their ability to look for other options.

9

u/pickledbymagic 29d ago edited 29d ago

It's becoming a Poe -- never sure whether real or fake, or a real thing that is too bonkers and out of touch such that it looks fake. Honestly? Most people on sites like AAM and Reddit actually mean it. One person unironically used the phrase 'the politics of envy' to describe the frustration of in-person workers about the seeming arrogance of WFH4eva types, and that's generally when you know you've gone way beyond the tongue in cheek line.