I disagree, emotional work is work, and « positive energy » sums it up quite well.

Edge cases exist, but when I’m sad, I just stop being sad at work, because it’s been clearly stated, from the first interview, that positivity was a requirement of performance.

One edge case: colleague lost her mother last year, of course we didn’t expect her to perform excruciating emotional work.

This sounds like a company I would never want to work for.

No one is positive and happy all the time and having to fake it "as a job requirement" sounds wrong on so many levels.

I don't know anything about coinbase, but you're taking the least-generous possible interpretation of this. A really simple re-statement is that your bearing has consequences for other people, and if you're having a shit day and feeling miserable, you can either conduct yourself in a manner that poisons everyone around you, or you can try to keep yourself together. "Positive energy" is, I'm guessing, one way to get at this idea, though it's not how I would frame it myself.

As an aside: I assume that you know this from your own life, and appreciate when people behave in a manner that cares for the emotional commons of wherever you are. Is your objection to it here the fact that it's a giant stupid company ostensibly trying to curate your feelings, and that's annoying and (probably) hypocritical? Or do you really object to the premise?

I’m sure you already know this, but don’t ever do sales.

Strong disagree, I did sales (I would like to think successfully) for a long time as someone who struggled with depression and anxiety, there's far more to it than just having a fake smile plastered on; people like those who can empathize with them, understand their needs, etc. and sometimes a no-bs straightforward approach talking pros and cons directly instead of a fake used-car salesmanesque over the top approach is far more effective.

I did non-commission sales for a while as well, and made no effort to appear more happy than I was. People appreciated my candor and knowledge, rather than being won over by my charm. I sold a lot of stuff, and there was even a time that a customer found out I wasn't in that day and decided to come back another day instead of dealing with anyone else, even knowing there were no commissions.

My proof that I did well at it was that management constantly told me I need to upsell more and tried to scare me into it, but at no point did they ever actually move to take me off the sales floor. They knew I did really well, even without their extra BS items to push.

The most successful salesperson I know has a pretty flat affect but knows her product super well and is excellent at needs analysis. There’s definitely a lot more to sales than glad handing people with a smile.

I was a successful retail and enterprise salesperson earlier in my career. I also suffer from lifelong depression.

I did not fake "happy happy joy joy," but I also did not allow self absorption to inject my mood into my business. My model is that sales is a career that involves having structured communications.

That was a lifesaver for me when feeling depressed, because I could focus on the structure of what needed to be accomplished rather than the unstructured touchy-feely business of "getting along with people."

I suggest that "YMMV." Salespeople are not all the same, and some break preconceptions and stereotypes hard while being successful at what they do.

"Positive energy" to me sounds like: "you better not have a life outside of work."

We don't need you dragging yourself in to work after caring for your cancer patient family member or newborn.