They do this to you because they hold all the cards. I was just lucky that I didn't need them.
They could cripple you if they wanted to.
To be honest there's not much difference between this an slavery and when signing is the difference between putting food on the table or starving everybody is a slave.
Of course you could always not sign but not everyone has the luxury to do that i would argue most people don't.
This may just be crotchety old man talk, but sometimes I wonder if the extremely protective child-rearing (particularly in schools) that seems to be abundant today will make future adults particularly susceptible to this kind of bullying.
If you never have to deal with this kind of social stress as a child, how can you possibly deal with it as an adult?
Perhaps getting bossed around on the playground is a good way to train the mind to appropriately deal with intimidation from employers, salesmen, etc.
Perhaps you should not make such unfounded assumptions. It would also behoove you to refrain from such overt ad hominem argument.
Do you think I was never a child? I speak from experience, not conjecture. I can't say the same for your vitriolic response.
As a child, I went through many situations that were very stressful for me at the time, but ultimately helped to construct a number of helpful psychological responses to aggression. Those responses are very useful in the real world. Contrary to what teachers may have you believe, bullying does not end in school. It simply becomes more subtle.
I disagree. Most kids have experienced that, and in older times quite more than today with over-protection.
Unless we're talking of extreme situations (which we were not), it helps to build defenses against these kind of things and be more vigilant and aware of other's tactics.
Some kind of "toughening" kids up with adverse situation (as opposed to over-protecting them) has been part of human culture for milenia, from Sparta to Native American tribes.
One of my young child's (c.5-6 at the time) teachers made their claimed authority explicit in demanding that they be obeyed "first time every time" without the chance to question or consider what they were being asked - that's a bit too close to demanding mindlessness for my liking, terribly arrogant too.
I wonder how much of the structure of the school system is bullying, or built around encouraging it.
Vicious unthinking rules applied more for the administration and teacher's benefit than anything else. An environment where you're deprived of meaningful achievement and put under continual stress for largely meaningless exams....
When kids have so little influence in the nature of their environment, teachers are running a stupid rule book, and where 'accomplishment' is so meaningless with respect to what's personally fulfilling, is it really going to be surprising if people grow up without much confidence?
After all, what opportunity would they have had to exercise it?
Teaching children to respect authority figures will make them susceptible to this kind of bullying.
Exposing children to physical assault is not going to be any help whatsoever during future contract negotiations. Probably it will be a hindrance, in fact.
having the balls or wisdom to walk away from a situation where you're being bullied, whether literally or figuratively, is becoming rarer nowadays.
I take the fact that you reduced OP's statement
> Not everyone has the will, nor the financial wherewithal, to do such a thing.
to
>Not everyone has the will... to do such a thing.
as an indication that you think economics plays a secondary role in this story. I disagree and I'd like to know why you think that's the case.
Thanks for the entertaining story! And sorry to hear of your mental anguish.
Unlike in credit situations there is no equivalent of the Fair Credit Act covering employment contracts. Many employers exploit that by writing some very crafty wording which reads one way but on close inspection says the opposite.
I worked as a contractor for a very large defense company. After a year, they offered me full time employment. I specifically asked if there was a "we own everything you make" clause in the employment agreement, but I was assured there was not. I went through about five digital form contracts, and when I got to the last one, it had the clause in there. I told the woman that I wanted to amend the contract and she huffed and told me they don't do that. I replied that I was promised that I would not have to agree to such a clause, and she told me that it was mandatory, so I could take it or leave it. I asked if there was anyone in HR I could talk to about this, and was told no. So I stood up and said "please escort me out the door, starting immediately I am resigning. At the gate, I would like the security guard to search my things." (it was a secured facility, and I didn't want anyone to claim I was stealing anything later.) She asked me if I was serious, and I said yes. I was berated for how much time and money was wasted on getting me ready for employment, and I replied I was promised repeatedly that I would not have to sign away my rights, and this was absolutely a deal breaker and I didn't appreciate being told repeatedly this would be honored until the very last minute. So really, my time was being wasted too. This really, really didn't go over well. My heart was beating like crazy the entire time. My former boss was furious, the HR person was furious. The security guard was cool about it though.