I’ve been thinking a lot about workplace trauma this week. Not the dramatic kind you see in the news, but the quieter, more insidious type that leaves you staring at your ceiling at 3am wondering what the hell just happened.

Someone shared their story online recently about being walked out of a senior role six weeks into their probation period. No warning. No feedback. Just a Monday morning tap on the shoulder and an escort to the door. They’d literally spent the previous two days in a leadership planning workshop, contributing to the company’s strategic direction, only to be told “things aren’t working out” and handed a box for their desk trinkets.

There’s something darkly comedic about watching a major bank accidentally reveal exactly what they think of their customers. ME Bank managed to do just that this week when they sent out what I can only describe as the most tone-deaf interest rate increase notification in Australian banking history.

The message was meant to inform customers about a rate hike. Fair enough – the RBA moves, banks follow, we all know the drill. But the wording? Chef’s kiss of corporate incompetence. “We are pleased to announce… we’re passing on this rate increase in full!” Followed by congratulatory language and what basically amounted to “Congratulations! You now owe us more money! 🎉”

I was scrolling through a discussion the other day about a new platform where AI agents can hire humans to do tasks they can’t complete themselves. Yeah, you read that right. We’ve officially reached the point where artificial intelligence is posting job listings for meat-based workers. The future is weird, folks.

The concept is actually quite straightforward: an AI needs something done in the physical world or requires human verification, so it coordinates with actual people to get it sorted. Need someone to check if a package arrived? Verify some information in person? Mix some chemicals? (More on that terrifying thought in a moment.) The AI becomes the manager, humans become the workforce, and crypto handles the payments because of course it does.