Hindsight is a brutal teacher.

Looking back at my Round the Clock disaster with clear eyes, I can now identify at least a dozen warning signs I chose to overlook before I took the job and throughout the short duration of my tenure there. The truth is that most toxic jobs don’t blindside us completely. Usually, the clues are there from the beginning—we just explain them away or look the other way because we need the paycheck, want the opportunity, or desperately hope things will improve once we “prove ourselves.”

Had I done my homework, I might have avoided the whole mess.

But desperation and making quick decisions made in haste rarely work out well.

One of the biggest warning signs, if I had looked into it, even before my interview was the turnover rate.

Within a week of accepting my new position with Round the Clock, I noticed people seemed to come and go constantly, but I accepted the explanations I was given. “The job isn’t for everyone.” “People can’t handle the pace.” “We have high standards.” Toxic workplaces are masters at reframing dysfunction as excellence.

Now I understand that constant turnover is rarely random. When employees repeatedly leave the same environment, there is usually a reason. Healthy organizations may lose a few people here and there, but when entire departments rotate like revolving doors, pay attention. People don’t abandon stable environments in large numbers without cause. They especially don’t leave if their voices are heard and treated like they are valuable to the organization

Then there was the interview bait-and-switch.

The role I interviewed for and the role I walked into were not the same thing. Responsibilities shifted. Expectations changed. Promises became vague. What was presented as an opportunity for leadership quickly became chaos management and survival. It did not help that the day before I was to start work that the woman who held my role, was going to stay on for the next 6 weeks.  Essentially, I was sharing a leadership role with someone in the position I was to fill.

At the time, I told myself to be flexible. To be a team player. To stay positive.

But there’s a difference between flexibility and deception.

If major details about compensation, responsibilities, reporting structures, or expectations suddenly change during hiring, believe what you’re seeing. Organizations that start relationships by moving goalposts usually continue moving them after you’re hired.

The last-minute changes should have been another clue.

The offices I toured during the initial interview were new, beautiful, sunlit and lovely.  The office I was escorted to after a three hour wait in an unlit waiting room was in a dark dank foul-smelling hallway that contained only a rust encrusted desk circa 1950s.

And then there were the awkward interview questions.

You know the ones. Questions that leave you slightly uncomfortable, but you convince yourself you’re overreacting. Questions that hint at boundary issues, control issues, or a workplace culture built around fear rather than collaboration.

Sometimes the red flags are not what people say, it’s the energy underneath what they say.

Do they speak respectfully about former employees?

Do they seem oddly defensive?

Do they brag about how “hard” people have to work?

Do they describe burnout as commitment?

Do they expect loyalty before trust has even been established?

Your body often notices problems before your mind allows you to admit them.  All I knew was that within seconds of starting my job with Round the Clock Care, I had made a terrible mistake.

But the biggest warning sign of all was my boss’s well-known pattern of behavior.

People talked about it quietly. Stories circulated. Former employees hinted at experiences without fully saying them out loud. There was a recognizable pattern in how new staff were treated: charm in the beginning, unrealistic expectations shortly after, then criticism, instability, and blame once the honeymoon phase ended. In my case the honeymoon was over my first week.  In our first one on one meeting, I was shocked at the list of all the things my boss shared that I had done wrong is such a short amount of time.

And still, I convinced myself my experience would somehow be different.

That is one of the most dangerous things hopeful people do in toxic situations: we believe our effort, loyalty, or competence will protect us from patterns that existed long before we arrived.

It won’t.

A toxic system does not suddenly become healthy because you work harder.

One of the hardest lessons after getting fired was realizing that I ignored my own instincts repeatedly. Not because I wanted the opportunity to work so badly that I negotiated against myself.

And many of us do this.

We silence our intuition in the name of professionalism.
We tolerate confusion in the name of adaptability.
We excuse disrespect in the name of gratitude.
We abandon our own discernment because we’re afraid of losing the offer.

What I know now: the interview process is not just the company evaluating you. It is also you evaluating them.

You are allowed to ask hard questions.
You are allowed to research leadership turnover.
You are allowed to notice inconsistencies.
You are allowed to walk away from environments that feel wrong. Most important, trust your gut!

Not every difficult job is toxic. Not every stressful season is abuse. But when multiple red flags start stacking on top of each other, don’t ignore them, Have the courage to say “No” and keep looking.