vcoolehdma's journey

I recently started a new job as a [specific role] at [company name] and I’m feeling really blindsided by the experience so far. I’ve only been here for two weeks, but it’s been quite overwhelming. When I first spoke with HR, they mentioned a 30-45 minute lunch break, which was shorter than my previous job's one-hour break but still seemed manageable. However, on my first day, I found out that the actual lunch break is just 20 minutes. This has left me feeling exhausted throughout the day. I also have caring responsibilities and had made it clear during the hiring process that I would need some flexibility. HR agreed to accommodate this, but when I’ve requested to work from home, my manager has denied my requests. He works from home three times a week himself, but insists that I need to be in the office for training with a colleague who hasn’t spoken to me since my first week. To complicate matters, I have pre-approved annual leave coming up, and my manager seems unhappy about it. He has changed the expectations from needing to be in the office for a month to now extending that period, which is really confusing for me. Additionally, I had a conversation with my manager about adjusting my hours from 9 to 5 to 8:30 to 4:30. He didn’t object at the time, but later brought it up in a one-on-one, saying I should have asked him instead of just informing him. Lastly, there’s been some confusion regarding my contract. I signed a document that stated 48 hours from Monday to Sunday, which seemed odd to me. When I asked HR about it, they explained that it’s a standard casual worker contract that they give to full-time employees as well. However, my manager thinks I received the wrong contract. I’m starting to wonder if I’m just being naive or if this is typical corporate behavior. This is only my second professional job, and I’m feeling quite exhausted from all the uncertainty. I even had ChatGPT help me draft an email to clarify these issues, but I’m just feeling overwhelmed.