You know perfectly what's going on. They are management (upper caste), you are worker (lower class), hence you _deserve_ suffering. Next life, be born upper management you filthy lowcaste.

"Doing their job" involves maintaining a feeling of power over you. You acquiescing to their arbitrary requests satisfies that.

That's exactly what happened to me during lockdown - hired at a bank on a fixed-term contract, purely by phone interview. When I started, they required me to work on-site because I wasn't permanent staff and therefore had to be supervised, except my manager wasn't on-site and I was there for over 2 months before meeting him in person - they were actually quite strict about separation because they were worried about the operational risk of an office outbreak.

It wasn't until I broke my toe and was told by the doctor to minimise my walking they they allowed me to (technically temporarily) work from home...

Yeah, same. Just left a company where all the guys in the trenches were mandated in the office, but the management was allowed to work from anywhere. Assholes.

It may feel like an order (That's an order ensign!), but it's a request, you can say no, they can fire you or grant you your wish, you can leave or grant them their wish.

But agreed, it's really shitty and I wish nobody would be in a situation where they feel like they are effectively ordered. I feel it's a result of your country's (US or India, right?) lack of unions and employee protecting labor laws.