My broker sends us a "motivational" email every Monday morning that's basically a passive-aggressive newsletter about everything we're doing wrong. Last week's gem was titled "Are You Actually Working or Just Updating Your Instagram?" and included a bar graph showing our sales numbers compared to "industry standards" that I'm pretty sure he made up. But here's the thing—this man hasn't personally closed a deal since 2019. He comes into the office maybe twice a week, always carrying a smoothie that costs more than my commission split, and spends most of his time "networking" which means having lunch with other brokers and complaining about how agents today don't hustle like they used to. Last month he pulled me aside to critique my listing photos and suggested I "really study" how top producers market properties. So I studied them. Turns out three of our "top producers" are literally his wife, his nephew, and a guy who brings him coffee every morning. The favoritism isn't even subtle. It's a whole family business disguised as a brokerage, and I'm basically paying desk fees to fund his smoothie habit.