Bald-faced lying seems to be the name of the game in HR. My first significant encounter with any HR organization ended up with me catching them in a lie trying

Bald-faced lying seems to be the name of the game in HR. My first significant encounter with any HR organization ended up with me catching them in a lie trying to manipulate me into signing something (I never did sign it). I was astonished by how ready and willing they apparently were to try this strategy on me. It was a good learning experience, in retrospect, and I'm glad that I did not fall for it. This was at a company that generally treated me alright and was staffed with generally reasonable people, so I can't imagine the Kafkaesque nightmare that it must be to work at a notoriously chaotic, evil company like Uber, especially as a woman (which I am not). The lesson, as so many other people in this thread have already said, is that HR is not looking out for you. Keep your own counsel and get everything in writing, and prepare for their attempts to bully and gaslight you into a marginalized position.