AIBU to think many people on MN and in life in general are confused about the purpose of a HR department?
They are not there to mediate disputes or to support employees with grievances against bosses or colleagues. That is the job of a trade union.
HR departments exist for the company, not for the employee. They will always be looking to minimise the impact of any situation on the company as a whole. In general you should think really carefully before taking something to HR because not only will it be on your permanent record but you may not get the response you want from them.
HR is not your friend or your confidante, they are there to serve the interests of management, they are not profit generating departments so they have limited influence when it comes to ‘making’ managers do something.
That’s not to say that there are not many excellent, people motivated, good people working in HR, they definitely are.
Of course if you have a problem of sexual harrassment or something that needs to be whistleblown, HR can help you. But I see so many threads on MN where the problem is ‘my boss sneers at me if I leave at the time I’m supposed to’ or 'the guy next to me eats smelly fish every day' and the answers are always ‘Have a chat with HR’ and it makes me cringe inwardly. What do you think HR will do? Why do you want that on your record at the company?