There's a bloke at work who is one of our senior managers (although not mine thank fuck). Tonight when leaving work in the basement carpark he ambushes me and starts laying in using various threats e.g. I'm giving you one last chance to sort this out and if you don't...blah, blah. Funny thing is what he told me hadn't ever surfaced before today. I've a good work track record and in the last five years I've been consistently on the upper end of the performance curve. Now it seems I'm being used as a convenient scapegoat because this dickwad has missed his performance target. I must admit that tonight I really felt like decking the twat. So now I've got that off my chest I'd be keen to hear if any of you gentle folk have your own stories of workplace bullshit from bosses that you can share.
I have, but not enough time on here to tell you about it. The long and the short of it, I left, before I did something which would have put me in the big house! I was not getting anywhere at work with it, so rather than let it eat me up I moved on... LIFE is to short.
I work for a company that is sub contracted out to a Bank. The company i work for is a service provider for IT support etc and the direct customer has a rather interesting way of dealing with staff (Contract Staff). The manager of the department (Customer) has his own FTE's with use contractors bolstering his staff, the Contractors do the BAU function as this is the higheste turn over of work and if the targets arent met we are punished and in some cases we get the threat that we are contractors and he can have us removed from site. I have been on the end of a direct chat with him and tbh you can tell when he hasnt had a drink for while as he tends to be more wound up when stone cold sober, he has said if my targets werent met then he would ask my line management to relocate me to another contract, which in essence puts me at risk of redundancy. This kind of bully is old school and has only got to where he is due to the upward spiral of unemployment. I hope you manage to sort your issues out.
When i was first starting out in the legal profession I worked in a team of 5 with this ginger woman of about 40 who was a complete bully. She deliberately employed young kids so she could do just that, thinking none of us would ever dare to question her. I had enough one day and told her to “stick your job up your arsehole you horrible ginger c*nt”. She went absolutely ballistic, threw a pint glass of water at my head which I ducked and it smashed into a computer screen, then as I was getting my bits out of my desk drawer to walk out, she steamed over, kicked the drawer shut and slammed my fingers in the drawer. It took every ounce of self control not to knock her out there and then. I’m not saying I was an angel cos I wasn’t by any means, but her behaviour was in-excusable, even back then when there wasn’t so much emphasis on personal rights and all that. I didn’t complain but a year later I heard she’d started bullying this young girl who replaced me. Her parents went to the firm and complained and after an investigation she was told that unless she attended anger management courses she wouldn’t be allowed back to work. She refused, left the firm and I’ve subsequently heard of her doing it at a number of other firms since. Leopard/spots etc…. Give me a shout if you want to sound off about it, its a horrible experience and you shouldn't suffer it on your own. Red675
I can hand on heart say I've never been bullied in my work place and that includes when I first joined at 16 and a bit. I had one of the bigger boys attempt it in training but my first instinct was a swift headbutt to the bridge of his nose. Busted. Watching him trying to do PT with a busted face was brilliant. He couldn't report me either as there were a room full of witnesses to his attempt at bullying. He'd have been kicked out. He was a cunt and didn't last long anyway. Fuck the bullies, bully back harder. I can't offer any better advice than that I'm afraid. I wouldn't not do anything about it though mate, he'll just keep doing it until you break and quit. Of course, I wouldn't walk into his office and snap his shit up. People might see Tony b
a few years ago now when i was but a little nipper in the work place, i found myself the outsider in business which was infested by a clique group, this group spanned all the way from floor staff to the second tier managers and the group itself made my life misery. i eventually went to the general manager and put in a complaint. by this time a couple of colleagues who were not in the clique had witnessed a couple of events and i knew i could rely on them for statements. long short of it, 1 person was fired, 5 were on final written warnings. From the a couple of months later 2 were subsequently dismissed from following disciplinary. if i was in your situation, i would try to record the next conversations you have with him. failing that, keep a log of what is said and when. find out who you need to put the complaint to and put it in.
Everyone has such long stories I'll keep mine short...our very current boss calls us monkeys and says we don't do enough work even though we slug our guts out everyday! Screw the management here now why bother!
It's simple, put a written complaint in to HR or your immediate boss. People keep getting away with this sort of thing because people put up with it. Don't wait for it to happen again, it might be the first step in constructive dismissal and your complaint will nip that in the bud.
My former boss who just died was a complete bully on the job, and a complete saint off the job. Then he suffered about four heart-attacks and calmed downed....he'd just been so stressed at work and was venting, albeit in the wrong direction. I used to play it to my advantage....I'd force an argument every Friday morning - these would turn into a violent shouting match....then when he went to leave he'd feel bad and give me an extra $100...I did that for years!!
I had the unfortunate experience of having an unqualified colleague promoted above me in my twenties, simply for the reason he was older and a mate of the MD, from that point onwards he picked on myself and another lad, we were the only properly qualified people in the whole place and our our work was flawless - unlike his. This went on for months and I ended up taking some of my frustration home causing problems with my home life, I couldn't leave as I'd got a large mortgage and a new born baby to provide for. I had had an offer of a job from the company that supplied equipment to my employer but they weren't paying enough, but one day I was told to repair something cheaply & unsafely - I refused and this guy was in my face, the red mist came in and I was ready to hospitalise him, suddenly the thought popped into my head that if I hit him it would follow me from place to place and I may well have problems getting work. So I turned around and walked away. Moments later he'd got the MD out and stood behind him grinning whilst I was read the riot act. That night I phoned the other company, and accepted their offer and explained what had happened, they knew what this guy was like and gave me the job; a cursory interview and medical pending. I handed in my notice within a week - right after I'd received the letter of confirmation. A huge weight came off my shoulders. I was banned from entering that company as long as the old MD was alive, he died 15yrs later and I was asked back to fix a problem on one of my "new" employers pieces of equipment, by this time I had moved up the ladder to Senior man in the South of the UK. It turned out that the guy that was the reason I left had alienated everybody, as soon as the old man died and his brother took over he was demoted to the lowest job in the workshop, he subsequently left and went to several local companies, never lasting more than a few months, it seems as Red says a Leopard can't change its spots. I loathe and detest bullying in any form, I've experienced someone attempting to bully me since, but experience teaches you how to deal with these creatures, again the person responsible was demoted to the lowest position in the office and failed in an attempted Constructive Dismissal case, a more useless individual I have yet to meet. Bullying comes from insecurity, use that to your advantage when dealing it. DG.
I loathe bullies....I was bullied very badly at school until I took up boxing, rugby, etc. and learned that just because I look a little different, talk a little different, doesn't mean I can't kick some ass. I showed up at my first rugby practice and two of the toughest kids in my school were on the team....did they bully me? Hell no, because truly tough kids don't need to....only the people that feel a deep inadequacy stoop to that level of behavior feel the need to do that sort of thing. I did boxing when I was about 14-15...the coach put me in to spar with some 27 year-old gorilla one time who was twice my age...and my size. I feckin' decked that guy....he wasn't a bad guy by any stretch, he was great....he told me afterwards "I can't fight you, I just can't handle the switches (I'm ambidextrous)"...I'll never forget that guy.
I hate bullies of all descriptions. They are usually inadequate at their job, school work etc. and cover this up by threatening those better than them. Personally have never been subjected to bullying but have seen it and told them what I thought of them. These reality tv programmes where u see these managers shouting their mouths off etc. make my blood boil. Just an excuse to let an over rated twat get their 15 mins of fame. Unfortunately I don't think people like Gordon Ramsay have helped. Yes he's a great chef and makes interesting programmes but people see this and think "if he does it then so should I". I did have a manager once that would send emails 3/4 o'clock in the morning and then claim he didn't expect others to be working these hours, but he was up because of his baby. Yet it did put pressure on us as all he ever done was bang on about the hours he worked. My comment was he ought to be more efficient and get his work done in the hours allocated and if he couldn't he was either too lazy or unable to delegate! Don't think he liked this
If your one of the top performers then I doubt anyone higher than him would say or do anything, I would point this fact out to him or higher and tell him that it's not you that's under performing it's him. I no exactly what you mean about decking the dickhead I had a similar issue with a foreman at a place I worked at he really put me down in front of a few work mates for what I considered to be no reason as I went to explain calmly he told me to shut up and that I knew f###k all which is possible true but then I was absolutely fuming.and walked off before I did smack the wig wearing muppet, mulled it over on my dinner break then walked up to him and asked him if I'd ever spoken to him like that he said no i said that's right I haven't and the very next time you speak to me like that again I'd make sure after he'd finished he'd be sat on his arse on the floor. I we t straight in and told the manager what I'd said and that it might be better if I left, he said don't be silly he's a dick ignore him. Funny but after that I never had a problem with him again and got on really well, not best mates but would occasional have a pint
I was a manager at mine and the MD tried making me redundant after he fudged another x11 redundancies I told him I wanted to step down!! Anyway he arranged me to meet HR . Day before they was meant to be in I threw a memory stick at him it had all the info an emails on from how the guys was hand picked rather than doing a score matrix etc !! Let's just say I stayed and stepped down he had to leave 6 months later place is still shite to work for but been there 12 years so hang on for a payout before I go !!
my boss used to bully me at my previous job...he'd be right in my face calling me every unmentionable name you could think of...always telling me how shite i was at my job....piling work on me that he new i didnt have time to do, then shouting and swearing at me for not doing on time...i practically stopped eating for nearly three years, lost over 4 stone in weight and was physically sick every morning getting into my van...i had 6 days of total stress every week, working 11 hours plus...i couldnt get another job as im not qualified in anything and the employment situation down here isnt good so i had no choice but to put up with it...i did think about sorting him out, man to man, as it were, but decided against it as i would now be in nick for killing the c'nt....the end result was a heart attack and 2 1/2 months off work on SSP...thankfully i now work directly for the people we used to sub contract to...no stress and my new boss is one of the lads...happy bunny now and my old firm is on the verge of going bust....karma is a bitch innit
I was sacked by a workplace bully. I was the company lawyer, he was the MD. They had appointed me as a trustee of the pension scheme, expecting me to tell the other trustees to quit whining about the company refusing to pay more into the scheme - it had a huge deficit. But in fact I went native and told them that they had to sort it out. They didn't like it and after one particularly stormy board meeting (that I attended) I was told to clear my desk. I had the last laugh. I took them to the Tribunal for unfair dismissal, but I didn't need to take it to a trial because they caved in Edski675
Interesting comment about Gordon Ramsay, because I don't consider him a bully, although I do appreciate the ethic of what was written in regard to reality TV....first time I saw one of Ramsay's shows I was like "WTF?"...the difference is that's just his style of encouraging people to do better, not necessarily putting them down so he himself feels better. You'll see that kind of stuff all the time in sports coaching..."Come on ladies, stop putting on your makeup and playing grab-ass, and take to the field!!" D.
I have always deplored bullying, ever since first observing it at school. Almost all bullies have learned their conduct from observing it first hand. That is not to defend their behaviour, but an observed fact. Furthermore a lot of bullies use their bullying to relieve stresses that they are unable to control. (Eg, the overwhelmed "little man" at work will often go home & bully his wife ). I have my own thread to post on the subject, but will give it some consideration.....
I've never bullied, or been bullied. Though, I have to admit, reading through this thread has had a significant impact on my blood pressure. The fact that so many of you have been bullied, and done absolutely nothing about it only propagates the problem. I don't care what all the hippy, psychology ***** say, a little violence can solve a lot of problems. I can't speak for everyone, but I'd rather end up on my arse from a bit of violence than suffering heart attacks. Not to mention, nothing is learned when nothing is done. There's law, and there's legislation, huge difference. EDIT - the law here is that the c word is not allowed, hence the *****. Ed
