Wheretofromhere62 Posted April 27, 2014 Share Posted April 27, 2014 2 weeks ago I was called into a meeting room with the owner of the company and 2 other people. The first words out of his mouth were yelled at one of the other people in the room and he said if she says anything you open the door the receptionist will call 911 and she will be arrested. He then said i had 2 choices I could quit or go back to my desk and do my job and if I decided to quit the one person would do an exit interview. I almost freaked. I knew I had done nothing wrong that would warrant this reaction. He screamed at me the whole time instead of talking in a normal tone of voice. He said he had emails and notes and I asked to see them but he told me they were company property and I was not allowed to see them. I had I will admit sent an email through private personal email accounts to one of the girls i work with. It was a draft of a rebutal to a meeting I had with the owners daughter on the Wednesday. I had googled rebuttal letters and it said to let someone you trust read it before sending in case something wasn't coming across as you wanted it to. I did not admit to or deny sending any email since he wouldn't show me what he had as I had not been ready to send this yet to the appropriate person. I was repeatedly called a liar and said what i was doing was illegal. I would never do anything illegal. After the meeting I had with the owners daughter on Wednesday after making unfair accusations that I did not agree with and saying to me my job was not in jeopardy is when I decided to write the rebutal letter. I had never felt my job was in jeopardy until that point. Before going home that night I had semi cleaned out my desk as I was not quite sure what was happening. He told me that the people in the company that I thought were my friends were not my friends. I am thinking ok. I really only talked to 2 other than work related issues. The one person present stopped the owner at one point and said a couple times they were not complaining about my job as I did a good job and they were happy with it. I was told outside forces were ****ing with my job. I have no idea what he meant by that. I will admit I did a very good job and was happy with what I did. I had asked whom I thought was my supervisor a few weeks prior to that that I want to discuss a raise. The owner yelled at me during his tirade and said there will be no raise. After 15 to 20 minutes he lowered his voice....stood up and asked for a hug. I am pretty sure what my face looked like. He then asked again to which i replied I am not a huggy person. He then said I love you. I am like what just happened here. I had never had an issue with anyone at work in the over the year I was there. I am thinking as the turnover is huge that someone took a dislike to me but I honestly do not know why. I went back to my desk but I was shaking and scared and was ready to upchuck. I emailed the daughter asked for 2 minutes of her time. I said I did not appreciate being threatened and was going home. My question really is not what to do with that whole screaming match as I did consult a lawyer. My question is how do I explain leaving my job without putting the company down or making a huge deal about what happened during the interview process. Link to post Share on other sites
ChatroomHero Posted April 28, 2014 Share Posted April 28, 2014 One thing I found is if you go to a competitor and you have already left your last job, they don't seem to mind hearing your last job had a toxic environment. You don't need to go in to much detail, but tell them the company's goals were unclear and since it is a father and daughter apparently running the company, you can sometimes just say the family dynamic made it a difficult environment. I always expressed that I liked my job and did not have a problem with the people or managers and made it seem like it was a tough decision, but decided it was best for me personally to move on. That way you are not bashing anyone directly but you put the burden on your former company of being vaguely dysfunctional and leading you to leave. When interviewing with a competitor they usually have a good idea about your company and have heard it before anyway. If it is not a direct competitor you can say it was an unsecure place to work financially. I did this once when I left a company that was late on paychecks and short paying. I didn't give details but more alluded to the fact that I couldn't count on a paycheck to be there on time and couldn't afford to continue to work there. 2 Link to post Share on other sites
Author Wheretofromhere62 Posted April 29, 2014 Author Share Posted April 29, 2014 Thank you for that information. I will not be going to a competitor as there are no other businesses in the area comparable. I am just hoping for an environment that is not that toxic. Do not think I can handle that ever again. Link to post Share on other sites
Kamila Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 When you can't reason with them, it's better to leave. Whether it's verbal abuse or other forms of unworthy treatment, it will gnaw at your self esteem. It's good that you're leaving, the next job will be more peaceful. Good luck with that. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
MsNo1 Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 Firstly - I hope it works out for you. No one needs to be exposed to that. I worked for a family company once and they were so mean when it came to pay rises - it was like I was taking food out of their spoilt children's mouths! Anyway, best advice I can give you is don't explain, don't complain. You are just looking for a new opportunity. Good luck x 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Author Wheretofromhere62 Posted May 8, 2014 Author Share Posted May 8, 2014 Thank you all for the responses. I have registered with a temp agency and they are putting their heads together to hopefully come up with something short and sweet. Again thanks. Link to post Share on other sites
Radu Posted May 9, 2014 Share Posted May 9, 2014 Thank you all for the responses. I have registered with a temp agency and they are putting their heads together to hopefully come up with something short and sweet. Again thanks. Sounds like an abusive pr*ck. I hope you do sue the bastards. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
reardon Posted May 9, 2014 Share Posted May 9, 2014 Seems you've already made up your mind. Good luck! Link to post Share on other sites
Author Wheretofromhere62 Posted May 13, 2014 Author Share Posted May 13, 2014 Starting a 3 month contract in the morning. Wish me luck. They didn't want an interview so I was spared the being closed in a room with strangers and the door closed. Hopefully when this is finished I will feel more comfortable going through the interview process again. 2 Link to post Share on other sites
d0nnivain Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 Good luck with your new job. For future reference if you use your employer's device: computer, phone, car etc. whatever happens belongs to the employer. As for what you say on an interview simply state that you wanted a change & wanted to expand your professional horizons. No one needs to know that you wanted a change from working for a crazy person. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Author Wheretofromhere62 Posted May 14, 2014 Author Share Posted May 14, 2014 Thanks Donnivain.....The thing is I had never used my work computer for anything personal. I know how it works. Link to post Share on other sites
d0nnivain Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 The thing is I had never used my work computer for anything personal. I know how it works. Ahhhh. . . . . yes you did or at least that's how I took this part of your original post: He said he had emails and notes and I asked to see them but he told me they were company property and I was not allowed to see them. I had I will admit sent an email through private personal email accounts to one of the girls i work with. It was a draft of a rebutal to a meeting I had with the owners daughter on the Wednesday. Since it discussed the owner's daughter that's how it probably got back to him. Link to post Share on other sites
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