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Does work-place bullying happen at any type of job?


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Does work-place bullying happen more at low-paying jobs-people with no education/no degree or at a job where the majority of people have degrees/higher positions/make decent money?

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No. It can happen at any type of job. And what I've found is that whether it goes on depends on how good and unbiased and attentive the boss is and whether they will do something about it. I had a case of it with a major bank and my first manager wrote it up but didn't do anything to stop the guy. Then got a new manager, who was actually higher-level and he put a stop to it immediately.

 

Had another case where a girl used flattery to suck up to all the men and climbed over all the women -- but she truly didn't do a lick of real work. And she really messed up my career because the men enjoyed her flattery too much to do anything about her.

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Shrugs. The higher up, maybe the more underhanded it is.

 

In engineering, I found it to be pretty rampant for a while coming from baby boomers towards younger millennial types, but maybe it was just the company.

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Just go to your boss and tell she or he there is a dysfunction behavioral verbal abusive employee within this company. That will wake them up! Let them deal with the that sort of person. Then they'll come back to you and say. We have spoken to that person and he said he won't do it again" Do you feel you can work with this person again. Best to say no. I feel threaten at work with that person. When saying this that boss will have no choice but to fired that person. To keep the peace in the company.

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Some companies make a huge point of telling prospective employees that sexual harassment will not be tolerated, though bullying by that term is rarely addressed. I, personally would think it comes under the same category, but obviously some others do not.

 

Bullying, sexual harassment etc depends on the people who do it. In that sense, since any career / job can have any personality type working at it, then it stands to reason that it will happen at any type of job. Again, it's up to management to set good ground rules coming in.

 

Now if you or someone you care about is being bullied at work, the solution is the same as it was in school: Bully back. Bullies are typically low self-esteem people who try to make themselves feel superior to others by demeaning them. Inside, they have fragile shells and can't take what they put out. Usually as soon as someone stands up to them, they will not only stop bullying that person, but will suddenly try to be their new "best friend". Just always remember what they did to you and how it made you feel. Maybe knowing this about them you may feel compassion for them. Maybe you will want to be their friend. Maybe they could use some because they probably have few. That part is up to you.

 

I wish you well in this. Situations like that can make working very unpleasant, and yes, the boss needs to know it's going on. Send an anonymous tip.

 

Ken

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it definitely happens at any job..and like another poster stated..the more professional the position, the more underhanded people can be...

nothing like getting stabbed in the back/bullied with a smile on their face..

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Yes, work-place bullying happens at every job. It can happen to anyone, at anytime. It also happens in academia, online in forums, and the corporate world.

 

What work-place bullying looks like:

 

  • Verbal abuse - humiliation, intimidation, threats
  • Work interference - sabotage to prevent work from being completed

 

What motivates work-place bullies:

 

  • Need to control the victim
  • Is started by bullies who strategize time, place, bullying methods
  • Set of acts that does something to the victim or with-holds a resource that the victim needs
  • There are negative consequences for the victim and positive consequences for the bully
  • Bully escalates the situation to involve others who side with the bully; either through coercion or voluntarily
  • Undermines the victim's livelihood or success when the bully's personal agenda takes precedence (in the bully's mind)
  • Is like domestic violence in a workplace or academic environment because the bully is on the payroll

 

A bully online has coerced several people to bully me on their behalf. Since it has stayed online, I have chosen to ignore it. What those people do is beneath me, frankly. If they want to slander me to each other, go ahead. I have friends who care about me who respect me.

 

An academic staff member bullied me so badly 2 years ago that it compromised my progress in my graduate academic program...to the point where I had to go before a board of 12 academic faculty and staff after filing my complaints through the proper channels to appeal my case. Did it shut down the bully? Unfortunately no, it didn't. It was like appealing to a brick wall. Even if I'd been able to afford a lawyer, I would likely have lost. When you're a student trying to hold a university staff member accountable, it's like the Bobby Fuller Four song, "I Fought the Law and the Law Won."

 

That's why it's important to arm yourself with information when you encounter a bully...whether the bully is online, at your school, your workplace, or whever. There are resources to help you deal with bullies. It's just a matter of finding those legal resources.

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There are bullies in every job. Even in schools. Our whole board of PTA moms were so nasty and bullied other parents that their own kids bullied other kids. And we wonder where these kids get it from.

 

In my opinion, you need to stand up for yourself at the first sign of bullying. If you don't you are basically giving them permission to intimidate you.

If you don't like confrontation this can be difficult but you have to stand up for yourself!!

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It has been my experience that this tends to happen at lower wage retail jobs, just because you tend to get a lot of high school kids working those jobs or people with little skills. Sometimes it can happen in office environments if there are a lot of catty women. (I don't see this trend as much with men). For me bullying tended to happen more at retail jobs for said reasons.

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Yes it happens...

 

Read my thread in this section of last week..

 

I used to work a retail job next to college..got bullied (called names and gossipped about) by a group of people and hit by the girl who had instigated the whole thing..They were all fulltime retail workers with no degree. While that doesn't say anything, the fact that they were working fulltime there made the store to be their whole life. Their bullying and gossipping about me was kind of obsessive as they just couldn't let it go.

 

Awful experience

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liquid_amber

in my experience, it happens when there aren't a lot of jobs available and employees are desperate for the job. when there are a lot of other jobs available, people are less likely to tolerate bullying because they know they can easily find another job. so if they're being bullied at work, they're more likely to stand up for themselves or quit. but when they desperately need that job because there is nothing else out there, they're more likely to put up with bullying. i know this from personal experience. it is not a good feeling, but there really is no answer.

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I'm in professional, licensed career and the last job I had was for a company with a very sought-after reputation internationally. I was bullied by one of my bosses and one of my coworkers was forced to quit because she got pregnant. Might not be legal, but it happens. I left after 8 months.

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