horrible boss abusing me

[krista28]

So I have worked in a company for 6 years now. I have worked hard and now am the second most experienced person within the entire company. About a month ago one of our key employees left and the owner, had a fit of stress.

She hired a new girl to be her right hand, and she emails her on weekends, has emotional freakouts on her, etcetera. It is very difficult. One day I had gone in and worked for free and then a couple days later I had come in and I was clearing out this basement ( that was full of mold by the way ) and I mentioned something to the owner about why we shouldn't be down there. She freaked out at me, and contacted hr, telling them that I needed to follow directions and other nasty things. Then I spoke to HR told them what happened but they did nothing about it. They blamed me. Then about a week later we all had meetings with HR and she asked me to write a list of what my tasks were and send them to her, another girl had to do this as well. So I sent it to her and I later found out shes been saying I want Me to have nothing to do with strategical work and only things to do with tactical work. Meaning low end things, which makes no sense. Then this week I went on this call I have been on for months, and because one of our employees left, she rescheduled calls for business development its called, and didn't even tell me it was cancelled. I went on the call and nobody was there. Then I got an email this week with new opportunities and asked to comment, I said I don't think I am to comment but I think this and this would be a good idea.... I was then shot down and told that I was wrong and that I wasn't doing a good enough job in that area. She has not only been doing this to me but it feels that she is targeting me because for some reason I am an easy target. I am not responding. She is telling other people they are not doing anything or not doing enough and they are working 14 hour days and weekends. Only problem is that there aren't a lot of good jobs in my area, and I am making a decent wage, I honestly don't believe anyone deserves this though, has anyone been there?

[d0nnivain]

You are the "victim" of a bad manager. It's not discriminatory because the boss is awful to everyone. Polish up your resume & get a new job. While she is there, things won't change.

 

 

If the basement is so moldy as to be dangerous, contact your local OSHA office & ask them to come check out the situation.

 

 

Never ever work for free. Your employer can't let you. Doing so violates various wage & hour laws & subjects your employer to potential fines & penalties. Do whatever you are going to do on the clock or not at all.

[preraph]

The fact she alerted HR makes me think you are on your way out as soon as they think they have an excuse to terminate you, so it's easier to find a job while you're employed and tell the new employer, No, you can't call my present employer because they don't know I'm job hunting, then to have to let them call them after you've left and get a terrible reference. So better be looking now.

[krista28]

preraph they have no grounds to fire me at all, and the fact that she is trying by getting me to bite and argue back....

That really speaks to me. she cannot afford to lose me right now, too many people are leaving. There is an extremely high turnover rate...I am not going to give her what she wants. And I have been looking for awhile now..

[Mr. Lucky]

a couple days later I had come in and I was clearing out this basement ( that was full of mold by the way )

 

shes been saying I want Me to have nothing to do with strategical work and only things to do with tactical work.

 

Is cleaning out the moldy basement strategic or tactical work ?

 

In a dumpster fire like this, not only doesn't this help your career but your efforts don't really help the company, they're lost in a sea of incompetence.

 

I'd turn up the "looking elsewhere" efforts a few notches...

 

Mr. Lucky

[preraph]

But they're already documenting at HR what you do as if it's something you shouldn't do. Listen, if your boss gets it in for you, it doesn't matter how good you are. If they want you out so you stop rocking the boat, they'll do it. Plus you need to see if your state is a "no fault" state. No fault states don't need a reason and the only things you can sue for are discrimination on race, gender or age. I recommend you go ahead and go to an employment attorney so you can be ready and also be doing what they recommend if you're going to stay where you're not wanted.

 

Now you say too many people are leaving. But in the earlier post, you said there's no jobs there, so sounds like she's have no trouble replacing you.

 

preraph they have no grounds to fire me at all, and the fact that she is trying by getting me to bite and argue back....

That really speaks to me. she cannot afford to lose me right now, too many people are leaving. There is an extremely high turnover rate...I am not going to give her what she wants. And I have been looking for awhile now..

[d0nnivain]

They don't need grounds to fire you unless you have a contract. They can fire you for any reason or no reason, just not an illegal reason.

 

The whole situation is toxic & the deck is stacked against you. Step up your efforts to find a new job.

[bathtub-row]

preraph they have no grounds to fire me at all, and the fact that she is trying by getting me to bite and argue back....

That really speaks to me. she cannot afford to lose me right now, too many people are leaving. There is an extremely high turnover rate...I am not going to give her what she wants. And I have been looking for awhile now..

 

Don’t ever make the mistake of thinking you’re irreplaceable. If you got hit by a bus today, the company would survive. If they feel threatened - either justly or unjustly - they’re likely to let you go. They can probably terminate for any reason or no reason. If they do fire you and state illegal reasons, you can sue them. But I doubt they’ll do that. They’re already covering themselves. You can contact OSHA and remain anonymous but they’ll likely know it was you. Best thing to do is start job hunting, get a new job, then call OSHA.

[krista28]

I appreciate the comments from everyone but I am not on the chopping block to be fired anytime soon.... at our company she’s gotten sued for firing people without cause so now she swings it by the lawyer.

She has abused others but I feel the issue and the reason she flipped out on me is because I offered my opinion and she just lost another vital staff member .......I am the second most experienced in the company and I know she could lose her temper and fire me but honestly it wouldn’t be in her best interests. Last week she freaked out and took me off of a bunch of projects then realized nobody else knows how to do them and tried to give them back to me only this time I asked if it was ok for me to decline as I am going to be getting really busy coming up. (Also she’ll probably get in a crazy mood and take them away again) getI had no reason to call any work safe office I was just tired of having to do it it was a job nobody else wanted to do and it was getting my eyes red and everything.

In short I’ve seen her treat people pretty badly and this would be one of those times. It’s hard when you are sensitive and you are treated so poorly after being there for so long. It’s been a really bad roller coaster for everyone there in the last month. Up and down and it’s hard to stay stable with that going on. She’s cut people down for working fourteen hour days and people have been working for free. I personally will say anything I can to keep my job for me but my loyalty feels kind of gone...

[bathtub-row]

Turning work down when no one else can do it? How, exactly, does that raise your value as an employee?

 

Regardless of whether or not you’ll be fired, the fact is, she’s a nutcase and you’d be smart to find another job. It’s not worth the stress of working around people like this. She’s capable of anything at any time. This puts you in the land of instability.

[krista28]

You are so right....girl she is nuts and making me unstable at all times.. everyone is going through her abuse at different times.....its VERY challenging.

[bathtub-row]

The only job I ever walked out of was working for someone like that. In the first 6 mos I was there, 5 people walked out on her. Literally, walked out of the office. One weekend, I decided I simply couldn’t go back and sent her a polite goodbye email. Two weeks later, I had a new job. Of course, I was in a situation where I could afford to quit but my point is, it’s not worth your peace of mind being around that environment. Don’t waste your years there.

[glows]

I'm wondering why you are here posting about it and not hastening greener pastures your way. What's the matter with you? I think you are too fixed and comfortable in your company and have laid deep roots but you shouldn't be too comfortable to leave and know what you're worth.

 

What did you learn while you were there? I'm suspecting that while you have skills within the company you've never actually questioned yourself about how you measure up against the industry as a whole. Are you competitive enough or as competitive as you think? You may the star in a company of duds but you're not that great in the industry because you've allowed your skills to fall to the wayside (too company-specific and not able to transfer your skills laterally). You should know what you're worth. If you're shaky about that you deserve to be in this company and stick it out a bit longer OR take a pay cut and work a different position at another company.

 

From your later post it sounds like you are just too comfortable or unable to make a move. For this reason you have no one else to blame but yourself for your predicament because you're not willing to make any changes.