Has anyone every worked under a truly vindictive and crazy person? What do you do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh, and her initials are EB.

4:55 here, her initials were EB in my case, too!

OP here.. was it at a financial regulatory body??

No, non-profit in the legal world. Maybe they're related.

[Anonymous]

Why, yes. He's a (formerly famous, now just ancient) TV news talk show host. He was comically mean. All of his employees totally bonded over it. He once hit an employee and got sued over it. And he was a notorious harasser of women.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I must admit that one crazy coocoo is good for office morale in one sense, in that everybody else bonds together against the looney-tune! I am still close friends wtih the other folks who worked there and we all had some good laughs and crazy's expense.

You better watch out with this one. I have seen this backfire as sometimes crazy will find a squealer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I have worked for a woman like this. She was crazy and vindictive. I avoided her for a while, but once she had her sights trained on me, that was IT. I was cooked. She told her superior that she hated me so much she wanted me to "wither on the vine." I'm sure she was mentally ill, and her superior quit shortly after that (he told someone who told me after he left). I had to quit, and even then she was enraged that I found another job with more responsibility. I didn't even tell her where I was going for fear she'd try to sabotage me, that's how crazy she was. After I left, she turned her sights on all the other smart, competent women in our office, and one by one, attacked them, until each of them left.

I don't think there's any hope for you, OP. Just start getting your future plans together. Build up your network, and plan to scram. You cannot win against a woman like this, especially if she has the support of her superiors. She most likely does not show her crazy behavior to her superiors, so they don't know about it (or maybe they think she's "tough" and admire her for it). Get out, OP. asap.

Here's my experience. Luckily, I didn't work directly for PZ, who was well known and loathed throughout the organization. She targeted about one female staffer per year. Terrorized male staffers, too, but her favorite targets were female staffers. One long-time employee kept track, and at a certain point the lost-job tally - before that employee lost her job, too - was in the low 20s. Then she started targeting upper-level people. That was her mistake. The upper level people had powerful allies. PZ ended up leaving the organization.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I have worked for a woman like this. She was crazy and vindictive. I avoided her for a while, but once she had her sights trained on me, that was IT. I was cooked. She told her superior that she hated me so much she wanted me to "wither on the vine." I'm sure she was mentally ill, and her superior quit shortly after that (he told someone who told me after he left). I had to quit, and even then she was enraged that I found another job with more responsibility. I didn't even tell her where I was going for fear she'd try to sabotage me, that's how crazy she was. After I left, she turned her sights on all the other smart, competent women in our office, and one by one, attacked them, until each of them left.

I don't think there's any hope for you, OP. Just start getting your future plans together. Build up your network, and plan to scram. You cannot win against a woman like this, especially if she has the support of her superiors. She most likely does not show her crazy behavior to her superiors, so they don't know about it (or maybe they think she's "tough" and admire her for it). Get out, OP. asap.

Here's my experience. Luckily, I didn't work directly for PZ, who was well known and loathed throughout the organization. She targeted about one female staffer per year. Terrorized male staffers, too, but her favorite targets were female staffers. One long-time employee kept track, and at a certain point the lost-job tally - before that employee lost her job, too - was in the low 20s. Then she started targeting upper-level people. That was her mistake. The upper level people had powerful allies. PZ ended up leaving the organization.

Wow I worked with a PZ as well who was/is absolutely crazy and vindictive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I have worked for a woman like this. She was crazy and vindictive. I avoided her for a while, but once she had her sights trained on me, that was IT. I was cooked. She told her superior that she hated me so much she wanted me to "wither on the vine." I'm sure she was mentally ill, and her superior quit shortly after that (he told someone who told me after he left). I had to quit, and even then she was enraged that I found another job with more responsibility. I didn't even tell her where I was going for fear she'd try to sabotage me, that's how crazy she was. After I left, she turned her sights on all the other smart, competent women in our office, and one by one, attacked them, until each of them left.

I don't think there's any hope for you, OP. Just start getting your future plans together. Build up your network, and plan to scram. You cannot win against a woman like this, especially if she has the support of her superiors. She most likely does not show her crazy behavior to her superiors, so they don't know about it (or maybe they think she's "tough" and admire her for it). Get out, OP. asap.

Here's my experience. Luckily, I didn't work directly for PZ, who was well known and loathed throughout the organization. She targeted about one female staffer per year. Terrorized male staffers, too, but her favorite targets were female staffers. One long-time employee kept track, and at a certain point the lost-job tally - before that employee lost her job, too - was in the low 20s. Then she started targeting upper-level people. That was her mistake. The upper level people had powerful allies. PZ ended up leaving the organization.

Wow I worked with a PZ as well who was/is absolutely crazy and vindictive.

PP here: I changed the initials of the person I was writing about; also, this person worked in another country. Not the same person as your pz, I'm sure!

[Anonymous]

I quit. Boss was looney. A real nutjob. She drove out the rest of the staff after I left. Finally, she was transferred to another agency. MInd you, she still had a job, while the rest of us had to fight to find other jobs. That's the government for you.

[Anonymous]

Start looking for a new position. It seems as though you are her next target. I was a victim of workplace bullying, unfortunately as well. The Director that drove me to quit was my actually Director of HR. After I left, 3 more people in my same position did as well.

Here are a few careersites:

www.indeed.com
www.simplyhired.com

Best of luck!

[Anonymous]

I had a horrible, mean, vindictive male boss. He picked on me. It was miserable. The boss above him thought he was great, and was no help. I was looking for another job. One day, out of the blue, he transferred to a regional office. This never happens! I eventually left, because all the bosses were bad in that agency. In fact, all of the staff left from my section - 100% turnover.

[Anonymous]

My mother works in an office where her direct boss is just nuts: yells, blames everyone, curses, etc. HR put the woman on probation - did not help. Over 2 years my poor mom aged worse than presidents do. Mom's looking for a new job, but it's harder in her age (50+).

[Anonymous]

I worked for and then with a female at an accounting firm. Batshit insane, TN, was. I can't tell you how many female employees she drove to quit. Not to mention her divorce and affairs.

So happy I'm not working with her any longer.

[Anonymous]

My favourite: boss invited me as (while i was an unpaid intern) out for drinks on my 21st birthday - and stiffed me with the bill. Did I mention he was a VP at Goldman?

[Anonymous]

Yes. Oh yes. I can't believe I stayed as long as I did. I should have left YEARS before I did. Years. It was the worst experience of my life. My former boss was a man and he was insane. Held marathon meetings into the late evening or on weekends. Required employees to be available at 9pm for phone calls. And so much more.

[Anonymous]

If you are going to have to work with this person, I would most definitely find a new job. I quit a crazy female boss a few years ago. It took me 2 years to quit having anxiety dreams about that job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I have worked for a woman like this. She was crazy and vindictive. I avoided her for a while, but once she had her sights trained on me, that was IT. I was cooked. She told her superior that she hated me so much she wanted me to "wither on the vine." I'm sure she was mentally ill, and her superior quit shortly after that (he told someone who told me after he left). I had to quit, and even then she was enraged that I found another job with more responsibility. I didn't even tell her where I was going for fear she'd try to sabotage me, that's how crazy she was. After I left, she turned her sights on all the other smart, competent women in our office, and one by one, attacked them, until each of them left.

I don't think there's any hope for you, OP. Just start getting your future plans together. Build up your network, and plan to scram. You cannot win against a woman like this, especially if she has the support of her superiors. She most likely does not show her crazy behavior to her superiors, so they don't know about it (or maybe they think she's "tough" and admire her for it). Get out, OP. asap.

NP. So how do you explain this to a new employer when this irrational crazy behavior from a supervisor wreaks havoc on your evaluation?