Right out of college I worked for a small nonprofit and I had a good relationship with my supervisor. Apparently my coworkers felt it was too good and had a lot resentment about it, which I was too young and clueless to pick up on at the time. We had a staff retreat with a facilitator who opened up a discussion about communication that turned into a free-for-all about how much everyone hated me because I was the favorite and one person actually accused me of sleeping with my boss (I was not). No one actually addressed him directly and throughout it all my boss sat there absolutely silent because apparently he had been told by the facilitator to be a silent listener no matter what happened and he was rule follower. It went on for almost 30 minutes before I finally realized I could just walk out and so I did. The next day he apologized to me and said he knew he had handled it badly but he also felt we had to leave it all alone and not address it with anybody because the retreat was supposed to be a "safe space." I gave my notice a week later.

Interesting how many of these would not have occurred in a remote work environment.

I was hired to transform a department, but began uncovering lots of crooked contracts and nepotism. I think what they wanted really was someone to bring in shiny objects and tools, not someone who actually managed. Had started to job hunt when the pandemic hit and was stuck there, finally left and still cannot believe I worked at such a toxic place. It’s incredible to see how this place is one others think is amazing when coming in but, once you are inside, you understand it is the definition of a house of cards.

Anonymous wrote:My boss threw his blackberry in rage and it hit the wall next to my head.

I was cornered in the elevator and told “I want to be your boyfriend.”

Thank god these were like 20 years ago, but the first guy is still around, still managing badly.

This happened to me, except it was a water bottle. I decided to remove myself from his area and passively aggressively did all of my duties with email verification when items are completed.

They were in a rage but didn't have proper doc so they let me walk with 3 month pay.

My one company Deutsch Boerse the building is called “the cube”. It is 20 stories tall all glass and interior is open air concept 20 floors tap with a skywalk up on floor 20.

Some guy lost his life savings in the stock market crash of 2008 blamed the exchange.

He got into building went to skywalk and timed It till max employees in lobby and jumped. He went splat just missing like 200 employees.

People were freaked out.

My boss threw his blackberry in rage and it hit the wall next to my head.

I was cornered in the elevator and told “I want to be your boyfriend.”

Thank god these were like 20 years ago, but the first guy is still around, still managing badly.

Anonymous wrote:I got perp walked

Tell us more!

Do you think sexual harassment is worse than bullying? I am just curious. Or is sexual harassment that is obviously illegal and swept under the rug by HR, the worst?

I used to work at a service based company where I'd go into people's homes to educate them about our services and such. One time, the husband didn't like the first suggestion I had to fit their needs (literally just a suggestion they hadn't paid any more or anything) and he got in my face about an inch from nose an SCREAMED at me. I was a mid 20s tiny female. It terrified me.

I got demoted for continuing to escalate an issue of sexual harassment of my subordinate when my boss did nothing but ask the involved parties to avoid one another. Dude got fired in a big blowout 2 years later and nobody sought me out to be like sorry, guess you were right. It was about 5 years ago now and I’m at a new job but I’m still not over it!

I got perp walked

When I went to a new company and one of the women I managed told me she was assaulted at a work event at a hotel. HR convinced her not to press charges then discredited her reputation because “she’d been drinking at a work event.” (work cocktail reception for client, she had 1 glass of provided wine).

I couldn’t get over it. And saw similar patterns in how the company handled anything related to being a woman or minority.

I start a new job, and I’m supervising a team for the first time. I call a staff meeting and just basically tell them all how happy I am to join the team, goals, etc. The staff all go around the room telling me about their current projects, etc.

Then we walk out of the conference room and one of the guys leans over onto the wall. Then he sort of slides down the wall. I rush to him, trying to remember the first aid class I took a decade earlier, one of the other employees calls 911. He stops responding but is still breathing with a pulse. Ambulance arrives and takes him to the hospital.

He had a stroke and died the next day.

Omg yes so many!

2 jobs ago I had built a wing of the company. They hired a new head of sales and on his first day he told me he was ‘taking’ one of my female employees - I wasn’t even in sales - bc he had no staff. I was like - uh, no. But he screamed and tantrumed and screamed at me and mgmt let him! Then he continued to be abusive and awful and ultimately I quit bc I it was untenable. Then he had an affair w her (he was married) then they fired her (!) now they are engaged.
That is just one example

I've noticed there are more and more YouTube channels of people who speak about their past workplace traumas.

Have you ever had any work experiences you couldn't move past easily?