Boss treats me unfairly and obviously dislikes me

LegacyUser

Hey all, regular poster here going anon for this for obvious reasons.

I'm a student, working part-time in a fairly young, hip workplace in town [not gonna say where]. My job involves explaining stuff to the public and answering their questions. I think I'm quite good at my job; I'm good at explaining things, I really enjoy chatting with the people who come in, and I know my stuff quite well. Basically, I love my job, and it shows.

However, my boss appears to hate my guts. If I'm the slightest bit late, or if I'm not doing things absolutely perfectly [I mean, to a ridiculously high standard], she's on top of me and barking criticisms at me.

She doesn't seem to do this to anyone else, though - it appears to be just me. There are one or two other people there who hardly bother their arses, they just sit around looking bored, but she says nothing, and is perfectly nice to them. Similarly, a few of my co-workers have been really late to work, and she just laughs it off - but any time I've been late, I get a bollocking. She buys them food and drinks, but has never offered me anything of the sort, and I've been working there longer.

It's really annoying, and I have to say it really gets to me [I never thought I'd be that sensitive, but apparently so!]. I take pride in being great at my job, but I feel like it's pointless, because although I get on great with the rest of the staff, she doesn't like me, so the management are never going to hear good things about me. Also, if I ask for a reference, it's going to be coloured by her dislike. The entire thing is making me not want to work there any more.

Should I just cut my losses and quit, or should I say something to her first? I'm quite angry, because I feel she's being totally unfair and unprofessional. How do you approach a situation like that? It's a fairly student-y job and it wouldn't be the end of the world if I left. The money is nice, but at this stage, it's not worth the self-confidence issues.

tbh

the next time she does it, ask her why. If she's being passive agressive, it'll make her stop. If she has a genuine reason for doing it, she'll explain. Make sure you put on your most non-confrontational voice and ask her why it always seems to be you she is hardest on.

kmick

Stop giving her ammo - if my boss gave me a bollicking when I was late then id be 10 minutes early every time. Apart from that there is not much you can do apart from kill her with kindness. If it were me and I wanted to keep the job I would suck up horribly until she cracked. I would probably walk if I could find another job though - life is crappy enough.

cafecolour

Odd. Have you maybe been there longer than your boss? Did she hire the other two but not you perhaps? I once had a boss who basically seemed to make it a mission to drive out all the prior employees in a place and bring in his own people.

muppetkiller

It's funny actually i've worked in Many countries and Ireland is the only place Where I've experienced this kind of bully management tactics.

You really need to explain to your boss that you will not accept her unprofessional behaviour. If she has really has an issue with you ask her to explain it and that you will work to relsove any issues that you have.
If she pams you off say that if her continued unprofessional behaviour and rantings towards you continue that you'll be paying a visit to HR.

Prior to this send a message to HR detailing your managers actions to back yourself up.

I'd like to say that this Manager will get what's coming to them eventually but unless people like yourself report them , they will continue to make the lives of their employees miserable.

MizzLolly

cafecolour wrote: »

Odd. Have you maybe been there longer than your boss? Did she hire the other two but not you perhaps? I once had a boss who basically seemed to make it a mission to drive out all the prior employees in a place and bring in his own people.

This is true. Worked for an English company here in Ireland (well known cosmetics one actually) who are worldwide at this stage, money to burn etc and I've never been treated so badly in any other job. Apart from the fact we had no contract, were told there was no compensation for injuries, no maternity leave, we were not to join a workers union under any circumstances, no references for future jobs etc the place had a pretty cool atmosphere when I first started. Unfortunately, the boss who hired me left and a new one was appointed. She is a horrible, horrible person. Like your boss, she had one or two favourites and the rest of us were treated like dirt. Gradually, she managed to get all of the staff who were employed by the boss before her out. Through similar tactics to what you describe, like snide comments, personal remarks and on many occasions actually bringing some of the girls to tears on the shop floor. It's not a healthy environment for you to be in at all.

Sadly, I don't realistically think there's a whole lot that can be done to effectively stop this. Maybe the company I worked for were just particularly bad at dealing with this kind of thing but in one week alone, 12 of the workers walked out and when brought to the attention of the head office their only comment was something ridiculous like ''oh well friends usually stick together''. Now this situation was bad, very very bad. I was in A&E one day having been sent there by my GP and when I called my boss to say I was in hospital and couldn't make my shift she told me under no uncertain terms that I was to leave the hospital right now and be there to cover my shift or else. :rolleyes:

Of course I didn't and this caused weeks of snappy, snide comments on the shop floor about me being unreliable (despite the fact she had me doing supervisor work without actually giving me the supervisor position) Wagon!

Anyway, one of the girls had booked holiday days off and when she came back was told she'd have to reapply for her job as the boss had told head office she had left. Wasn't true at all. So finally, a group of us decided to give statements while this girl brought the company to court. The judge said it was pretty much our own fault for not having demanded an proper contract and told the company to cop themselves on and start working under Irish regulations. And that was it.

Can't say I've much faith in Irish law at all now. Your best bet is to call her up on it, without being confrontational and just ask why she gets so hard on you when others are getting away with doing much less work. Be prepared to walk though, sometimes it's the only healthy thing you can do for yourself in this situation. I know it's really unfair but the system just doesn't support workers in your position.

Good luck.

LegacyUser

I'd recommend documenting specific instances. Keep a diary and note down when an instance of bullying happens, the circumstances, her treatment of you and whether others can attest to the event.

If it ever gets to a point where you have to take it further, you need to be able to show dates and incidents of when the bullying occurred. It's hard enough in any context to demonstrate bullying, but if it comes down to her versus you/hearsay, then you can guarantee that the manager will receive more support than the (part-time?) student employee. If you have evidence, particularly if others can confirm the incident, you may be better off.