Is work place bullying common and what are your experiences with it?

I could not comprehend being bullied, as I am the narkiest bastard of narkiest badtards, but it does happen, usually by the jumped up wanna be manager types.

anewme wrote: »

I could not comprehend being bullied, as I am the narkiest bastard of narkiest badtards, but it does happen, usually by the jumped up wanna be manager types.

The types who bully up as well.

Usually get recommended for promotion by their browbeaten manager who just wants them out of their hair or off their back.

Experienced it in a large organisation years ago. Ironically, it peaked during the year they won a 'Best Place to Work' award.
Horrific experiences that I'd never tolerate now. Sad to think when I was in my early twenties I reached out to HR but they turned a blind eye and like a poster above mentioned, they circled the wagons and made it out be my problem rather than address the issue with the staff members in question. Left when I was told I moving back to work under someone who I suffered abuse from prior to her maternity leave. Begged not to be put in there, but they tried to reassure me it was temporary and only because I was 'so good at what you do'.

The thoughts of dealing with someone who spent her day talking to 'the voices' that nobody else could hear & thinking about her exploding when I didn't answer her 3 am calls or messages about mundane stuff like upcoming mailings etc really took its toll & I ended up going on sick leave from a low-paying job that myself and my parent that I was a p/t carer for desperately relied on for money. Horrible experience.:(

I definitely think the the structure of the organisation with admins clearly lowest level on the ladder meant that we were just easy targets and any abuse that I reported, no matter how serious, was considered just whinging. Admins, I guess were disposable to them. Having someone reveal their weirdest sexual fetishes to me (in a closed situation he had called me into) in front of his female boss & senior female colleague and the women acting like it was perfectly fine and not supporting me was just the norm. That guy's female boss is now the director of the organisation so I guess that as an organisation, for all the training and focus on change and adapting to new business environments etc the place itself hasn't changed a bit.

The day that I (on sick leave) found out that I got the job in my current place was genuinely the best day ever. Just knowing I didn't have to go back was such a relief that I swore I'd never tolerate that behaviour again. if an employer wants to turn a blind eye, I'd turn my back and walk away. Work takes up so much of our time and our thoughts it's important to feel happy there. No matter how good a place you're in, being an employee means you are replaceable. Great as my current place is, salary wise, conditions, annual leave etc. I'd still put my own mental health and well-being before the job.

Glad I'm in a much smaller organisation which is well-run and any behaviour that's out of line is dealt with directly and in a really fair manner by management. I sometimes look at current place and think it's karma (good kind) for all the cr*p endured in previous places. Sometimes I find it amazing that I got through the whole experience and ended up in such a sweet place. it obviously still has its odd dodgy character (the type who'll try to put others down to make themselves seem better during meetings before putting their hand over their mouth like a toddler and pretending to be all innocent, like 'oooh that comment just slipped out :rolleyes:) but they're kept in line by the really direct, honesty of others. Luckily there's enough good people there to outweigh the odd bad apple.

I'm not talking about illegalities but has anyone ever resorted to going around HR to solve a bullying problem?

Foreman said to myself and another apprentice 'you've got heads on ye like two stupid f*cking turkeys looking into a field".

IAMAMORON wrote: »

In fairness there is a difference between name calling and bullying. Everyone gets called a name in work. The fact that yours is "stupid ****ing turkey" is unfortunate. At least he said it to your face, I am sure you can deal with it.

When your foreman starts trying to make a fool of you to your colleagues, or when he threatens you with your job or makes you genuinely feel that you are worthless and you are genuinely hurt by this, that is bullying.

I'm lucky I've never dealt with anything too serious.
The same guy will f and blind at us all day but he's not threatening, just insulting.
No one even pays attention to him anyway.

I had a qualified lad take a disliking to me, he was getting me to walk 15 minutes to and from the stores 'grab me a nut will ya', and when I came back 'oh grab another nut too'.. he had my number but you wouldn't mind that as an apprentice.
It's when he was saying sh*te like 'give me that knife, wouldn't trust you with a tweezers', 'go and grab that, don't think too hard about it now ya stupid pr*ck' and 'don't touch that (electrical, high voltage) that'll kill ya, some wouldn't give a sh*te but don't make me walk up to the offices.