I lasted a whole 3 days on a new job with an abusive trainer. For starters I worked for free two full days as part of the companys "interview" process. Then I was assigned a trainer that constantly talked over me in front of the customers. I have 4 yrs expierence in the position. Talking over one to give the exact same information isnt very helpful.

Then on day 3 I asked a routine question & she responds 'You dont listen very well do you"? I said its alot of crap to take in during a short period of time. So then I was labeled an a-hole. After that the company didnt contact me for 7 days so I assumed thats grounds for termination. Also her supervisor took up for her. Since I had only been at this company a short time no harn done. But I will be seeing their HR director on the way out.

File a grievance with the state personnel board. That will back off the abusive supervisor. Oh, sorry. The article must be about private sector employees.

The woman who killed herself at work should have shot the boss first.

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Who told them about my boss !!!! She IS killing me.

Unfortunately there are some real a-holes to work for out there. Amazing how many people rely on some power trip to make themselves feel like 'the king' at others expense, using fear tactics against people. The same types also enjoy abusing small animals and stalking school yards looking for their 'prey'

The newspaper where I worked as an associate editor went bankrupt in March 10, 2010 and although I have been unemployed since then, the stress of unemployment is nothing compared to working for three years with an extreme bully for a boss. The problem was compounded by the fact that he owned the paper and so there was no one to appeal to. On a daily basis I was demeaned, called vulgar and insulting names, raged at and on several occasions was fearful that I might be physically assaulted. I prayed for the strength to hold on and it was only the grace of God that helped me hold on. I could not afford to quit the job as I am single and there was no one to support me but me. I did threaten to quit several times and he physically barred the door to keep me from leaving. As he depended on me and fully realized that no one else would have worked for him, I was fearful that if I did not come to work, he might hunt me down and physically harm or kill me; his rages were that intense. Only now, after two years of unemployment, am I beginning to feel that my health and sanity is returning. I'd rather be sane and unemployed than in a job where every day was a living hell.

With so much focus on bullying today, law makers ought to take up the issue of bullying in the workplace because it is an overlooked and serious issues affecting the lives and welfare of many people who have no recourse to stop the abuse.

Getting a new head boss and your supervisor tells you after they met with the new boss but not you, that the new person wants to fire you. Then continuing to do everything they can to make you look bad and the boss doesn't come and have a 3 way conversation.

Hard to understand why people have to be like this. If everyone supported each other there would be a well working organization. Not the back stabbing, false fronts and just being nasty. If you are an older employee it is rather hard to just walk away and some take advantage of this as well.

My boss will kill me one day from the behavior!

The art of workplace bullying so prevalent. In the past 10 years I have worked at several places and have resigned from each one. At the first one I was being sexually harrassed by my supervisor, (I was told as I was leaving, by a fellow coworker that he had done the same thing to others!), and when I shunned the advances his secretary watched me like a hawk trying to find some wrong doing. That one lasted 6 months. During that time I went to the Assistant Superintendent and the Human Resources Manager (who suggested that I needed to find a nice job in the private sector!) Two years ago they found this bullying supervisor dead in his car, he had taken his own life. At the other positions the supervisor was usually female and in one case I put up with her belittling my direct coworker almost everyday, while I just got her snide comments. I quit that one too.

I thought perhaps, through the years I just too sensitive. But it seems as though the experiences have left me literally unable to work. I have taken jobs, but like Willis-627874 experiences, during training it seemed as though the pattern was just repeating itself. I would ask a question and would be told "I just told you that" or "it's not my job to train you!" although I was asking about her client. I quit that one after two weeks. The latest one lasted 1.5 days for me!

I have a boss who is a systematic abuser. She asks a question, demands an answer, and any answer I give will inevitably be the wrong one. Her favorite thing is to point this out in front of all my co-workers. She is trying to make me quit, but I won't, and so the escalation continues.

As an addendum to the above note, it is worth noting that the above mentioned boss and I were the only two people who wrote and distributed a newspaper for 7,000 subscribers of a community newspaper. There was no one else in the office other than he and I and so no one witnessed the abuse I was exposed to and endured for three years. He also did other unethical things, like give by lines to articles I had written to fictitious people so that it was assumed more people worked for the paper than did. When the paper closed, he moved out of state and left owing any number of people. I do have to say, however, that he did not cheat me out of any of my pay. That is the ONLY positive thing I can say about my experience.

Your bullying boss may be slowly killing you

No doubt about that, but also take into account a bullying co-worker that your company is coddling and taking 'PC' courses to deal with. I say give them a warning and then fire them.

I swear that managers get training in how to be a bully. Many bullies I have worked for. I never was able to fight back, a symptom of ptsd, caused by child/sexual abuse. My therapist said that the predators know who to target. She is correct. I did fantasize about killing, but would never do it, although I did try to kill myself. Complainers just get fired

Your bullying boss may be slowly killing you

No doubt about that, and consider the bullying co-worker that has your company taking 'PC' courses to deal with. I say give them a warning and then fire them.

I also lasted a whole 7 days on a degrading,demeaning boss.(Nothing like he was at the interview he was the nicest,respectful,professional when he interviewd me)Well after I accepted the postion and started he told me he was "perfect" and everyone else shall live up to his expectations and I wasn't perfect...When I resighned I told him he made his 1st mistake when he hired me the coler drained from his face priceless....I usually can read thru things at the interview but this once had me fooled.Like ..onefallingleave.. stated I'd rather be unemplyed than working in that situation...we will survive I will always hold my head up high and never-never let them see me cry.

I think the problem is worse than reported. I've been bullied and harrassed in different work places. In one work place, the owner was a 95 year old and owned a few buildings in a large city - one day, when there was no one around, he quickly planted a kiss on my lips! Agggh! It was slimy! I pushed him away and yelled - what are you doing!? Well, he was the boss and everyone else in management was related to him so I couldn't complain. But he died like two weeks after that so... that was that.

In another place, I was bullied by a small beady eyed man. I hated him. He was constantly pulling up a chair next to me and claiming he had to sit next to me to ensure I was doing a proper job. The stress began to get to me and well, I didn't play nice and so I was fired. I told him I would run him over if I ever saw him again. I haven't seen him again.

I don't put up with BS anymore.

Sorry for double-post, my computer is acting like a dinosaur today and is see-sawing between XHTML and Easy Modes and is slooooow.

I don't intimidate worth a damn. The last boss that tried to bully me ended up paying for a houe the I picked out in another state at another job.(Or I would own his company)

I politely tell bullies to "pound sand"

Being a combat Marine veteran helps a little too!

I had a boss that thought the world of himself but actually had very little understanding of the world in which he lived. He was a bully. My advice to anyone with a bully for a boss. learn as much as you can. work as hard as you can, take on as much responsibility as you can. then leave and start your own business. but be sure to learn the lessons and don't make the same mistakes.

I can tell you that I have been a victim of workplace bullying. Like any other form of abuse, you actually end up trying to please the person bullying you, and even liking them - feeling that you deserve the abuse. The best thing that ever happened was to get laid off from that company. It revitalized a stagnant career and the overwhelming weight of the bullying was lifted - even before I found another job. This is a serious issue, and it requires some serious legislation. The company actually locked people in under abusive bosses - making transfers much more difficult for those who performed poorly. A transfer would have saved me months of abuse, and another department would have definitely needed my skill set - as a quick turnaround to a new job (even in a bad economy) indicated. By criminalizing and making these monsters liable for their actions - I believe the American economy would benefit enormously when every employee could find a niche where they are appreciated. We benefitted from non-discrimination and sexual harrassment laws in previous decades - it is time to end workplace abuse and bullying to reap the benefits that will allow. Too long management has been a haven for military commander wannbes, control freaks, and power hungry pipsqueaks. Invariably - they end up mismanging projects and hurting the bottom line of the company because they are so absorbed in preserving their little power center that they neglect the fundamentals of getting the job done.

We have an extreme bully down the hall at another government agency. She is in charge of about 8 people and runs them like I believe Hitler would. Last year she spent the afternoon yelling and demeaning one of her clerks. The clerk went home, had a heart attack and died the next morning - she was in her early 40's. Now, I don't believe her boss actually killed her but many in that department do. This bully has been reported numerous times but the union always steps in and saves her hide.

Now, several of the employees in the building wear pins that have "Bullying" under the red circle with a slash. I don't know that it does any good but it makes them feel better.

I worked under two supervisors because I worked in two departments. One supervisor was rather nice but had absolutely no power and merely kept her head down and did nothing to protect or support those who worked in her department.

The other supervisor was best friends with the #2 in the chain of command who had hired her. (The #1 in the chain of command was new to the community, a mere figure head and totally clueless.) This supervisor had married into a very rich and by that powerful family in the community. She made everyone's life pure misery. She belittled people to their face and behind their back and lied about people and events. She micromanaged everything, and even listened in on telephone conversations and even tried to tell people what to say and not say. She would scream at people when her wishes were not immediately gratified. I realized very quickly that there was no way I could work with her, and when I tried to speak to human resources about quitting one department and working part-time at the other I was told it was all or nothing. No one stood up to her and within 3 months I had enough. I looked for another job as fast as I could and then resigned. One after another people resigned. They, like me, quit very high paying jobs because no amount of money was worth the mental torture we were experiencing.

The department also relied on volunteers and people stopped volunteering. If people wanted to use the resources of that department they had to deal with her and people very quickly realized that it wasn't worth it. Shortly after I left, the department was closed because people refused to deal with her and thus refused the services of the department. I left the community and took a position elsewhere in the country and never knew what became of her, but I have no doubt she stayed on and made another department miserable. Some people quit without another job and she spread so much malicious gossip, it made it hard for them to find work in the area.

Personally, I hope there is a special ring in Dante's Inferno for the likes of such supervisors....

Moral of the story: it is better to find another job a.s.a.p. than put up with a sociopath. But find your job first, then quit. You don't want anyone mucking up your chances of finding another job.

There are some very abusive bosses, but I have to say that the other problem is that we have become such a bunch of thin skinned, hyper-sensitive wimps that everyone always feels "Bullied". Its the new buzz word for whiners.

I supervise over 40 people, from professionals to laborers. I'm never abusive, but I would estimate that about a quarter of these people are complete a-holes. They are abusive to their fellow employees, and when I'm forced to reprimand them for say, calling a co-worker a fat pig, I'm the one that is called the A-hole.

I have worked for fools like that, I don't take it, I usually fire them on the spot, takes them completely by surprise, I usually figure I am missing out on a good oportunity elsewhere, and that usually is the case believe it or not, I have walked out on fools that think they got you, and within a week I am at a job that I like better and co/workers that are more polite. Try it sometime, it feels great.