I have worked a few “big-boy” jobs by now, and I have worked and interacted with countless people during my times at these jobs. I have read about the topic of workplace bullies before, which lead me to think about who would be the closest thing to fit the description of a workplace bully. A workplace bully is someone in the workplace who engages in verbal, physical, or psychological abuse towards another employee. I have talked about some previous employees in one of my posts about changing jobs, and there was the infamous microwave story where a former co-worker told me that the microwave in a vacant office is more important to the company than me. I want to talk about another former co-worker of mine whom I have had dealings with. For the sake of this blog post, I will name her “Sandra”.
Now, on the surface, I think Sandra is a nice person. Our surface-level interactions were pleasant, and if there was anything work-related that needed both of our assistances on something, the working-relationship was generally okay. As I got to continue working with her, there was the developing of two separate thoughts in my mind that highlighted symptoms that she might be a workplace bully.
The first thought is that Sandra is fiercely territorial of her specific duties and responsibilities in her position in our department and in this company. If any of us had to do anything that fell into her responsibilities, she will actively pull you aside and have some choice words for you. There were more than a few examples when myself or someone in our IT department had to go assist someone (when she was busy) and she would get angry that someone in our IT department would do something that she would not like.
The second thought is that Sandra has a lust for power within the company. She saw herself as someone who wanted to be the boss of the IT department (even though she is not) and would try to act as such to myself or other co-workers. My boss at that time (the actual IT manager) was the nicest and most understanding person, and she was the opposite of that. Sandra was controlling and certainly did not exert any of the positive qualities that my boss had. I remember telling some of my co-workers that if Sandra ever became the IT manager and I would have to end up reporting to her, I would hand in my resignation on the first day of her new role.
Now, I would like to tell you of an incident which gave me the confirmation of these two thoughts in my mind:
I start my shift early at this job, and when I came into work during a particularly bad storm one Monday morning, there was a flood in the working area with water still leaking from the ceiling. Many of the workstations were at risk of damage, so the order came in from senior management to temporarily move these computers from the main working area to other rooms. After a couple more of our co-workers came into the office, we moved the affected computers to other rooms so that the people who would normally sit there can continue working. None of us were networking experts by any stretch, but we were able to move the computers and get them operational so that there was not a big loss in productivity. I would say that we did a great job considering the circumstances. Sandra conveniently called in sick that day so she was not there to help us.
The next day, she comes in and tells us (the people working on the issue yesterday) to meet her in the IT room. We go in, she closes the door behind us, and then she proceeded to angrily criticize us for not setting up the network or the computers the way she wanted it to be. Now let me remind you: she did not come into the office to help us, and this was an urgent request from senior management, which supersedes anything she would tell us to do (which she did not have that authority in the first place). I remember telling my boss about this incident and I just felt so defeated the whole time because none of us had any malice or anything like that. We did the best that we could during a difficult situation, and her default action was to scold us because we had to do something that was part of her responsibilities, and because she wanted to exert the power over us that she thought she had. This incident permanently changed my opinion of her for the worse. This is not how someone who wants to be a leader should act.
There were also other minor incidents with Sandra, such as times where she would come into my office just to start an argument about some inane thing, and I would have to pretend to call someone so that she would get the hint to leave my office. You get the picture that I am trying to paint about her.
After writing this post, I have concluded that Sandra is a workplace bully. She was not verbally or physically abusive, but her bullying was psychological by nature. Sandra’s need for power and influence created this inflated ego within her where she felt like she needed to be the boss, and she targeted those who she thought she could control, causing emotional harm to other co-workers. I thought about my interactions with Masia from when I was in college, and how she would be authoritative, confrontational, and engage in micromanaging practices. There are similar qualities in Sandra as well, but she was more willing to play office politics and perpetuate drama within our department and in the company at large. She was a good worker, but I believe her hidden intentions for our department were more sinister in nature.
When I left that company, the last I heard about Sandra was that she left the company shortly after I left. I hope that she is improving herself and hope that she is not terrorizing some other poor co-workers with psychological workplace abuse.
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