Moving On
A reflection one year on from Surviving bullying in the workplace
I was crouching in the corner of the living room last week and it dawned on me that my old workplace was perhaps the most insincere place I had ever been in, let alone worked in. I wasn’t crouching, crying or scared. I was crouching with a paint brush, jabbing the brush into the join of the skirting board and damming them to insolvency – or something worse. Big of me, I know.
It was a work environment where those that spoke directly were punished if what they said wasn’t what senior management wanted to hear. Staff learnt to ‘smile’ and not say anything. The business was delaminating. Staff briefings began to be a charade. People would nod and appear attentive as the boss spoke, while silently, on Messenger, memes and GIFs would ping about the room. In fairness it was a way for staff to cope.
I wrapped the paintbrush in cling wrap, poured a generous dollop of paint into the tray and gently worked the paint on to the roller.
Author
Written by a friend of Self unLimited who bravely shares the raw poignant details of their experience, so they requested anonymity in the publishing of this content.
(Amended) Photo by Bernie Almanzar on Unsplash
Wow! thank you. Beautifully written, almost a ‘how to’ guide for getting over a terrible and toxic work experience. I appreciate you sharing this so much. I can relate too, of course as so many people can. It took me years to get over my last toxic work environment, and I still get angy occasionally 4 years later and have fantasies of…….never mind. What struck me was how diligent you were at putting time and effort into processing this ‘getting over it’ rather than just avoiding it or filling in time. This is the annoying thing that it actually takes time to get over something like this, it doesn’t just end because you leave. Thanks for sharing, this is a great resource! Best of luck for your future – not that you will need it.