Back from April to August 2015 I worked as a groundskeeper for a private golf course. This particular golf course is known for hostile work environment. The owners and managers of the golf club are known to be emotionally and verbally abusive to me.
One of the managers Savage had both hips replaced. He takes it all that on us as if we caused it to happen. He has a lot of anger issues.
Here are some of the things they have said and/or do that is considered emotionally abusive both to me and other employees.
– Savage relies on fear and intimidation. Savage comes up behind him and scares me while I was in the middle of work. I jump as I get startled, and he didn't care. He gives me orders for certain tasks after purposely scaring me. Whenever Main Boss or Savage come up to me, they scare me all the time. Savage swears and yells at me constantly. He likes to scare you with his temper and get the work done. He glared at me a lot. If I make a mistake on one little detail, he criticizes badly on your job. If I go to the wrong bunker, he screams off the top of his lungs. He snaps at me when you don't understand a task. Every time he shows up, I freak out and try to be careful.
– Both are known to mock employees. Savage kept telling me the bad things about my employees. He kept saying that the other coworkers don't do much work and they all need to go and jerk off in the woods.
– They tend to be scolding and shaming both me and my fellow coworkers. They were screaming angry at me for getting hit by a ball while I was in the middle of working at a golf bunker. I did not know a ball was coming to hit me. Both of them were angry at me for getting hit by a ball. They never said if I was ok.
– One time I was mowing a green and MB saw that I was struggling with the turns. He used his patience to teach me how to turn the mower easily without doing much work. Savage drove up to me and scold me for not knowing how to use the mower properly. Robert taught me well, but it was Savage who was the first person to teach me. MB had patience with me, James did not. He was angry at me because of that.
– Another thing. When I punched out from lunch the other day. I made a mistake on the clock and had to go the correct time of my lunch on a sheet of paper. Savage was constantly yelling at me for one simple mistake. I said I was sorry but that did not help at all.
– I had been struggling to learn how to use the greens roller and a greens mower. It was hard to us and Savage just yelling at me for not using it right. His temper did not help me to concentrate.
– They do not support me. Not one single bit. They do not respect me. I do whatever they need me to do. I try to respect them and they don't really care at all.
– They don't communicate well to me. When we were coring the greens one day and my group was assigned to go to specific areas. There were other groups that were in the holes we were supposed to go and apparently, I was in charge of the whole group without both of my bosses telling me. James got angry at me because they did not tell me I was in charge of my coring group. James or Robert never told me that I had to be in charge. Poor communication there.
– Both of my bosses were screaming and shouting over little details I could see in the golf course.
– They made me work outside in the middle of a thunderstorm. The computer did say it was cleared. But the sky was not, and it was still raining. There were flashes of lightning in the clouds and MB wanted us to resume of mowing duties despite it still thundering with flashes of lightning. Luckily, no lightning hit us, and we were alright. I felt it was dangerous for us to be working outside while there was a storm passing through.
– During our coring, I was supposed to get more sand of the cores. I filled my cart too much and it flipped over while I was going uphill. They were able to get the sand back into the cart and I drove back to my coring crew. The next day the managers and coworkers were laughing at me because of that accident. I really did not appreciate that. I could have ended up in the ER.
I couldn't take it anymore. So, I quit in the middle of August, breaching my contract with them. I didn't care as they didn't care for me.
I finally got a better job were my new bosses appreciated the work I do for them, and I grew to be the best employee they have.
So, my advice is never work at a golf course.