Im an admin / glorified receptionist and my work place. An upset colleague (UC) told me they were being bullied by their department manager (DM). And wanted to raise a complaint against them.
UC specifically requested that I did not go to the General manager (GM) because GM and DM seem to have a close relationship and UC thought it wouldn't be dealt with professionally.
I told UC that if they didn't want the GM involved I could only talk to HR, they agreed and I did.
HR comes in a week later to take some statements and at the end of the day pulls me into a room to talk to me about it. They basically chew me out for not reporting directly to the GM and wasting their time.
They say at the end of our talk that she will have to write a report about it but that she can already tell me that the outcome will be that the home needs to follow procedures better.
Nothing about the bullying, nothing about the fact that UC feels uncomfortable with talking to the DM and GM. Just that I went about it the wrong way by trying respecting what UC requested of me.
The talk with HR was yesterday just before I left for the day, I spent most of last night crying and dreading coming in today.
I've decided I'm not going to try to help in anything in the future, it's not worth it and I'm not paid enough to be brought to tears for trying to do the right thing.