I just need to vent, I’m so angry.
I quit my job at the beginning of August due to workplace bullying that my direct supervisor obviously didn’t care about. It’s a long story with a lot of drama, but whatever. I quit and submitted an application for unemployment and it got approved because they investigated and agreed that my workplace was so toxic I had to quit.
Well, they changed their minds and are now apparently disagreeing with my reasons for leaving. So that means today, I got a lovely phone call from Barbara (fake name), a dedicated employee of unemployment, to investigate.
Barbara asked for my version of events. One of the biggest issues I had is that my direct supervisor was aware of all of these problems for MONTHS, and did nothing (and continues to do nothing, according to people who still work there). Well, Barbara, who has never met or talked to my supervisor, kept saying “well I don’t understand why your boss wouldn’t address these problems if you brought them to her. It’s her job. It just seems unlikely that she would ignore them.” I don’t f*cking understand it either Barbara, that’s sort of why it was a miserable environment.
Other notable quotes included:
“It doesn’t seem like you took the appropriate steps to address these issues.” Well Barbara, I talked to my direct supervisor, HR, talked to the girls I was having problems with individually, had a mediated conversation with one of them, and brought up the issue in team meetings. Who should I have contacted next, God?
“Your supervisor is denying all these allegations.” Do you honestly expect her to admit to being incompetent at her job?
“Honestly, it sounds like you just gave up.” Screw you. I went into work everyday for over a year with people who openly disliked me, gossiped about me, and actively tried to get me in trouble. The stress was so bad it was effecting my physical health.
“If you were truly doing nothing wrong and they were the problem, I don’t understand why you didn’t stick it out.” Because they were cutting my pay and I’m already living well below the poverty line. Because I was directly told that if one more person complained about me, I would be fired, regardless of the situation or my side. My supervisor was apathetic at best, her boss probably legitimately gets off when disciplining anyone for anything, and my coworkers hated me. Screw you.
She is taking what I said back to my supervisor to get a “revised statement” and then she’ll call me back. They want over 2 grand back, and I’m literally living paycheck to paycheck.