I was just watching a documentary on a truly awful, abusive boss in hollywood, and my heart is just breaking for the former employees.
I've had many bosses and managers in many different work settings and different fields. Some were OK, many very hands-off, some were pathologically bad, and a few actually took seriously the importance of guidance, training, feedback. About 10 years ago I very abruptly left a workplace that was extremely toxic. At the time I had low-enough cost of living that i could take terrible pay for a temp gig in a kind of rehabilitatively re-humanizing minimum wage, chill environment until I found something more livable financially. It was actually very healing. I still have warm memories of that job.
Back to the documentary. In a creative field like show biz, there are some people with influence and resources who are able to take people under their wing, get them their first break, etc. This got me thinking. Does anyone have stories of someone who's helped you recover from a terrible work experience? Since this is the antiwork sub, I imagine most of us have done/are still doing a lot of things to try to heal/cope on our own time and our own dime. Have you gotten support from anyone/anywhere that you found particularly healing? I have dealt with a lot of physical and emotional pain, anxiety, and anger from bad work experiences. I have a fraught relationship with any boss (categorically) and work in general, mostly as a result of my bad experiences at jobs. My pain and issues w work have also been mitigated some by a small handful of good people I've worked with/for.
Aside— I have philosophical/political quibbles with work, wages, and capitalism, to put it so very vaguely. In this post I am more interested in talking about work primarily through the lens of trauma, interpersonal exchange, and lived experience.