My family didn't encourage me to join a union when I started working and my mum wasn't active in trade unions until much later on life when she was established in her profession. My last job I really had an extremely diffcult time and it has damaged my confidence. I was the youngest employee in the department me being 25 at the time.
I was nice to everyone at work everyday, during Christmas I sent the entire department a Christmas card, always helped people when they needed assistance with their work but still my colleagues who I saw everyday couldn't be honest with me about anything and kept going behind my back to our boss. I struggled to fit in at work. Everyone was quiet,older and put up with the entitled customer base unfair unreasonable demands whereas I was not afraid to stand up to entilted customers if they went too far this shocked people at work and got labelled as a troublemaker by management. The customers we had were generally angry unpleasant people with the worst entitlement.
● My former boss swears casually and can be very combative if he doesn't get his way but at work everyone loved him as he was a very funny and charming man. I thought my boss was a nice guy because when I started my job he was very supportive of me but fast forward a couple of months he lashed out against me. It was so disturbing to witness. He blamed me for bringing problems ever since I arrived and kept belittling me when I tried to explain myself. It was devastating realising my boss will never respect me the way he respects other work colleagues. The managers in the room didn't even intervene when he sat there continuing to insults me and cruelly taunt me. My boss stopped talking to me at work when I stood up to him as it took way too far and talked to me again the day he fired me. It came out my boss was under investigation from authorities and lashed out against me because he knew it was all going to come out publicly and threatened his position.
● I had this one work older woman colleague who I thought was my friend and she knew my vulnerabilities. Everyone at work respected her and she was good at her job. I trusted her and looked to her when I had problems at work. I was at my lowest point in my life because I fell in love with a 55 year old man who broke my heart. She comforted me and then gossiped about me at work her gossip spread across the workplace which made my life pure hell. I got a reputation for being a young woman besotted with older men and laughing stock of the workplace. I was always good to her at work. She is a mother whoose daughters are my age.
When my work problems just spiralled out of control and I needed advice from I wasn't entitled to any of it under company rules because the advice staff represented trade union members only. I was stuck fighting alone at work until the very end of my employment.