This has turned into a much larger share, but I wanted to give as much info as I could without revealing the company I currently work for.
Background: I started working for this company in an AP/AR role to help with overflow in both departments. Because my position was essentially created, I wasn't nestled in either department, but one that does not define my role (without getting into specifics) My direct manager (I'll call her Sally) and I got along great at first, though she would shit talk people to me and has a reputation for using retaliation as a weapon. I had not experienced it firsthand yet, so I tried to stay away from the drama and concentrate on my role. So in the beginning it did not effect me, but when COVID began, I became one of Sally's “targets”.
It seemed to start because I would not engage with her when she would complain about people and say negative things. At this time, office morale was at it's lowest and it became common to hear my coworkers doing the same shit talking, sometimes with their respective managers referring to their coworkers. This has actually gotten worse. While I realize how unprofessional this is, I just began keeping to myself more and more (which COVID helped with). Who wants to socialize with people saying awful things about coworkers out of earshot?
Sally came into the office with COVID, and the following week 60% of our in office staff had it as well. One of my coworkers reported her to HR for that, and she began targeting him. I have a text from Sally complaining about coworker to me, while naming the head of our HR dept.
Sally began using a new vendor during COVID who was waving several red flags that I brought to her attention. Namely charging double to triple more than other vendors we use, subbing out the work (against their contract with us) and her disappearing acts. This went on for about 15 months, in which she “had a stroke” had COVID twice, and 5 of her techs died. This woman sent my coworker a hilarious picture of her trying to pretend she was in the hospital.
When we got the last batch of invoices from this woman, the dates on things were clearly altered and I said no way. I told Sally I would not process these invoices without looping in her manager, which of course infuriated her. We work with Life Safety equipment so this is serious if the work is not being done. Our customers could face huge fines or get shut down due to this. We did not end up paying the last batch, and they completely disappeared this time.
I did not mention before, but it is important to know this vendor had a near identical name to us. Think if my company were named EFG and they were named EAG. Sally had never called or emailed me about paying vendors before. As I said, she was my manager but her dept. had nothing to do with billing. Sally called me on 2 occasions to tell me to prioritize EAG's invoices, which was odd on top of the other red flags I was seeing.
So the months go by, and we begin to see the damage. We are getting collection calls from vendors who we had no contracts or prior relationship with, other than seeing their names on EAG's paperwork. Customers are calling asking why such and such wasn't done and the Fire Marshall is shutting them down. Sally began to accept invoices from these 3rd party vendors and tried to slip them through, emailing them directly to me which is NOT protocol.
I noticed immediately and looped in the AP head of our branch (Liz). She has also been a target of Sally's in the past and currently. Not wanting to deal with Sally lashing out at me for bringing this over her head, I asked Liz to. Her manager (Paul) agreed with us we can't pay these and it's fraud. Our customers began getting liens on their properties and shut downs. So they had to admit this to our corporate office and get the lawyers involved.
Ever since then, it's been straight hell with her. She can't complain about my work because I am good at my job and take pride in it. I won't name everything because this is already long enough lol It all came to a head back in September when I had just had it with her bullshit. I asked to meet with Paul. He came into my office, and I said I could no longer work here if I continue with Sally as my manager. It was not a surprise to him, many people have complained to Paul, he just doesn't do anything about it. He heard me out then asked me if I could give him until December. I begrudgingly agreed.
The next morning, Sally walked into my office unannounced with a notepad and a smirk saying she was here to “observe me”. This has never happened before, ever. This was clearly her reaction to me going to Paul the day before. She pulled my spare chair up right next to me, within a foot and asked me what I do. It worked, I was flustered. I emailed Paul about this and got no response.
Sally is also responsible for payroll for our office, I'm not sure why. September to December are very busy months for me, and I tend to work overtime which has never been a problem and never been questioned. Well, she questioned me one Friday, so I asked her to clarify what the OT policy was. I also stated I felt offended that my hours were being questioned when she was aware of this and never questioned me before.
She came STORMING into my office shortly after slamming the door behind her. She went from berating me for saying I felt offended and demanding I take it back to asking me questions to which I would begin to answer and she would cut me off. I lost my composure at that point, I'll admit it. I yelled over her ARE YOU GOING TO LET ME ANSWER OR CONTINUE YELLING AT ME???? That made her calm down that she got a reaction from me. She sat in that other chair in my office and slid as close as she could to me. Smiled and said “My whole team complains about me to Paul like he's going to do something about it”. Shocked that she said it aloud I replied “well, if your whole team is complaining about you, don't you think it's time to take a look at yourself?” Still smiling, she said no, got up and slowly walked to my office door. Sally told me to have a nice day and walked out.
This is when I finally went to HR to officially complain. I laid everything out for them, even sent a 12 page outline of the last 3 years. Told her Liz had all the documents proving the fraud I outlined, and the people within earshot of my office the day she came in yelling. They told me this is whistle blower stuff. Liz was more than happy to help and awaited their phone call so she could give them the documents. As I kept my other coworkers at arms length, I didn't expect them to go against her.
But Lisa had the proof of fraud, and they NEVER called her. We were both furious. HR told me they spoke to Paul, and it had all been sorted out. That's why they never called Lisa. Sally was right about Paul, he wasn't going to give her up. Sally seemed worried at the beginning of the investigation, but she was only spoken to for not setting up a time to observe me rather than springing it on me. That's it. It's only emboldened her.
Since this, I have become persona non grata there. Paul has not responded to my emails or talked to me AT ALL. We happened to come in at the same time one morning, and he was desperately pushing that elevator button when I caught up. He did not want to get stuck on the elevator with me lol.
Sally also introduced to our “team” a “one remote day a week” policy starting in January. I was not included in the email or offered it by her otherwise. Retaliation! So I emailed Paul about it and stated this was a perfect example of why I went to HR in the first place, if I'm to be on this “team” why wasn't I included etc. I made it clear I didn't want him to fix it, just for her to find another way to retaliate. I was just letting him know. I also forwarded this email to HR and asked it be put in my file. No response. I was shocked.
Obviously I am updating my resume and want to begin looking. I wanted to clear up year end and leave my accounts in good standing. But obviously I've burned my chances of getting a decent reference from either Sally or Paul. I do have a couple other people there who would have no problem giving me a solid reference so that's good. But I would like some advice on how to handle this during an interview. If you read this far, I appreciate you. I'm really at a loss here and don't know how to start my search. I'd like to be gone by January if I find the right fit. I appreciate any advise on this in general, but especially how to navigate that question of “Why are you leaving your current job?” or something to that effect.