I've worked in my current head of department role for several years now. The whole time I received constant praise about what an amazing job I've done and how I've been the best person they've had in this role. That is until this past year where we've had a new MD and it's unfortunately coincided with it being a terrible time for our industry where several similar businesses have been forced into closing.
No one is more aware of what a shit time it's been recently and how much our sales have been down and I've been desperately trying to do everything I can to keep us afloat.
The MD and rest of the management team do not care about that however, they only see numbers. They've made it abundantly clear that as far as they're aware I'm singlehandedly running my department to the ground. I'm constantly belittled and undermined. I've gone from someone who's confident and proud of their work to crying daily because I feel so broken.
Earlier this week they threatened to close my section of the company if nothing changes. Something that I fully understand may be a reality given the current climate but they've also been ignoring my requests for support and help for months. I've made multiple suggestions on ways we can diversify our offering to try help future proof as much as possible but these suggestions are ignored. My boss told me after this meeting that from now on he was going to work fully from my department to “keep an eye on me” (micromanage), and help me with sales. His sales suggestions so far (no exaggeration) have been:
- Deep cleaning
- Repainting everywhere
- Making sure I'm friendly (they like to remind me constantly that they don't think I'm friendly – something my colleagues can't understand).
He asked me to help him paint this morning to which I responded that I'm currently working through an outreach list. I was told that's a waste of my time and that we shouldn't be focusing on new business but instead on retaining our current clients. And the way to do that would be to make sure the space looks perfect as that's all they will need to be convinced to return. This is despite a) us not currently having enough clients (our main issue). b) most of our clients are currently repeat clients. c) the space isn't in a dire state and we've not received a single complaint from clients about it.
I instead had to do a deep clean and paint multiple areas, which has been fairly labour intensive. He also knows I can't do labour intensive tasks due to back problems I've had since before I started, so I'm now sat at my desk, typing this and crying as I'm in agony. This is the 4th time I've cried in 2 days. He expects me to do even more labour intensive work on Monday. I'm not sure I physically can. I'm 80% sure I'm going to quit on Monday even though I can't afford it. I've been applying to jobs for months and despite reaching final rounds of interviews on a couple of occasions have had no luck. I'll likely have to move back in with my parents despite being in my 30s. But I'm just so broken from being constantly put down and belittled and I can't deal with someone who is so delusional for any longer. I don't know what I'm going to do about my notice period (a legal requirement where I am) but I guess I'll deal with that when I get to it.