Hi fellow redditors, I don't really have anyone who I can share this with, so here's my story:
I graduated about 11 years ago and have been working ever since, I've switched jobs every 3-4 years when the work was no longer challenging and a better opportunity presented itself. My previous job lasted a bit longer than 4 years. The pay was OK and the work interesting at the time. My boss however was something else. She somehow got her position despite the lack of having a degree or any competence for that matter. My colleagues feared her and just went along with all her shit, I tried at first, but it didn't take look before I had my fill. I started questioning bad management decisions during meetings, trying to come up with constructive alternatives, finding more efficient ways in which to complete tasks, etc. Needless to say, that didn't really make me popular, I quickly become an outcast among my colleagues and a personal punching bag for my boss. She found creative ways of “punishing” me, like giving impossible tasks, giving trivial assignments that needed to be taken care of immediately 5 mins before closing time, making massive scenes/public execution when I made a mistake, etc. I tried to shrug it off, but the reality is that the experience left its mark. Looking back I was likely depressed for the last 3 years of that job.
At any rate I gathered the courage to leave and have been working somewhere else for the past 4 years. I love my current job, the pay is good, the colleagues are great and I feel like I'm making a difference. The organization I work for has recognized my ambition and has allowed me to grow even promoting me recently. My self worth was at an all time low when I left my previous job, and it took over 2 years before I started believing again in myself. Unfortunately, things are starting to degrae again. As fate would have it my current boss is a total turd as well. Due to the fact that it's a much larger organization I've been able to steer clear of his BS up until recently. My promotion forces me to work more closely with my boss and I am no longer able to outmaneuver his crap. Lately I've become the focus point of his ire. He is becoming increasingly more irrelevant due to lack of interest as well as his age and the younger generation is slowly taking over. It is clear that he feels threatened and now he sets me up to fail, gives me trivial tasks to assert dominance, sabotages my work, etc. A pattern that is sadly all to familiar. I'm starting to lose sleep again and have found it increasingly more difficult to motivate myself to go to work (despite still loving the job). My other “lower management” colleagues also receive the occasional blow, but they just laugh along and basically just bend over. Looking back at my previous job experience the path of least resistance would have created a more favorable work environment, but I guess I was to stubborn to give in, now history may repeat itself unless I just go along.
Which brings me to my question: Have any of you experienced this type of “bullying” by their bosses and how do you deal with it? Do you kneel or bend over? Any tips would be welcome.