Quote From: banks575I have a woman boss whom everyone thinks is wonderful - the big bosses love her she's a huge rainmaker. I have worked for her for 5 years. We are both professionals. I watch others who came to the company the same time as me advance while I don't get any reviews. I work for this particular bully and 3 other people (1 woman and 2 men). I absolutely love the work I do and I love working for the 3 other people. They are kind and great to work for and constantly give me positive feed back. The problem is that I was hired to be the associate for the bully. She is older never had children and is highly accomplished. I just had a baby. Don't get me wrong, the insults and screaming and downright rude behavior began long before my pregnancy so I don't think it's that I had a baby. When she is wrong, she is wrong at the top of her voice. I dread going in to work. She puts me down by saying things like "What would ever make you think that it is okay to put this provision in this agreement" or my favorite when I was pregnant "you're starting to look like pamela anderson, I think you should start wearing jackets." She used to constantly criticize my wardrobe which was nothing different than any of the other professional women I work with and we are not required to wear suits. She eavesdrops on my conversations and when I hang up the phone she screams at the way I handled something. It is so embarrassing when she screams and puts me down. I have visions of myself punching her in the face (I really would never do that). Today, she was out of the office I handled something for one of her clients who called me and needed an immediate answer, I ran my response through another supervisor who thought it was fine and i sent the response and cc'd my boss. Well, I guess as they say no good deed goes unpunished. She checked her emails and responded as follows "Did you even bother to look through the system to see my analysis." I didn't even know that she had analyzed anything. The client never told me that on the phone. I am sitting here crying contemplating what to do -- should I take the screaming and meanness all day tomorrow or, when she yells at me should I say, "I'm going to work from home today because I don't appreciate when you talk to me like that" (which I can do, but have never really done that) I will have to go in to work really early tomorrow to take her screaming before anyone else comes into the office. It is extremely embarrassing when she yells at me in front of my colleagues. I hate her. I wish I could quit but there are no comparable jobs in my area for my expertise - I am stuck.
My son had a cook that yelled at him alot even about stuff that happened on days he wasn't there. I worked in the same restaurant and it took everything I had not to go and slap her but I let him take care of it. I did buy him a pocket tape recorder and told him to record one of her rampages. He never had to do it, just showed her the recorder. I also researched hostile workplace and printed it out, giving a copy to the cook and to our boss. This stopped that behavior pretty fast.
It is against the law, what she is doing. You have the right to expect more. Keep records of what was said, how it was said and how often she yells at you, making it a hostile workplace. Record her tantrums and take it all to her supervisers. Tell them how much you enjoy your job and the people who you work with. If they are worth their weight they will talk with her and putting her on notice about that behavior. If they aren't, then you can either talk with a lawyer about suing her and the company, find another company, or keep putting up with it but learn to not put a lot of weight in it.
