I just ended my first year in this industry / product line, was the number one sales person (youngest by three years on the floor) for the month and I was fired. I was fired because they sensored an email that I had sent to another company asking if they had any sales postions open. I had not sent out any resumes etc. I was on their web site looking at them as my competitor and wanted to know how sales was going for them. Whatever……this was the reason they gave.

The real reason came down to the fact that when one of my managers yelled at me, after she made one of my customers cry….literally cry….I yelled back. This was the first time that I took my power back and told her to stop, I told her she was mean and completely out of line.

I have complained about her snide, cruel, condensending behavior, constant f this and f that, bi-polar super sweet one minute, throwing your files at you the next, complaining loudly about this person or that person, gossiping and trying to embarress or humiliate people, and then switching over and acting really helpful, and fun, buying lunch etc.

The answers I would get when I would just get so sick of it and complain to my other managers they would say, and I quote, “you don’t want to go there”, “thats not a bridge you want to burn”, and “I know….thats just the way she is, you have to figure it out”.

I am glad that I do not work there anymore. However, I have never been fired before. I am crushed, and cannot seem to come to terms with the fact that even though I did a great job at the job I was hired for, my customers loved me, and my co-workers became really good friends, I was fired.

I listened, and then hinted that it wasn’t the time or place to discuss this. Now office tension is high. Can I tell this woman that, because she said she was updating her résumé, I assume she’s given notice?”

What if you are the one that most of the office leaves out of socializing and you know for a fact that you have been the target of gossiping, badmouthing, and you have been overlooked in the dissemination of important information needed to do your job well and advance — if this woman was actually crying, it is pretty cruel to turn around and try to imply she gave notice just because she updated her resume (PS. I always have an updated resume visible in my office, it means nothing from my end.) I have tried to get feedback from management several times as to why I am left out (not by calling them at home and crying, though, but by having a calm one-on-one meeting), and I get zero response, just pat phrases like, “Oh, everyone says you are nice and an asset to the department.” Then “everyone” proceeds to once again not invite me to Happy Hour, not speak to me all day at work, not include me in informal spontaneous hallway chats where you find out what is really going on with everyone — yes, I have tried to be assertive a million times and join in, the last time, of the 4 people chatting, 2 of them turned and left the minute I walked up to the group.

What’s my point? That management should not condone the negative behaviors, and should be honest with the employee involved about why things are the way they are, because believe me, the “problem” employee may not know why they have been left out of the team.

Perhaps that behavior is being stimulated by bad leadership. Tension and strong pressure at the leadership level, without any EQ, can certainly bring out the worst in your workforce.

It may not be the employees you always need to fire, but rather the boss instead.

Unfortunately that kindness was taken advantage of by a colleague who would come in late, leave early, and take sick leave if she had to take her cat to the vet.

Instead of taking this one lady on one side and telling her kindly but firmly to pull her socks up, the bosses sent round a memo to all of us – tightening the rules.

The lovely relaxed atmosphere went down the tubes. People were unhappy and the office became a toxic place instead of a happy one.

The lazy team member eventually left – but the damage had been done.

Moral – nip staff problems in the bud early and make sure you address the troublemaker direct – don’t splatter the rest of the team with mud!

M

My own research indicates that as many as 1 in 20 employees exhibit these behaviors. This behavior is related to certain attitudes such as vindictiveness, entitlement, being judgemental or adversarial. These attitudes, when they are held in the extreme are related to disruptive workplace behavior. Fortunately they can be measured before someone is hired.

No one should have to put up with workplace abuse.

Dale Paulson, Ph.D.
http://www.workplaceattitudes.blogspot.com

Generally true observation – but a slippery slope used by management to curtail opposing opinions – i.e. “Don’t be so negative” even though managements expectations of the situation are completely out of line with reality. I was one a project that mid management swore up and down to senior management could be done in 6 months when the team knew that was impossible and 10-12 months would be more realistic. If management heard us griping about it we would be “counseled” 1 on 1 about “not having team spirit” or “being a team player”. Turns out we (who worked hard anyway) we’re right and mid-management was sacked for bungling the project so badly.