Bullying in the workplace

steddyeddy

I work in academia and in an institution where bullying is rife. I haven't been targetted luckily but I work with a technician who bullies several people and got away with it. A senior academic, also involved in the bullying has protected this guy. The university is hesitant to do anything about it as the academic brings in good grant money to the uni. It's a shame as this academic has lost 4 PhD students as a result of her behaviour. I worked in all sorts of jobs from construction to healthcare but academia seems to be the worst for this. Is there any other type of work environment where bullying is present?

Stacksofwacks

Yes it does happen in workplaces but also there are workplace harassment laws what kind of bullying are you talking about specifically? Just because it is not happening to you dosent mean you shouldnt report it, because then you are enabling the bully

Car expert

People that are being bullied need to remove the dildo from their hole and wake up and stand up for themselves. This isn’t first class school.

Captain Red Beard

I have friends who are nurses and the **** they have to deal with is unbelievable.

Mr_Muffin

Some people will seek to take advantage of and belittle the people that they see as 'weaker' then them - basically bullies being bullies. I have experienced this when I was younger but learnt to deal with it and it has never occurred since. Not a nice feeling to be the victim.

Car expert

Car expert wrote: »

People that are being bullied need to remove the dildo from their hole and wake up and stand up for themselves. This isn’t first class school.

Thank you for a nuanced and sensitive contribution.

Stacksofwacks

Car expert wrote: »

People that are being bullied need to remove the dildo from their hole and wake up and stand up for themselves. This isn’t first class school.

Most bullies have positions of power and influence hence it makes it more difficult for them to be stopped and called out most people just leave to avoid going through the hell taking the bully on.

Most workplace bullies are actually surprisingly easy to manipulate all you have to do is stroke their egos, give them what they want and tell them how great they are.then when the time is right, bang! stick the knife in...

granturismo

steddyeddy wrote: »

I work in academia and in an institution where bullying is rife. ...

DCU, UCD or TCD - Engineering, Science or Medicine?

fryup

no one has to put up with that sh1t anymore the days of being roared at by your foreman/boss are long gone ...there are laws out there, wish i was more aware of them when i was younger:cool:

Captain Red Beard wrote: »

I have friends who are nurses and the **** they have to deal with is unbelievable.

and unfortunately most of the abuse is from the general public..not much they can do bar call security

really feel for them esp the ones working in A&E having to deal with the dregs of society on a nightly basis

fryup

Armadildo wrote: »

But he's right. If you're an awkward misfit you probably will get bullied.

so from what you're saying if you're disabled or have a speech impediment or the like ...you have it coming????

4ensic15

fryup wrote: »

and unfortunately most of the abuse is from the general public..not much they can do bar call security

really feel for them esp the ones working in A&E having to deal with the dregs of society on a nightly basis

Most of the abuse is from colleagues. Abuse from the public can be tolerated or dealt with if colleagues give support. The carry on that goes on with nurses between each other is terrible. Socially isolating colleagues, manipulating duty rosters, leaving colleagues in understaffed positions. Making unjustified allegations of wrongdoing are just some of the tricks the bullies get up to.

steddyeddy

steddyeddy wrote: »

I work in academia and in an institution where bullying is rife. I haven't been targetted luckily but I work with a technician who bullies several people and got away with it. A senior academic, also involved in the bullying has protected this guy. The university is hesitant to do anything about it as the academic brings in good grant money to the uni. It's a shame as this academic has lost 4 PhD students as a result of her behaviour. I worked in all sorts of jobs from construction to healthcare but academia seems to be the worst for this. Is there any other type of work environment where bullying is present?

Quite recently, I witnessed a senior person in my place being publicly humiliated by a more junior person, as odd as that might sound. I observed quietly, walked into my office, opened a Word document and recorded everything. This was my second time witnessing a similar interaction; first time I put it down to being a very bad day, second time a pattern so I wrote it down.

The abuser is considered 'indispensable' and is like a totally different person to people at the very top. Bullies instinctively are very selective in their targets, so the sooner you marshal your sources - witnesses, first-hand accounts and awareness of where any cctv, if it exists, is located, for instance - the safer will be your working environment. At the very least, if they transgress professional courtesy and mistreat you, you will mark their cards with senior people. In writing. Also, if you're in a union use its resources because they'd meet pricks like that on a quotidian basis. And they quite possibly would be aware of victims of the very same person. You will absolutely need that support to help.

Anyway, in a later conversation with the person being publicly humiliated I told them I had witnessed it and wrote down the details at the time so if it happened again I would pass on this note. They were quite emotional about it, said it's been going on a while but as they were going to retire soon enough they wanted to try and enjoy the last year or so. Jesus. What a sad end to a career. This upfront approach does not always work, and it's possible the person being abused feels violated when somebody says they saw them being abused. Nevertheless, I've a low threshold for thugs so I'd be quite happy to clear the working environment of such people by making very factual records of what happened, and the time and dates as well as other people who witnessed it. It's also very relevant that I'm secure in my job so I don't need to keep this decidedly toxic person on side for promotion. In other words, not everybody is in a position to do what I did.

Make no mistake but all professional companies will sit up when they are faced with such. It's a hugely serious issue, and rightly so. In my experience, as in the OP, it's usually done by people who make themselves indispensable to the company/institution and bank on no action being taken. However, if the victim doesn't feel strong enough to take it on for some reason or another, it can only be tackled if observers look out for colleagues. One person making a complaint about somebody is tough, two or more is a different thing. Strength in numbers. Otherwise some day you might be their target.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Armadildo wrote: »

Look I don't think genuine handicapped lads get bullied but I do think people who are weak and dont fit in are kinda asking for it.

Nobody asks to be bullied, would you ever cop on. 18 posts and not a single insightful thing to say.

steddyeddy

Car expert wrote: »

People that are being bullied need to remove the dildo from their hole and wake up and stand up for themselves. This isn’t first class school.

The bullied parties are 20 year old students who are subject to sexual and threatening comments by a 47 year old Yorkshire man. He's actually the first to cry victim when people explode back to him.

Your post is all levels of stupid.

steddyeddy

Stacksofwacks wrote: »

Yes it does happen in workplaces but also there are workplace harassment laws what kind of bullying are you talking about specifically? Just because it is not happening to you dosent mean you shouldnt report it, because then you are enabling the bully

There are but it's not so easy. The guy's boss backs him up in tribunals. Also in the months during a formal process the girls in question are subject to the silent treatment and intimidation. You can't do anything until a complaint is made.

AllForIt

steddyeddy wrote: »

I work in academia and in an institution where bullying is rife. I haven't been targetted luckily but I work with a technician who bullies several people and got away with it. A senior academic, also involved in the bullying has protected this guy. The university is hesitant to do anything about it as the academic brings in good grant money to the uni. It's a shame as this academic has lost 4 PhD students as a result of her behaviour. I worked in all sorts of jobs from construction to healthcare but academia seems to be the worst for this. Is there any other type of work environment where bullying is present?

I think this is shocking. One of the reasons I went into 3rd level education was because having worked in hospitality all my life where no matter where you worked you would always have some grunt pick on you for some reason making a stressful low paid job even worse. I would have though going up the social work scale this type of behavior would be less prevalent but apparently not.

While in Uni and more recently a business college course I was appalled by the unprofessionalism I witnessed by some of the academics. Coincidentally I'm looking into making formal complaints about 3 of the academic staff I witnessed during my last college course. Not so much bullying but just totally grunt like unprofessional behavior.

Daisy78

Armadildo wrote: »

But he's right. If you're an awkward misfit you probably will get bullied.

Perfectly ordinary people who don’t fit your description can also be targets for bullies

freshpopcorn

I always remember when I was at school there was the odd bit of bullying but nothing major. However you were always told bullies go on to be wasters and aren't successful and when you go to college you'll met loads of like minded people and they'll be no bullying.
Some of the worst bullying I saw was when I went to college.(This may have being because I was in a mixed class which I wouldn't have being used to this.)
and I experienced the same in the work place.

CinemaGuy45

freshpopcorn wrote: »

I always remember when I was at school there was the odd bit of bullying but nothing major. However, you were always told bullies go on to be wasters and aren't successful and when you go to college you'll meet loads of like-minded people and they'll be no bullying.
Some of the worst bullyings I saw was when I went to college. (This may have been because I was in a mixed class which I wouldn't have been used to this.)
and I experienced the same in the workplace.

Mixed gender mixed race mixed social class mixed political opinions?

freshpopcorn

CinemaGuy45 wrote: »

Mixed gender mixed race mixed social class mixed political opinions?

Mixed genders. I went to an all guys school apart from the odd girl in classes for certain subjects.
I always thought that being in a mixed gendered class would have being great before my college experience.

CinemaGuy45

freshpopcorn wrote: »

Mixed genders. I went to an all guys school apart from the odd girl in classes for certain subjects.
I always thought that being in a mixed gendered class would have being great before my college experience.

Nah some of the girls are worse than the fellas.

Car expert

steddyeddy wrote: »

The bullied parties are 20 year old students who are subject to sexual and threatening comments by a 47 year old Yorkshire man. He's actually the first to cry victim when people explode back to him.

Your post is all levels of stupid.

Your posts have some imagination of stupid in them. Tall tales, that’s why you posted it here instead of work forum.

Mad_maxx

Car expert wrote: »

People that are being bullied need to remove the dildo from their hole and wake up and stand up for themselves. This isn’t first class school.

Good luck getting any kind of justice if your a male who happens to find himself with a female bully to contend with, all she has to do is reach for the sexism card and management will cover their ears and eyes for fear of being branded sexist, women bosses are the worst

fryup

freshpopcorn wrote: »

However you were always told bullies go on to be wasters and aren't successful

i keep hearing this cr@p being spouted too....most of the bullies i knew growing up are all working and successful....so that nonsense about bullies being losers who go nowhere in life doesn't add up as far as i'm concerned

Graces7

Deleted User wrote: »

Quite recently, I witnessed a senior person in my place being publicly humiliated by a more junior person, as odd as that might sound. I observed quietly, walked into my office, opened a Word document and recorded everything. This was my second time witnessing a similar interaction; first time I put it down to being a very bad day, second time a pattern so I wrote it down.

The abuser is considered 'indispensable' and is like a totally different person to people at the very top. Bullies instinctively are very selective in their targets, so the sooner you marshal your sources - witnesses, first-hand accounts and awareness of where any cctv, if it exists, is located, for instance - the safer will be your working environment. At the very least, if they transgress professional courtesy and mistreat you, you will mark their cards with senior people. In writing. Also, if you're in a union use its resources because they'd meet pricks like that on a quotidian basis. And they quite possibly would be aware of victims of the very same person. You will absolutely need that support to help.

Anyway, in a later conversation with the person being publicly humiliated I told them I had witnessed it and wrote down the details at the time so if it happened again I would pass on this note. They were quite emotional about it, said it's been going on a while but as they were going to retire soon enough they wanted to try and enjoy the last year or so. Jesus. What a sad end to a career. This upfront approach does not always work, and it's possible the person being abused feels violated when somebody says they saw them being abused. Nevertheless, I've a low threshold for thugs so I'd be quite happy to clear the working environment of such people by making very factual records of what happened, and the time and dates as well as other people who witnessed it. It's also very relevant that I'm secure in my job so I don't need to keep this decidedly toxic person on side for promotion. In other words, not everybody is in a position to do what I did.

Make no mistake but all professional companies will sit up when they are faced with such. It's a hugely serious issue, and rightly so. In my experience, as in the OP, it's usually done by people who make themselves indispensable to the company/institution and bank on no action being taken. However, if the victim doesn't feel strong enough to take it on for some reason or another, it can only be tackled if observers look out for colleagues. One person making a complaint about somebody is tough, two or more is a different thing. Strength in numbers. Otherwise some day you might be their target.

Thank you for supporting and protecting

steddyeddy

fryup wrote: »

i keep hearing this cr@p being spouted too....most of the bullies i knew growing up are all working and successful....so that nonsense about bullies being losers who go nowhere in life doesn't add up as far as i'm concerned

Ah this one is a loser. Kicked off two PhDs and a masters program and resents everyone else for it.

valoren

The lucky thing about working in IT/Office is that there is a HR unit available if bullying takes place.
While projects can get stressful and people deal with that in different ways, there is a difference between a disagreement or an argument and bullying. You deal with some spectacular cnuts in IT but for me it is always project related. If it ever got personal or insulting then a line is crossed.

I am sure that any perceived bullying or emergent pattern of bullying is easily dealt with. You make a complaint to HR and have them deal with it. There is (or should be) accountability. If you make a complaint and it's not dealt with then the company has not policed it's code of duty and they can be liable for not acting. It's why such policy's exist to begin with. While the HR staff might not give a crap about an employee's well being, the prospect of damage to the company's reputation and/or financial liability for failure to follow policy seems to always provoke them into action. They could lose their jobs if they didn't apply the company policy.

All office dynamics are different of course, in some cases, difficult people who bully are often chummy with the same HR people who would have to deal with them in a bullying scenario, there being a conflict of personal interest from HR who themselves might enable and protect their friend. A bully is the product of the very environment in which they operate or potentially operate.

I can completely see how bullying could be rife in academia. To my mind lecturers and academic staffer's were either positive, passionate people who were very friendly and approachable or surly, arrogant pricks with planet sized chips on their shoulder. It was easy to determine who had the capacity to be a bully.

Interestingly like versus like bullying never seems to happen i.e. the toxic asshole in the canteen who insults under the guise of 'banter' never bullies that other toxic asshole in the canteen who can throw back the cutting shade in spades. The physical bully who throws their weight around and doles out the slaps never picks on someone who looks like they'd kick seven shades of **** out of you if you even looked at them sideways. The emotional bully doesn't cause drama with those who are indifferent to them, they are drawn to those who listen to their gossip and drama etc.

It's like negative charges repel other negative charges and are attracted to positive charges.

suicide_circus

I actually feel sorry for the bullies in some way. Imagine being such an utterly pathetic tosser that you bully another grown adult in the workplace. their lives must be genuinely sh1t.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

I hated working in academic research - long, long hours for pittance and you better not complain about it. And weekend work frequently expected. I had no work-life balance.

The work needs to be done and if that means pulling two or three 14 hour days a week without proper remuneration, so be it. And the academics demanding those hours did them themselves in their younger days so will have no sympathy. It’s a vicious cycle.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

suicide_circus wrote: »

I actually feel sorry for the bullies in some way. Imagine being such an utterly pathetic tosser that you bully another grown adult in the workplace. their lives must be genuinely sh1t.

And their acolytes. There’s always acolytes. Imagine being the right-hand man/woman of a workplace bully?

skooterblue2

Follow this idea through ........ what happens to whistle blowers? They all get fired/**** canned.
Its grand for women who hit the glass ceiling in their early 30's, lump sum and off to have a family.
Its very few that happens to, with the lump sum.
Lets look at Pat McCabe, Any whistle blower at a pharmaceutical company, Priesthood, private industry, food industry......... they all get tormented and then get send to dead end jobs or their health collapses. There will be "Backroom chatter" and no one will hire you afterwards. Words dont even have to be said, just an insinuation would be enough.

The best you can do is to stand up to a bully, the more sensible idea is to quit and find a new position. Management like a bully, cos bullies get results by their perspectives.

skooterblue2

suicide_circus wrote: »

I actually feel sorry for the bullies in some way. Imagine being such an utterly pathetic tosser that you bully another grown adult in the workplace. their lives must be genuinely sh1t.

If you look behind that fascade you will find a very fragile person with usually with addiction problems in the background (gambling, sex, drugs or alcohol). Its just a release to humiliate someone on the workroom floor.

Ray Palmer

I have been through a whole process of dealing with a bully in work. The thing is it started out as normal and just progressively got worse. Just a disagreement on how something should be done he insisted on a manger deciding and the manager sided with me. That was it I now was a target for his irrational paranoid delusions. If the manger disagreed with him I somehow made that happen. He refused to speak to me for 3 months. The manger didn't even notice

New manager came in and asked me to speak to this guy about not following procedures. Told the manager he doesn't speak to me and won't listen to anything I say. Manager thought I was joking. Went over to the guys desk and started speaking and he got up and walked away. The manager was stunned. He started asking about and he couldn't believe everyone knew including the owner. Then I told him how my lunch and things from my desk would regularly go missing and I found cds belong to me in the bin. My bicycle would regularly mysteriously get punctured

Manager decides to do something and then my position suddenly becomes redundant as they needed the guy more than me as he designed key parts of the software. I was well aware of what was going on so made them double the redundancy payment when I produced a list of all the other people that had been fired,made redundant or left due to this guy.

3 months after I left the manager was fired because he couldn't get on with the other guy. The company allowed the bullying because they let him become vital. They eventually had to fire him when they found he coded back doors into the software and suspected he brought down a client's system over a grudge he had with a manger there.

steddyeddy

Ray Palmer wrote: »

I have been through a whole process of dealing with a bully in work. The thing is it started out as normal and just progressively got worse. Just a disagreement on how something should be done he insisted on a manger deciding and the manager sided with me. That was it I now was a target for his irrational paranoid delusions. If the manger disagreed with him I somehow made that happen. He refused to speak to me for 3 months. The manger didn't even notice

New manager came in and asked me to speak to this guy about not following procedures. Told the manager he doesn't speak to me and won't listen to anything I say. Manager thought I was joking. Went over to the guys desk and started speaking and he got up and walked away. The manager was stunned. He started asking about and he couldn't believe everyone knew including the owner. Then I told him how my lunch and things from my desk would regularly go missing and I found cds belong to me in the bin. My bicycle would regularly mysteriously get punctured

Manager decides to do something and then my position suddenly becomes redundant as they needed the guy more than me as he designed key parts of the software. I was well aware of what was going on so made them double the redundancy payment when I produced a list of all the other people that had been fired,made redundant or left due to this guy.

3 months after I left the manager was fired because he couldn't get on with the other guy. The company allowed the bullying because they let him become vital. They eventually had to fire him when they found he coded back doors into the software and suspected he brought down a client's system over a grudge he had with a manger there.

Sorry to hear you went through that. The bullying victims here are in a similar situation but the bully has the illusion of being needed as his boss is his friend. In reality the guy is absolutely useless but he's still here.

I think the worst people are those that protect the bullies.

Wanderer2010

Bullying really is an odious character trait and the worst thing about bullies is that they will never ever ever ever change. If someone is at heart a decent person but sometimes act like a pr!ck, there is some scope there for improvement when someone points out their flaws but a bully will just look genuinely dumbfounded and surprised if you tell them they are a bully as if you said the weirdest thing in the world, and then continue to torment others. I don't believe either in empathy when it comes to these creatures- tell them straight out to fcuk off and don't take any sh!t and they tend to back down.

fryup

suicide_circus wrote: »

I actually feel sorry for the bullies in some way. Imagine being such an utterly pathetic tosser that you bully another grown adult in the workplace. their lives must be genuinely sh1t.

they enjoy it, they get a power trip out of it

AndrewJRenko

Mad_maxx wrote: »

Good luck getting any kind of justice if your a male who happens to find himself with a female bully to contend with, all she has to do is reach for the sexism card and management will cover their ears and eyes for fear of being branded sexist, women bosses are the worst

The two best bosses I've had in 30+ years working have been women. I've seen one woman bully too, and she was awful - but no, women bosses are definitely not the worst.

con___manx1

a guy who used to work in my company was bullied by someone fairly high up. he recorded conversations with the bulllie on his phone and recorded a hr conversation. im not sure exactly what was said in the hr conversation but he ended up taking the company to the cleaners with what ever hr said to him. he got thousands out of it.

skooterblue2

Senior management will always back and cover up for the middle management bullies. Senior management put them there for reason to get results. IF he goes down then its off the backs of Senior management/owners.

Its an institutional thing. I dont think any organisation is immune to it. The ones you think have the most respectability/ transparency have the greatest cover ups.

AllForIt

A cousin of mine worked as a TCD researcher. Not sure if she still does but anyway their head of department, a woman, seems to be a unimaginable c*n*.

The team of researchers (I think mostly women) were invited to her home for a xmas do. Bit of an odd thing to do but it was thought she was given some funds for the do and she decided to buy some booze etc with this money and have the do at her private home.

At the party she said to everyone well just help yourself to whatever you like. My cousin and her acquaintance took no more than a couple of glasses of whiskey from her cabinet. She ain't no heavy drinker in fact she's something of a fitness freak. By all accounts it was a fairly quite do that didn't go on too late.

When they next returned to work the head had a angry word with the group. She complained that her son was really upset that some of his whiskey was taken without his permission. She said that they were really disrespectful after inviting them into her home. I was told this tale some years ago and never forgot it because this kind of stuff really sickens me, especially when you think that a woman in a privileged position could be so disgusting not to mention that she pocketed all the funds for the xmas do with no accountability as to how the money was spent.

SHOVELLER

Mad_maxx wrote: »

Good luck getting any kind of justice if your a male who happens to find himself with a female bully to contend with, all she has to do is reach for the sexism card and management will cover their ears and eyes for fear of being branded sexist, women bosses are the worst

Agree with this except the last line. In my experience the female bosses were the most rational and fair minded.

But in the civil service at home one of the biggest problems are the middle aged women in the lowest grade who can play the bullied card when their incompetence is exposed. I had to put up with a false allegation of bullying from one nutter which in itself is bullying. The problem then is multiplied when the Human Resources unit is staffed with unqualified staff.

skooterblue2 wrote: »

Senior management will always back and cover up for the middle management bullies. Senior management put them there for reason to get results. IF he goes down then its off the backs of Senior management/owners.

Its an institutional thing. I dont think any organisation is immune to it. The ones you think have the most respectability/ transparency have the greatest cover ups.

Very true. Again in the civil service the word of anybody in a grade above you is golden and it doesnt how much verifiable information you have. If management said today was sunday and you proved it was tuesday sunday it is.

In two separate instances I questioned management's decision to put two astonishingly incompetent unqualified middle aged females in place where I and others had to do their job. In the first place I was moved to a different section and in the second I was ostracised to a different part of the building.

The day I resigned was one of the best of my life.

wakka12

Car expert wrote: »

People that are being bullied need to remove the dildo from their hole and wake up and stand up for themselves. This isn’t first class school.

Thats a load of crap. People who are bullies can make the bullying very sly, to the point youd almost think youre just imagining it, so its often very hard to catch.And they can be in positions of authority above and so it could put your livelihood in jeopardy if you kick up a fuss and theres nothing to prove that anything is happening other than you accusing somebody of something bad

Adult bullying is always a tricky and horrible situation and theres a lotmore to it than just standingup for yourself like when you were in school

wakka12

Ray Palmer wrote: »

I have been through a whole process of dealing with a bully in work. The thing is it started out as normal and just progressively got worse. Just a disagreement on how something should be done he insisted on a manger deciding and the manager sided with me. That was it I now was a target for his irrational paranoid delusions. If the manger disagreed with him I somehow made that happen. He refused to speak to me for 3 months. The manger didn't even notice

New manager came in and asked me to speak to this guy about not following procedures. Told the manager he doesn't speak to me and won't listen to anything I say. Manager thought I was joking. Went over to the guys desk and started speaking and he got up and walked away. The manager was stunned. He started asking about and he couldn't believe everyone knew including the owner. Then I told him how my lunch and things from my desk would regularly go missing and I found cds belong to me in the bin. My bicycle would regularly mysteriously get punctured

Manager decides to do something and then my position suddenly becomes redundant as they needed the guy more than me as he designed key parts of the software. I was well aware of what was going on so made them double the redundancy payment when I produced a list of all the other people that had been fired,made redundant or left due to this guy.

3 months after I left the manager was fired because he couldn't get on with the other guy. The company allowed the bullying because they let him become vital. They eventually had to fire him when they found he coded back doors into the software and suspected he brought down a client's system over a grudge he had with a manger there.

Wow how does this guy get anything done in life being so filled with hatred of seemingly everybody for no reason

Paulzx

steddyeddy wrote: »

The bullied parties are 20 year old students who are subject to sexual and threatening comments by a 47 year old Yorkshire man.

That sounds like a step above bullying to me........

steddyeddy

Paulzx wrote: »

That sounds like a step above bullying to me........

Yep. That's academia for you.

JupiterKid

As someone who was badly bullied in the workplace and that bullying almost completely destroyed me (I work/worked in academia and research) I can completely concur with the opinion of the OP.

Yes, bullying is indeed rife in academia. It is full of individuals who will step on others to get ahead, and those who abuse their position of power. That said, there are a lot of good people in third level education too. It is all very much down to the culture in the institution and individual departments.

wakka12

Why would people who work in academia be more likely to bully than in other workplaces?

suicide_circus

wakka12 wrote: »

Why would people who work in academia be more likely to bully than in other workplaces?

I was just wondering that myself

JupiterKid

The interesting thing in the case of my being bullied back in 2008/9 was how subtle and insidious it was at first from my then new boss - little "constructive" criticisms of my research reports, asking me to go back over and recheck the data, etc. It eventually led to a full on bollocking in his office every morning.

I was physically sick with dread going into work most mornings not knowing what humiliation I would be subjected to that day. I didn't tell my research assistant and colleagues what was going on. I didn't want them to get involved or take sides.

The thing was - the bully was actually a sad little man and I suspect professional jealously was at play - as I subsequently found out that I had more peer reviewed publications than he did even though he was a decade older than me. I had a huge breakdown and seriously contemplated suicide. I turned to very heavy drinking.

However, I am getting my career and life back. I would never dream of abusing my position over another person. It IS possible to be decent and successful.

Wildly Boaring

suicide_circus wrote: »

I was just wondering that myself

Also wondering?

I'm wondering too is it that the victim is better able to articulate the problem after?

Surely bullying is equally rife in places where the managers have serious power. Say somewhere where you have minimum wage employees with no union etc. Call centres. Warehouses. Retail

BrianD3

wakka12 wrote: »

Why would people who work in academia be more likely to bully than in other workplaces?

Academia in Ireland is public sector and the public sector is rife with bullying. A combination of chaotic working conditions, very poor management, a jobs for life mentality and a scarcity of permanent jobs while permanent workers are effectively unsackable.

In the case of academia - you could get a lab technician who has been there for 20 years, has become institutionalised and bullies every postgrad/postdoc (who will often be young, poor, on short term contracts) that he comes across. Or else bullies another technician who has also been there for 20 years and hates their job but has become institutionalised/unemployable/pigeonholed and clings on to the job even with the bullying while they count down 20, 10, 5 years to pension age.

Meanwhile the person that is supposed to be managing the work doesn't give a sh*t because they have 35 years done, are skilled at avoiding making decisions or tackling issues and won't rock the boat while they look forward to their pension.

It is usually quite different for private sector workers. They don't expect a job to be for life, they're not as pension obsessed and as a result they are more nimble and better at extricating themselves from bad situations. Also there is usually some direction to the work - the boss might be a prick but at least you know that he is the boss.