Does it happen? Of course it does, I've even experienced it in my voluntary work, and it is unacceptable in every case.
One of the key factors about turning freelance when my son was born was that I knew that I didn't have the energy to play the political games needed for a quiet life at work - I knew that I was quite likely to speak my mind and walk out (a reason for limiting my consumption of alcohol over recent years as I seem to spend a lot of time in my personal life biting my tongue!).
So being freelance seemed ideal. I could work my own hours, have the radio on if I wanted to and not worry about who I would meet in the kitchen when it was my turn to do the tea run.
But being freelance can be a bit lonely and, lets face it, we all need a little bit of reassurance from time to time - no matter how experienced we are (and it is nice to pass on our experienced wisdom too). So I joined a few forums which were set up for this reason. But it seems there is no escape from the bullies even when you are working from home.
One forum in particular has become a bit like a soap opera and I skim through the daily digest to see the same names are arguing over the same points just for the sake of arguing and proving they are better than everyone else. As I press delete I sadly reflect that if I did have a problem I would be reluctant to ask about it. The last time I did I was pointedly told to 'search the archive' when it was obvious from my original message that I already had ... Well it was to me, but I suppose that is part of the problem - so much can be read into an email or forum post that wasn't intended. Unfortunately I have heard from colleagues that what appears on the forum is only half of it and that they have had horrendous messages offline. The result is that what was once a useful resource is now failing miserably as members decide enough is enough and leave.
So am I just an oversensitive soul (as an HR manager once labelled me) or are others finding the same thing? How do/did you deal with the bullies in your life?
Coronation Street Parties Senyru
1 year ago
4 comments:
That'll be the forum I quit last November, then...
wordsmith: Ahem, yes it would.
I think some people behave particularly badly on occasion when they can hide behind "handles" or whatever people use on these forum things. I don't use chat rooms or fora but I did once cruise around the one there is for our ski club and was amazed at how carping many of the comments were and how people got into such silly arguments. Some of them seemed to consider they owned it because they were there first and if anyone else got too forward they were undermined.
Workplace bullying is prevalent. One of my friends is currently embroiled in a very unpleasant situation which has come to the stage where mediators had to be involved. It has wrecked her life for months and it is largely due to the bullying behaviour of one member of staff who is cunning at making sure she never does anything when there are witnesses.
It's one of the reasons I too prefer to work from home - the guinea pigs don't tend to irritate me too much!
It happened to me once I reported them to the workers office ( im spanish) and the boss gave me a good money! cheers
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