Okay here's something a little bit different which I don't really think I've seen someone post about before. But have any of you ever been in a position where you're stuck in a really toxic and negative work related situation?


Take me for example, I work in retail, so the key thing about retail is that Stress and Anxiety are your best friend. It's also probably the reason my Anxiety meds have had to be increased hmm... But the one thing that can set you off is a toxic workmate. Especially when it's coming from your FA (First Assistant/Your main manager)

So my old boss quit a while back, we've had our struggles but our relationship was definitely positive, and she gave me a lot of responsibility and I'm in charge of the NOP Backroom, and future sales promotions. Exciting right?

My new boss came in and has been with the company a good 20+ years, and seemed to show that he's willing to work with us and even said "Why fix something when it's not broken?" Cut to him now causing me and my team more stress than we've ever had. He's made multiple people cry, he has a power trip, it's all kinds of bad. He has that I'm the man of this operation and you're not allowed to disobey or question me vibe. He's even started off conversations with me like now I know you don't like me but do this or answer this for me. He forcefully is changing all of our schedules, and we're not allowed to question it, and so much more. We're behind on so many projects, and so far he's given me no reason to respect or like him. I've even had to do simple tasks like making sales signs for him because he doesn't know how, even though he's the Team Leader of the Sales Promotions, Common Area/IC team... Like dude you're supposed to be trained for this and know how to do this behind your back.. and that's not even the beginning.

I'm at the point where I'm seriously considering transferring to a new store, or finding a new job entirely. I can't deal with the gas lighting and the added stress it's not healthy. So has anyone had situation similar to this, and how do you make it through.

deggle : in the 33 years I have been working 18 of them were spent in retail which is where I currently work now and while most of my bosses were pretty good people to work for there were 2 who I would consider to be not that good the first one was head manager at a store I used to work for that went out of business what made him bad was that whenever an employee needed his assistance he would always redirect them to someone else in the store instead of trying to help us himself but whenever a costumer needed his help they had no problem getting him to help them and while I understand how important the customers are I feel he could have at least tried to help the employees as well especially since he was the head manager of the store the other manager was one I had at a grocery store I used to work at he was such a sports fan that whenever his hockey team he liked lost a game he would come to work and take it out on the staff by treating us badly but luckily before I left this manager was gone he either was fired or he quit I,m not sure what happened to him but at least no one else will ever have to put up with his bad attitude,based upon the experience I have had so far I would suggest that if you are able to move on to something better do so only stay if you have no other choice life is too short for anyone to have go through the kind of stress you are forced to deal with day after day.good luck I hope that things will get better for you

When I was in younger (early 20's) I worked full time at Canadian Pacific railroad during the early morning. I opened the place up at 5am so I had to be up at 3:30am every day..anyway I have seen some insane things at this place. I saw 2 dead bodies and one was dragged from Chicago to Minneapolis where I worked,his coat was caught in the knuckle of the railcar. The 2nd one had a heart attack and crashed through the fence of the yard and was dead before he even hit the railcar with his van. I had to actually have the police follow me in my top-lift to bring them over to the scene after I witnessed it (They were flying around like crazy trying to find where he was but didn't bother to ask. I finally just flagged one down and yeah.

Then there are those pesky rail riders who pop out of the car while you are pulling a 55,000 pound steamship container out of it. Seen so many rail riders I've lost count. I haven't even started on the co workers yet.I've never seen so many middle aged men gossip like a sewing circle. The office is normally just always looking for someone to put blame on if someone from the top would get pissed off. One time I saw a train crew shove onto the track I was working with men on the cars as well,they probably smacked into that thing at 30 mph,I for sure thought the guy I saw fell died. The track was flagged which means the train crew aren't allowed on it..First thing the inter-modal manager said was "Why wasn't this track flagged". It was and he was trying to blame someone else to cover his own ass. So glad I'm out of that environment. High impact and stress jobs like that take years off your life.

From 16-19 I worked as an employee at McDonalds, throughout the whole thing I did not enjoy it overall. I made eventually $9.50 an hour, doing work that should have been $12-13 minimum per hour. It was hot, chaotic, and my boss was able to ruin my experience at every turn. I don't enjoy that place, and my current job at Taco Bell is way better, should have went there first.

Boured :

I've heard Mc'D's can be a bad place to work for. When I was a kid my first job was at my neighbors Christmas tree farm. Every year I would go back and help him with the yearly harvest. This year he finally asked us to take over the farm because he wants to give it to us. He is actually on the patent for the pacemaker,he is a heart surgeon and did the farming for fun. Dude didn't need the money whatsoever,now he is just getting old and can't do it anymore.

I won't use the term toxic, because I think that is a bit overused, but I will say this. Some days my job makes me want to quit. Ranging from the higher ups having no damn clue what they are doing. From my boss having no balls and telling the higher ups that things need to change for the better. Lately though? It's better, but still some issues. My boss has a power trip issue, and nobody likes him. There is also a handful of co-workers are just completely lazy and should be gone. Sadly being part of a Union job, they are protected, and really to get someone like that to be fired, they have to do something drastic. Which reminds me of a funny story I will share. Last year, I went on vacation, had the whole week off, and for months before these two co-workers didn't like each other. Yelling, almost a fist fight, and I just sit back and laugh. Well I told a co-worker (who I get along with) that I wouldn't be surprised if the instigator in these fights is gone before I get back. The next Monday I came back, he was gone. What did he do? Punched the other guy. I knew the dude as well, and he was always throwing fits over the dumbest things. Granted I myself can get a little irritated, but over the last year or so, I've kept myself calm, when there are times I want to just blow up.

My old job was nothing but misery. Like they had no clue on what they’re doing, there was no “equal treatment” they either treat you well for a week then next week be unruly out of nowhere. I only stayed for the pay but man, people quit within a week working because they expect the employees to learn everyone within a week. I mean I got a new job and only thing that’s toxic is the treatment of the crew I’m at from the higher up. The supervisor is pretty cool and all but like we get blamed for everything even if it isn’t our fault. We have to fix morning crew’s mess and if we don’t we get screwed over... so yeah

I once had a job that was truly toxic. I worked at this gas station, restocking the freezer with beer/soda/etc.

My boss was an absolute jerk.

If things weren't done 100% perfectly (and a lot could go wrong, especially during rush hour), she would have a fit, and scream at me, instead of offering suggestions as to how to make work more productive.

It's because of that poor experience, that I avoided work, much of my early 20s.