Being Sabotaged in the Workplace

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I was looking at the poetry on one of the Attwood sites today and came across the following, which I think may resonate with many of us here, so am posting it here, not in the poetry et al forum. Have you had an experience like this? How did you deal with it? (I did. I took the manager to the Employment Authority and won - she was encouraging employees in other divisions to lay fake complaints about me - one of them contacted me and blew the whistle on the bullying manager who was doing it. This was a government organisation, where codes of conduct are supposed to apply.. so it was workplace bullying and managerial hypocrisy).

Workplace Interpersonal Skills by Kate Gladstone

As I was heading homeward on the bus at 6:03,
I overheard two people, and they were discussing me:
My workplace supervisor, Ann, complaining to her boss
That, though I did my job quite well, I was a social loss.

"She does not like the office parties our department throws:
She comes, she tries to be polite ? it's _trying_. Well, that shows.
She's helpful, kind, she stays on task. Subordinates and I
Depend on her for research ... still, we wish she'd quit or die."

Her boss asked questions. Then she said: "Yes, Ann, that type I know.
I cannot put my finger on just why they ought to go.
I do not care how well they do: when folks like that are hired,
If we can't make them want to quit, it's best to have them fired."

Ann said: "Oh, yes, she's got to go. I sure agree that's true.
I've planned a little accident. I'll share the news with you.
You know the First Aid training all our staffers have to pass?
Her name's been dropped discreetly from the roster for the class."

(I'd heard no hint of this before. In fact, I had been told
By Ann, that very afternoon: "Tomorrow you're enrolled
To take the First Aid session. Please be here by half-past eight ?
The first floor auditorium: no credit if you're late.")

So I spoke up (in terror at how rude I must appear) ?
"Why, Ann! And Mrs. Sánchez! What a pleasure meeting here!"
They turned and glared and frowned because they knew I knew they knew
I'd overheard each single word of what they aimed to do.

I kept that job ? because by eight I'd memoed Personnel,
And "cc"ed several advocates the tale I had to tell.
(But other times I've lost a job, I've wondered: "Was it me,
Or was it conversation on the bus at 6:03?")

Yes, I have experienced overhearing people in the workplace, and elsewhere, making derogatory comments amongst themselves about me, because I am different from them. And yes, it often led to my getting fired. Unfortunately, my being different also often led to me not even getting hired in the first place. These people don't care what harm they are doing to people who are different when they cut us out of the pack, and out of participating in things like work. We need to make a living, too.. The only reason I was able to live with almost no money, is because I was living with relatives. Due to other health issues I am now on disability, so I don't have to deal with being treated like a freak in the workplace anymore.

Good post OP, really love the poem too. This phenomenon truly sucks and it's happening to me right now. If I'm not on full disability by the time I turn 40, I will either be dead or in a mental institution.

I'm truly sorry to hear that. Hugs to you.... I so hope you have some good support. PM me if/whenever you want to and feel welcome to. I know how exhausting, isolating and dispiriting that situation can be. It drove me to despair at the time.. it is far in the past now, though it remains as clear in my memory as when it was going on.

Also, I wonder if Kate the poet is a member of WP..

I know what you are talking about.

Most people are really adverse to difference and they won't shy away from bringing it into action. It's completely illogical and extremely rude and sometimes even downright criminal people do this. But they have absolutely no shame doing it, since it's to them they feel righteous doing it. It's one of those psychological phenomena a lot if not all people have in different gradations, so it is seen as the norm even in higher gradations ( although racism and discrimination are finally cracked down upon, bullying is still widely and shamelessly accepted ). The process with people who have this in a very high gradation ( to the point of mania ) is usually the same and most of it is subconscious:

If someone is different something starts boiling in these people, they feel as if you are hostile to them and their environment. Unconsciously they feel like you a threat, they try to make up theories of what your motive is for being different and how or why your difference has come to being. They will think you are trying to do something behind their back, that you are ridiculing them or that you feel superior to them and thus differentiate yourself. This creates a sense of paranoia: your difference has an intention or ulterior motive to undermine who they are and the group they stand for.

This paranoia can turn into mania. The suspicion will turn into action: it will first usually start with them trying to change you ( i.e. invite you to some event and see what you do ), then they will start ridiculing you, spread rumours about you and outright bully you. Not only will they bully you but they will also try to recruit others to join the bullying. All this is to mentally break you and make you susceptible for conversion, this is an ingrained group tactic. If you are unaffected by their actions the situation will usually escalate to violence and manipulation. They will do everything in their power to bring you down if you do not become regular or just disappear.

Just like what is perfectly described in the poem:

It's an irrational and unconscious hatred that will grow in intensity over time. At first they do even not even realize why they hate someone, they just do because they were preordained to do so. And that slowly becomes a problem for them as the hatred grows and grows. There are only two solutions to that problem: either the problem ( person ) leaves by itself or it gets solved ( making the person ).

This is one of the prime phenomena behind some of the worst things a human can bring: racism, discrimination, intolerance, fanaticism, bullying, etc. Paired with greed and lust it's also one of the prime reasons of human violence. Every single human being has it in some degree, while for some people it's not noticeable for a lot of people it's part of who they are.

Yes, story of my life.

The only way I solved it was to become self-employed at something that is very dull work but at least it's solitary and I don't have to deal with the BS.