Banking Representative Being Bullied

by Louralee
(Toronto, Ontario, Canada)

I have been here before. The story is the same. I am very competent, very intelligent, dedicated to my work, and a great person - yet someone (a peer or boss or both) become threatened and launch a bullying campaign. I work on the Insurance side within the financial institution I work for. I am the only African Canadian female within my team, that was able to surpass the sales goal on my team. Yet, I am the one that is being treated like dirt. I have had coworkers tell that in their Greek culture, they consider blacks as the N-word. I have been referred to liking fried chicken and watermelon. Or hear 2 white co-workers call each other Nigga. Or get excluded from informal group meetings. Or have your boss undermine you in front of your coworkers. Or have your boss try to pin blame on you whenever they can. Just because, you exceeded your goals and commit to company policy - as I was hired to do.

I have lost sleep over it. I am angered and disgusted and working on an exit plan. I do my training privately because each time that I have asked for info from my boss, I am told how unspectacular it is or being denied info altogether becaused she would much rather that I help her racist patsy than provide me with the info to progress. Oh yeah, about those nasty patsies. Rumour mongers they are. Ready to try and tear me down. When I catch them in the act, I make sure they answer for it by questioning their motives and smoking them out. But my energies can not be used this way all the time. It's draining. One my boss told me, while having the knife in her hand that she could slit my throat with it. There were no witnesses. I documented and advised my colleague about the incident - but can you really rely on a trusted colleague? No when their job is at stake also.

I feel powerless. But I maintain the high performance as much as I can. That is my insurance policy to get out of that hell hole! Keep up my sales, covert training, seeking employment elsewhere and get out. That's my exit plan.