The Bully Was The Owner

by Not over it
(USA)

Changing the names to protect the not so innocent. I worked for a company for 6 years until the last year of that job nearly drove me over the edge of sanity. It started with a slap on the behind, complaint made, and hostility ran amuck. The smack came from one of the owners (Edward) of the company. There was a witness (Peppermint Patty, the Receptionist) to this event who claimed that she would tell what she saw if I wanted to report it. Fact is she lied at first and then recanted when her conscious got to her. She went to the other owner and recanted her lie separate from Edward. I know this because the (CFO Franco) told me as much. Franco was the type of CFO that claimed he was a devoted Christian but told everything he was ever told in confidence to the owners and passive aggressively give you a small quip of what you said in private to him in front of others with a *wink, wink* so that you only you would know.

Edward skulked around for a few days then he started inducting co-workers to do help him with his dirty work. I was talked about, laughed at, and the heart of the rumor mill. A very good friend of mine (Prissy P.) would be called into Edward’s office for a chat in the middle of the work day. You could hear them laughing all the way down the hall. As the inductees sat daily at a table with him with hopes of career boosts my work life was hell.

Peppermint Patty was transferred from receptionist to another department, Courtney Joe was brought into the company by Edward who used to be stripper now impersonating a receptionist who was later put into Accounting on the order of Edward. Prissy was given a position with a department head that had a direct impact on the success of my job.

Edward screamed at me, demoted me, and tried to claim that I was a drug dealer. Edward would take the “girls” out every Wednesday for drinks. This became “Bash Night” and the next day was always worse because they had sat and planned what he could do. Prissy told me that she would kiss his behind if it secured her job. The sad thing about Prissy is just weeks before I was the target, she was. Edward would stomp down to my office and tell me “I don’t want to see Prissy’s fat @ss walking down the hall, tell her that she can go around (meaning outside to the other entrance) or just stay at her desk”.

I was moved next to that hypocrite Franco so that he could run interference if Edward was stomping down the hall to my office. The long and short of this is my only saving grace was that the other owner forced him to retire before the sale of the company. By then my character with my co-workers was just shot. My health was declining; I was having major anxiety attacks and suffering from major depression. My mother was dying, I was literally falling apart. My mother did die; I took a week off from work only to walk out 2 months later. The company was relocated out of state a few months later so those people who thought that Edward could get them up the small corporate ladder were out of jobs.

My mental and physical health was my driving factor – get out so that you can save yourself! I’ve not been the same since that. I’m not a trusting person anymore; I will not make any friends so that I cannot be betrayed.