I came really close to starting a new thread with this one. I could spout cliches like “when you think things can’t get worse they do”. But this one is a historic low. Hell, my wife texted me today that she was in tears over the latest development at my job. After the illegal attempts at blocking my promotion, being bullied at work, getting diagnosed with bipolar disorder and having my doctor suggest going on indefinite disability might be the healthiest thing to do given my job situation, having to work two jobs for 60-70 hours a week for no extra pay, and getting stuck in the middle of a harassment case that over four months later is still nowhere near getting resolved, I didn’t think this year could throw anything worse at me.
My wife and I used to work in the same field at different companies. A couple of years after she was hired, her company hired an asshole to be her supervisor’s supervisor. That’s about the kindest word I can think of to describe him. Apart from the totally clueless person who hired him, I have not actually met anyone who doesn’t hate him, let alone actually like him. Not only was this man rude, sexist, insulting, and boorish, he was also totally incompetent at his job. Somehow he managed for three years to pawn off every single project he was assigned on others, or stall his clueless boss until she forgot that the project had been assigned. The man was even incapable of using the main database product the company used…I don’t mean to run reports or use SQL, I mean to read information from it.
This guy singlehandedly ruined my wife’s career at her company. He was constantly haranguing her to do his work. He sent sexist e-mails to her (it is fortunate that my wife is pro-gun-control or this man would resemble Swiss cheese and my wife would be chilling in a cell somewhere) and constantly denigrated her work in front of other people. Complaints to HR went nowhere, blocked for some ungodly reason by the clueless boss. At times my wife was near a nervous breakdown over his treatment of her. He did this to several women. Three of them, including my wife, eventually quit the company because they realized they were powerless to do anything about him. Only after these resignations did HR think, “whoa, maybe there is something to these complaints after all” and, uh, fired his clueless boss. Somehow asshole managed to stay on after all that, although the VP stripped him of all his managerial duties and essentially told him “it was only because clueless boss was turning in glowing reviews of you for years that I haven’t fired you yet. You won’t survive the next review.”
We haven’t had an AVP for close to two years. At this point I even asked the VP why we needed one, as we’d managed without one for so long. A colleague of mine applied for the job. I wasn’t sure he was the best-qualified person for the position, but he was certainly qualified enough to make the final round of interviews. About two months ago he casually told me “I won’t be getting that job.” The person who illegally tried to block my promotion was on his interview committee, and she hated him about 100 times more than me. Sure enough, when the final round of interviewees came out last week, he wasn’t on it. But, as you’ve probably already guessed, ASSHOLE WAS. The man does not meet half of the qualifications required for the job, let alone any of the preferred qualifications. I mean, we are not talking about not having done one or two of the things needed for the job. He has ZERO experience in the main role of the job. As in, absolutely none.
Over Thanksgiving I put my ear to the local gossip ground. Apparently our VP and the asshole knew each other from a former business connection. But, more interestingly, they have been meeting each other for lunch several times over the past month. And while I was looking for something else totally unrelated, I stumbled across something rather troubling…our VP was working for an executive search firm right up until the day he got hired here. We all assumed he was working as a VP somewhere else, which he was…we just didn’t know he was moonlighting as a headhunter. AFAIK even HR doesn’t know that.
So here’s what we’ve got. The first two of the final three candidates’ interviews went well but not spectacularly. One looked better than the other. Of course both of their resumes were way, way better than asshole’s. But it ain’t gonna matter one bit. The colleague of mine called me from a business trip to discuss the situation (oh by the way, he found out he wasn’t picked on his wedding anniversary…and his wife also works for the company. Great.) and he is certain the fix is in. To be blunt, our VP hasn’t shown the slightest bit of leadership abilities since he’s gotten here, and we can’t see him doing anything than hiring the guy who’s been asking/badgering/paying off (???) him for this job for the past couple of months. Despite the fact that this man is no more suited for this job than my cat, who will at least not make sexist remarks at our two-thirds female department.
So, to sum up: by the end of the year there’s a 99% chance my boss will be the asshole who nearly drove my wife, who was at least mentally sound to start, to a nervous breakdown. Oh, and somehow I’ve got to protect the four women who work for me from his sexist behavior. As my colleague said, this is baaaaaaad. We have an active harassment case going on already, and now we’re bringing a walking time bomb on board. Keep in mind now that I am already just barely hanging on with my bipolar disorder and I’ve had a hard time keeping work, family, and…oh, don’t have a social life…together. I have been…very suicidal this week. Very much so. I pretty have no life apart from keeping my wife and son from fighting with each other and walking on the treadmill at the gym (such an apt metaphor). I am meeting with my counselor Thursday, I know she is going to recommend I leave my job immediately, my wife is suggesting the same thing. I am tempted to call every contact I have, even the ones in the UK and Australia, and say, “Hey, what’s up, I need a job in the next 24 hours.” Because, I’m telling you, my other options right now feel like calling the vacuum-cleaner man, or the bridge.
