Workplace Politics

[Verasa]

Do any of you experience it?  How do you deal with it?

I worked with a company for 7 years and recently quit. I t go so bad at the end that it became more than I could deal with.

A few years back my boss hired a friend of his. I noticed him starting to pick apart and single out workers.. bad mouth them behind their back, say things negative about their job performance all the while saying how great he was and after 6 months my boss made him a manager and fired the worker this guy had a case of the ass for.

Inbetween hiring a new guy I noticed a definite shift at the workplace. Guys became afraid. They didnt want to lose their jobs and politics started becoming a major part of the everyday job. This guy all of a sudden had power and influence and because he was friends with the head boss and the head boss had little to no everyday involvement with us, he used that to his advantage. Next the dagger was pointed at me. I had the longest tenure there and he probably saw me as a threat and he wanted to eliminate that threat. He started picking me apart and turning the other petrified workers against me. Calling me out for not saying " Hello " and " Good-bye" taking long lunches ( Which I did ). To be honest.. I didnt respect him.. I hated him. I knew what he was doing, but there was nothing I could do.  The head boss basically sat back with his arms folded and let this guy do as he pleased.  I got called into a meeting about my " Attitude " and was told how I'm wrong and I need to be pleasant at the workplace and etc etc.. meanwhile I'm screaming on the inside. They wanted me to quit. They didnt want to fire me and on what grounds could they ? and if they did then they would have to pay unemployment.  The meeting was laughable, but I went along. It wasnt even that I was an asshole to him.. I would try and be nice, I would walk into the office and him and another worker would walk out.. And yet..Im the bad guy..

Because I had been there so long, I knew and was friends with board members, I actually got married on the president of the board's boat.  Once the " new manager " got whiff of this, his tune started to change a little with me. Over the course of the next year he was becoming a lot more friendly and started pumping me for information. I gave a little, but not a lot. I let him know what I wanted him to know, which wasnt a lot. Being friends with board members pretty much secured my job, but that was about it. I had a few perks but if a better job offer ever came along I would leave in a second.

Over the course of the next year things really got strange. The new manager told me that he basically wanted to be the head boss. He wanted to go after his friend and didnt want to stop until he got the position.
I'm sitting back going...OMFG!! This guy had turned every worker we had against the head boss and I'm left scratching my head and looking for a new job everyday. I was trapped there. Any new job meant at minimum $10k/yr paycut. My wife and I just had a baby and with the economy being in the toilet I was basically stuck. The workers hated the head boss and were talking about filing law-suits over overtime pay and refusing to do certain jobs and the new manager would talk to board members about stuff going on and he had  some of them that wanted the head boss out and things were very toxic at the workplace to say the least.  Everyday was just a bitch session for 8 straight hours and then you took the bitch session home and I was miserable.. MISERABLE!!.  I couldnt go to the head boss and tell him that his friend is out to get him because he either wouldnt believe me or he would tell the new manager what I said and most likely both. I decided to speak with a board member about what was going on. He knew things were in a bad place and all he could really say was " Do your thing" .  I made it another few months and I couldnt take it anymore. I quit to take a $9k/yr pay cut at another place.

What was once a decent, very relaxed, great work environment job that paid decent money turned into the worst workplace experience I've ever had. Anyone else gone through similar stuff?
I always second guess myself now and look back and wonder if there was something I could of done to make it work. the 9k/yr loss really hurts 

[AxlsMainMan]

Do any of you experience it?  How do you deal with it?

Not to the extent you've experienced, but when I worked at a grocery store a few years ago for almost 4 years, the longer I stayed the closer I progressively got with the store butcher who just happened to be the arch-nemesis of the store manager (who hired me) since the store opened 30+ years earlier. 

As a result, my weekly hours started dropping, and the manager even suspended me for 2 weeks for "slacking off" even though my work ethic had been admirable enough for the dairy manager to let me take over their responsibilities whenever they didn't want to come in/were on holidays; so needless to say I soon handed in my 2 weeks notice.

[cineater]

Everybody does:

Following his dismissal from My Chemical Romance for alleged theft, former drummer Michael Pedicone has issued a statement exclusively through Kerrang.com.

"To the media, my colleagues in the music industry, and, most importantly, the fans of My Chemical Romance.

"As many of you have heard by now, on Thursday evening I was let go as the touring drummer for MCR. The ensuing hours have been difficult for many reasons, but particularly because the actions that led to my dismissal have been twisted and misinterpreted via rumour mongering on the internet. With this, I'd like to put the rumours to rest.

"Almost as soon as I began touring with MCR I ran into problems with a member of the band's crew who I'll not name. The problems were many, big and small, but some of them were large enough that they began to greatly impact me and, by extension, my family. I'd reached my wits' end, and I made what was certainly the poorest decision of my life. Rather than address the issues that I had with the crew member in an open and honest manner, I tried to make them look irresponsible. My intention was to make this person look incompetent. I had no intention of profiting whatsoever. Again, I cannot overstate how poor my judgment was in this situation; it was a tremendous mistake, and it's one I'll regret for years to come.

"I would have liked an opportunity to share my side of the story with MCR, an opportunity to express my remorse. I was never given one.

"I'd like to thank MCR's members, crew, and supporters for giving me some of the best musical experiences of my life in the past several months. However brief our partnership, it was an honour and a dream come true to play with such a talented bunch of individuals. I wish MCR the best of luck in the future, and I'm looking forward to my next endeavour.

Thank you, Michael Pedicone."

[D]

Once i got my Physical therapist Assistant license and had to choose where to work, I took that into huge consideration and finally decided on Home Health. big reason was because I am in my car all day long, make my own schedule and am not in an "Office" atmosphere.

so far so good as I may see the other workers an hour a week at our weekly meeting but its very lovely and stress free for the most part only dealing with the patient and not having to deal with the normal gossip/whispering, political bullshit.