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Thread: Finally left toxic workplace... after nearly a decade.

  1. #1
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    Finally left toxic workplace... after nearly a decade.

    Mostly just a vent thread here. I've been a member of these boards since 2006, but now under a new username because my old username can lead back to me. Been working at my current company for nearly a decade. For the first seven years, things looked to be going well. I really loved my job, loved the people I worked with, and was generally considered one of the best.

    Then, a few years ago, they shut down the office in my region and, deciding they needed me, I worked from home full time. This is when things started changing. Slowly, over time, a toxic culture took over our HQ. Toxicity so thick, I could smell it from the other side of the country. Like... folks yelling at one another in the office, berating others on conference calls, lack of response to emails, skipping out or walking out of meetings, etc. etc.

    Over time, all the best employees left. I was one of the few remaining holdouts. Until this week, when my manager and his manager seemed to silently decide they could pay someone much less to do my job, so ran a hit piece of an annual review where they fudged numbers, turned big project victories into losses because of made up timelines, and set unreasonable goals for this year for me to "earn my reputation back."

    This pushed me off the edge. So now I'm gone, and they lost one of their best contributors much sooner than they planned. And I feel really good about it. I don't have anything immediately lined up, but my husband and I don't need my income to thrive, so I'm taking some time to figure out what I'm going to do next.

    What I do know is that since I turned in my notice, I sleep much better at night. I can now ignore the toxicity as I wind down my workload. And, for the first time in years, I am looking forward to working outside my house. Because... well... I'm starting to look a bit like my overstuffed couch. :-)

  2. #2
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    Na Na Na Na,
    Hey Hey Hey,
    Good Bye!

  3. #3
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    When a job starts to affect sleep, relationships, weight, and attitude, time to change.

    I almost got divorced decades ago. Got away from the office for several weeks with hubby on vacation and found out it was the work culture and not the marriage that was causing the problems. I was just taking them home.

  4. #4
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    yeah! I am so glad although it is a hard way to have it happen. You might find you amazingly now sleep or eat healthier or lose some of the couch appearance without even trying.

    I have some work ptsd they say, it is amazingly better in less than a year, but very valid when you have been in suck a place for so long

  5. #5
    Senior Member SteveinMN's Avatar
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    Though it is sad to have to leave a place at which you once enjoyed working, things do change. Congratulations for making it out alive! You will end up the better for this, if only for regaining your health and perspective. Been there, done that, still have the T-shirt (I use it while cleaning up).
    Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington

  6. #6
    Senior Member Sad Eyed Lady's Avatar
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    Sounds like a good decision all the way around. Enjoy some free time and take care of yourself.
    "Like a bird on the wire, like a drunk in the midnight choir, I have tried in my way to be free." Leonard Cohen

  7. #7
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    Enjoy the freedom! I think you can always feel in your gut when it's the right time to blow the joint--sounds like you made the right move!
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
    www.silententry.wordpress.com

  8. #8
    Senior Member gimmethesimplelife's Avatar
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    I can think of one particular hotel I worked at by the Phoenix Airport where the money was very good - I mean seriously, for a serving job, exceptionally good - but it was one of the most toxic places I've ever worked. I didn't last long there and the short period of time I was there I kept watching everyone else around me getting fired for the most trivial of non-reasons. I knew it wouldn't be long until I was gone but I wanted them to make the call as the money was good and I knew it wasn't going to last long.

    The ax fell out of nowhere and I remember feeling cleansed - yes, cleansed - by being let go from this hotel. It was as if by walking out one last time with my head held high the slime accumulated from working there finally left me. So I can understand feeling the healing that comes from getting a toxic workplace in your rear view mirror. Rob

  9. #9
    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
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    Glad you could walk away. Toxic workplaces are horrible!

  10. #10
    Senior Member KayLR's Avatar
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    Glad for you---dust off your sandals and don't look back!
    My therapist told me the way to achieve true inner peace is to finish what I start. So far today, I have finished two bags of M&Ms and a chocolate cake. I feel better already!

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