@falserelic: At my job? Very long story...
Shortest version.
Worked at a company for 4 years on an IT team which consisted of 4 people including myself. (at first)
My boss was this super IT freak with no friends and hated his family so he befriended his team members (if he actually liked you to begin with).
He was the type of guy that would rather be sitting at his desk in the office alone on Christmas weekend catching up on work he's ignored.
Shit, starting to go down the rabbit hole, I could go on on on about personality traits of this sad sad man but I'm gonna try to avoid it further... hahah
Because I was well liked by my Boss and his right hand man (a now good friend of mine he had been working with for 8 years) I easily slipped into their culture which explaining would be an additional few pages.
Basically we were a come and go as we please IT team that always had someone covering so our asses wouldn't get in trouble.
We were purchases by a Fortune 500 company about a year after I started.
My buddy left the team since he could no longer stand working for my boss, after 8 years he was still going nowhere and fed up with his BS.
Well before he left, (the first month I worked there) my boss had a huge blowout with the network guy (another situation created by this lunatic being besties with his subordinates.
They cleared out a whole side of the office of people because they knew it was going to be more heated than your average firing.
I should have seen the writing on the wall...
After this company bought us I had a conversation with my boss (at the bar of course) about how things were going to have to change...
We had lost 2 members of our team, so now it's just me and him.
I was fired up and ready to go, we were still on good terms at this point besides various fucked up happenings in the past.
That following Monday morning after this productive conversation with my boss I get pulled into the CTOs office by my boss and they put me on a "suspension."
I was sideswiped and surprised because that was no hint of this happening, I did my work, my end-users loved me, rarely any complaints.
Basically my boss had been feeding my (very uninvolved) CTO other stories and blaming me for the "downfall of the IT Team" which was hilarious, if anything my boss would have been the downfall.
What I didn't know is they had no right to put me on a suspension, it was actually illegal and under the radar, HR had no idea about it, esp in a big company HR should be involved.
So I agreed to the terms of this "suspension" and did everything I was supposed to do.
This suspension went on for 3 YEARS.
Again heard from someone, this is very illegal, but I had no idea, I was young and clueless to these things.
hah
Everyone in the office knew about my boss, his history, and the screwed up situation I was in with him, it was common knowledge.
I eventually (due to some strong hints from my CEO) took up the issues with my CEO in a quiet effort to end all the madness.
My CEO decided to go straight to my boss and confront him about the issues.
It immediately got worse.
I can't even begin to explain all the little screwed up things that had happened during all this time.
My boss wouldn't talk to me for weeks on end.
Would ignore emails that affected the work day and performance on projects.
He added projects the day of my review so he could see to it that I would fail my review and not get a raise.
He told our CEO that I lied about overtime (when I actually put in for less time than actually worked).
I took on new responsibilities which required training which he derailed.
Ignored requests for hardware to complete projects.
He even ditched me in the city when I had no wallet, no ID, only a dollar and a subway token (I had lost my wallet the previous weekend), after I introduced him to some girls. (I don't even wanna explore that aspect, hah) (and this is when we were getting along.)
The list goes on and on...
This is only the tip of the iceberg.
I met with some higher up IT folks from the company that purchased us(another story in itself on how I got there).
Basically after 2+ years of my boss parading fake interviews he hired a guy he worked with over 10 years previously.
Of course this guy he finally hired and I hit it off.
I find out that this new guy he hired is the original guy I heard about in stories about my boss who had reported him to HR for the same behavior like 15 years ago.
My boss back then lost his job, logged into the system at his work that night and changed the admin passwords, nice guy, would have gotten him in court modern day.
Anyway!
This very guy worked with us for a little over a month and decided my boss had never changed and didn't want to work with him.
He also told me he had seen him do this to people before, he didn't like it then, and doesn't like seeing it happen to me.
He threw up a red flag for the higher ups which got them involved in our whole situation.
I got pulled into a conference room to meet with a higher up IT guy (from the F500 company that bought us) that I had known for a while.
They immediately started asking about how it was working for my boss.
Well I let the floodgates open, told him everything, even included a folder full of incriminating emails and conversations I had been building to protect myself.
Things were looking good, this higher up guy was on my side.
He told me on multiple occasions that if my boss continued to act in this sort of unprofessional manner that he would fly up to our office and drag him out personally no matter what effect it has on the company.
Things were looking good.
Last straw on the camels back.
I find out one day my boss had been lying to me about another training I was supposed to get for a responsibility I been taking care of for 3 years meant for the network guy.
I almost had a nervous breakdown, I left the office shaking at 4:30 that afternoon.
I drove to work the next morning, visibly upset, frustrated and angry, I turned my car around and went home, was probably the best thing I coulda done.
I did end up sending my boss a message to explain why I didn't come to work that day, who knows, maybe he lied about ever getting it.
The next week was fine, as if nothing happened.
Friday I get pulled into the CTOs office and fired.
I'm upset and blindsided, most thought I was safe at this point, most thought I coulda sued the company if I wanted to go that route.
In a mad upset frantic rush I search my cubicle in the spot I hid my folder of protective evidence.
It was gone, they went through my things and found it and made it vanish.
I had co-workers calling me, telling me they'd go look for it more, also reporting back they were still hovering around my desk.
Followed by what I was told was one of the most strange and brief "so and so is leaving the company letter" that was sent out to everyone.
Probably since this whole mess was common knowledge and I was being put up to the firing squad, besides the fact I was basically friends with everyone.
Sorry for the book, it kinda gives the idea.
But in no way explains it enough.
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