June 24, 2026

vmalvey

A Tale of VENTING

Our first tale of a toxic workspace will seem very familiar with many of you.  I know when I first heard Rich’s story it resonated with me as I’d experience some of the toxic behaviors he’d endured.  The hardest part was learning that the job was a dream in the beginning, but quickly became a nightmare when there was a change in management.  Why don’t I let you all see for yourselves?

In the beginning…

Rich had been at his current position for approximately 5 years and was very secure and happy when he was approached with a job offer.  He hadn’t gone looking for a new role, but when this one landed in his lap, it was too good an offer to pass up.  This new company offered him a slightly salary, working from home, stronger benefits, a Christmas bonus of 2 weeks salary, and an annual bonus of 15%!  Amazing!  Rich truly thought he’d just been offered a “destination job”.  He’d planning on staying there for the rest of his career as he had just turned 60. 

When he arrived, his boss tasked him with setting up a new program utilizing a never-before utilized software.  This new program had a multitude of State and Federal Compliance regulations associated with it.  Rich was excited by the challenge, immediately beginning to build out his team and learn the new software.  The management in his department was supportive, positive, and always treated every team member as if they mattered.

Then the dark cloud came…

Unfortunately for Rich and his entire team, the Senior Manager (his boss’ boss) left the company and was replaced with someone who was extremely incompetent, unknowledgeable about the industry, and uncaring about the staff.  We’ll call her Opal for our tale.  Rich immediately tried to engage Opal, creating a strong presentation that outlined the program along with how it solved for the regulatory requirements.  However, every time Rich got on calls with Opal she was just downright rude and condescending.  On a Zoom call while sharing her screen so everyone could see her, she would brush her hair, eat, or text on her phone while Rich was trying to explain his program to her.  She literally just ignored all of his hard work, not even commenting on anything he was saying.  Can you imagine having to deal with that type of rudeness?  I’m seriously impressed that Rich held his tongue and didn’t lose it on Opal.

Kudos for Rich…

Despite the ignorance of Opal, Rich had presented his program to the Federal Oversight Committee that regulates the industry and they LOVED his work.  He received RAVE reviews from them, from the company’s Legal and Compliance teams, and from other areas who reviewed the information.  Rich’s boss was thrilled at the work and publically commended him on team meetings.  In addition, the program was audited by one of the toughest auditing teams in the company.  The audit resulted in no findings, only praise for the strong, detailed program that Rich had created.   Rich thought all was going well for him and his team.  He felt secure in his position.

Then Hurricane Opal struck…

Unbeknownst to either Rich or his boss, Opal decided to get rid of Rich and move his program under one of her favorite managers, a woman who laughed at all of Opal’s jokes and just kissed her ass constantly.  Rich said it was almost nauseating to watch, but Opal ate it up.  Let’s call that woman Melissa.  The worst part was there was a second manager position on Melissa’s team, so Opal could have easily moved Rich onto Melissa’s team.  That move would have kept Rich’s inherent knowledge, ensuring the integrity of the program and continuity of quality.  Nope.  That was apparently too smart of a move for Opal.  Instead, they hired someone with absolutely no knowledge of the area for the role.  Think about that for a moment.  Like an evil vampire, Opal sucked Rich dry of all his creativity, knowledge, and organizational skills that he put into creating an outstanding program, then tossed him aside like a drained, dried out husk.  Personally, I consider that intellectual rape.

The callousness of Opal’s lay-off…

When Opal called Rich to inform him of her decision to lay him off, she stumbled over her words as she seemed to struggle on how to justify the decision.  Rich simply listened in stunned silence as she tried to explain why he wasn’t moving onto the new team being formed.  Once her fumblings fell silent, she finally asked if he had any questions.  He only had one:  Why was a company laying off one of its top performers who had created a program that had won praise from everyone who had examined it?  Of course, Opal had no response.  I mean, come on.  What could she really say?  There was nothing to justify Rich getting screwed over like that.  Rich is the sole financial provider for his family, so this news was devastating for him.  If he’d been aware that this new position was essentially an 18 month gig, he never would have left his old job!  The company has this whole “mission statement” about how well it treats its employees.  Yeah, nope.

Adding insult to injury…

To make matters even worse, Opal expected Rich to teach Melissa how to run his program before he left the company.  Now, as much as Rich would have loved to tell Opal to see if someone from her trailer park could teach Melissa, he couldn’t do that because it would jeopardize his severance package which was an incredible deal.  He was stuck…again.  Swallowing his pride and anger, he reluctantly provided Melissa with an overview of the program.  As soon as she said she understood, he walked away with his severance package, cursing Opal silently as he sent back his laptop.

What could he have done…

Rich knew that if he’d gone to Human Resources it would have been a dead end.  His company had done what so many companies are doing now to avoid the hassle of documenting negative actions to justify layoffs.  It’s a way to get around the laws protecting employees.  All a company has to do is lay off a group of people all at once, saying it is a financial decision, and not backfill those positions for a certain amount of time as dictated by State law.  In Rich’s case, there was a mirror team that was doing the work, but it was in a different area, reporting to a different manager.  Thus, the company could claim it was a different position.  Utter bullshit, but legal nonetheless.  As such, he didn’t even bother to go to them as he knew it was just a waste of time.

Happy Ending…

Luckily, Rich’s work ethic, resume, and contacts served him well; he was able to land a job within 3 months.  This new position was a hybrid one with 3 days in office and 2 days work from home.  He’s finding he enjoys spending time with his coworkers in the office as well as having the freedom to enjoy his home office still.  While he took a significant pay cut, the new position is low stress with a boss and management that treats everyone as a person rather than a number.  Such a refreshing change for Rich!  I was so happy to hear that he’d come out in a much better place on the other end of his arduous experience.

Legal versus Moral

While I fully understand that legally Rich has no recourse and the company has no obligation to him, don’t you think companies should need to start having moral obligations again?  After all, had this company not recruited Rich, he would still be comfortably employed at his old job.  His new position came at a cost as he was making less than at his original position with the first company as well as with the company who recruited him.  Did the new company have the MORAL obligation to put Rich in that secondary managerial role?  I think it’s time that companies be held accountable for their employees, that companies stop giving their CEO’s million dollar bonuses and start repurposing those monies to retaining their employees.  Somewhere along the way, our corporate structure got really messed up.

Your thoughts…

Let me know in the comments if you’ve ever experienced something like Rich.  Have you ever been disrespected?  Have your thoughts and input been completely ignored?  Were you ever the victim of what I call Intellectual Rape?  Have you ever worked with a vampire who sucked you dry of your creativity, knowledge, and energy?  Also, what do you feel a company’s obligations should be to their employees?  I know both Rich and I would love to hear if you’d experience anything similar.  Let us know!