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I was in college. I was working with the Department of Health of the state to check with people that have been in contact with somebody that had COVID.
This is Chloe. While working on her bachelor's degree, she was working for the state's public health department. As she approached her graduation, she was eager to land a new job that would align with her studies.
And I had this class with this professor, which was very exciting because he was teaching about how to have lean management and how to use a six sigma and process improvement.
He offered me this job at his company. He actually didn't put a title to it, but he said, you know, I have a great opportunity. Come and see me and we'll talk.
Chloe studied supply chain management and is passionate about the subject. So when her six sigma black belt certified professor offered her a position at his company, she thought it was the chance to kick off her career.
But she would quickly find that the job wasn't even close to the picture he painted it to be.
My name's Carly and this is Toxic Workplace, a podcast that gives a platform to those who have survived a highly toxic work experience only to come out with newfound wisdom and a renewed sense of self.
A toxic workplace is more than just the daily grind. It's a soul crushing experience that will chip away at your sanity until you're about to lose your mind.
It's an abusive relationship that's hard to leave. And the longer you stay, the more you lose sight of who you set out to be.
She described his job like the ultimate job to have after graduating. She's like, this is going to be a great opportunity for you because I was going to be working with a global company, global operations.
He listed a bunch of responsibilities and actually he used to talk with me more than any other student. We used to talk about my previous experiences. I'm like, I want a job, you know, right after I graduate.
I don't want to linger and have the graduation and have the fear of will I ever find a job, you know?
When you go to college, you go with the expectation that after graduation, there is going to be career opportunities within your industry of study. At least that's the hope, right?
So when Chloe's professor took interest in her work and offered her a position, she thought it was her lucky break. She respected this man. He was kind, helpful, and highly educated. Who wouldn't take advantage of this opportunity?
Chloe says the professor's description was so extraordinary that it was almost intimidating. She wondered if she was even ready for this job with no such previous experience.
I did ask how is the training, how long it's going to take, and who is going to train me. He said the person that was leaving was going to train me and it was going to be two weeks of training.
She was going to go over everything, a binder with process and procedures, and I'm like, perfect, that sounds good. He described she's got a great opportunity. She's been with the company for five years.
And I'm like, oh, that is great. Well, I learned later on that she was there only for three. And I'm like, why would he say that? You know?
And she actually left and I think she didn't have a job. So I'm like, okay, sure. So I started on my first day. He introduced me. He said, okay, everybody, this is Chloe. She's going to be replacing Alexis.
And at that point, everybody opened their eyes and I knew nobody knew. I knew instantly nobody knew. And the girl, Alexis, she's like, yeah, I'm leaving at the end of the week.
And I'm like, wait, this doesn't feel right. First of all, you say that I'm going to have two weeks with this person and she's saying that she's going to leave at the end of the week. So it's not two weeks training.
That was my first red flag right there. So that was a Tuesday. I started on a Tuesday and the girl was leaving on Friday. So I pitched out to her, like we're going to do the training.
She gave me the binder and she was like, you need to read this first. I'm going to make some time and I'll call you once I'm ready. She called me on Friday to go over everything.
I was so nervous because there were a lot of processes and I'm like, this can't be happening. I'm like, the thing that I'm most concerned about is training. I don't have any training. I don't know what I'm going to do.
Chloe was left untrained by her predecessor and had to figure things out on her own. To her surprise, the job duties weren't anything as described by her professor, who was now her new boss.
After a month and a half, I learned that the job was very simple to do. It had a lot of small processes. I noticed that the environment at the office was very cold.
People didn't talk to each other. And then I realized that if you try to talk to somebody for too long, he will make gestures or come over and say, what's your guys working? How is everything?
He didn't like much of that interaction among people. He didn't like that. So the job that I was doing was nothing like he described.
I mean, he dropped the words global and international on me. And I'm like, wow, I was entering orders for his Canada warehouse. In the warehouse, there was just one person.
And I emailed people and that's it. That's it. That's all I do. Very basic. I didn't do anything like he expressed of inventory forecasting and control, production planning, nothing of that.
Like nothing. It was frustrating because I went to college and did a lot of work and a lot of sacrifices to at the end have a better job than I have before college.
And it happens that the job that I have before college was way better than I had at that moment.
Chloe realized her boss wasn't at all like the professor she saw at the university. He was only interested in what the engineers of the company were working on, which caused the rest of the operations to function with no leadership and no continuous improvement, which is ironic because process improvement was a subject he taught at the school.
So as part of my role, I always try to find ways to improve processes. And every time I bring up, I brought an idea to him. He would say, oh, we can really do that. That's not really ideal. He was always like no to any idea.
So I decided just to put my ideas in place after I noticed that other coworkers were just making changes on their own without consulting him. So I'm like, you know what? I just rather do this than make my job more difficult.
And one of the things that I improved was how we were communicating with customers. We were still sending letters via mail. So every time I receive an order, I'm just going to ask, hey, what is the best email to send your invoice?
We could send the invoices through the system using the email address because that was an option on the software, but it wasn't being used. So when we implemented that process, we started receiving payments on time. And I also started noticing that so many voices that were late were getting now paid.
So I just, I went ahead and any idea that I came up with, I never consult him because I knew it was going to be a no. And it actually improved the job. One of my coworkers, she noticed that. She's like, that's probably the best way to do this.
And sadly, he doesn't like to hear ideas, even though he's very like, you know, give me your ideas, give me your projects. What are you thinking? He's the kind of person that is going to say no at the end of the day.
And I don't know why, but when I was in the classroom with him, he was always a person that makes himself like very involved with everything. Glad to help, very charismatic.
He was involved with the state government and he was always leading the talks and bringing people together to put this in place and blah, blah, blah. But I'm like, here I am with an idea for his business that can make this role better.
And he will say, no, no, no. And I think it was because the idea didn't come from him. So I think that had a lot to do with it.
Not only did Chloe's boss want all the clout for his business operations, he wanted full control of everything. His way of doing that was separating employees into silos and disallowing engagement between colleagues.
So I'm going to tell you more about how his company was set up in terms of his office. His office was on the center with glass walls around. So to his left, there were three people that were just in charge of production.
To the right, there were the six of us, you know, that were doing sales support for Canada and a couple engineers. And on the back, there was a meeting room. They had this glass.
And on the front of him was the whole plant so he could see everything. And he had many prints with glass and he put them in certain places. And a coworker told me that he did that in order to look through the reflection and see what we were doing.
I like to talk a lot, but at the same time, I'm productive. He didn't like that. He didn't like when we were laughing, when we were talking about movies or music. It wasn't even nothing malicious. It was just, you know, day to day, oh, I ate this today. Oh, you should try this restaurant.
He would come over and say, oh, how is everything? Are you guys working? You know, let's talk and stuff like that. So at the end, I learned that it better just keep to myself. And it was very isolated.
Even his whole teams, you know, production team, the engineering team, the sales team, it was like silos. We didn't have much communication with each other. It was very weird. We didn't talk to each other.
And the way that we were divided didn't allow us to interact with each other either. And some people were just not for it. Like, don't talk to me. So I learned not to talk to anybody there.
Small talk at the office may not contribute to crossing off items on a to do list, but it's important for morale. When people engage in conversations at work, they form a bond, a companionship. They find common ground and a purpose on a team in which they can enjoy. This professor must not realize that good business depends on good relationships.
So they have three dogs at the office. They used to just bring them every day, his dogs, and the dogs will pee, poo or vomit in the office. That will happen daily. And he will see that and he will, he wouldn't clean it. He will just walk by. That wasn't of any of his duties, even though it was his dog.
And, you know, two out of the six of us, they will clean after they will clean vomit. They will clean poo. They will clean pee. I never made that my job. I'm like, once I do that, they will expect me to do that. So I'm like, no, I'm doing that.
And the carpet wasn't fluffy or clean. You could see the stains. This was bad. And talking to one of my coworkers about it, she's like, well, the carpet has been there for 20 years and he's not thinking about changing it. He's very cheap.
Oh my God. Well, I start experiencing sneezing. I'm not allergic to dogs, but maybe I'm allergic to just dirty carpet.
I'm all for dogs in the workplace, but only when the person bringing the dog is responsible, respectful. And I would think it goes without saying that the owner of the dog cleans up after it.
Instead of, you know, he replacing the carpet or getting us new cubicles or getting better software, he will just brag about his car collection and how many cars he has. And I'm like, how? Like, just keep it to yourself at least.
We will have certain rules for certain orders, like expect delivery between 10 to 15 days. We have certain rules of returns. We might not have these returns because, you know, it's been used and blah, blah, blah.
And I will explain sometimes to the customer the rules and they will get upset. And on the other hand, you know, if this was escalating, he will take the call and say, oh no, we can do that. She told you no, no, we can't do that. Absolutely. Bring it over.
Oh, you want a discount? We will give you that. So I'm like, this is not consistent. You are making me look bad and I'm part of your company. I'm telling people about the rules of returns, about the rules on discounts and warranties.
And you totally flip it when they call you. So it happens many times, many, many times. It makes you look like you are not competent, that you are not doing your job right, that you don't know what you're doing. And I used to like doubting myself.
Like, did he say that right at the beginning? And I'm like, no, I wrote it. I have it right. He will come and say to me, you know, you need to learn to deal with customers. And I'm like, even by dealing is lying and accepting anything they say and, you know, probably go against your work.
Sure, I can do that, but I don't want to lose my job either. As part of my job duties, you know, I was obtaining payments from customers. So when I was taking these payments into the system and entering them, I realized that some customers have credits.
And I consult with the accountant of the company and I say, maybe we can let them know that they have these credits for the next order. She said to me, he doesn't want to do that. He doesn't want to let customers know that they have credits open.
When I take a job, I take full responsibility and I like to do things right. And I like to do things better. And I always look for things, you know, to improve. On that note, when I started doing that job, I start feeling very tired at the end of the day, even though I wasn't doing anything.
My energy drop and every time that I was waking up to go there, I felt tired and exhausted. I just felt that I need to be challenged at my job. I need to be productive. I need to be social.
And that job wasn't offering any of that, not even a path of growth because it was just him and, you know, two other few people. And that's the buzz. There is no way for me to go any further than to take it all over him. So that wasn't happening.
There is no hierarchy within the job, you know, like, oh, the team has a leader. No, he wanted to be the leader for everybody. And that's sometimes very hard. I always look for signs. Like maybe I should sign a sign that is going to tell me, yeah, this is the sign and I should leave.
Chloe was starting to realize that this job wasn't going to catapult her career into anything worth fighting for.
He doesn't care. He only cares for himself. And he had this job opening, you know, it was going to be within a few days that he needed to find somebody. So he found us somebody and he sold his idea of that job.
Anyway, so I'm done up of being very controlling. I used to take my lunchtime at two as the coworker in Canada. So we will like align and nobody will be missing anything.
So we took our lunch at that time and I used to leave, come back. I mean, he always sees me leaving, coming back and doesn't say anything. So I'm like, okay, I think this is a good time just to keep, I just kept taking that time.
Until one day he's like, Chloe, I was transferring you a call and I'm like, oh, I'm sorry. I was taking lunch. He's like, come to my office. And I'm like, okay.
He's like, so when you take your lunch, yell at me. Yell when you take your lunch. Like when you yell in the streets of Columbia. So I'm from Columbia.
And I was like, you know, my face like poker face. I wasn't showing any emotion, no laughs, no nothing. And I just walk away. I'm like, that was a little bit off.
And then I tell my boyfriend, she's like, why? That's not right. And you know what? I never have like the wake up call like, oh, maybe this is not right around here. Maybe I should move. Maybe this is not okay.
It happened when I told my best friend and she knew I had this job and she knew like, oh, she's working with her professor on the topic.
This topic of all in management and process improvement is a passion of mine. I love that. I love reading about it. I love hearing people like how they have implemented new things.
So my best friend knew that, oh, she's having the time of her life because this company uses that and her professor, blah, blah, blah.
But when I started telling him all this stuff that was happening, she said to me, I never imagined you in a place like this. Why are you staying there? Why is this stopping you?
If getting a degree was a step to get a better job, not to say that job that was less than you had before.
Chloe knew her friend was right. She thought about her why and what she wanted out of her career. She had worked way too hard in college to have it come to this. She wanted something more. And this wasn't it.
So we were at the office. So he came in with a call on his headphone and he asked the US support something. And while this woman was looking for the answer, the coworker that was behind me say something.
And he turned at the coworker that was behind me and say, shut the fuck up. And I'm like, wait, this is not okay. This is not okay. And I'm like, I'm leaving today.
And later that day, yes, later that day, I said I need to talk to you. And he's like, yeah, come on. I'm like, I would like to talk to just the two of us. So we made it to the meeting room. And I told him, I'm moving.
Because I didn't want him to come up with any excuse about if I tell him, hey, I'm leaving because this is not fulfilling. I didn't want him to sell me any other idea of how this job could be any better for me.
So I told him, I'm just moving out of state. And I would like to just, you know, give you my two weeks, help you with anything. And thank you so much.
And he said to me, well, I don't need two weeks. And I'm not going to find a person in two weeks. And I'm not going to find a person in three weeks. I think you need to stay four weeks.
And I'm like, sure, I can help you with that, I say. And I stayed for weeks. Later, I learned that me giving my two weeks was enough. And if he didn't find anybody within those two weeks, it wasn't my problem. And I could leave free and you really don't have any issues.
I say, okay, I'll help you with anything that you need. And he's like, that's perfect. But I will tell you the way that he managed things, like with the customers, he was very different. He pretty much like adjust to you in order to sell you his idea.
I think it's a very good skill, you know, to be able to sell anything. But it's also very sneaky of him to do certain things. For example, when he was in the class, he will like, you know, appear very charming, very involved.
This person that you know, that gets people together and they work and you know, you get that perception of him. Like he's he used to say, people from all over the world come and see my plan because the plan is organized according to the principles of link management, and not many companies achieve that.
And he was actually a master black belt in link management in Six Sigma. So that is a huge thing. And the Japanese invented that system, actually Toyota. And that's why Toyota has these, you know, the manufacturing is on point, nothing is wasted.
Everything is used to the maximum. Everything is utilized correctly. There is no waste of any kind. So he got that training and he got to be a black belt, which is top level. So having that achievement is really is great.
So he sells his achievements, his accomplishments, and he now just Oh my god, what an amazing person he is and I can learn anything from him. Once like he gets you in like, I care for your development and care for your ideas. This is it. This is why you see where you get now you're in.
This was one of the biggest red flags for Chloe. The fact that she saw the professor in two different lights, one being the accomplished personable professor that seems to care about his students and what he teaches. The other being a cold, controlling business owner that couldn't care less if his employees have to clean up his dog's mess on the office carpet.
So two weeks passed. And I think right before right before the mark of the two weeks, there is this new girl coming in. She doesn't have any paperwork to work in the US. She's from India. She's the wife of one of the kitchen engineer. He was in planning production planning.
So he pretty much offered the job to her under the agreement of being with with the company and he was going to be able to sponsor her to have a working visa. But right when I left, the girl made a comment to me and she's like, you know what?
I know this is not my kind of job because this is very boring. She does accounting. She has a master in accounting and I'm not even getting paid. And I'm like, wait, what? No, I'm not getting paid. I don't have a check. I haven't gotten a check. And how often did you get a check?
She told me about the agreement and I just don't know if she ever got paid because of that agreement. So I'm like, okay, good luck to you. And I left.
That week that I left, I got a call for a job that I applied a year before. And they said, oh, do you apply for this job? And I don't know if you remember. And I'm like, yes, I do remember because that was a year ago. And I remember the company because the company is owned by a very prestigious football team.
I was like, wow, this is the opportunity of a lifetime. I think we tend to romanticize these things. And I'm like, oh my God, they call me. It's been a year. They like my resume so much. They kept it for a year.
I'm like, yeah, open for an interview. I mean, let me know and I'll be there. So the person interview I had, like, there was a big red flag in the room. Like I was like, yeah, this is a red flag, but I'm okay with it.
And the red flag was when I asked her about training again, the person say, well, we don't have training in place because it's a job that varies day on a day to day basis, but you will be learning here every day.
And I'm like, this is the biggest red flag, but I'm going to take the job.
Chloe overlooked the red flags because she was romanticizing the situation. You know, one of those, oh my gosh, this was meant to be sort of things.
She had just quit her previous job without anything lined up. So this new position seemed like the heavens opened and rolled out a new job for her. So she took it. Only to quickly find that her initial gut instincts were in fact correct.
So when I took the job, the description was account coordinator. It was a very exciting job, but I was going to be working with a guy that was way younger than me.
I believe this was his first serious job and we have the same account and all the people have just their single accounts.
We share accounts. So I was pretty much his secretary. And by that, I mean, I was making copies of whatever he needs.
I was rewriting emails in Spanish because he just wanted to make sure he was writing his Spanish correctly.
We have the same title, but I was doing those things for him and I was entering orders that he will later review and submit as his own orders.
So it was a shadow job. And every time I asked for more responsibilities, like, hey, I want to do this or why don't you let me work on this from him and from my boss, he was like, oh, because you are not ready.
This job takes six months to grasp and you are not ready. And I'm like, okay, but if I'm not practicing, I won't be ready.
And maybe you have people that are getting ready after six months because you don't expose them a lot to what they have to do.
I'm very proactive. I try to learn. That's probably annoying, you know, because I'm like, okay, let me help you with this. I do this.
But I'd rather do that than sit on my desk and, you know, stare at the computer. So I'm like, do you need help with this? No, that's okay. We're going to do this. Oh, do you need help with this? No, that's okay.
Okay, so I will go to work. It was a hybrid position to something. I will go to work and you stare at the computer as if anybody needed help.
They will say no and they will stay later until eight or eight thirty doing their job. And I felt like maybe I should be asking more and helping them or, you know, like making them understand that, hey, you know, if you show me, I can do this, like a little bitty thing, you know, it can help you.
So I'm like, okay, maybe I'm just going to ask my boss, do you want me to do something else? Do you want to put me in another department? The transportation department need help? One girl quit. Oh, that was another thing. Within the two months, four people quit.
Chloe says she was always willing to learn and help. With the high turnover, there were openings in other departments, which she offered to assist with until they filled the position.
But all they told her was that she wasn't ready. This position was a hybrid remote position. Some days she would work from home and others she would come into the office.
Although they had certain days scheduled for remote working, not everyone followed the schedule and no one seemed to mind until the day that Chloe decided to work from home on a day she was scheduled to be in the office.
So one day I didn't show up to work. I work from, it was supposed to be work from office, but I work from home. I have nothing to do, so I'm just going to stay here.
And then my boss calls me and she says, why aren't you here? And I'm like, oh, well, I mean, I'm working from home. She's like, but we had this meeting and like, oh, I'm sorry. I'll connect. But the next time I'll be there.
She said, you need to show up to work because we have here that we established two days from the office and the rest are from home. And I knew those days were established.
However, the days that we were supposed to be at the office, most of the people weren't at the office. It started with the bosses. They were from home. And one of those days was Mondays and Wednesdays.
So, you know, Mondays we had this meeting, she will never show up. Not even her boss will show up. So I assumed that from then on, after like three weeks, nobody's going to show up on Monday, on Thursday.
And the day they show up, she asked me like, why I'm not there. Then I reached out to her again to see if I could help her with something else or if I could, you know, do something in another department that they need.
She said, you know, Chloe, for a month, you have more than anybody else here. So I think you're in a good place. Maybe for you it's not going to be six months, but three months to get ready. And then she's like, you know, I'm going to coordinate with your partner so you can have other things on your plate.
And then that didn't happen.
But one day I just got exhausted and I'm like, I can do this. In reality, I wasn't learning anything. So I reached out to her and I said, I think you guys are fine without me. I feel that I'm just not doing anything. I'm not learning anything. I hate to waste your time and your money.
Anyway, so I went and I gave her my computer and she was very rude and she took my computer and she's like, oh, did your batch work when you got in? And I'm like, yeah, it worked.
Oh, that's strange because I deactivated last night and I'm like, why would you if I have to come in and give you my computer? And I'm like, oh, okay. So I left and I left pretty happy and I said to myself, I'm going to give myself a month and I'm going to enjoy my month doing nothing.
At this point, Chloe was exhausted from dealing with bad employers, not because she was overwhelmed, but because she was underwhelmed. Her high hopes for her post college career had been deflated by two back to back toxic workplaces.
The mental exhaustion that comes from trying to guess what's going to happen next and trying to force yourself to show up for a job that is unenjoyable truly takes a toll. But before she can enjoy a full month off, she was contracted to work for a large retailer, which wasn't quite what she was looking for, but again, settled in order to provide for herself.
I don't want to be a con-sector. I feel that I was hired to just check a box and that box is diversity. And I don't mean this in a bad way, it's a very wide company. The last three hires were Indian, Chinese, Colombian, and a guy, I think he's from Ghana.
So I'm like, we're clearly checking a box here. And I think with this whole diversity at the workplace, there is a huge, huge red flag. Like, oh, are you a female? Are you identify as so and so? Instead of, are you good at this? Can you do this?
Show me your credentials. I see it and it's actually played on my favor, but at the same time, like, no, I don't want to be part of this.
Being hired because you check a diversity box and not for your qualifications, expertise and credentials would be discouraging to anyone in the situation. How are you going to move ahead in a company if the company didn't hire you based on your qualifications?
Knowing that this was a temporary contracted position and not a fit for Chloe, she started looking for something permanent. But this time she was going to pay close attention to the red flags.
I have jobs in Colombia and I have jobs here. In Colombia, you don't have those experiences. In Colombia, the work environment is a little bit different. You do, you are very competitive because they won't hesitate on finding somebody that is not doing their job correctly.
And I noticed that here, some people are just cuddling like, okay, maybe she's doing her job correctly, but you know, she's been with the company and we have to accept that. So you take a workload and that's going to be fine.
And I have been in places like that too. I managed to get around, but I noticed that in Colombia and here those, they're different, you know, but on my other jobs, like I move, I change careers, I move a lot.
I'm tired of working. I don't want to work for somebody else. I don't, why is this next person going to say or do that? It's going to just like, and it's like a triggering thing. Like, oh my God, I just want to leave.
I started looking for jobs, like seriously, and more so like coaching myself into like, what is it that I want and what are they looking for? And if it really matches, I'll take it. But I won't take a job that even if it's this one red flag, I will inquire more and more to see if that's truly a red flag or not.
Chloe's job search and newfound wisdom on deciphering whether or not a potential employer would be a fit landed her in a permanent position as a logistics specialist at a well-known brewery.
The interview process was smooth. The people were engaging and asked the right questions and she could feel that it was the right fit for what she was looking for and that this position would get her career on the right path.
Sometimes we have to jump through many hoops until we find what's best for ourselves. What I admire about Chloe is that she never settled. If something didn't feel right, if she wasn't being challenged or was being misled, she listened to her gut.
That takes courage. Leaving something behind for the unknown is scary, but staying somewhere that doesn't serve you out of fear of the unknown will stifle your growth. You've got to take the risk. Jump the sinking ship so that you can move yourself in the right direction.
I hope you enjoyed the podcast. Do you have a story you'd like to share on our show? Go to ToxicWorkplacePodcast.com and click on Be a Guest. Fill out the submission information and we'll be in contact. Your story will be told anonymously. All names are changed to protect the privacy of the company and its employees. We look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you.