Dream Company, Nightmare Boss — Part VII - January 19, 2016

The week of January 18, 2016, was one of my worst. Afterward, I seriously discussed my resignation with family and friends if I couldn't transfer to another job. My friend's mom, who worked in HR for over 35 years, strongly encouraged me to leave, citing her observed incompetent handling of every issue I shared with her. 

I desperately wanted to make things work, though. My entire life, I fought to get to this company, and this was my story? This one guy was going to torpedo everything I worked toward?

As an aside, when you seek out other opportunities within a company, people talk. People knew that Greg and I didn't get along. Cindy couldn't stand him either, but she did a better job of masking her displeasure. Our four Washington teammates had the pleasure of hundreds of miles between them and Greg. 

What I hoped, was that prospective hiring teams saw how much love I had for the company, the games, and most importantly, the people. I adored the people I worked with, befriending many of them; I proved time and time again that I was a valuable resource on many projects outside of my team; and I collaborated well with people, building trust and good relationships across the organization. 

Greg Everage did none of that: he didn't like the people, he didn't like the games, he had zero trust, and he had few genuine relationships. Regardless, it seemed the situation was lose-lose for me. He was my boss. And as much as I tried to break through, his shadow was all-pervasive.

Tuesday, January 19

Our team had a regular weekly meeting at 10:30 on Tuesday mornings. On this day, Greg emailed the team earlier saying he was coming in late, and he greeted me in person around 10:15. He didn’t mention anything about rescheduling the meeting. At 10:30, I dialed into the call with the remote team, and after a few minutes, we noticed Greg hadn't called in. I ran over to his office—not there. I ran over to the break room—not there either. I ran back to my desk and we, as a team, resolved to continue the meeting in lieu of waiting. They had a lot on their plate and asked not to reschedule. They requested that I recap Greg whenever he resurfaced.

We ended the call around 10:45. Greg came by my desk five minutes later. He asked when our team meeting was. I told him it was at 10:30, our usual time, and I didn't know where he was. I took notes and could recap him.

• Greg told me I handled the situation incorrectly. He was angry that I didn’t do everything in my power to ensure he was there for the meeting. 
• I told him I went to find him in his office and the break room and he wasn't at either location.
• He asked where else I looked. I said I walked nearly the entire office besides the men's bathroom. 
• He said I should have checked in there. He told me I was personally responsible for him missing that meeting. Greg raised his voice to the point in which I was shocked, uncomfortable, and embarrassed.
• I was at my cube, and I noticed the co-workers near me went silent as he spoke.
• I tried to defend myself, explaining that the team made the decision.
• As usual, he told me to stop being defensive and do my job, which I was once again failing. I was cowering in my seat.

I was visibly upset after that conversation: Cindy asked me if I was OK over Skype, saying the way he spoke to me made her sick. 

Colleen, a colleague that sat on the opposite side of the aisle, reached out over Skype to help. She reported into the Senior Vice President, Dan, the head honcho in our office.

On Wednesday morning, Colleen and I sat down to chat a local coffee shop. I reviewed everything, and she said she would communicate everything to Dan. 

I will always be thankful for Colleen. She was the first person who truly made an effort to help with Greg's bullying beyond lip service. Thank you for taking action.

What I told HR about this incident: 

Unfortunately, the pattern of disrespect has not improved over the past couple months with Greg. There was an incident on Tuesday I want to bring to your attention that made me feel intimidated. It made it difficult for me to concentrate on work, but luckily I had the opportunity to demo at a media event later that day and remove myself from the environment. This is not the first time this happened. Greg expects me to function as his personal assistant and berates me if I don’t comply. I truly need to work with HR to find a solution.

Next up: Later that week...