Some people peak in high school and bully at work.

Many workplaces are no less dramatic than high school cafeterias and classrooms.

Check out what this worker did to get through this hideous work situation.

“You can’t work with us!” Ok, I won’t.

Quickly after I started this job in 2018, it became clear that 5/6 of my coworkers didn’t like me at all.

The bullying started off subtly… ignoring me.

I was aware of what they were doing, so after a little while of this, I began mirroring their behavior.

They didn’t like that.

The tension escalated. Big time.

I began to develop migraines from the stress.

As much as I hadn’t been bothered in the beginning, there’s only so long you can go in an environment like that without some kind of effect.

By this point, it had been several months.

The migraines started to affect my attendance regularly.

Of course, they didn’t like that either and things continued to escalate.

The manager knew all that was happening, but nothing changed.

Well, anyway.

I wanted another baby, so my husband and I decided to use the job for what it was worth – a nice 9m long paid maternity leave. So about 1 year after I started the job, I became pregnant.

Then came my birthday.

I was expecting nothing, of course.

But I got a card and some chocolates from ‘the girls’ – aka, the only one with a conscience signed it from the girls because she didn’t want me to get nothing (and know they’d flat out refused).

But her ally was a comfort.

Put it down to pregnancy hormones, but when she gave it to me, I of course knew it was only from her and cried my little eyes out.

This was a Thursday.

The next day, I asked my manager to work alone.

I covered all the wards (I was a hospital phlebotomist) by myself while they stayed in the clinic.

When I was done, I helped out the nursing assistants in the clinic across to avoid them.

Later my manager came down to see me & discuss.

Apparently they had complained to her that I had not helped them at all, even though it was so busy that they’d have to get the NA’s to help (which was a lie since I was with the NA’s all day, they never had to go help).

I explained to the manager what had happened and that I just needed some space as the alternative would have been to go home.

I began crying again, pregnancy, and the inevitable stress of being ganged up on for over a year by 5 people everyday just gets to you after a while.

The manager told me to take the following week off (‘free’ of charge – ie, she’d not write me up).

When I came back the following Monday, I wasn’t ok, but I was better than I had been.

I wondered what my reception would be and low and behold!

It was awful.

A whole confrontation went down, where one of them had the audacity to ask me if I had considered their feelings when I told our manager I didn’t want to work with them on that Friday.

I knew I had turned some kind of mental corner, because I laughed in her face, finally stood up for myself instead of ‘just ignoring’ it, and then walked off to do my job.

And I didn’t feel bad about it!

This was in Dec 2019.

At this point, I was about 6 weeks pregnant.

And this is where my revenge began.

I was pretty unwell through my pregnancy, and so heavily protected by UK laws and by the hospital’s maternity policies, I wasn’t making much of an effort to go to work when I didn’t feel 100% ok to do so.

I had quite the chunk of time off between Dec 2019 and early 2020.

Fast forward to March 2020 and as you all know, Coronavirus was in full swing and we were days away from a nationwide lockdown.

Of course, ordinarily, this wouldn’t affect me, because I worked in a hospital.

I was in unusually high spirits on the way in to my shift.

My morning sickness was finally starting to abate and there’d been no drama for a little while.

And I did actually really like my job when I was allowed to just do it!

So I was in quite a good mood and I even greeted my nasty colleagues cheerily.

Well.

I was greeted with a sharp ‘You’re not coming in here!’

I was confused, unsure as to what I could have possibly done over the last 4 days that I hadn’t even seen this woman.

So after asking her what she meant, she said she and our other colleague didn’t want to go on the wards so they’d just stuck to the clinic and had planned to send me there instead (we’re meant to do the wards first and they start an hour before I did).

My manager and I had already agreed I’d not go on the wards due to the virus and my pregnancy.

Self-preservation became her priority.

I sensed danger and went to call my manager.

I let her know what had transpired and we agreed that I’d just find a spare room in the clinic and work in there. So I did.

Not even 30 minutes later and lo and behold, grumpy colleague comes storming up to me, demanding to know why I didn’t share the whole story with her.

I say ‘What story? There is no story?’

The agreement between our manager.

I asked what business is it of hers.

So she yells at me “Well you can’t work with us!”

I snap and tell her to sort her attitude out and walk off from her.

Well, I’ve had enough.

I go to see my manager to tell her so.

And when I get there, after telling her what was said, I say since this colleague likes to act my supervisor so much, how about I finally take some direction from her?

I won’t work with her, or any of them. I’m done.

My manager not only agrees, but tells me to shield instead, preserving my pay, fully paid sick leave and my PTO.

Which took me up to my mat leave start date.

Winner.

And the kicker?

They were stuck short staffed for a full year during a pandemic, because my job was legally protected until I officially left it in March 2021.

So I walked out mid shift, left them high and dry, and in the words of my manager: they brought it on themselves.

Here is what folks are saying.

I don’t know, but I know what attracts them: control.

I doubt it after all this time.

I bet. That stuff sticks.

There is probably no rational cause, if a cause at all. People like this need a victim.

You know nothing about bullying or maybe you are one.

I hope her next workplace was lovely.

These girls can keep the old one.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.