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Asking a basic HR question shouldn’t feel like walking into a lion’s den, but that’s exactly what happened to one new hire only a few weeks into her job.

She raised a simple, friendly clarification about her contract, the kind of thing HR departments answer a dozen times a week without blinking.

What she got back instead was a senior staff member shouting, throwing things, and threatening to mess with her pay, none of which was even his call to make.

The whole thing got loud enough that coworkers overheard it, which somehow still hasn’t been enough to get management to promise real change.

Now she’s left wondering if this is just the price of admission at her new job.

Keep reading for the full story.

new job, crazy bullying incident already

I’m few weeks into a new role and already feeling like I need to leave.

Raised a pretty basic contractual/HR query and got a completely disproportionate response from a senior member of staff.

This senior member of staff behaved extremely inappropriately.

He was verbally aggressive, raised voice/shouting, threatened to worsen my conditions, dock my pay (which isn’t even in his power), he threw things about, and it was a very uncomfortable situation over something that I raised in a friendly “hey can I just clarify this” manner.

She also gets the sense that this man is senior enough that most other colleagues aren’t willing to cross him.

It’s turned into a big thing as he was overheard, and bosses have acknowledged it and said they’ll come back to me, but have also made it clear this person is very long-standing, so I’m not expecting much to change.

I’ve also been advised that “that’s just what he’s like but he’s not normally quite this bad,” so it seems like he’s an AH but people tolerate him and he apparently has a particular problem with me.

Feels like I’m being asked to just work around it, though I don’t know what approach they will take after the bosses have discussed.

She doesn’t want to tolerate this behavior, but she’s worried about how leaving will impact her career.

I’m conscious I’m early in my career and want a supportive environment, but equally don’t want to jump ship too quickly and explain it on my CV.

I would love some thoughts, especially if anyone has been through or managed similar. I just don’t know what to do and I’m very anxious/tearful about the whole thing.

For context, I am a woman 30 years his junior and newly hired, so it was very intimidating.

Sounds like this employee is stuck between a rock and a hard place.

What did Reddit have to say?

This user doesn’t think this employee should stick around to find out how much worse this situation could get.

There are also ways to explain this on her CV.

It’s time to start building up a paper trail.

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If HR responds to anything, it’s paperwork.

A senior employee throwing things and threatening someone’s pay over a basic contract question isn’t a personality quirk, it’s a workplace hazard that management is choosing to manage around rather than actually address.

The fact that people already had a script ready, “that’s just what he’s like,” tells you this has happened before and will happen again.

She didn’t do anything wrong here. She asked a polite question the way she was supposed to, and got treated like she’d committed some kind of offense.

Whether she stays or goes, documenting every detail of this incident protects her either way.

This isn’t the kind of problem that fixes itself.

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Author

Benjamin Cottrell

Benjamin Cottrell | Assistant Editor, Internet Culture

Benjamin Cottrell is an Assistant Editor and contributing writer at TwistedSifter, specializing in internet culture, viral social dynamics, and the moral complexities of online communities. He brings a highly analytical, editorial voice to his reporting on workplace conflicts, malicious compliance, and interpersonal drama, with a specific focus on nuanced stories that lack an obvious villain.

As a published author of rhetorical criticism, Benjamin leverages his academic background in human communication to dissect and elevate viral social media threads. Instead of simply summarizing events, he provides readers with balanced, deep-dive commentary into why the internet reacts the way it does. In addition to his cultural reporting, he is an experienced fine art photography essayist and video game reviewer.

When he isn’t analyzing the latest viral debates, Benjamin is usually chipping away at his extensive video game backlog, hunting down the best new restaurants, or out exploring the city with a camera in hand.

Connect with Benjamin on Instagram and read more of his essays on Substack.