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Landing your dream job after years of trying should feel like the beginning of an exciting new chapter. Instead, for this teacher, it became one of the most stressful experiences of her career.

After spending five years applying for permanent teaching positions, OP finally secured a role teaching a subject she genuinely loved. But just five weeks later, she resigned without notice. According to OP, the reason wasn’t the students or the workload—it was a colleague assigned to provide informal support.

Although the coworker wasn’t a supervisor, OP says she repeatedly undermined her in front of students, made snide remarks, withheld important information, and seemingly tried to make her look incompetent in front of management. The constant hostility became so overwhelming that OP began experiencing panic attacks for the first time in her life.

When she finally broke down and told her manager what was happening, she hoped for meaningful support. Instead, she says she was simply encouraged to “talk it out” with the coworker herself.

My workplace bully who drove me out of my dream job got promoted

About 18 months ago I started a job teaching 16-18 year olds in a subject I loved. It was my first permanent teaching job after 5 years of applying for jobs. I was so looking forward to it.

I ended up quitting with no notice after 5 weeks. I had a very informal subject support colleague.

She had the same job title as me (lecturer) and was absolutely not in any sort of management role, she was just there if I had any subject queries as she had taught the subject for a long time.

This isn’t gonna be good.

She repeatedly undermined me in front of my students, made snotty comments to me on a regular basis, said things in front of my manager that looked like she was essentially trying to get me in “trouble” (manager said to me privately she thought it was inappropriate) and point blank refused to tell me information because she’d apparently already told me.

I had a huge list of individual specific incidents. I was having panic attacks multiple times a week when that wasn’t something I’d ever suffered from before.

I spoke to my manager about it, including about the panic attacks it was causing (in floods of tears because I was that worked up about it) and she suggested I try and talk to her about it.

Really, that’s it?

There were no other solutions offered. I handed in my notice the following morning. My manager absolutely knew that was why I left.

I felt incredibly guilty because I was leaving those students without a teacher, when over half of them were in an exam year. They took months to find a replacement. A teaching agency called me well into the next term saying they had a role for me…it was the role I’d left.

I was on LinkedIn today and saw she’d got a promotion to a management role.

Reddit was heartbroken for OP, with many commenters saying the real failure wasn’t just the bully—it was the workplace that allowed the behavior to continue. Readers pointed out that OP documented repeated incidents, reported the impact on her mental health, and explicitly told management she was experiencing panic attacks, yet no meaningful intervention appeared to happen.

Many commenters weren’t surprised to learn the coworker was later promoted, noting that toxic employees often thrive in environments where poor behavior goes unchecked. Several argued that promoting someone accused of repeatedly undermining colleagues says far more about the organization’s culture than it does about that person’s leadership ability. Others expressed sympathy for future employees who may now have to report directly to her.

A lot of readers also encouraged OP not to view leaving as a personal failure. They felt she protected her own well-being by walking away from an unhealthy workplace, even if it meant giving up a position she’d worked years to achieve. Most hoped she’d eventually find another teaching role where she’d be supported instead of sabotaged.

The overwhelming sentiment was that losing a dream job hurts—but staying somewhere that destroys your mental health hurts even more.

This person says education is awful to work in.

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This person understands entirely.

And this person has the most straightforward idea.

Sometimes the biggest career mistake isn’t leaving a toxic workplace, it’s believing the toxic people won’t eventually get rewarded for it.

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Author

Diana Whelan

Diana Whelan | Contributing Writer, Life & Drama

Diana Whelan is a contributing writer for TwistedSifter specializing in family dynamics, viral internet culture, and interpersonal relationships. Drawing on her extensive professional background as a senior copywriter in the digital marketing space, Diana excels at transforming community-driven conversations and trending social media debates into relatable, highly engaging narratives.

Rather than simply aggregating online drama, Diana brings a balanced, humorous, and empathetic editorial voice to everyday dilemmas and parenting moments. She has a keen eye for finding the human element at the center of complex relationship conflicts and viral social trends.

Outside of writing, Diana is usually spending time with her husband and two kids, planning elaborate themed parties, or chasing down new family adventures. Fueled by a little too much caffeine and a love for a well-placed pun, she can often be found unwinding with a glass of wine and her very patient golden retriever.

Connect with Diana on LinkedIn and Instagram.