She Thought It Was Her Dream Job — Then the Toxic Environment Landed Her on Medication
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You sometimes have to remove yourself from a situation and look at it from a distance to realize how truly toxic and terrible it was.
And if you’ve ever had a job before that seemed to drain all the joy from your life, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
But, in those cases, at least you got out and you moved on to bigger and better things!
In today’s story, a person described how their old job was so awful that it negatively affected every aspect of their life.
Check out what they had to say about what they went through.
Just get out. It’s not worth it.
“Started my job in September 2022. Very early on I got strange vibes from my manager. She was always offended by anything I said.
I asked for leave, I was “entitled”, I disagreed, I was “arguing”, I gave honest feedback, I was “disruptive”, I was talking to someone, I was “gossiping”, I smiled at someone, she thought I was laughing about her.
This is ridiculous…
Then when I asked her about that I became a “problem employee”, when I got emotional about it, I was “mentally unstable”. When I questioned her I was “highly disrespectful” or “sarcastic”.
This was my dream job, I thought, so for over a year, I was making excuses to stay.
But I was always walking on egg shells, developed debilitating anxiety, got panic attacks just walking into the office.
Work situations like this usually don’t change…
I talked to HR. I talked to her boss, I filed a complaint. Took 5 months off due to stress. Then had to go through mediation.
Nothing changed. Had to go on meds (Zoloft).
The behavior continued and the medication made me feel normal and strong again, so I fought back. I started to speak up.
They had made me feel like I was the problem in my team. For 2 years they told me I couldn’t talk about it. And they had silenced me.
She wasn’t alone.
As soon as I started to talk and share things with my colleagues I found out (September 2024) that there were at least 6 other colleagues who had filed complaints, taken stress leave. And felt bullied.
We demanded an investigation. Which is still ongoing now 10 months later.
But now she’s claiming we all broke confidentiality by talking about it and claims the investigation is not fair and neutral.
And we all know HR protects leadership. The external investigators seem nice but HR makes the final decisions.
But she knew the truth and the best course of action.
Nothing will change.
Zoloft saved me.
I finally felt mentally strong again to apply for other jobs.
I finally had clarity and knew I had to leave.
There’s always a better option!
The stress and anxiety had prevented me from seeing that clearly and also I was a shell of myself. I should have realized that a wonderful job with horrible people is not a dream job.
Started a new job. I was blown away by how normal it was. I had forgotten what a healthy workplace was like. They are kind, caring, transparent. No one yells at me. No one is constantly blaming me for everything or monitoring and controlling me.
They trust me to do my work. They make jokes. My new manager is amazing. Good people are so important.
She’s so glad she left.
I had never dealt with a narc boss before.
Had I known the signs, I would have left immediately.
I am now thriving. I’ve been promoted, they support learning.
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Just get out. Don’t waste years trying to improve things while your mental health suffers.”
Readers on Reddit shared their thoughts about this story.
This individual spoke up.
This person shared their thoughts.
Another reader weighed in.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a restaurant employee who decided to put the staff over customers despite the official policy.
And this Reddit user spoke up.
We’re glad they got out of this place…
Because it sounds like it was pretty brutal!
Take care of your mental health, friends.
No job is worth it if it makes your life miserable.
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