Workplace Emotional Abuse

Just before leaving for the weekend, George answers a call on the help line and quickly realizes it’s from Mr. French, who’s always got a problem late in the day. His computer’s crashed again, he informs George, and this time he demands to talk to somebody competent! George has had his share of problems with Mr. French, the sales department manager. On several occasions in management meetings, he’s questioned George’s competence. He just ignores George anytime he meets him in the hall, and George has heard he bad-mouths him to his staff. When it becomes clear that Mr. French has no one but George to turn to this late in the day, he gets even more insulting about George’s inability to fix his problem. Just before he slams the phone down, Mr. French lets loose one final attack: “I should come down there and knock some sense into you overpaid, underperforming college kids!” George is barely able to speak to Mr. French, let alone find a solution to his problem before he hangs up. He sits and wonders what nice things Mr. French will be saying about him at the next management meeting. George tries to understand why his manager never seems to defend him at these meetings. He’s also insulted about being called an incompetent college kid and annoyed that Mr. French would have the gall to suggest that he could smack him into compliance. That just infuriates George, particularly because he sees no alternative than to suck it up. Another weekend wasted worrying about this joker, he thinks. Why do I put up with this treatment?