What’s the worst thing you’ve seen in the workplace?

[chbahjng]

Mine won’t be half as bad as some peoples or even a quarter but -

I worked in about a team of 20 and it became very obvious that higher management wanted this team dissolved. At least 12 of us left within the space of a 3 months (no backfilling) because they made it so horrendous and then management shit themselves because all they had left were the lazy ones who did no work.

Another place I worked one manager (who was clearly miserable in life) would get people fired like it was a sport.

Colleague was reprimanded and lost her bonus as she was late for work and didn't phone to let manager know (at a time when mobiles were still somewhat rare). HR considered her excuse quite lame. She'd been on the bus to work when the driver had a fatal heartattack and crashed the bus. Everyone was supposed to go to hospital to be checked out but she got someone to drive her to work instead. 2 hours late.

Manager was a dick who didn't like me but he really really reallllly liked a young female who joined our team. Kept asking her out and she kept saying no. Finally he made it clear that her career might be in jeopardy so she agreed to meet him. But asked him to text her with the details or where they were going and what he intended to do. He responded with a LOT of details. She took this to HR. He was given a week off with pay while they investigated and then promoted him.

Yes I worked for my local council at the time

Partners fighting at the Christmas do, seeing a partner pinch a trainee's bum in the corridor, a partner red in the face yelling at a young newly qualified female lawyer, partners fucking off to the pub and letting junior team members do all the work, partners leaving things in a mess and going on holiday, leaving junior staff in the shit.

So glad I no longer have to work in law firms.

Looking up and seeing a man in a balaclava, shouting at me "where's the effing money" then looking down and seeing the gun in his hand .... I don't remember much more

Dead, neglected and abused animals 😢 Used to work in an animal shelter.

I was in a temporary job with a utility company. It was an awful job and the pay was rubbish; it was just before the minimum wage was introduced.
A previous employer asked me back and I'd accepted, handing my notice in.

A full staff meeting was called and, obviously aimed at me, 'loyalty' was demanded and we were told we might be made permanent in a couple of years! All for £3 an hour. Everyone was staring at me, but I couldn't have cared less. They probably wished they were leaving, too. Bullying, pure & simple.

My friend had worked for a company for about 30 years and was retiring. She'd been moved into a new team about a year previous and not only did the new team do nothing at all to mark the occasion, they gave her extra work making her late going to her retirement party, which her old team threw for her when they found out. All her old colleagues had to wait about an hour for her to arrive!

This happened where I worked about 20 years ago. Cleaner went ballistic and refused to clean it. Office manager cleaned it. The office had 3 rooms each with its own cubicle and for about 6 months after, the team leader for each room went in and checked the loo every single time someone used it.

Never happened again though.

Somebody put a used sanitary towel on the back of the door in the ladies toilets.

A member of staff stabbing another member of staff in the buttock, and the victim lying about it and saying it was an accident!

I used to work in recruitment and some of the reasons people were looking for new jobs had me agape, but the one that really sticks in my mind was this:
An experienced PA with a prestigious finance company came to register with us. She was initially reluctant to discuss details of why she was leaving her current job, but after we'd chatted for a while she admitted it was because of her boss.

Uh oh, I thought, but she assured me he'd never laid a hand on her. However... after working with him for about 3 or 4 years, he'd been on holiday and another manager had to get something from his desk... and found basically a shrine to her in the bottom drawer. She had an unusual name, so it was very clear it was about her! Candid photos of her at work, items from her desk, etc.

When he was confronted about it, he admitted he was obsessed, even calling his daughter after her (!) and he'd also stood in the way of her getting promoted at least twice, as it would have meant her moving to a different team.

There'd been an 'investigation', resulting in her being paid off and he just carried on as if nothing had happened.

Someone used to pee in the holders for the toilet brushes. We never found out who it was.

One day the owner of the company confronted a manager and wiped his dirty fingers down her blouse. He told her that he had found the dirt on the top of a door, and it was her job to ensure that the cleaners cleaned everywhere properly. She walked out and never returned I wish I'd heard what she called him

Walked into the bathroom to find a colleague perched on the sink vanity unit checking out her piles in the mirror. This was one of those separate sink and lockable toilet rooms (cannae think of the proper name, damn wine) there was a private disabled bathroom that would've been much better for that.

This was in a kitchen in a care home.

I was working in an office building and was in a meeting with our team and manager and some people were apparently filming on the top empty floor in the building we had no idea of their existence that day. The building was a shared with other small companies. During the meeting, a body fell from the window and cue massive screams and panic in the meeting room. The body was a stunt dummy used in one of their scenes.

Not as bad as many of these, but another one about rewarding bad behaviour:
In the '80s I was working in a budget clothing store, one of the security guards was an arrogant arsehole who was dating one shop girl whilst trying to get off with the rest..he was also very rude to customers, so much so that one made a very justifiable formal complaint about him. He was called into the office and emerged a bit later promoted to head of the security team.
I found a distinctive silver bracelet on the floor of the store, handed it in to security, within an hour his girlfriend was wearing it.

A set of male managers and one director came out of an interview with a young blonde lady. My manager at the time said “was she my Christmas present” still makes my skin crawl even now. Probably about 8 years ago now

We had this but rubbed on a toilet wall. Multiple times. Disgusting

Oh my god😳🤣

i have seen managers and co workers running to the bathroom to throw up then go back to work in the kitchen.We don't get sick pay so although we are told to stay 48hrs off , that's 2 days pay on minimum wage.So you can see why but does not make it any less wrong

I got ill on a very busy week at work. I'd been feeling like carp and didn't know why and my manager gave me a bollocking. This was the week when the orchestra I worked for was doing a major concert thingme and so I'd be expected to work Monday straight through to Sunday and on throught to the following Friday. But I felt like absolute garbage. I knew I was pregnant, about 3 months, and finally told my manager on the Thursday but assured her that I'd try my best to make it through the weekend. Friday I was in agony so called the surgery and was told to come in immediately. Told my manager that there was no alternative but I'd be back asap. Got to the surgery, they sent me to hospital, had a scan and turns out I had an ectopic pregnancy that was well past it's sell by date. Emergency surgery that afternoon.

I was pretty much out of is over the weekend but managed on Monday to ring my manager. Rang her, said hello, and her very first words to me (no hello, how are you) were "you know this is coming out of your holiday allowance". Lovely woman. Still hoping she burns in hell for all eternity.

I'm so sorry you were treated like that.

Something similar happened to my dp, his dad died, then we lost a baby and then he got sepsis and was hospitalised, very close together so he had hit sickness triggers. When asked 'what will you do to prevent this happening again? He said 'well my dad is dead now so that won't happen again, I'm not sure what I can do about the rest.' Ten years later his mum died and they asked the same question at his return to work meeting.

An elderly woman with dementia being slapped and sworn at. Yes I reported it. It was covered up and I was the one who had to leave.

A consultant surgeon swearing and shouting at a sedated elderly woman who was undergoing a colonoscopy, but she kept moving around. Stuff like that didn't get reported in those days. I was a student.

Manager trying to cover up a major gas leak in a care home until we forced her to call the gas engineer who promptly condemned the industrial oven.

A colleague kneeling on the floor wanking whilst sniffing my chair when I went into work early one day.

A male colleague found a used tampon on his chair after lunch break - obviously some students had been in over lunch.

MAT spaffing thousands of pounds on executive salaries, stupid merchandise & headed paper with new logos & simultaneously trying to cut staffing costs.

Staff who have been managed out being forced to agree to not disclose what happened to them.

@wendywoopywoo222

That's vile. Did you report him? Honestly men can be disrespectful in the workplace.