Do horrible people at work ever get karma ?

[londonlass48]

Hi

In a situation at work where had to line manage someone who I suspect is a narcissist or anyway poor behaviour, selfish, made clear from the start wanted my role etc

Anyway this person has now made a formal complaint against me (I have bucket loads of counter evidence and in the end it will look purely vindictive) - but it's causing me huge stress, made me ill and is damaging my reputation by not being able to work due to stress

Do people like this ever pay for these types of behaviours. Manipulation, vindictive allegations, etc.

AIBU - shitty colleagues generally 'win' and people are scared of them
IANBU - malicious colleagues usually get some kind of karma

Any good stories. Feel so low. TIA

I was got rid of by my female boss when I was very young for reporting her then boyfriend for assault. Since then, in all subsequent jobs, any time anyone has displayed bullying behaviour towards me I have challenged them. It is wonderfully rewarding because they don’t expect it. It’s probably helped that I have Aspergers (only diagnosed in my 50s) and cannot tolerate unfairness or dishonesty.

I don’t think so unfortunately.

It's my opinion that horrible people are often shallow, which means they don't feel much emotion, which makes life hard and miserable. Making other peoples lives a misery is all they really enjoy doing.

So pretty much karma in action. Their lives will already be shit, in all the meaningful ways.

No such thing as karma.

Ime I was harassed by my line manager to the point where I really felt he was crossing the line and often made me fees awfully uncomfortable. I left because at the time no1 listened to me. I was 18/19 and he was late 40s if it matters. Just last year (I'm now 31) he had been arrested for being a peadophile. Not sure if that's karma...

No, they get promoted.

Karma is not real, and normally work bullies move up the chain. Sometimes though one slips up. I had a women who I line managed, caused me and the rest of team no end of bother, she did a lateral move in the company and then quit-re applied for her job and they used a very poor excuse to stop her at the application stage, she got a better job, jacked that in very suddenly (suspect she jumped before she was pushed) just after retail opened last year got a factory job that was allegedly ‘better’, it was not, jacked in after all of two days then got another allegedly better job-as far as I could see it was many, many steps back from what she was doing. Due to her bad decisions she missed the date for furlough due to the timings so on UC-nothing wrong with that as a lot of people fell through the cracks, what is wrong is her trying to take the company to a tribunal, then quitting in a tantrum, so now has no job to go back to in April. Now selling tat on the internet for rock bottom prices. She caused me so many problems-directly and and indirectly tried to sabotage me, bullied my team and due to her very bad decisions is on the dole and living in her partners parents home at age thirty, with amusing delusions of grandeur. Gives me a good laugh every single time.

My ex manager did

Essentially she was my first line manager in the company, she also interviewed and hired me so I thought we had a decent enough relationship.

She took 6 months off, but didn’t arrange anyone to cover her responsibilities. Eg things previously discussed with her came to nothing - Staff development was ignored and promotions/payrises not put though, holiday requests and availability changes went missing then declined last minute, major reports went missing after being sent to her etc - she was inept which led to many serious complaints.

I was the only one in the team that didn’t complain about her, and was foolishly even excited for her return. When she returned she had to be extra nice to everyone else due to their complaints. This led to her being a complete awful manager towards me as I was her least priority. So then my promotion was unnecessarily delayed etc.

Anyway the MD & HR had a close eye on her - she was swiftly managed out into a side step “promotion” which was fairly embarrassing for her (including pay decrease!) 2 months into her new role she left the company, good riddance

Sadly in my experience they get away with it.
Especially in the NHS.....

This might be outing but recently something major happened to our ex company and there has been lots of posts on LinkedIn mourning it.

I found it hilarious when she posted a status regarding our ex company and no one commented or liked it…meanwhile other colleagues received 100s of likes/comments reminiscing and telling them how great they were at their jobs from others we worked with!

IME they are promoted continuously until they become CEOs. They have no scruples and no moral compass so there are few things to hold them back.

The guy who devised the test to define likelihood of psychopathy, which lies at the other end of the spectrum of narcissism, said that people with these traits that had a difficult upbringing end up in jail, the ones who don’t... end up in Wall Street.

@Sloth66

Sadly in my experience they get away with it. Especially in the NHS.....

And in LAs in my experience......

Woman who was the office manager and bullied and judged everyone and whispered nasty things about all the staff in her male bosses ear died very young of a brain tumour. Can’t say I was too upset. She was a vile woman.

I don’t think this kind of thing goes unnoticed, it just sometimes takes a bit of time to find a way to exit someone.

But if you are the manager then it’s your job to manage the poor behaviour of your staff, I’m sure your boss/HR can support you, but don’t wait for someone to rescue you.

I worked in an office with the classic queen bee who made life miserable for all but her clique , and even they were terrified of being ousted . A new man joined our team , we warned him about her , especially her habit of setting people up to fail .
She set him a task , he confirmed what she wanted verbally and by email .Two days later she belittled him and tore a strip for him for having done what she had instructed. He picked up his bag and bits , left his desk and started walking out the office . Queen bee started yelling at hi again , he turned round and kicked her backside four or five times then walked out . He never returned , was charged with assault but case dropped and management investigated , eventually moveing qb to a deserted office .

Yes, I know of a situation where someone who had been a difficult colleague was publicly caught out for something that wasn’t appropriate. They no longer work there.

@Spillanelle no I'm not waiting to be rescued - I was her line manager and now I'm not (been about 2 weeks) put in a compliant via my line manager about me (for a few months ago)

Surely the should be something in companies policies for causing drama unnecessarily - is it malicious grievance or hostile relations or sonething?

I don't see how people of This type can cause stress and Damage for others but then just walk away with no repercussion.

Liking the stories!

People like that unfortunately often don’t get punished / get their comeuppance. Had something similar but ultimately I know that they are a deeply unhappy person and I am not. I have a family and friends who love and care about me and the only thing they have in their life is the ability to create drama around themselves to try and get attention / for whatever other reason people do those things, so you have to ultimately just pity them. I wish karma was real but the only thing we have is how we live our lives. Lift your head high and keep living with integrity.

@londonlass48 sounds like you’ve had a lucky escape then if she’s moved to someone else’s team!

HR can refuse to hear the grievance if they think it’s trivial or malicious, but it will ultimately be up to them or your boss if they want to refuse. It may be better to just allow the process to run through so you have a chance to defend yourself and show that you haven’t done anything wrong. If her complaint is totally spurious then her card will be marked as a trouble maker.

I know it’s really stressful to be on the receiving end of this, hope they can at least conclude it quickly so you can move past it

No I don’t think karma ever does catch up
with these people unfortunately. At least not at work.

Most of the really shitty stuff that’s happened lately at work has been to the nicest and best people I know. I know life is never fair but it’s upsetting.

I find if you wait a bit they do. Be professional, go through the process, then sit back and wait. These types usually shoot themselves in the foot.

Wise words @LibertyMole.

IME these types of people are usually deeply, deeply unhappy and live in a hell of their own making. They are experts at convincing themselves they are the victim!

I have known people in work situations, who have been awful and nasty, and spiteful to others they work with, but they cleverly hide their true persona, and go about their work, trying to be seen as confident, outgoing,and, perfect job wise and good with people, when it's all an act, and underneath, they will tread all over people to get to the top so to speak.. And sadly, a few of these types, will get promoted again and again, and gloat about their good luck.

Strangely, the managers, bosses, and the higher ups. have been fooled by these nasty people, who are acting well,and telling some lies along the way..

Maybe Karma will catch up with them later,, but they won't care about that, they don't care much about people,

My boss is a narcissist. It's unfortunate as she owns the organisation I work in so no escape unless I leave :(

I don't believe in karma at all. But that said I think the poster who said that you can reap what you sow is spot on. Sometimes anyway.

In my 20s I worked somewhere where myself and female colleagues (have to be careful what I write) were aggressively sexually harassed by our boss. We took out a grievance but the institution closed ranks and whitewashed over the whole thing. Although he DID have to appear in front of a panel of his own peers, which felt like something at least. We had left the workplace by that point and I tried to put it behind me.

A couple of years later I found out that he had died. Quite young. But you see he was a heavy drinker and cocaine user and was also on a lot of prescriptions meds which he admitted did not mix with the alcohol and non-legal drugs. He had a heart attack. So basically, his lifestyle - which definitely contributed to his appalling behaviour - killed him in the end. I know this is an extreme story, but I think in smaller ways - people who harass and bully and falsely accuse (I really feel for you with what you're going through) are NEVER happy people. They just aren't.