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

My old boss was an horrendous bully! Made my life a living hell.

At the last count only 2 people out of 12 remain on the team (everyone else has left or been sacked) sadly from what I hear he’s working his was to the top

Yes it does. Years ago I worked as a secretary in a rural solicitors it was only a small practice. The lady who bullied me was ok the first couple of years then she turned on her sister in law who worked in the accounts department bullied her she left completely destroyed family then she turned on me she was vile to me I started looking for a new job I got one and on the day I left I told the main boss what she had done he was furious with her.i told her she was nothing but a bully she laughed at me. I should have had the courage to tell her I spat in her coffee every time I made one for her but I didn't. Anyway a few years later the main boss became very ill and sold the practice new people took an instant dislike to her and one day fired her on the spot and she walked put crying with all her stuff. Her sil told me, we both would have loved to have been there to witness this. If I ever see her I would love to go up to her and ask her if she enjoyed the coffee I made for her

[quote londonlass48]@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![/quote]
I totally agree with you about a policy written in for causing unnecessary drama! It's also defamation of character. We had a situation in our work that only ended in Feb last year. where a member of staff took an instant dislike to another member of staff (they both started on the same day) with the bitchy one constantly making false allegations and trying to belittle and discredit her counterpart

She then turned on her line manager, for sticking up for the falsely accused.

She then went to HR and put a complaint in about the line manger about the line manager favouring the other girl

when HR investigated and told her the complaint was completely unfounded, she went to the managing director and complained about HR.

When that didn't work, she went to the chairman (we are a smaller company) and put in a complaint about the way the MD had handled her complaint about HR 🙄

We then had to get an external HR company in to deal with that due to the claims she was making.

When the external HR first heard the full story, they advised everyone who she had accused/complained about to get everything down in writing as a complaint against the bitchy girl and we managed to find grounds to sack her for the lies she had told as we had proof that a lot of of them were false. her less than 2 year employment status was the only way we could do this tho, if she'd been there over 2 years and we would have been screwed and stuck with her.

This went in for over a year and the amount of stress and work it caused everyone in the office (not even just those involved) was ridiculous!

She got her karma tho. I heard her house completely flooded not long after we sacked her andante I heard she still had no job and was still living In temp accommodation

We are all here for our own unique purpose and ultimately to learn.This is why it is best not to compare our lives with others,there path is simply a different one.
Going back to your situation,you are absorbing negative energy from this person and allowing them to affect your mental health.you cannot change them but you can change the way you react to them.
Before you go to work,put an invisible cloak of protection around yourself and ground yourself daily.
Look at this person professionally and impartially and do not allow your emotions to be knocked sideways.
Mantra ' I am good at my job I will not allow other people to upset me'

Sometimes we come across difficult people and it is how we deal with them and what we learn about ourselves that helps us to achieve what we are here for.
Don't worry about what's going to happen to this person,follow your own path.

@LibertyMole

No, horrible people generally move up.

One reason is that when there is conflict in a workplace they tend to remain calm and continue performing while others get distressed and upset , go off sick etc.

The person who caused the conflict carries on performing, thus looking reliable during workplace ‘drama.’

This makes a lot of sense. I’ve never thought of it that way.

@BeautifulBirds

Yes a woman who bullied me out of my job was escorted from the premises some months after I left! It seemed she wanted rid of me to hide her wrong doings!!

Same here. My bully was sacked a few months after I left. I had made a formal complaint, it wasn't upheld. After I left it all came to light. Abuse, bullying, sexual harassment of staff, abuse to clients and stealing.

My first boss in my entry to the CS was a cowbag. She was lazy to an extreme, patronising and outright bullied some of my colleagues.

She got a temp promotion and moved locations (likely because she was problematic with her management peers and the location move meant they didnt need to deal with her for a few years) and therefore had free rein to become even more of a bully and lazy.

She used to make passive aggressive comments to others about my previous job (a practical trade) and used to backhand compliment me to make herself look good. She outright said I wouldn’t progress far in the CS.

I ended up moving on to a different role with a bit more security (in her previous location) and eventually her temp promotion ended and she’d be back with people who were not going to put up with her. I heard she frantically applied for jobs to avoid, but couldn’t even side move over.

Three years later, I have progressed three levels higher in the CS, she ended up quitting rather than knuckle down and do her job, losing her fab pension and benefits and ended up in a min wage admin job elsewhere.

I am incredibly smug about it. She earned every bit of it.

My shitty boss who thought he was God's gift and some successful 'don' who underpaid, sexually harassed, and overworked myself and my colleagues lost his job less than a year after I left his company and he delivered our takeout a few months ago. His wife left him and his children want nothing to do with him and call their new Step-Dad 'Dad'.

I absolutely am not looking down upon those who deliver takeout but he did, and said he'd rather die than have a job like that. He was well known for complaining to managers of food serving establishments and making wild, false, claims about those who served him food to get them in trouble.

It does happen, bide your time and you'll get to see it.

Had a nightmare of a boss years ago, they only started a disciplinary when he did it to second person after me. However the office was reorganised with a load of redundancies. He was given the choice to leave or face the disciplinary.

Guess he became someone else's problem.

Turns out he had been removed from a managers role years before (at a different branch) for exactly the same behavior.

I'm now in a position where I can refer clients to businesses where I was previously employed. I remember the people who were (not) competent, sensible and reasonable, so i think what comes around goes around

I don’t think it’s Karma, but a natural consequence of shitty behaviour.

If people behave like shitty arses, they may achieve success in the short term but eventually they will be a shitty arse to the wrong person.

My dh was reported to HR by someone he considered a friend for racism, because they their career wasn't where they thought it should be. No karma as of yet.

I was line managed by an absolute bitch of a woman. In over 20 years of working I had never experienced anything like it.

She took control of my online calendar and I had to ‘map out’ my work every day in 15 minute slots in my calendar. She would then check how much time I had allocated for each task and ‘correct’ it. She insisted she check EVERY letter before I sent it and would ‘amend’ it by scribbling on it with red pen!! Anyway things got so bad, I could give tons of examples, that eventually I made a complaint against her for bullying. She retaliated by putting me under performance management for under performing!!!

Things escalated. I took her for constructive dismissal and bullying. After the hearing which I won!!! The company asked me if I would be prepared to ‘help’ her become a better manager and go on a training course with her!! Not only did she keep her job after losing but I was asked to help her!! I resigned and left the same day.

There were a string is allegations of bullying against a former manager of mine. Most weren't dealt with because HR are completely useless at my company. In the end, she was moved from managing the team because of the issues to a new role. This move has been brilliant for her career. She isn't line managing anyone anymore so can focus on her image and managing upwards. It turns out bullying pays off...

They do eventually. You just have to play the long game. I've managed to outlast the women that tried to bully me.

@crowsfeet57

Not in my experience!

Nor mine, they usually get promoted as brown-nosing is often one of their core skills.

Karma doesn't exist. Yes, some of these people might reap what they sow, but I've seen just as many get promoted to senior positions where they continue to deliver results (of a kind) through bullying and manipulation. There are lots of narcissists in very senior positions.

I've seen a finance director falsify accounts, leading to losses of many millions. He was sacked, but is now in another FD role elsewhere.

It depends. I think sometimes they slip up and are ousted but it can take a long time and requires strong HR which is a rare thing. However, if they are people who bring in a lot of money to the business I think sadly they can last forever and go all the way to the top.

Not in my experience

Sorry but only the really daft believe in 'karma'; there's no such thing.

People who do things to bring you down, be malicious towards you have to stoop to that level to do it and it takes away something from them. In your case OP, this incident is going to prove you as the innocent party and you'll emerge the victor. Your colleague is going to be exposed and will always know what they did - as well your boss, other colleagues.

Be glad that you're not them, that you don't need to resort to that low behaviour. I'm sorry that you're stressed by it, hope the resolution isn't too far away.

In my experience its exactly these types that get to senior management positions because they are ruthless, uncaring bastards who enjoy stamping on others during they ascent to the top.

When they are lower down the pecking order they brown nose and network in all the right places so if the shit ever does hit the fan they have a lot of 'friends' in high places to side with them.

Karma does not exist.

@Divebar2021

Karma isn’t a “thing” otherwise you must accept you’re getting the shit treatment for some wrong you committed yourself in the past ( before we get into children with cancer). I do believe in “ you reap what you sow” though which is a bit different. Whether someone gets the treatment they deserve for being a bitch / shit depends I think on whether they get results and who they are shitty to. Bosses are obviously willing to turn a blind eye if someone is making them money or performing well. That’s what it comes down to usually.

I couldn't agree more with this. It's complicated, if you're useful then they keep you. You call it bullying, their boss calls it "driving the team", "expecting high standards" and all that.

OP, I was in a similar situation to you. Took over line management of a difficult employee - her previous manager had been terrified of her. Tried to have a well-being conversation re her excessive sickness absence (LOTS of days off for headache, toothache, sore leg etc across a six month period....) me coming from a soft 'is there anything we can do to support you' approach. I also commented on a couple of bits of work, e.g. saying 'next time could I see x before it goes so I can input'. I was only a couple of months in to managing her, she wrote a long and bitter grievance, apparently I was micro managing her, bullying her etc. It was my first experience of this sort of thing. She immediately went off sick - stress at work.

There was a full investigation- by all accounts her colleagues gave her a poor character reference and none of what she complained about stood up.

She came out of it looking bad, and she then wouldn't return to work. Sick pay ran out, she kept sending letters via a solicitor saying she wanted a settlement. I initially wrote warm emails about returning to work then we stopped saying much as she was just demanding money. We ended up terminating her contract. Her colleagues were no less than delighted. After she was safely gone all the stories came out about why they were glad she had gone, no one felt at all sorry for her. They are very loyal to me, many years after and there is a deep trust and mutual respect there.

I know she was very deeply bitter about how her employment ended, even though it was all her own doing.

Find your anger OP, but never show it. Never be afraid to manage her and always be fair but firm. Don't miss a step, If she is like this to you - a superior, she is likely rotten to her peers and anyone under her and they may find it harder to tackle it. They'll thank you for it if you crack this.

Yeah I don’t believe in karma either. If someone is fundamentally that shit and is dumb enough to get caught out, I can see why people attribute karma when they suffer ramifications. But many people are intelligent enough to keep themselves under the radar or have a somewhat reasonable explanation when caught, so nothing will happen to them. It’s not karma, it doesn’t exist.

Unfortunately I agree with some of the PP’s and think that they tend to move up the ladder, well as long as they are horrible and perform anyway.