I work for a large company in financial services and have been with the company in varying roles for the past 18 years.
Last year I moved into a new role - something quite different from what I'd done previously (think moving from an operations role to project management team).
I like my new team in the whole. My boss is ok - very hands off but there if I need her. Although I'm new to the role I'm pretty competent in general and get stuck in. I'm not the "set the world in fire" type of person but have always been told I'm a hard worker, reliable and good with stakeholders and getting things done.
Unfortunately, my skip level manager (my bosses boss) is really not a pleasant person. Very brusque to the point of being rude. He's chaotic, his opinions and demands change constantly, he's a poor communicator and I find every time I deal with him he makes things more complicated. Every single time!
For the last 2-3 weeks I have been working my @rse off in a last minute project that my boss had sat on for months and done very little with. I have thankfully and somewhat miraculously managed to get it over the line despite having the scope expand massively at short notice. It was agreed by my boss and 2 levels up the chain that this needed to be delivered on time - failure to do so was not an option.
This has meant some of my other projects were put on hold or had very little focus recently - a conscious decision and one I communicated to key stakeholders and my boss.
A week ago I was given heads up that I needed to deliver an update for some senior business meeting - fine I thought as there was nothing really to report since the last update (it's a 2 year project - very slow progress at this point).
On Friday I got pulled into an urgent call about this update and was finally given confirmation on what form the update should take and when I explained to my skip manager that I hadn't progressed this yet (bearing in mind I'd only just hear about the requirements) he criticised me on the meeting in front of others claiming that I should never have spend so much time on the critical project and that I'd dropped the ball.
I'm not an emotional person but I was honestly in tears afterwards - not because I can't take criticism but because I had worked so hard, delivered more than was asked and it just wasn't enough.
I've seen him regularly throw my other team members (including my boss) under the bus or criticise them unfairly and honestly it feels like that was breaking point for me. I just cannot see how I can continue to work for this man who has so little respect for his team and feels it appropriate to speak to people like that.
I'm messaged him afterwards to express how demotivating it was to work so hard at something only to have that criticism levelled at me.
Am I being too sensitive? I've had difficult managers in the past but nothing like this - nothing has made me just not want to try anymore or to actually just go off sick to avoid the stress of it. It's clear I'll never be good enough for this man.
I'm going to start actively looking for a new job in the business but it's slim pickings at the moment.
Any tips on how to deal with it in the interim while I try to get out? I obviously still want to do a good job for myself but I don't think I care about working or delivering for him anymore.