Stress Center Peer Support

I am looking for feedback as well as venting so please bare with me!

I have been working in my current position for 5 years this February for the government. I have seen people come and go, both on the "worker bee" level as well as management. I am one of the supervisors and currently have 2 other people over me before you get to the head honchos. My direct supervisor constantly tries to throw me under the bus and slam on the gas every chance she gets. She has only been in her position for just over a year now and is making this all very hard.

I never had stress until I started working with this woman. I have never worked with someone who will try and undermine you in front of my co-workers. I come to work every day, arrive on time and never cause any trouble. I don't tolerate BS and that's where part of the problem is. She doesn't like being under a microscope and I feel she is threatened by me. She has even tried to get other co-workers who are under me to attack me! This had gotten so bad that last January I took 4 weeks off and went on Zoloft.

As I said, I'm a hard worker and never ruffle and feathers but my supervisor just makes it so hard for me to want to even keep my position or job. But the way I look at it is if I step down or leave that gives her the satisfaction of knowing she finally got the upper hand of me and I won't tolerate that! I did speak to the top level supervisor and she denies everything. I'm not crazy, other people see what she does to me. I'm a college educated woman that doesn't deserve this stress or constant headache.

You aren't crazy. This kind of crap goes on all over the place. It happened to me. Same scenario, different line of work. There were 5 people total that were targeted. When I found out that my car was broken into at work by another co-worker, my co-worker found out exactly how angry I can get. He walked on egg shells around me and so did my boss (evidentally my boss new my co-worker did this but was too scared to do anything about it.) My co-worker eventually quit. I ended up leaving 3 months after and 2 years after that, the company closed right down. Poor management.

People like that for some reason always end up as managers. Have you thought about taking a supervisor position yourself? You would probably be good at it.

Maybe you could talk to someone with the labor board in your area. Let them know what's going on. They won't do anything right away, but they could give you tips on what to do.

I am one of the supervisors that"s what makes this that much harder! I'm a step away from calling the Company Ethics line. She's even tried to bring in race and that's not even the type of person I am! I have never been so aggrivated or pinned against the wall!

Oh ! I missed that in your post.

You really need to do something. Don't let it build up anymore. If it's affecting your work, then you need to call the Company Ethics line. Do it A.S.A.P. You need to push back so that you are no longer pinned down. Just do it professionally. Don't stoop down to the other person's level. Keep notes on when things happen (dates and times). That way you have ammunition. Stuff like this ALWAYS backfires on the people causing the trouble. The problem is that it could take years to backfire. In the meantime, you're back on stress leave because of the jerk at work.

Don't let it wait. Trust me. I've been there.

Keep it professional and to the point.