Workplace Bullying:

“Bosses who ignore it”

Women in the workplace and the men who bully them and make their lives a nightmare. This is not about corporate America. This is everyday Joe manufacturing. I’ve been in and out of manufacturing since I was nineteen. Around here, furniture manufacturing has been what kept all the small towns going. My parents worked in furniture, and the majority of everyone I know. I’ve worked in several different places. Some closed down and went overseas, and some survived. The job prior to the job I have now, I worked there for thirteen years. This company, at its core, was owned and operated by a woman, and I can’t say I experienced bullying because I didn’t was treated fairly. The only thing was that I did the same job as a man, and my pay and title were different, about four dollars an hour. The job I have now, where I work, and the men are horrible. Older boomer men set in their ways, hanging in there until retirement. Those men who think women should be in the women’s department, cleaning things or sewing and inspecting. They act like women should not be near the frame department as if we can’t use a tape measure. Women can’t be sprayers, and women can’t upholster furniture or trim. Women can’t fill cushions? 

Women can’t lift heavy stuff. That’s a man’s job, and they try to persuade you out of that job. Work is slow; women sweep the floors. It’s their job; women work in a woman’s place. I’m very understanding and patient, but putting up with that nonsense could make anyone want to punch you in the throat. 

I’m very good at reading people and the dynamics of a place, so I can stand back and see how the company is set up at its core. For example, certain men stayed at the same job for years and never moved up to brag about being there for 30 years. I’m sorry, sir, but thirty years in the same place and the same job are not brags! When I have to deal with men like this who only see women as sex objects and a woman’s place is in the kitchen kind of man. Now let me be clear: not all men are the same, and I’ve worked with men from the boomer generation who were nothing like that. They were great and helpful and wanted women to succeed. It’s not an entire generation of men. It’s just some men because I work with men of all different ages, men of different races, and walks of life. Do the younger men act like that because of who they work with, or is it their upbringing? My experience is that I’ve always worked more with men in those areas because I like being more active, and heavy lifting has never bothered me; I prefer it. When I was younger, I dealt with it and ignored it. The job I have now and the men I work with now make it hard to ignore. When you tell your boss or plant manager about it, they ignore it and think you’re crazy, and after so many attempts of telling them you’re uncomfortable working around the negative energy. What does that do to your mental state?

Well, after three years, you no longer give your all; you no longer care to show up because you’re miserable. People develop high blood pressure from a job. It’s not the job! It’s the environment, the people, and how managers treat people differently. Some people are rewarded for bad behavior, and others are punished for doing their jobs too well. 

I’ve seen it too many times, so to say the workplace has come a long way isn’t true. People have come a long way, “some”. It’s not about being sensitive to people’s feelings and needs. It should be about, hey, this is your job. Could you do it? Go home. When someone goes to management, they should be concerned and look into it. I have a job I once loved, and now I hate going to work. The job hasn’t changed; the people (men) have worn me down by getting by with how they act, and no, it’s not right, but it will never change until more women come forward and stop putting up with it because we have to eat and feed our children. This day and time, it takes two people to work. Most women can’t be stay-at-home mothers anymore, but nowhere in society do they care enough to demand that we deserve the same treatment in the workplace and the same pay for the same job. Men in women’s areas are not treated differently by women. I have a good work ethic, and I believe that if you can do the job, you can do it regardless of sex or race. I won’t quit my job, but I’m looking for a new one. Think of how many people have had to leave or get fired, not because of the literal job but because of the people (environment). 

My personal experience and opinions here are that all management and HR should be diverse and equal in terms of men and women ratio, and they should not all be the same color. I don’t know about corporate culture, but it’s still a man’s world for blue-collar workers, and women must be in it. How long do you put up with it? It is to each their own, but I was raised and taught to treat everyone the same; my parents worked, and both my parents cooked and cleaned. Good men and women are in the workplace, but a few stubborn, old-fashioned-thinking men get their way because men stick together and protect themselves. The company I’m at now is eaten up with that mentality, and I’m just not made for people whose minds never developed after 1950. I’m also neurodivergent and a woman. I also have an autoimmune disease, and now I have added high blood pressure, so I can’t stay much longer for my health. Women and men have to work, period and should be treated equally with equal pay. Giving a woman a job surrounded by predominantly men is not equality when she has a concern, and you do nothing about it; that’s redundant. Workplace environments are stressful, and when most women clock out after a ten-hour day, most go home to cook, clean, and take care of children, and those men who make it hard on them go home and have women who cook and clean for them while they sit in a recliner, and that’s the extent of their existence. Some men treat women professionally and go home to help with kids, help, cook, and clean teamwork; that’s what that is.Thanks to all hard working people who see we are all in this together.