What’s It Like To Have A Toxic Boss

A few years ago, I worked at a small local company where I had to oversee its entire marketing efforts.

Since it’s a small operation, I was the only marketing person covering everything from media relations to social media management.

When I first applied for the job, the boss seemed like a really nice person and throughout my stint there, this boss remained nice. However, it became clear to me that the company values very little of work-life balance.

The boss would text me after work hours, sometimes as late as 9pm, to talk about work-related stuff.

The boss would say that, “Oh, feel free to ignore my late night texts and get back to me tomorrow. I’m typing it out first in case I forget.”

I would usually ignore these texts and only reply the following day. What was worse was that the boss would ask me to do some personal stuff like doing things for the boss’ family and even buying company trip air tickets which honestly, weren’t even what I was supposed to do.

Overall, I had to do a lot of things that weren’t even marketing related including manning of the reception area. While all these small experiences gave me the chance to learn different things (which I appreciate), I began to wonder if I wanted to do all these in the long run.

So when I finally decided to quit and join another company, the boss became extremely passive-aggressive towards me.

Firstly, the boss unfollowed me on my Instagram and followed me back only to unfollow me again.

Secondly, after my resignation, the boss purposely left me out when ordering lunch for the team at one occasion. The boss never did this prior to my resignation.

Thirdly, the boss cried and wanted to counteroffer me when I’d already decided to leave. Looking back now, the boss was very desperate since my departure was so sudden.

Lastly, and most recently, the boss texted me more than a year of not contacting to ask about my job. The boss somehow knew that I was leaving my job at the point, and I sensed that the boss to hear it from me so the boss told me that the team is “expanding” and if I knew anybody suitable, let the boss know.

Oh, and another toxic thing that the boss did — and I knew exactly it was so toxic — was that when I was still recovering from Covid, the boss texted me to ask if I could join a zoom meeting. I rejected, citing my terrible sore throat and still being on MC.

I would classify this boss as a toxic boss because of the boss’ inability to have some sort of work-life balance; and calling the company “family” which is a major red flag 🚩

The constant wanting to get in touch with me again just to suss out my current situation is in my view, quite sus la.

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