Victimized then fired

After working for the same employer for fifteen years, Ruth, 35, was victimized for two months by her manager before being fired and, because she has a bad situation at home to deal with as well, she is devastated.

"I recently lost my job but far more than that I lost my dignity and self-esteem, too, because for two months prior to being laid off I was victimized by a female manager who knew the company was going to lay off several workers, including me," explains Ruth.. "She deliberately took advantage of this secret knowledge to vent her bile on people she had never liked or just didn’t give a damn about.”

"I couldn’t understand why this woman was victimizing me, and the horrible situation she put me in took me back to my very unhappy childhood,” explains Ruth. “So, by the time I received my pink slip I was already a wreck with the inexplicable victimization she had put me through, and my situation worsened when I went home with my pink slip and my mother harassed me go out and find another job immediately."

“If a company is going to fire people then I believe it has a moral duty to ensure that those people are treated well by their managers,” says Ruth. “I had given fifteen years of my life to that company and while I can understand that no job is safe these days, I can’t excuse the way I was treated by a manager with whom I previously had a good working relationship.”

“You hear a lot of people complaining about a lay-off or a firing happening immediately, without any indication that something was wrong,” says Ruth, “and they should consider themselves lucky because it means a management decision was kept secret for weeks or months, and life went on as normal, as it should in those situations.”

“No, I didn’t see the victimization as an indication that my head was on the line,” says Ruth. “The manager knew that I was on the list of those to go, but she had no reason whatsoever to victimize me or anyone else, other than gaining some sort of smug satisfaction that whatever she did to us would not affect her job.”

"I guess her inner bitch came out."

“By putting me, and others, through this victimization process that woman has severely affected our chances of getting another job quickly,” says Ruth. “It’s really sticking the boot into people who, because their jobs are being axed, are going to be needing all the dignity, self-esteem and confidence they can draw on when the pink slip arrives.”

“And, for people like me – who have troubles at home – this victimization and then a firing can have devastating consequences.”

Read more of Ruth’s story:

suicidal caregiver