Hostile environmet (CA)

My position requires (Marketing Coordinator) requires I numerous functions,i.e.: Tradeshow planning, collateral creation, etc... I also do IT support for my department of 10 employees. But that's not all -- I do all our customer order entry and shipping. Plus, to top it all off, I am administrative support to the entire sales and marketing department.

My problem isn't the amount of work, I love the challenge. It's this one abusive sales manager who is the son of our ex CEO(our company was resently acquired and the CEO retired). The ex-CEO was abusive as well, and thought things would get better once he left. Alas, it's gotten worse.

Now his son (a member of my department) is constantly abusive towards me. Here's what I deal with on a daily basis from him:

· Verbal abuse
· Threatening posture to ensure my obedience
· Vocal outbursts regarding my lack of job performance
· Power plays and challenges directed at me to evoke a confrontation
· Demanding ineffective and unreasonable requests of me for the sole purpose of exerting his power

Even our department's manager witness for himself an incident which he had to difuse, but the abuse continues and seems to be somewhat driven by this person egotistical power games.

My manager's methods of dealing with this guy are weak and non-resolving (he's good friend's with the ex CEO). So, I'm heading up the chain of command to my the our internal lead executive to see if he can put a stop to it. Only problem is that, just last Thursday while I was offsite at corporate event I coordinated, this abuser phoned me and demanded I bring him four of the promotional gifts we were handing out at this event for his meeting at 3pm customer meeting (by the way, his customer never showed-up). I was so tramatized by the phone conversation, I started to get a migrain. So, before I was completely debilitated I drove home to try to combat the pain.

Back at the office though, I was told by a very reliable source that after the abuser discovered I wasn't able to bring him the gifts, he loudly stated that I never do a "swear-word" thing. My source also informes me that our the uppermost executive that I mention beforehand, had clearly heard the vocal outburst, and did nothing.

So, am I waisting my time trying to seek my help internally, or should I go straight to the HR department of our new parent company?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Yes, go to HR. There is no law requiring people to be nice to each other. That is bascially what you have here, the lack of that man to be kind to you. Don't expect much from HR. So you should take your wonderful skills and personality elsewhere, to a place where you will be loved and appreciated by management.

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Mark B. Replogle

Sure, I could easily have quit my job and gotten another. But, I wouldn't be able to look at myself in the mirror knowing that I did not do everything I could to stop this behavior for once and for all. Had I chose to leave, who knows which unfortunate soul would be his next victim. This guy has got some severe problems that causes him to feel that he has a right to assail on a person, especially if that person is a female and smarter then he is. There is another female co-worker who was assailed on shortly after he discovered I was not going to what he demanded of me. But when I brought this up to my manager, he refused to talk to her. It wasn't until after I explained to him that I felt he wasn't being objective, and I had taken the matter over his head to HR, that he finally asked her to meet with him. But, then again -- my manager was just as subjective as he had been with me. However, thanks to the many fellow employees who verified hearing the tyrade from their various cubes throughout the office, I now have indisputable proof of the behavior that I complained of.

My manager was also questioned for his handling of this and other prior incidences that he lied having knowlege of. It should also be noted that my manager resigned because he felt he was not getting any support from the one executive who witness the tyrade and did nothing to stop it.

So, eventhough this matter is still unsettled with the abuser... who is now stating that he has his own issues with his friend and manager, (ironic isn't it?) I am confident that HR's envolvement will yield the appropriate result, and everyone will be better off for it.

If there is lesson to be learned from all this, it's simply this: when disagreeing with a fellow employee no matter if you are right or wrong, the moment you loose control of your temper, become demanding and unreasonable... YOU ARE WRONG!!!