You’ve worked for a toxic company for three years. You’re out of a job because your bully boss either fired you or you get fed up, pulled a Johnny Paycheck, and told your tyrant boss to “take this job and shove it” and, in essence, fired him.
So, how do you get a new job, knowing that the honest thing to do is to put the hell-hole you just escaped from down as a previous employer and your former boss’s name on the line in the application that’s labeled “supervisor”?
Well, let’s be real here. Sometimes honesty’s not the best policy. After all, you and your family have to eat. Right?
So, if you’re the unethical type, here are a few underhanded things you could do. Because unethical or not, you have to survive somehow.
1. Omit the workplace altogether. Yeah, it sucks. It’s not ‘the right thing to do,’ but what else do you have to lose? If you’re a married mother or grandmother, all the better. Just fill in the blanks with a homemaker and stay-at-home mom. Who’s going to question that? Yeah, you could hit a roadblock when the interviewer asks you about any experience! But again, they might give you a try! You never know! The object is to avoid a crappy report from your former boss.
2. Go to work for the competition. There’s less chance a competitor will take the word of their opponent. Also, you can sneakily give secrets away and help your new employer drive the other guy out of business. At least you’ll get a little justice!
3. Tell your new employer you were self-employed. If you were your own boss, who are they going to call for a work reference? Tell a good story, and make sure you have a good backup. Maybe you had an excellent blog and it got shut down by Google because Google made changes to its policies?
back-stabbing colleagues threatening employee with scissors and knife
4. If you have a family member or friend who owns a business, have them be a job reference for you. They can give you a good report, and your chances of getting the gig will be higher.
Hey, desperate times, desperate measures. And if you want to work again, you must get around the bully boss any way you can.
Sometimes you must get as dirty as your BB because he will be waiting on a call from a potential employer once you’re gone. Your old bully will be looking for another chance to block you from future prospects. He may even try to blacklist you.
If you disappear from his radar by omitting him and his company from any job applications, it will be harder for him to reach out and touch you.
Strict Boss: Angry upset young business woman with blank speech bubble on white on gray background. Vector illustration.
5. Hire yourself. Yes. If you can, start your own business and work like the devil to build it. Then, if you’re lucky, five years from now, when you run into your old dictator at the local gas station while he’s putting gas in his suped-up Harley or sportscar, you can thank him for inspiring you to go into business for yourself and make it. And you can smile as you watch his face contort!
There’s no guarantee that the first four are going to work and you might even get fired from your new job if your old bully boss finds out where you’re working and decides to give your new employer a call.
But at least you will have bought yourself some time and put off going broke for a little while longer.
*Tips 1, 3, and 4 are satirical of course*
1, 3, and 4 may be satire but a bully boss is a real deal. Mine tried to get me blacklisted. It backfired on her – she told the director of a program that I was not to be trusted, was evil, and had a bad work ethic and no one should work with me. The director relayed that info to her staff, many who were friends. Their response was to chuckle and call me. Their director was a bully too.
My heart goes out to you, Valerie. Often, bully bosses aren’t satisfied with ruining your good name with the company. Lots of times they’ll try to mar your reputation OUTSIDE the company as well to stop you from getting any job anywhere else.
So many great articles I want to comment on around here (I sent you an email Cherie wanting to ask you some questions about some things). I think workplace bullying is something that is overlooked. So much focus is on teenage bullying and middle school bullying and that is serious because it can affect you for a lifetime even though many outgrow it. Adult bullying can still occur and the place where it happens a lot is in the workplace.Obviously our minds are different as adults then kids but workplace bullying can be just as bad.
Thank you so much! And I totally agree that workplace is overlooked. In some areas, I think it’s even expected and even admired. And that’s shameful. Thank you for the email. I’ll go open it now! 🙂
I think a lot of times with workplace as well it may not just be the coworker. Sometimes the boss is a micromanager and not many of us do well with that. They may not intentionally be bullying persay, but if they are overaggressive, yell, call you out in front of others, or constantly look over your shoulder it can have similar effects. When you hire somebody you put your confidence in them to do the job. Let them do their work!
You couldn’t have said that any better. No one likes to have some snoop looking over their shoulder all the time. That’s creepy and it puts a lot of people on the defensive. It always did me. I won’t work for a micromanager.
It is honestly sad how terrible workplace bullying can be, and it doesn’t end once you leave the job. What is worse, the government doesn’t back it up and most lawyers will tell you the judge will throw out the case. My mental health was severely impacted by my workplace and they did nothing to rectify it. How do we even get more advocacy for this plague on the work environment??
I will admit, bullying is a hard thing to get representation for. And you’re right, it doesn’t end when you leave the job because bullies will stalk you if they think they can get away with it. And most government politicians are narcissists and psychopaths (notice I said “most” and not “all.”) and that’s a good lot of them hold the positions they hold.