My first job out of college was a lab tech at a large university. I
had two supervisors on this job, one was cool, but the other was a
crazy control freak. She had what could only be described as a
‘hazing’ ritual for new employees that lasted until they broke. I
started with another guy she bullied, yelled, name called (she called
me “a stupid little girl” once), and even hit (not me, but the other
guy) us. Nothing I did was ever right, and every mistake involved
yelling and name-calling. This lab group all had lunch together
everyday, and would horse around in the lunch room. Once this boss
decided to arm wrestle all of us (she was a tiny little woman). When
she couldn’t move my arm, she BIT me to get me to let her win (I
wasn’t even TRYING to win). After that I ate in the car. I could go
on and on with the crazy stories, like her making a mandatory salon
day for all the female employees (because she didn’t like my hair
cut), or bullying me into getting a new lunchbox because she didn’t
like how old mine looked, or trying to require that all female
employees wear high heels to work (we worked in a LAB). I quit after
my probationary period because I knew they would have fired me and I
wanted to be eligible for other university jobs in the future. That
job STILL comes open every 6 months, like clock work.
So she assaults people at work and gets away with it? You know you could have pressed charges.
Wait, she bit you and you didn’t call the cops?!? That’s assault! Why would anyone passively put up with that? I don’t care if it is your probationary period!
You are an idiot for not suing. No question that all universities have explicit workplace policies against such harassment and assault. Either you are lying or really, really stupid.
Ok lesson learned….. Now this lesson is as follows. People will continue to treat you like shit if they know they can get away with it. If you put a stop to it as soon as it happened it would have never went that far. Next time have enough self respect to stop them.
Now at the time it looks as though you were “a stupid little girl”
Unacceptable. Report her ass.
I could be an ass at work but to bite someone? WTF? is she like 5? report her. seriously.
I almost find it hard to believe the part about you graduating college; judging from how hard it was to follow the story. Clearly you weren’t an English major. (To the trolls, if I’ve erred in my grammar, punctuation or spelling; remember, I didn’t claim to be a college graduate.)
At least an idiot like yourself got an edumakashun. Maybe one day you will get a little smarter and do what most people would do with this kind of “supervisor”. I’ll let you research the solution(s).
I had a girlfriend who worked in several science labs. Budding scientists live in terror of the heads of their labs, who have a lot of power to either make or break their careers based on the assigments and recommendations they give. Essentially they are like slaves, and the worst part is that the most prominent scientists who can really boost your career are some of the worst bosses. Fortunately the OP was just a lab tech and could run for the hills.
ugh god. i don’t even feel sorry for you OP because you are such a freaking dumbass for not reporting this batshit crazy person to the police.
If you’re too fucking dumb to report actual assaults, then I guess you deserve what you get. You allowed other people to get assaulted, and that’s not ok.
So what happened after you reported her and had her charged for assault for biting you??
Oh right………………nothing, since you did nothing. /facepalm
Academia is really horrible when it comes to these kinds of supervisors. I’ve had quite a few friends who have been browbeaten until they burned out and quit, discriminated against, overworked, and even hit on in academia, and even if they file a complaint, nothing really happens to the supervisor. It’s bad if it’s a post-doc, but it’s worse if it’s a tenured professor. Only something really bad (i.e. sexual assault) can get a TP in trouble.
Besides that, wearing high heels in a lab doesn’t sound very safe or comfortable.