I once worked at a company that was very cliquey. The senior staff were all best friends and employed their mates. I was one of the first people employed there who they didn't have previous experience of and immediately I was singled out.
As a production manager, I would report any issues or concerns to the head of production. The way the head of production treated me and the team was frankly disgusting: shouting and screaming if one thing deviated from the plan.
During the production, a few of the team (including myself) took a planned holiday break. The head of production, in my absence, decided that the reason that things weren't working was down to me – not the fact that the editorial wasn't working and the budget given for the project with the ambition didn't even remotely match. She then decided to belittle me and tell everyone who would listen that I was bad at my job, how I couldn't manage a team, and they didn't know why they employed me.
And yet, my production coordinator and I were working 18 hour days, seven days a week to make the frankly ridiculous schedule work.
I had panic attacks at work due to the head of production's behaviour and would go and hide in the bathroom to escape.
The company has a reputation for treating staff this way and I have spoken to many people since who have similar stories from the CEO or the head of production. Enough was enough and I quit the job before it finished, but I know that many others may not be in a financial or position within their job to feel comfortable to do that. To this day I tell everyone to avoid the company like a plague.
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