Why did I leave my last job? I’ve been meaning to get away from my previous company for a while. Back in March, 2010 I even almost got a job in Chennai which I think would have been great for my career. It was an HR decision not to hire me and I was upset as I seemed to have been a hit with the person who I would have reported to (she conducted my first two interview rounds) and with the Associate Director of Training for that company. I think that despite the tough second round interview I had I was through and was even confirmed but in the end it didn’t work out and I had to let it go. I was disappointed for about a week but went back to my work.
In July my best friend & second in command at the office left for greener pastures. I had my young team with me and I thought we’d be ok. But I hadn’t expected that I would have trouble in store for me. We had a new center head/DGM for the Cochin center and he was a fucking moron & an arrogant son of a bitch. Thomas didn’t know much of the work, assumed that he knew everything and considered everything that he didn’t care for as inconsequential. He was a brown noser but he also had some clout. He would make life miserable for me and some others in the office. He rubbed people the wrong way and made it difficult for people to continue doing what they best did and whatever good feelings we had about working in the office soon died out.
Within a month or 6 weeks after he came in he sent an escalation mail against me. The first one ever sent against me in my life. The odd thing was that he hadn’t discussed what he wanted with me properly but he put some points and sent it to central management. The GM of training forwarded that mail back to me & the manager of training (who sat in another office and 9 of us reported to him on points relating to training) and demanded an explanation. I spent the next 20 minutes stunned at reading the mail and then replied. The reply made it very clear that Thomas was a moron who hadn’t thought before deciding to send an escalation. The GM slapped his face with her stern reply back and he was embarrassed in front of the others who the mail was marked a copy to. I knew the end was neigh, as Thomas started plotting against me. He called me in and tried to make it difficult for me to do stuff.
I have never worked with such animosity before. He tried to pin stuff down on me. I spoke to HR about how this moron would try to find fault; like he would bring people, who are there for an interview, to me and ask me why they weren’t in one of the training rooms. I would look at them and see faces I have never met them before and they would turn out to be people who had just come in for an interview. This happened 4 times which I complained to HR about saying that this fucker is just trying to find fault where there is none and embarrassing me. He would blow up in our HOD meetings and always side on the other people. He wanted me to bend the rules and if I get caught then tough luck. I wasn’t the only one he was after; three other people would also have face this bastard’s atrocities. Finally it became too much.
On the 31st of December he tried to blame me for a decision that he has taken and which several other people were aware off. I had had enough and refused to take the blame. That was the final straw. I didn’t get much help but the decision was taken from corporate that I could leave after 2 months. They said that I should use those 2 months to find another job and to leave as amicably as possible. I was ok with that but I had to settle for a job that wasn’t the best for me and now I am stuck with it. I hope to find another job soon. I won’t suffer another mother fucker like Thomas ever in my life and I hope he gets what’s coming to him. I just hope it is sooner rather than later.
Oh Roshan, I’m really sorry it ended that way for you. I hate those kind of power plays in the workplace. I don’t react well to them, either.
I know it isn’t much consolation but at least you stuck to your guns and stood up for yourself. It’s better than being blamed for something you didn’t do. I am sure another and better job will come along for you. I will keep my fingers crossed