After what I can only describe as the worst two months (professionally-speaking) of my life, I am ready to start afresh this Monday, October 20. I can’t wait to get started!

Last July, when I joined this company I just left, I had no idea what to expect and what was in store for me. After I started, I realized the culture was too diametrically opposite to what I was used to, and what I was expecting. And mind you, it was not the “company” that was the issue for me, it was the “people” I worked with: they were stuck in the past and were absolutely not interested in moving to 2014. For an extremely transformational initiative like a new business intelligence platform, that kind of culture would absolutely not cut it.

However, what happened in August and September of this year puts that disappointment way lower on my displeasure list. A new executive comes in, has a major political agenda, finds a few “insiders” to make them her advisors on all matters, and starts making terrible decisions. Some of these decisions were reversals of crucial initiatives which were more than halfway done, and some of them were firing consultants who were the only ones with the skills to get their respective jobs done. As a result, the entire program moved out by at least 2 months. I didn’t like some of these moves, but my thought process was simple: if I can improve my own skills and execute to a goal, I will still be ok.

Alas, she had me on her agenda as well. As in, she wanted me out. She did not want to fire me but she made it extremely difficult for me to survive in that environment. The word that comes to mind: victimization. She removed the people who reported to me so I lost my management role. She passed judgment on my 9 months of work saying it was “nonsense”, without letting me defend it. She made the assumption that I did not want to be a part of “her team” and as a result, started pointing fingers at everything I had done and everything I was doing. Like for example, monitoring when I left the office and having me switch timesheet hours for every hour that she deemed inaccurate. EVERY HOUR. Even though we are not paid by the hour.

Ultimately, I went on a sick leave followed by vacation and then ultimately quit because by then I had a few offers in my hand and felt reasonably confident I won’t have to go back to that godforsaken place. The past two weeks have been great because I have actually had time to flush out all that negativity and get ready for a new beginning. Fortunately or not, the wife is in between projects so she was also around so we were able to spend some quality time together without the distraction of the kids around us.

I have seen extremely political work places and I have seen work places with negativity especially if the company is not doing well, but this lady has been the absolute worst person I have had the chance to work with/for and would highly recommend staying away from her and her employer as far as you can.

Cheers!