Dealing with toxic coworkers
When I was 21, I accepted an offer for a position in management in a clinical/healthcare setting. I was the youngest in the company, and I worked very hard to be the best, stayed overtime, and helped my staff beyond my scope. I was eventually promoted after one year to one of the busiest locations. My team was primarily composed of females, older in their mid-30s-50s, and at my new location, two older workers often commented about me (not about my work ethic) but about how young I was.
This one employee, in particular, started to go to my superiors and say I was not qualified for the position on multiple occasions, along with another complaint with another lead at my site. Even when my bosses decided to shadow me, they concluded that I was doing my job well, and I kept my position. She never stopped complaining, even about me staying “overtime” to prepare for tomorrow’s work. Even if I showed up with makeup, she would harass me that I was trying to look pretty for X, Y. Z reasons.
I still treated her with respect and kindness after all of that. After my superiors asked her to drop the claims, she went to HR and proposed that I had inappropriate relations with a provider in one of our procedure rooms. HR started an investigation and interviewed the whole location. HR asked me questions like, “Who are you having intercourse with? Have you ever had intercourse with X” and after a long week of continuous interviews asking providers, etc if I had been inappropriate with them, they concluded that these claims were false. The individual was later fired. She later keyed my car as well. (I had video evidence and just didn’t press charges because I was so emotionally drained)
I was heartbroken and humiliated that in my first job- a job I gave my heart and soul to. This was happening during COVID, and there were many layoffs in our company; it was eventually just my site manager, one other co-worker, at the height of COVID.
Now, I am older and wiser (hopefully), but I’m starting a new job (part-time) at another sizeable medical system in research (hoping to get published). I think I have a bit of PTSD due to that whole occurrence, especially while still in the healthcare realm.
Just something I wanted to get off my chest this whole time, something that has plagued my confidence as well as being fearful of having to work with toxic co-workers again. Sorry if it was long!