Derek worked in a museum as a Museum and Gallery Assistant. He considered his line manager a serial bully. "The bullying was covert. It took me five years to understand that I was being bullied at all," he explained. "Bullying tactics ranged from a blame culture to micromanaging. The controlling bully got some type of kick from seeing his staff suffer and struggle under their large workloads. He would often come in late, do little work, panic, and them spread that panic onto others. He was lazy and manipulative, hiding his incompetence by taking credit for other people's work yet putting their work down."

 

The bullying made Derek feel stressed out, tired, and that his work was never good enough. He developed constant headaches.

 

Then the bullying escalated.

 

"Once I confronted the line manager on his behavior and made a formal grievance a few years later, his bullying escalated. The bully acted like the victim and called me a bully," Derek said.

 

Even worse,...