Workplace power Dynamics and Abusive Relationships
Having a bad boss is not like being in an abusive relationship, it is being in an abusive relationship.
I've a dear friend who is constantly subject to the capricious and illogical whims of an increasingly erratic employer, who also happens to be the sole owner of the company-someone who can be in turns insulting and at other times mindlessly ignorant, but, at the end of the day who is someone ultimately beyond meaningful reproach.
Obviously, the solution to the problem is to quit-no internal process at this company is capable of shutting down its owner. The devil, of course, lies in the details.
In this shite economy, it's not simple to pull up stakes and find another job with the same level of pay and benefits. So, for all intents and purposes, until a new line of work is found, my friend is trapped with this bastard.
And psychologically, the damage is real. Just as with an abusive partner or "friend", the mental energy this boss takes from the victim is excessive and intense due to the simple fact that, by virtue of controlling the paycheque, the employer controls all the power in the dynamic. Sleep is lost. Fear of the next tantrum is omnipresent. Waking hours out of work are spent worrying about what will happen when work is returned to. There is no "off-hour" any longer. Clocking in becomes a thing to be dreaded. Concern over the continued ability to provide for one's family and loved ones grows. Stress increases.
And there is no "way out". No "shield." Human Resources exists at the company, but it's not like they can sack the owner-they work for the owner.
What is the point of this entry? I don't know. I see his plight and I see a microcosm of the world, where the powerful run roughshod over those of lower status with nary a check against them.
It's infuriating. No person should hold that kind of power over another.
About Paisley P. Peinforte
A hater of Active voice, Lady Peinforte is titled nobility of the nation of Sealand. Having successfully invaded both America and Canada from her home base in Windsor, she has become horribly corrupted by the world, and is dedicated to "creating the greatest 'Ship of them all". She ponders horribly terrible, idiotic things for your amusement.
~explanation~
I'm a snarky, semi-horrible human being given to penning intentionally bad epic slashfiction involving improbable objects and individuals, with the ultimate ambition of befouling Kindle with it one day,which is ostensibly what this blog is for.
In practice, however, it tends to mainly be a circular file for my various thoughts and ideas, some whimsical and others not, in addition to my various Photoshop experiments, mainly collections of what I originally generated for Twitter but now do for Mastodon Threads Bluesky thanks to Twitter becoming a fascist hellscape.
I also have a sideproject doing art for my addition to Doctor Who fanon, Karnian Script which is a more sigil-based, witchy take on Galifreyan variants.