This is not a workplace story about a bad day or a difficult coworker. This is a full account of what it looks like when workplace culture becomes a weapon, when leadership becomes a license for cruelty, and when silence becomes the price of survival. I am writing this because I refused to stay silent. I documented what happened to me. I pushed back when I could. And now I am telling the full truth, clearly and without apology.

THE HUMILIATION THEY TURNED INTO ENTERTAINMENT

The first manager didn’t just insult me. She performed her cruelty.

She didn’t just call me a “big monster.”
She turned me into a cartoon, a joke, a spectacle.
She and her sidekick “lead” mocked me in front of the entire department, turning my body into entertainment, turning my humanity into a punchline.

They didn’t just belittle me. They dehumanized me.

And I didn’t stay silent. I pushed back. I documented it. I refused to let them pretend it didn’t happen.

But the damage was real.
I went home shaking uncontrollably, my body locked in panic long after I had left the building.
That’s what their “leadership” did, it didn’t just hurt my feelings, it triggered real fear in my nervous system and left me in survival mode.

THE BULLIES WHO MOCKED MY HEALTH

At another department, the cruelty took a different shape. Childish, petty, and vicious.

I was allergic to a certain flower. A real allergy. A real medical issue.

They laughed. They rolled their eyes. They acted like I was lying. They treated my health like a joke.

They told me to “stay in my lane” even when I was helping people, even when I was doing my job, even when I was trying to make the workplace better.

They weren’t leaders. They were bullies with titles.

I remember being in a large open office space when a man walked in visibly upset, crying, and being supported by his partner. Instead of responding with empathy or even basic professionalism, the department lead shouted across the room, “Does he have AIDS?” loud enough for everyone to hear. It wasn’t just inappropriate. It was cruel, stigmatizing, and completely out of line for someone in a leadership position. That moment showed exactly how normalized disrespect and discrimination were in that workplace.

THE BOSS WHO KEPT ME SMALL ON PURPOSE

Then came the boss who smiled to my face and stabbed me in the back.

I had been with the company for over 20 years, one of the longest-tenured employees in the department, and still, I was the lowest paid on the team.

I asked her to advocate for me. I asked her to support me. I even said I would go to HR myself to advocate for a raise.

She refused. She blocked me. She kept me small on purpose.

She didn’t just fail to support me. She actively prevented me from being valued.

THE BOSS WHO WEAPONIZED HER WORDS

Then came the boss who didn’t call me “stupid” directly. She used phrases that meant the same thing.

Every day. Every conversation. Every interaction.

She attacked me from the moment I was hired. She told me no one liked me. She told me I wasn’t doing anything right. She sabotaged my work. She talked behind my back constantly. She lied to me, saying I wasn’t getting written up, then writing me up anyway.

She sent me messages about me to others. She even sent them to me by mistake so I could read them first hand. She monitored me. She threatened my job. She made me question my safety every single day.

When a friend of mine passed away, she didn’t care. She didn’t check on me. She didn’t acknowledge my grief. She just said “OK” and moved on.

Her cruelty was relentless.

There were days I was so overwhelmed, so shaken, so stressed, that I couldn’t remember whether I had taken my heart medication. But this was the norm for this place. Toxic, bullying, and cruelty. No one was your friend, no one.
This particular manger’s behavior was beyond disgusting, she was the biggest hypocrite and no one cared at all the way she treated anyone. She would always say she had these ailments to keep her job because she thought she could blame everything on her medical issues. This wasn’t medical, this was a horrible human disguised in a position of authority she should have never earned. There was a manager that use to say all the time she had no business being a manager and he tried to help. But the thing about him was he was always talking bad about people too. You could not trust anyone. They always tried to push that you were the problem. These were adults, and the poorest definition of professional behavior. It pushed me into physical distress.

Eventually, I was forced to resign because of how mean, nasty, and retaliatory she was. I wanted to go out with class, and not anger. I had so many things that I wanted to say, looking back, I should have I guess? But to me I just really wanted to go quietly, peacefully, and respectfully. Why you ask? I was raised by an incredible mother which is why I started working there in the first place. All I could keep thinking was, go gracefully in her memory. Do it with class. So I did.

And the director? She didn’t care. She wasn’t there to help. No one cared. Not after 20 years. Not after everything I had given. These were people that didn’t deserve these positions they just wanted their paycheck and would do anything for it.

THE RETALIATION THEY TRIED TO REDEFINE

The director kept telling me, “You need to tell me what’s going on.”

So I did. I told her the truth. I told her what my boss was doing. I told her about the bullying, the retaliation, the hostility.

And she went straight back and told my boss.

And my boss retaliated harder.

When I went to Ethics, they said, “That’s not our definition of retaliation.”

As if companies get to rewrite the dictionary. As if harm becomes harmless just because they say so. As if my experience didn’t count because it wasn’t convenient for them.

But retaliation is retaliation. And I lived it.

THE DAY I WALKED AWAY — AND THEY DIDN’T CARE

When I resigned, the company didn’t care. Not after 20 years. Not after everything I endured. Not after everything I gave.

They let me walk away like I was nothing.

But I wasn’t nothing. I was someone who survived years of toxicity, years of bullying, years of disrespect, years of retaliation. It wasn’t hard to let go of anymore. And that’s when I knew I was doing the right thing, the right thing for me. I chose me this time. Maybe even for the first time in my life.

And now I’m someone who speaks.

WHY I BUILT JOSIE JUNCTION IMPACT

I built this platform because toxic workplaces thrive in silence, and I didn’t stay silent.

This is not just my story. This is a mirror for anyone who has been:

• publicly humiliated
• mocked
• underpaid
• sabotaged
• bullied
• retaliated against
• ignored
• dismissed
• emotionally harmed
• physically affected by workplace stress

If you’ve ever cried in your car before a shift…Didn’t want to open your laptop in the morning… If you’ve ever questioned your worth because of someone else’s cruelty… If you’ve ever felt your confidence chipped away piece by piece…

You are not imagining it. You are not “too sensitive.” You are not alone.

Toxic workplaces are real. And speaking up is powerful.

This is my story, fully told, loudly spoken, and finally free.

This is my impact. And maybe, it’s the beginning of yours too.

Founder, Josie Junction Impact