Power-hungry boss singles out employee, sets them up for failure and fabricates mistakes forcing employee to weigh whether to expose her or walk away: ‘The final blow came when my performance grading was adjusted retrospectively’

Author image for Etai Eshet
Etai Eshet • Editor
Mar 11, 2025 10:00 AM EDT

Office politics is corporate Greek mythology with fewer togas and slightly worse catering. Just like in ancient myths, everyone's got their role.

Your boss is basically a god, lording over the office and throwing out random thunderbolts of criticism. Middle managers are like half-gods, stuck in limbo between trying to please their almighty overlords and keeping the mortals (that's you) from revolting. And us mere mortals are just desperately dodging lightning bolts preceded by "I hope this finds you well."

Sadly, just as in mythology, no status guarantees safety from bizarre punishments. 

Take one poor employee's story. Their boss, in true godlike fashion, decided to smite them—not with fire and brimstone but with gaslighting and bureaucratic sabotage.

After daring to question their boss—let's call her Zeus in a blazer—their fate was sealed. And just like on Olympus, you don't have to do much to get a masterfully tailored, bizarre, and eternal form punishment. My best regards to Sysphus and Narcisus. What's up, brothers?

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  • Anyway, the boss rewrote history to make every success look like a coincidence and every mistake a public spectacle. But why stop there? True to mythological form, this boss enlisted a henchman—a demigod-level manager—to carry out her divine retribution. 

  • "Politics at work"

    Cheezburger Image 10478326272
    via Aleksei Isachenko

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • So, if you’re stuck in Corporate Olympus, you can go full Hercules and perform impossible feats until you get noticed—but just know, your “reward” might just be more work.

    Remember, mortal, In the end, the only true escape from these Olympian games is to leave the mountain entirely.


     

  • My boss decided to turn face against her subordinates (my colleague and I) for reasons which I believe to be self-preservation and personal vendetta.
    via HappyInvestor01
  • It started about almost a year back, where she had a 180- degree change in the way she treated us (without a doubt, with intent). Gaslighting me on my attitude and work performance unevidently was just the tip of the iceberg.
    via HappyInvestor01
  • I had requested to pull out of a non-regulatory-compliant project / task. She made a comment that my natural reaction took it as a threat to my career progression / promotion. After trying hard, I
    via HappyInvestor01
  • managed to get her to agree on a 1-1 to speak. That's where the gaslighting took place the most. I even brought up how her actions have affected our emotional and mental health.
    via HappyInvestor01
  • Cheezburger Image 10478329856
    via Zinkevych

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • As you can imagine, things only got worse. Retaliation. Communication went to none, she started to send sarcastic, passive aggressive messages, pull work away form me rather than
    via HappyInvestor01
  • analysts whom I've built trust with and trained overtime, displayed public differential treatment between analysts and myself, and of course marking down of
    via HappyInvestor01
  • performance grading unreasonably, making 0 room for discussion. She even stooped up to the level of trying to break the bond between my colleague and I by pulling her into a room and asking if she was sure i treated her as a friend.
    via HappyInvestor01
  • I was set up to fail on all occasions thereafter but proved myself on many occasions. I continued to be my best self and ignored all her political moves, many at times "proving" her
    via HappyInvestor01
  • Cheezburger Image 10478331648
    via Motortion

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • wrong when she tried to catch my mistakes publicly. At the same time, I got HR and my C executive involved and aware of the matter, in which the C executive agreed that she had problems.
    via HappyInvestor01
  • To add, she hired a colleague whom she worked with before previously (let's call him "the new manager"), and he started to execute these political acts on
    via HappyInvestor01
  • behalf of her as well. It was psychologically traumatising, abe of power, and something which most people would have long taken the highway.
    via HappyInvestor01
  • The final blow came when my performance grading was adjusted retrospectively. HR investigated. The new manager came out clean and shared how she blamed him for being too
    via HappyInvestor01
  • nice and not marking my performance grading down even more in the last quarter. Their relationship took downhill thereafter.
    via HappyInvestor01
  • My colleague and I were shifted under another newly hired manager. The migration of team was a transition that took a while (It was poorly done since this should have been immediate
    via HappyInvestor01
  • under such a case). During so, she made the final threat to our performance grading, even after I have outrightly mentioned to stop all these acts of bu ying. My colleague resigned.
    via HappyInvestor01
  • This boss had single-handedly broken company grevience policy and possibly even legislative employee protection on harrassment act.
    via HappyInvestor01
  • This case definitely caught the attention of the whole company, and I believe everyone knows something is going on, but nobody knows the full story.
    via HappyInvestor01
  • With information going around, I was informed that actions are taken to get her fired, but too much empty promises developed the trust issue inside of me,
    via HappyInvestor01
  • especially understanding the fact that the ultimate interest of all parties, doesn't include junior members, but either self-serving or the company.
    via HappyInvestor01
  • With my performance grading having taken a hit (which i totally saw it coming since the beginning of this issue), I made the effort to find alternative ways of getting peer feedback to support my performance.
    via HappyInvestor01
  • Today, I have another job offer in line, a step up, I would say. However, I strongly will not allow such acts to get away without punishment. End of year results, bonus and remuneration
    via HappyInvestor01
  • decisions are due in the next 2 weeks. I'm waiting to see how the management handles this. Im currently at a loss for what to do if my bonus has been affected by her actions because it would
    via HappyInvestor01
  • make me feel like a fool taken for a ride and being seen as naive, plus it enforces the reality that unethical acts, lack of integrity and immorality triumphs in the workplace.
    via HappyInvestor01

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management boss workplace-stories hr toxic-workplace manager bosses work PTO managers supervisor workplace Horrible Bosses work-life balance
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