Bullying in the workplace

[sharonshiatsu]

i started a position in a call center at a large hospital. it is staffed 24/7 and 365. with many, many calls coming in an arranging admissions from all over, it can be a very stressful job. i have been at it now for about 7 months and already had to miss almost a month due to getting sick with mono. i also developed an anxiety disorder from this situation. the culture there is the most toxic environment i have ever worked in, in a career of 26 years. people talk about each other, go behind your back and just are not very nice or supportive. after coming back from the month off, i was verbally assaulted by the one male nurse who i hardly ever work with. he lied right to my face and was yelling within earshot of peers. i called my manager at home and told her what happened and that i was leaving for the night. i heard that he would be "spoken to" but this has apparantly happened many times before. in fact this culture has been going on for years. i decided to write to all the supervisors of the department and request that the meeting also be attended by our hr rep. i told them that i was keeping notes and that this should be treated as a violence in the workplace issue. when i did this, they realized that i was serious and responded quickly. my question to my manager was that if this was such a well-known situation of it being such a nasty place, then why was it allowed to go on for this long? she glossed that over saying that things are being done and are happening behind the scenes. i know the few people i can trust, and the others i just have to deal with, protecting myself as i can. the manager said it was a shame that i had to feel like that but i said that in order to protect myself, i have to do some things such as keeping a break log which is initialed by a coworker every time. the bully is an overblown windbag who thinks he is the only one who is capable of doing the job and puts down everyone else. he is also a diehard republican who espouses his conservative and gun-loving rhetoric whenever he has the chance. i have heard that in some environments hr dictates that you can't even talk about politics or religion of any other topics that might be inflammatory in nature. i told our hr person that and she agreed but said she would have to check about our policy. i told my manager that is should be instituted since he is the only one who thinks this way but feels like we all need to hear it. hearing that my country is going to turn into a marxist state should our current president continue, hurts my own sensibilities and does not go over well with most of the other staff. (we live in a fairly blue/progressive state).

in any event, i am not going down without the fight and wanted to give some support to others who are in the same situation. a job that is stressful in and of itself is one thing, but when it is combined with a toxic peer situation, it can be so destructive to one's own self. anyone else have similar happenings? thanks for listening!