Have you ever been bullied at your job?

[angelae250]

I was excited to land a job in a Doctor's office. It is my first job in the medical field and I work part-time. I mainly do office work answering phones, making appointments and referrals. I had no previous experience doing secretary work but was glad to be given the opportunity to learn. I have been working a couple months and the doctor is very rude to me and embarrasses me in front of co-workers and patients. He is a perfectionist and I can never do anything right. He finds something wrong with my work every single day. It is a small practice and he owns it so he is my boss. Today my I was busy charting and my co-worker and the doctor were talking and he looked at me like he was waiting for a response so I said hummm? I didn't realize my co-woker was talking to me instead, so he gets smart and goes hummm, humm, humm? I am trying my best to grow thick skin but it is hard when the doctor you are being bullied by is your boss. I wish we could work as a team but he gets agitated and treats me like I am stupid.

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

I would start sending out your resumes. There is no reason that you need to be treated in such a manner. Because the MD owns the practice, there is no one to discuss this with, besides him. "Thank you for pointing that out to me. I will be mindful going forward." Because you have never done this work before, and the MD knew this going in, it may be his way of creating your work into something he would like. Experience means past practice that perhaps he gets crazy over--you are a "clean slate". He wants you to do things his way. End of story. But the embarrassment in front of co-workers/patients is another whole thing. That would be when I would say "see ya". What if you were to say "I feel horrible that this is incorrect!! I will make the necessary corrections right now! I apologize patient XYZ, and hold on one moment and I will get you what you need". (

It is amazing how grown people who are in the business of patient care can be so ridiculously nasty. And I would be curious as to how many other people have held the position you are in prior to you, and how long they lasted. I would start pretty quickly getting out the resume.

Best wishes.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

Before you start using the B word, which if you search AN you will find is grossly overused, consider the easier conclusion: The doc is a jerk. I'll bet he has a high turnover rate among employees, which doesn't help him keep staff long enough to have experienced ones. It is true that some guys like this luck out and find, almost by accident, somebody with a very thick skin and an overdeveloped sense of humor who can get through the day without taking it personally, chuckle often, and think, "He's more to be pitied than censured."

But those are few and far between. You can do better. Find another job.