Toxic Senior
My story about my senior goes like this…
She’s about 10 years older than me and has been working in that company for more than 10 years. When I first joined, she was actually okay. She helped us, taught us things, and even backed us up when customers got angry. She would give us tips on how to answer questions from the manager. At that time, I really thought she was a good senior.
But slowly, she started to change.
She couldn’t stand it when others did well or got attention. She also didn’t like it when people in the office didn’t talk to her. Before we joined, everything seemed fine between her and the others. But after we came in, she became jealous especially when some of the male staff were more comfortable talking to us.
After that, things got worse. She started talking badly about us to other female staff, creating unnecessary drama, and even backstabbing us by telling the boss that we didn’t do certain tasks even though we actually did them. Sometimes she would assign us work, and after we completed it, she would take the credit, even though the task originally came from the boss.
Her attitude became more and more toxic. She would even post things on her WhatsApp status that clearly felt targeted at us. But when we confronted her or replied to those posts, she would act innocent and say it wasn’t about us.
One day, I couldn’t take it anymore. I told her directly if she had a problem, just say it to my face. But as usual, she just kept that innocent expression and denied everything.
There’s actually a lot more, but I’ll stop here.
For your information, I’ve already resigned from that company. Now I just think about how she’s probably training new staff again and honestly, I feel bad for them, because she’ll likely treat them the same way, maybe even call them “bodoh” behind their back.
Bekerja dengan senior yang toksik memang sangat mencabar dan boleh memberi kesan emosi yang mendalam. Dari pengalaman saya sendiri, apabila seseorang senior mula menunjukkan sikap buruk seperti iri hati, menyebar fitnah, dan merampas hasil kerja kita, ia bukan saja membuat kerja menjadi stres malah menjejaskan prestasi keseluruhan. Salah satu cara yang saya pelajari ialah pentingnya mengenalpasti tanda-tanda awal sikap toksik. Contohnya, apabila senior mula menunjukkan perubahan sikap secara tiba-tiba, suka mengkritik tanpa asas, atau melibatkan diri dalam politik pejabat. Dalam kes saya, sikap berubah dari membantu menjadi menghasut dan memecahbelahkan, yang sangat tidak sihat. Saya juga sedar bahawa penting untuk mempertahankan diri dengan berkomunikasi secara langsung dan profesional, namun bukan mudah apabila senior itu mempunyai kuasa dan sikap yang manipulatif. Mungkin lebih baik untuk mencari sokongan daripada HR atau mentor yang dipercayai dalam organisasi sebelum keadaan menjadi lebih teruk. Selain itu, jangan lupa jagaan diri dari segi mental dan fizikal. Kerja dengan persekitaran toksik boleh menjejaskan kesihatan, jadi luangkan masa untuk aktiviti yang boleh mengurangkan tekanan, seperti bersenam, berhibur dengan keluarga dan rakan, atau mencari peluang kerja baharu jika keadaan tidak berubah. Walaupun sukar, pengalaman dengan senior toksik ini mengajar saya daya tahan dan bagaimana mengenali persekitaran kerja yang sihat. Pengalaman ini mendorong saya untuk lebih peka terhadap hubungan profesional dan lebih berani menegakkan hak serta maruah diri.
