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Humiliated at Work Yesterday

User Profile: Sasquatch254
Sasquatch254 February 14th

I have been with the same job for 4 years now, and it's been in person for 3 years. I've overcome a false accusation of sexual harassment and have found people I can bond with in the workplace after I was backstabbed by a team lead and a few of his underlings. Yesterday was the worst day of work that I had in a year, and maybe it should be the last. 

I am currently making up two work days where we were unable to work because of the Winter Storm. So I decided to take advantage of my empty schedule and work 9 or 10 hour days when I felt like it. But then I also needed urgent treatment for hay fever and I pretty much stopped sleeping through the night because of that and a year's worth of stress outside work and an unhappy situation at home during 2025. An older coworker several rows away from me talks loud, occasionally swears like she is in a bar, and topics sometimes include complaints over non-work issues. But this time, she was arguing with a colleague over receiving help over a technical problem. This was occurring while someone else was helping me with a question involving coding. I usually get nervous around loud complainers and open displays of anger anyway. For several months, I have been unable to work through the day without needing AirPods to block noise because of a person talking constantly to herself at her desk and the previously mentioned backstabbing coworker laughs loudly and engages in long conversations to break up the day since he comes in late. The former put up a large shade over her computer, which I took as her resenting me for something I did, similar to how a previous neighbor treated me whom disliked me. However, I have nothing to do with her during the work day. The backstabbing coworker I am prone to resenting because he threatened to report me over misunderstanding lunch breaks. When he reported me over the case that involved a phony sexual harassment report, he made up petty things he disliked about me that I saw in the later HR report. However, that was nearly 3 years ago and have had little to do with him since then. 

My boss is someone who I thought was one of the nicest people I've ever met. She was one of the only people who validated my feelings resulting from mental health issues and has praised me over everything I've done well, no matter how big or small. But now I hope she rots because of how she treated me during a meeting I wanted to organize to request my coworkers to be quieter when I was planning to stay longer during the next couple of weeks. She was not understanding at all. I told her some of the context over her concerns over me working longer hours. It was mainly non-work related, but they involved my upcoming birthday and my prevention of showing unpleasant emotions when I see family and friends soon, which has become more common with increasing personal demands. I quickly waved off that discussion to disclose the main problems but then my boss was defensive. She has seemed busier because of the winter storm and increasing workloads, but I'm sure she used this as an excuse to treat me poorly. She saw me in a few longer conversations with other coworkers, which has come more naturally to me when I've settled into my job. But she brought those moments up with me, and said that I would be hypocritical if I requested all my coworkers to be quieter. I have mixed views over profanity which people have invalidated and harshly criticized me for. I usually keep my mouth as clean as possible, but I have let words slip when I feel unfairly treated in hard scenarios. Some of my teammates are way more frequent and harsher cursers than me. So my boss was a no good animal and accused me of times when I've had these double standards too. Just like my parents when they have tried to fill in blanks before I could get a word in, my boss said things like "you're just venting" and got impatient when she thought we were going in circles. This was partly because of my recent fatigue. I organized the meeting since it was going to be easier to discuss things in person. But she took it as a waste of time and wanted to caution me over bringing things like that to a private meeting. Even the higher up who was present acted visibly annoyed, further adding to my embarrassment for simply existing. 

This is all I can take. I've been lied to by my boss when she pretends to think I do good at work. This is another example of how women have mistreated me repeatedly because I'm unlovable. People expect perfection out of me when they're not perfect themselves, especially when it comes to emotions. I'm debating over not even showing up to work without notice or just calling in sick. If I do show up, I will be emotionless, pin-drop quiet and make sure I do a terrible job to get back at my boss for being the dog she is. I will probably be fired anyway for simply having a bad day and having emotions. 

Is there any hope for my new disdain for my boss? How should I handle the next couple of weeks with boundaries, people talking loudly and feeling like the world is against me? 

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