“When I started working for this company in 2001, I didn't know it to be a toxic work environment. Backstabbing co-workers and vicious gossip have always been the norm in every workplace I have been a part of. If you don't engage, the gossip gets turned on you so you try to stay off the radar. It's like being in middle school all over again.

What did surprise me was how easily managers would participate in the harmful banter. They did little or nothing to stop it. Not only would they gossip about their employees behind their backs, but many of them would savage other managers. Calling them dumb a##$s, etc. As a society, we need to stop accepting harmful gossip in the workplace. Stop accepting it as normal. Start calling attention to it and be more open about what is or isn't acceptable conduct in the workplace.

The final straw of my apathy to this issue broke in 2015 when the gossip around work was that a female co-worker just put in her two-week notice and she was quitting. Monique was not only a co-worker, she was a wife and mother of two young daughters. When I heard she was quitting, I asked her about it. She told me that she just couldn't take the hate-filled gossip surrounding her anymore. I felt awful for not saying anything to stop it and I apologized to her.

Monique accepted my apology and unbeknownst to me, went to hers and my manager to tell him what I did. My manager relayed the story the following day, telling me that she burst into tears while telling him all this. My manager commended me for my actions but did nothing to help her. Instead he kept quiet and a few months after she quit, became a Senior Manager then a Managing Director. I'm not sure how high up he is now but it was clear to me that his silence, and willingness to "go along to get along", paved the way for his successful climb.

Monique’s quitting really hurt me. I felt awful for not doing more to help her and I swore that I would never sit back and do nothing again.

A few years later, Margaret would begin working at the company. Margaret had plans to move up the ladder as quickly as she could. She too was a wife, mother of 4 boys, and highly motivated and experienced to be in management. She jumped through every hoop that the company wanted employees, who aspired to be in management, to jump through.

Margaret's problems escalated when she applied and was accepted for a promotion ahead of two, jealous, female co-workers who applied for the same position. These two did everything they could to sabotage Margaret. From vicious gossip, to turning just about everyone against her by spreading lies of favoritism.

I spoke to management multiple times, so did several others, to no avail. They refused to do anything. In fact, to appease the two jealous females, they were awarded with higher positions shortly after Margaret's promotion.

The harassment of Margaret never stopped and after more than a year she decided to quit. Several employees complained multiple times but nobody cared. The workplace mob, which involved managers, wasn't going to change for anybody. I believe that because I was the most outspoken, I was dealt with the harshest. Shortly after Margaret quit, the mob came after me.

A female co-worker accused me of harassment, through my manager (who ignored my complaints about Marie's mis-treatment). My manager didn't investigate the alleged harassment, he held onto it. It was a totally bogus accusation and he knew it. I predicted to others what they were attempting, it wasn't hard.

It was scary for me because I had a wife and 5 kids to support. Instead, my manager brought it up over a year later when he found enough false accusations to pile on me. That pile was used to justify firing me and gave me no chance to defend myself. Even though I proved the previous accusation of harassment as false, nothing happened to my accuser. Just before my firing this same female accuser began slandering me to co-workers saying that I had been "stalking her for years". I brought this up to management during the investigation and they told me that it was irrelevant. Credibility meant nothing, they just wanted to get rid of the squeaky wheel. I did not subscribe to "go along to get along" and I was becoming a problem for "the good old boys network".

Yes, I said good old boys network. I worked with the poster child of this sexist workplace clique. He was a manager who had sexual relationships with 2 female subordinates and leadership saw nothing wrong with this blatant conflict of interest. Both subordinates attempted suicide when he walked away from the relationships. One day I was in the office filling out paperwork and Mark stormed in yelling and cussing out one of the women. I asked her what that was all about and she informed me that he treated her like that all the time. I went to her manager to complain and was told that multiple complaints about Mark have already been made. He then told me not to worry because Mark would be moving back to where he is from. I was led to believe that he was quitting to move back home but what this manager did was run interference for his good friend so he wouldn't have to discipline him for workplace misconduct. What about Mark's victims? Nobody cares, you just ignore them until they quit. It's disgraceful and should never be tolerated.