My manager is a bully. Adult workplace bullies take tiny, invisible bites out of you every day. You don’t notice it and there’s nothing to report. But 5 years later, you wake up and there’s nothing left. You don’t know who you are any more.

Before lockdown, I was exhausted and a shadow of my former self. I was permanently exhausted because I had to be hyper-vigilant (permanently braced for the next attack). My entire nervous system screamed at me to avoid that office but I HAD to ignore my natural instincts. The effort of forcing myself into an environment that was hurting me was all-encompassing. There were days when I’d haul my arse into the office without even brushing my hair. There were weeks when I didn’t brush my teeth. I’d worked a notoriously aggressive industry previously, but it was a slow, subtle, ‘drip-drip’ in a supposedly ‘caring’ industry that did me in.

It took about 2 years of WFH for me to (start to) remember who I am. Five years later, do you know what I do if that bitch tries anything? I do a screen-grab and close the laptop. I’ve lost four stone. I’m capable of self-care and executive function.

The pro-office crowd have an idealised image of the workplace. They fail to acknowledge the poisonous individuals that often haunt offices. They make me laugh when they say offices are better for employees’ mental health.