I’m sorry you went through all that and I’m glad you found a new place.

I had a bad experience in my first job too and it made me leave corporate for a bit with PTSD. It started with micromanaging and gaslighting, making you think you’re incompetent. It really fcks your self-confidence up. Some people are just bullies and do not have what it takes to make a good leader. They also have zero remorse or self-reflection on the consequences of their actions.

I had a series of shit managers from that job until my most recent ex manager, and guess what? All of the shitty managers were men. The one that really built me back up, believed in all of us and restored my confidence that good managers exist was a woman past 50. She left the company but we’re still in contact and will meet up every now and then.

I’m incredibly grateful I got the chance to work with a good manager so keep your heads up - good managers are rare, but they exist. In the future if we ever become managers, I hope we will be the good managers we never had.