What is the most toxic thing someone in a leadership position has ever said to you in the workplace? This was the question career coach Katrina, who posts under the handle @coach2elevate, asked her 12,900 followers in a video that has already amassed over half a million views.
In the video, which has since gone viral, Katrina shares her own experience. Once, she explained, she “called out” the director of a company she worked at for not answering a question directly. “I just said [to him] ‘I don’t feel like you answered the question,'” she recalls.
Following this, Katrina says she was pulled into a meeting where she was told, “‘You need to decide whether you are for the company, or for the people.'”
@coach2elevate im sure y’all can beat this #toxicbosses #corporate #stitchthis #illgofirst ♬ original sound – Katrina
“That one didn’t sit well with me,” she adds. As it turns out, Katrina’s experience was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to former employees’ experiences with toxic leaders in the workplace.
“I was reprimanded for providing feedback in a company wide survey asking for feedback,” one viewer shared in the comments section.
“Mine asked how long it would take me to ‘get over’ my miscarriage,” another added. A third user shared how, after being diagnosed with cancer and going through treatment, she was criticized by her boss for “always having a new limp.” Another user, who balanced their job with being a parent, said that they were once told by their superior that their child was a “competing priority.”
“I began looking for a new job that day,” they added.
Katrina didn’t immediately respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comment via a contact form on her website.