Workplace mobbing

In the following, we will discuss cases and symptoms of workplace mobbing. Unfortunately, this is a very common phenomenon these days. The reason is likely that there are a lot of shit companies, a lot of loser companies these days, where the workplace environment is destructive and toxic, and this widespread environmental toxicity brings out a certain trait in people: envy. Envy is the basis of workplace bullying in many cases.

To anyone who's been through this: it is not you. It is the company's toxic culture. Your colleagues. Not you. I know everyone is more interested in the solution. Me too. I don't have a definite recipe that wins this situation. Very often, these are lost cases. But I'm confident there are lessons to be learned from my experience.

What I'll do next time I'm in a similar situation: Think outside the box. This group of sheep who are bullying me has no brain anyway. Deep down, they're terrified of something. We're much smarter than they are. That's exactly why they're jealous.

Things to be alarmed by:

• Hollowing out your position (you are given only tasks that are trivial, have no impact, and do not fill your work hours; or, in more severe cases, you are not given any tasks at all—a sort of "punishment" intended by the aggressors because 'you need to learn a lesson' - they think)
• Exclusion: being excluded from team meetings or events (not being told, being forgotten when invitations were sent out, being forgotten as a member of the team); in other cases: being ostracized, being seated at the edge of the table, being seated in the back row, being demoted, having your opinion disregarded or ignored
• Sabotage of your work (failure to provide training, intentionally assigning an excessive number of unsolvable tasks for which no training was provided)
• You may notice that your boss is talking to you less. For example, if your workplace has one-on-one meetings, he always postpones or reschedules the ones with you. At first, they just give you less feedback on your work, and later they completely stop having one-on-one meetings with you—but only with you. This is another sign of exclusion. But if you notice this, it's probably already too late. There's only one thing you can do about this workplace: leave it behind.
• Belittling or undermining your achievements, taking credit for them, or even explicitly telling you not to achieve anything or perform well next time
• Spreading malicious rumors about you (behind your back, but sometimes the rumor-mongers get caught)
• The following is a sign that the working relationship has completely broken down; this is the final stage - I'd get out of a place like that. WHEN your line manager no longer communicates with you. He has a confidant in the team, and he communicates with you through that person. He has tasked his confidant with 'bringing you to your senses', meaning getting you to dance to their tune. By this point, it's long past the point of no return; even if you were to meet the aggressive boss's expectations, his response would be further aggression. This employment relationship is over.

The lesson is that you have to make it clear from the very first moment that you won't let them drag you down to their level. Don't be afraid of anything. Your boss is a jerk, an incompetent idiot. Why should you be afraid of him?

Getting fired during the probation period? Who cares? It might even work out for the best. They say the job market is picking up, so it's not uncommon to find a better job offer out there. They say that..., but still.

Look, it's simple: from their long-held positions of power, they're playing with your sense of security—they're messing with it. If you've been unemployed for a while, you're obviously eager to work, to get back out there, to fit into a workplace. They know this, and they'll play on your sense of security if they want to blackmail you or break you, because as a former unemployed person, they believe that's your weak spot.

If they come at you during your probationary period, you have to fight back. If you let them walk all over you during probation, they'll label you as weak. Your life at that workplace will be a living hell, and in the end, they'll fire you anyway — and humiliate you in the process. So you might as well make it clear during the probationary period: you're not someone to be messed with. Either they train you properly, respect your work and your time, or you're out of here. Don't let them treat you like a kid. Don't let them treat you like an idiot. By this, you are risking to get fired quickly, you have to know that. But if for some reason, they keep you, no one will mess with you after the probation period ended.

One more thing: If there are tons of red flags about your workplace right from the start, you simply need to keep looking for something else. Trust your instincts! Don't settle for a crappy offer from an aggressive company that's going downhill fast; and if you're already there, you need to find a way out.

Otherwise, they'll just drag you down with them. They're already falling, and their downfall is certain.

And why is that? Just look at Hungary and the results of the 2026 election! No matter how powerful someone is, no matter how authoritarian, no matter how much they claim to be all-powerful or invincible, no matter what they say: In the end, they all fall.