Oh God, Locals Weigh In On Workplace Bullying
Sure, Mickey Meece started it. Her female workplace bully story—or as I like to call it, “How the recession is making bitches bitchier“—was a derivative, sexist, non-story recession trend piece for the ages. But now, WJLA is gunning to one-up Meece with its own derivative, sexist, non-story recession trend piece: How the recession is still making bitches bitcher—but this time, it’s local!
First, WJLA cites the obligatory statistic from a Workplace Bullying Institute (!) study—which found that “40 percent of bullies are women and of those, 70 percent target other women.”
What does it all mean? Well, it means that most bullies are men, and victims of bullying are split nearly half-and-half between women and men. Now that we’ve established that, let’s just completely ignore the facts and only interview women about how horrible it is that only women pick on only other women all the time. Ha ha, do women ever actually work?
First reporter to get six “local” quotes proving their premise wins!:
“Most men are blunt. They’ll tell you how [they] feel. Women will try different methods that don’t always work,” said Kelly Jones, a D.C. resident. (ONE)
“I’ve seen a lot of cattiness,” said Shari Flowers, a D.C. resident. (TWO)
“Women tend to be sort of undercutting in the workplace,” added Claire Lebrun, an Arlington resident. (THREE)
And unlike many men, female victims tend to suffer in silence. “It makes you feel helpless sometimes,” said Jones. (FOUR)
“It makes it harder for your job and then you feel uncomfortable coming into work,” said LaShawn Jones, a D.C. resident. (FIVE)
“It just very much brings down morale,” added Elissa Frankle, a Rockville resident. (SIX)
Ding ding ding! Wow, you had to go all the way out to Rockville to do it, but there you go. D.C. resident Shari Flowers has “seen a lot of cattiness,” and somebody—somebody reaaaallly high up—better be in the pocket of the Workplace Bullying Industry, because if nobody is getting any kick-backs for continuing to report on this bullshit, I will be very disappointed.
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1:21 am
saw a similar piece in the new york times.
thought about how great it was that when jobs are threatened in general, women are suddenly a liability to have in the workplace because they are either ‘bullies’ or ‘victims’ of said bullies. the logic goes – not enough jobs – women are horrible at jobs – give jobs to men who really know what it is to do work, amirite?
ah, scapegoating. it never gets old, does it?
10:59 am
well-said, laura. now that we’re knee-deep in the worst recession of our lifetimes, how can we afford to bankroll these “bullying institutes” and “career counselors” that women obviously need just to be competent at their jobs? too bad women didn’t hate EACH OTHER so much, or their employers would never have to devalue them in the first place.