LogFAQs > #952640653

I did tech support as an engineer and got a new manager. My previous manager was ok, but wasnt very involved with what I did. This new manager was very obsessed with me though. He and most of our team were based in the South. I and one other covered West Coast hours. He would constantly monitor me and send me messages about everything I did. For example, I missed a call coming in because I was asking a coworker a technical question and ran back to my desk and missed it. He immediately called me to ask what happened and why I missed the call. Its like he was just sitting there and watching my activity all the time. If I missed a lot of calls Id get it, but I rarely ever did. There were other incidents like that where it was like he was always watching me, to the point that other coworkers thought it was super strange. If I logged in at 8:02 instead of 8, he would call me immediately as I logged in. Mind you others were late too and never got calls, just me.

He would insist on weekly meetings with me. I asked other team members and they all said he didnt do that with any of them. I also asked the other West coast person, thinking maybe its because were remote, and he said they rarely had meetings together. In my meetings he would have me listen to my cases, that were handled well and were closed, and pick little dumb things about them to improve. He made a comment about how I should go above and beyond and made a comparison about his favorite waitress and what she does for him. I was an engineer solving a technical case, not a waitress but ok. Also that person on the call gave me all 5s. It was like he just wanted to nit pick.

Meanwhile my stats were great. I had the highest rated customer surveys on the team (got kudos for it in meetings and was used as a bar for others) and also was closing my cases within our deadlines. The other managers noted his obsession with me and agreed they felt like he was micromanaging me for no reason. I started pushing back against him and we ended up getting into arguments. At some point it became obvious he was looking to fire me and other managers were stepping in apparently to get him to back off. They kept assuring me not to worry, I was doing well, he was just new and trying to prove himself, etc. But it became too stressful for me and I quit.

All I can think is that he targeted me for being the only woman on the team. Old school southern guy who couldnt deal with a woman is all I can think as the reason he was focused on me. He didnt act like that with anyone else.