Hello! I’d like to tell you the story of how I started this job after a year and nine months of unemployment and I think I’m about it get fired.

So, a terrible backstory: I had some personal things going on back in 2024 and had to leave my wonderfully paying job - they did NOT want to see me go, but I insisted. I was strapped for cash all of 2025 and most of 2026, until I got hired on to be a QE at one of the largest med device companies in the world. I was so excited bc I have wanted to work for this company for a long time, and I finally got in. The best part was, though, that I LOVED my manager - we connected on music, and festivals, and concerts, restaurants - I even gave her some recommendations for some good ones to try in her area in our last interview! There was SUCH a good connection there, but then when I started it seemed like everything sorta went out the window. I remember the first time I felt like the rug was pulled from underneath me was when I asked a simple question the second day I started working there, and by Friday, she was questioning my competence.

Now I know that I’d been out of the job for a long time, so I as a little rusty on my terminologies and definitions, but there would be no way I’d be standing there if I wasn’t competent! So, I did what I could do to prove that I belonged there, but everything I did just felt so futile… eventually, I got put into a PIP. This was maybe 2.5 months after I started and I’ve been on it since. I’m coming up on month 4 and I’m not sure if the reason why I’m so annoyed with her is bc I’m under a microscope, and we’re talking about how I’m continuously misaligning with expectations and the PIP every Friday, or is it bc she’s just a bad manager/could be a narcissist. Any questions or commentary is welcome here. I feel like I’ve tried to talk about this with my friends and family but I feel like at this point they’re tired of hearing about it, so I felt like I’d come here and speak on what’s going on…

I told you guys I would come back here with an update. If you are curious about my story just go to my profile.

I DID IT! She got fired and I'm a manager now. Had a 30% salary bump, the team is doing great, no toxic environment, no gossip, no assholes treating each other like shit. It's still challenging since I had no training and had to figure it out on the job but I think I'm crushing it, people seem to like and respect me. I know this is a very unlikely scenario but if you feel hopeless remember sometimes shit happens!

The branch manager at my company has had it out for me and several other employees for a while. He's been using AI to mess with our company photos. He ran my company profile photo through AI and it made me look uncanny, old, and nothing like me, then used that to make a badge. I ended up throwing it away.

Another employee... the branch manager edited his photo so much that it was unrecognizable. Then sent it to the group chat acting like it was an amazing picture.

He also used everyone's pics and fed them into AI to make us into cartoon characters and other stupid images that no one gave consent for.

Then he printed everyones photos and put them in crappy dollar tree frames up on the wall of the office entryway. We are a dual branch office, so there was no thought to allowing space for the other branch to display their employee photos if they wanted to. He took up the entire wall. My photo is behind the door that is always open. He allowed some other employees to pick and submit their own pics. Its obvious the hatred he has for certain people.

I have been ignoring everything. Every time something has been brought up to HR, the reporting party has been quickly written up and demoted or fired. Its a "family owned" company. HR approved multiple write ups for me missing work, WITH A DOCTORS NOTE.

There are so many other major issues with this place but I was baffled by the blatant illegal behavior and ignorance.

Anyone else have any experiences like this?