Nothing you do will ever be good enough; you must be monitored all the time!
Published on March 29, 2013 by Meredith Fuller in Working with B*tches on Psychology Today
Next on the list of discreet behaviours that my research identified in my book WORKING WITH BITCHES – coldish in temperature – is the Insecure Bitch at work who tends emit the message that nothing you do will ever be good enough. The critical eye and disdainful body language may be supported by micro management, and a tendency to demand where and what you are up to every five minutes.
The Insecure
- Suspicious, checking up, micromanaging
- Always disappointed with and disapproving of your work
- She is the only reliable one and you are incompetent
Meg started a new nursing role in a small unit. By Day Two she hadn’t yet mastered their new computer system. Her manager, who had been on the interviewing panel, was annoyed and irritated that she hadn’t mastered it immediately.
“Well, you know you weren’t the first on the short list!” she said cruelly.
Elisha was upset every few hours by the way her boss leant over her shoulder, peering at her screen, making tsk tsk noises and shaking her head. This would be followed by demands that she redo everything. As her boss strode off, there was usually a comment about the ‘pig stye desk; no wonder you struggle’. Given that Elisha always managed to produce the work required on time, she resented her boss checking up on her as though she was a lazy child who didn’t put in the effort required. Elisha had never heard a ‘well done’ or ‘good job’ – on the rare occasion that her boss deemed her work to be ‘adequate’ there was resounding silence.
Elisha’s hard copy work was usually returned with red pen slashes and cryptic comments. Elisha started doubting herself and her capacity to perform the tasks required. She stopped applying for promotions because she feared that she was slipping. The energy in the office was so tense that it cast a pall of doom.