A couple of weeks ago, StrongMinds organised and held the East African Mental Summit 2025 that brought together policymakers, private sector leaders, civil society actors, and mental health advocates. One of the key issues mentioned was corporate bullying in workplaces.
Ms Goldy Obama, a mental health consultant from the Federation of Uganda Employers, said bullying in the workplace exists, though many do not name it. She said it could be humiliation in meetings, gossip, being excluded from decisions, or being micromanaged to the point of breaking down. She then rightly mentions that employee wellness is not charity.
Reading this story in the Daily Monitor of Friday, October 30, brought to mind all the unwellness that many workers are forced to wade through in the name of taking home a paycheck.
There was once a certain boss who was so negative that all his written communication was littered with French. It is one thing to speak French when one is angry, but to write it and in caps, now that is special.
Anyway, that human of Uganda would dish out rude memos to anyone who fell short of his glory. He was actually right about the poor performance, but the way the message was delivered, eh, even Parliament would ban him from walking near the August House.
So one day, I was in one of the office bathrooms, minding my business, when I overheard him in the next room talking about me with another senior colleague. I froze, lest they hear me and call me out to explain why I was in the nearby bathroom while they were having a conversation about me.
To my shock, he was all praises for me. From his words, he thought very highly of me and was very pleased with my work and performance. He said the company was lucky to have me. I kid you not, I froze. I stayed in that bathroom long after they had left because I did not want him to even suspect that I had heard what he thought of me. That I was good after all. That all the harsh, crude, and toxic behaviour was just to scare us and make us so insecure, and to always feel dispensable.
The only comfort was that he was doing it to everyone else that he supervised. You know how misery loves company. However, some among us had a low tolerance level for toxicity and so left to maintain their sanity. A few of us dysfunctional people who respond to being bullied by leaders stayed and worked.
Our dysfunctionality aside, we needed the jobs more than we hated the horrible working environment. I now know that he was dealing with demons of his own and was just giving back to society. I hear he is a kinder person now.
Then, at another workplace, the older employees who had been there well before us made the workplace seem like a torture chamber. I was once scolded for hugging a male colleague, for accidentally turning off one of the lights, touching the wall while walking up the stairs, and smiling too widely in the morning. It was so tense. You would have to breathe in and out 140 times before entering the workplace. While the office bullies were quite talented and resourceful, it was hard for them to have any impact on the younger people in the office because they were always so harsh and unapproachable. I now know that they were just broke and disillusioned.
And then of course, the intolerant, indefatigable supervisor who calls at 4am to reprimand you for a missing full stop, or the one who never responds to greetings and equally never says hello. Oh, and of course, the one who patronizes everyone and talks to them like they are talking to toddlers, makes you wait for a signature for 80 years when all they need to do is pick up a pen and scribble. Their presence at the workplace spoils the air so much so that every time they call in sick, you have an internal break dance party.
And that is not even the half of it, but I do not want to do all the talking. For you, what is your story?
Workplace bullying and toxicity is a real thing. We just tolerate it because we think it is normal. I have got news for you. It is not. But like Total Contrast asked, ‘What you gonna do about it?’