I used to work for the local police force in a civilian role and 2 years ago I was the manager of a department and I was subjected to awful bullying by two of my staff one who was 37 and one who was 52 becuase I was a quiet person who kept to myself, also I was having real trouble with my husband (now ex thank god) and my son's medical problems at the time and my gran had just died and I was feeling very fragile all the time and they thought I was an easy target. They found it funny to talk about my behind my back and to whisper about me when I was in the room, some days they just ignored me which I prefered to be honest. They used to sit and email each other all day about me and I have seen the evidence of it so I know it went on. They used to ridicule the way I used to work and they used to ignore the rotas that I had set in place etc and go and complain to other people about what work they were supposed to be doing - in the course of one day one of them sent over 300 emails during a 7 hour shift! I was not believed when I reported it to my superiors even though 2 other people had been bullied by them and had left their jobs because of it! They made me feel so small and I still struggle now with people I don't know very well as I always feel that perhaps they are talking about me - my self esteem is slowly coming back but its a very slow process.
Now as well my 7 year old son is being bullied by a couple of boys in his class at school becuase he is different he has aspergers syndrome and ADHD they follow him round the playground taunting him (I see it as I work at the school as a playground supervisor), they hit him, they have even tried to flush his head down the toilet when there was a poo (sorry) floating in it!! He has been really ill over this and I have kept him off school a couple of days until the teachers have sorted it - trouble is it gets sorted and then the whole thing starts up again a couple of weeks later. My son has been learning Muay Thai Boxing for a couple of months now to build his confidence and teach him some discipline and 3 weeks ago they had been taunting him so much he snapped and turned round and gave one of them an almighty push kick to get them away from him - I can't condone his use of violence but I am real proud of him for standing up for himself!
A message to everyone who has ever been bullied for any reason whatsoever: You are a fantastic person who has many wonderful qualities that are admired by many people, even by those who may not tell you so, the bullies themselves have many faults and are not beautiful people they are ugly cowards and they are picking on you cause they are jealous of all the good things you are or have. The bullies are the ones that have a problem not you and you should always remember that no matter how low you are feeling and just remember when you are being bullied that there are thousands of us on MFC who love you loads for who you are regardless of your race, religion, family background, sexual orientation, medical problems etc..
Big hugs and kisses for everyone xxxxxxxxx
