Sadly,
the amount of people in positions of power just because they've managed to bully or lie their way through the tiers of management is frighteningly large.
( Evil Bastardo, Fri 30 Apr 2010, 17:21, 1 reply)

was going to reply something similar to this
but I see you've beaten me to it. But can I add, not necessarily bully their way to the top, but having had their mate as their line manager can be how it works.

Mine wasn't my direct boss per se, but the boss in the department I worked in, so getting along with her was kinda conducive to intradisciplinary working. I managed 15 months (12 of those involved many tears, messed up appetite - stress related, messed up sleeping, constantly questioning myself, my reasoning and my life choices!) sounds a bit funny/wet now, but I lived it.
All because this cow could not deal with HER stress and transferred it to everyone else. And because her mate was her boss, she never got pulled up over it. Its WHO you know.
The role I was in tended to get scapegoated (cos we had a professional obligation to go against the grain should our assessments suggest otherwise to what the Great Doctors had decreed) so run-ins were on a daily basis. Straightforward processes were turned into a great song and dance, and what should have been manageable was made extremely longwinded because we were 'asking too much' (ie a rehab focus as opposed to patch 'em up and give 'em a raised toilet seat, she'll be right)
Most people in my role seemed to manage 6 months before they left/transferred (so my 15months - quite an achievement/act of stubbornness if I do say so myself).
I figured that in the 2 years preceding my employment there, the team I worked in had gone through 6 of us. And will continue to do so.
The worst was watching a new member of staff turn from the bubbly outgoing fun person she was when she arrived, within months, to some angry stressed-out shell who was started on antidepressants and who used to burst into tears when she walked in the office.

I vowed I was going to fight the bitch, and her manager/mate, and started building up a case of evidence. I then had 3 weeks holiday, felt like a different person (being away from the bullshit work situ), snapped a week after I got back and figured it wasn't worth the effect on my mental health so left.
I was told by someone very senior and longstanding that other people had attempted to address this situation and basically lost, the employers had "very good lawyers"

End result, no happy ending, I'm burnt out, the thought of returning to that career still fills me with dread nearly 3 years on, my 'employment' now is cleaning houses, admin work and bumwiping. The girl who walked into my job afterwards lasted 6 months, burnt out and left.
The bitches continue to work there.

Calling it a Health Service is a fucking joke
(maggotriddendirtbox fast, feral and sharp as a tack since, Sat 1 May 2010, 2:43, closed)