DAILY READING: Professional Sabotage

Original article:Hot English Magazine Vol.180

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Bullying (bắt nạt) in the workplace is on the rise. But what can we do about it? The workplace is full of a variety of characters. There’s the obsessive worker, the happy-go-lucky (vô tư lự) employee and the enthusiastic team player, just to mention a few. One of the worst types is the workplace bully. They’re the ones who do their utmost (cố gắng hết sức)  to make our lives a misery. The behaviour of a workplace bully can take many forms. Sometimes it’s quite subtle (khó thấy): ignoring someone, glaring at
( nhìn trừng trừng) them, spreading rumours (tung tin đồn) about them or laughing at their opinions. But other times it’s more serious, particularly when it’s the boss who’s doing it. Typical examples can include shouting aggressively at employees, humiliating (làm nhục) them in public, giving them more work than they can cope with (đương đầu với), inconsistently changing hours and duties, cancelling holidays without good reason and excluding them from social gatherings.

Jenny Kondek knows what it’s like to have a bully as a boss. “I’ve been in lots of jobs, but the last one I had was terrible. For some reason, my boss had something against me. Maybe she felt threatened by me, I don’t know. Anyway, she was always changing my holidays and giving me lots of extra work to do, especially on a Friday afternoon. It all came to a head (lên đến đỉnh điểm) during a meeting when I was publicly reprimanded (khiển trách) for not reacting well in an emergency situation. That’s when I decided that I’d had enough. After everyone had left the room, I said, ‘I don’t want to be spoken to like that. She couldn’t believe that I’d stood up for myself and she stopped picking on me after that.”

In some cases, bullying can cause serious medical disorders. These can range from a loss of a sense of humour, depression, migraine headaches (những cơn đau đầu dữ dội), skin disorders, chest pains, constant fatigue (mệt mỏi), abdominal pains (những cơn đau ở bụng)  and even vomiting (nôn). To make matters worse (sự việc trở nên nghiêm trọng hơn) , experts say the levels of bullying are on the increase. Researchers from the Workplace Bullying Institute say that women bullies are becoming more frequent. In fact, their research shows that 40% of bullies in the workplace are women. So, what should you do if you are a victim of bullying? Human resources expert Mary Holtman says it’s simple. “Above all, you should remember that no one has the right to treat you badly. The most important thing is to stand up to (chống lại)  bullies. Let them know that you will not tolerate (chịu đựng) their behaviour in any way, and that you won’t allow yourself to become a victim. If things continue to be bad, then you must report it to someone higher up. And if they refuse to take notice (chú ý đến), you need leave the company. These problems will not go away on their own.”

Vocab Highlight:

Sabotage /ˈsæbətɑːʒ/ (n) :the act of deliberately spoiling something in order to prevent it from being successful
-> an act of economic/military/industrial sabotage

To bully (v) /ˈbʊl.i/ : to hurt or frighten someone, often over a period of time, and often forcing that person to do something they do not want to do
-> Our survey indicates that one in four children is bullied at school

Happy-go-lucky (adj): A happy-go-lucky person does not plan much and accepts what happens without becoming worried
-> Because of his casual, happy-go-lucky nature he made friends easily, and drug pushers supplied him everything he desired for nothing

Subtle (adj)  /ˈsʌtl/ : not loud, bright, noticeable, or obvious in any way
The play's message is perhaps too subtle to be understood by young children

To do/ try your utmost: to do something as well as you can by making a great effort:
-> She did her utmost to finish on time.

To glare (v) /ɡleər/ : to look directly and continuously at someone or something in an angry way
-> She glared angrily at everyone and stormed out of the room.

To humiliate (v) /hjuːˈmɪl.i.eɪt/ : to make someone feel ashamed or lose respect for himself or herself
-> How could you humiliate me by questioning my judgment in front of everyone like that?

To cope (v) /kəʊp/ : to deal successfully with a difficult situation
-> It must be really hard to cope with three young children and a job

To come to a head (Idiom): If something comes to a head or someone brings something to a head, a situation reaches a point where something must be done about it
-> Things hadn't been good between us for a while and this incident just brought it to a head

To reprimand (v) /ˈrep.rɪ.mɑːnd/: to express to someone your strong official disapproval of them
-> She was reprimanded by her teacher for biting another girl.

Fatigue (n) /fəˈtiːɡ/: extreme tiredness
-> She was suffering from fatigue

Vomiting (n) /ˈvɒm.ɪ.tɪŋ/ the act of emptying the contents of the stomach through the mouth
-> There are a range of symptoms, including headache and vomiting

To make matters worse: used to say that something has made a bad or difficult situation worse
-> Three of our players were ill, and to make matters worse, our mainscorer had broken his ankle

To stand up to sb/st (phrasal verb): to resist somebody; to not accept bad treatment from somebody without complaining
-> It was brave of her to stand up to those bullies

To take notice: to give attention to something
-> I asked him to drive more slowly, but he didn't take any notice