Finally Saying Goodbye to My Toxic Manager

I’m officially out of here by the end of next March! Everything is settled with the company. Finally… I’m finally free. I can finally talk trash about him openly!

P.S. I’ve survived seven months so far.

Honestly, everything about this job is great — except for my supervisor. He is absolute trash. We are fundamentally incompatible. I’ve been dealing with his workplace bullying every single day. Every hour on the clock, all I could think about was quitting. But I knew having only 4–5 months on my resume would look bad, so I sucked it up.

My supervisor graduated from Da-Yeh University. Initially, I didn’t judge him for his background; I figured if he made it to this position, he must have some talent I could learn from. But after three months of working with him, I realized: sometimes, the school really does define the person.

Here’s a breakdown of the BS he constantly throws at me, and what I actually wanted to say back:

1. “So, I never said that? It’s all my fault then?”

Sometimes he did say something, but his communication skills are non-existent. For example, he once sent me a reference image without specifying what to reference or to what extent. I produced 2–3 versions based on my own interpretation. He blew up, shouting, “Did you even look at the picture? ‘Reference’ means make it EXACTLY the same!”

When I told him he wasn’t clear, he pulled the “So it’s all my fault?” card. In my head: “Exactly the same” is called copying, not referencing. His Chinese teacher is probably crying somewhere. I’m not a mind reader; I don’t know what’s going on in that hollow head of his. He can’t even articulate his own needs, expects you to guess, and then throws a tantrum when you guess wrong. He’s a total “Giant God Warrior” — huge ego, baby brain. A classic case of “I can’t explain things, so you must be the one with comprehension issues.”

2. “If you knew there was an issue, why didn’t you ask?”

Whenever I say, “I didn’t realize that’s what you meant,” he hits me with this. The thing is, I didn’t see an “issue” to begin with. Everything seemed fine. When I asked, “How was I supposed to ask about a problem I didn’t know existed?” he just said, “I don’t get it. Why wouldn’t you just ask?” It’s infuriating. It’s like he doesn’t speak human. Does he want me to ask, “Can I draw this line?” or “Do you like this color?” for every single stroke? He fails to provide specs or set standards upfront, then blames me for not being psychic.

3. “You don’t know this? Didn’t they teach you this in school?” / “You should already know how to do this.”

I tried to be proactive and double-check everything, but no matter what I ask — even if it’s a legitimate question — he sneers: “Wow, you don’t know this? What did your teachers even do?” or “I taught myself everything back in the day.” Sometimes he pretends not to understand me, asking “What do you mean?” over and over. School taught me professional skills; it didn’t teach me how to babysit an emotionally unstable man-child. His brain’s processor is clearly too outdated to handle my direct explanations.

4. “Have I never taught you this?”

On the rare occasion he actually “teaches” something, he expects me to master A through Z instantly. If one tiny thing is off, he goes on a tirade: “How many times have I told you this?” or “What did I hire you for?” acting like he’s explained it 800 times. In reality, it was either my first time doing it or he explained it once and I didn’t catch it. I take notes, though. Once, when he insisted he’d told me something, I snapped back: “Can you actually remember what you’ve said?” He was livid. Maybe my tone needs work, but at this point, I couldn’t care less about his feelings.

5. “What’s the point of hiring someone who knows nothing?”

After this cycle repeated a few times, he used this as an excuse to insult me. I finally snapped: “Then you should have hired an expert, because I told you I was new to commercial space design. Besides, an expert wouldn’t be working as your assistant.”

I am exhausted. Hearing this negativity every day is soul-crushing. I used to be someone who enjoyed work and felt a sense of accomplishment. Now, I just sigh my way through the day and have zero desire to ask questions or even stay in the interior design industry.

If a supervisor only cares about kissing up to the higher-ups, how can he lead an assistant? He often drags me into meeting rooms just to lecture me:

6. “Taking this many days off is a luxury reserved for VPs.”

We already agreed on my leave for classes and doctor appointments. Plus, I don’t get paid for my time off — VPs do. Linking a basic labor right like “time off” to “corporate rank” is disgusting. His only sense of self-worth comes from his job title, so he has to strip others of their dignity to feel powerful. He’ll spend his whole life grovelling to superiors because he knows that without that title, he is absolutely nothing.

7. “You tell me — how much work have you actually finished?”

Drawings evolve with the construction process. In a big company with red tape, projects take months. He uses these PUA (Pick-Up Artist/manipulation) tactics just to maintain his “authority.” It’s pathetic. It only proves he’s incompetent and deeply insecure.

My real “problem” is that I make him feel like an idiot. But instead of fixing the actual issues, he just wants to get rid of the person who reminds him of his own inadequacy: Me.