Should I continue to fight?
I would like to clarify that if you adhere to the position of "turning a blind eye to the problem" and "keeping silent to avoid conflict," then please do not read this post and do not respond.
I (22M) have been working at the pharmacy for a year now. After the pharmacist left in February, the only permanent staff here was me and my boss (53F if it matters). We had various temporary pharmacists, none of whom lasted long. An 18-year-old girl worked from June to July, but she quit. In August, an older woman of about 50 came in, and that's when the problems began. I don't want to make this post too long, so I'll try to keep it short.
Let's call this pharmacist Olivia, so as not to get confused. Without going into all the details of the problems I had with Olivia, she simply took advantage of my kindness to get me to do her work for her and didn't want to learn how to use the POS software. My job title is manager, but I essentially perform the duties of a merchandiser, so I have no connection to the responsibilities of a pharmacist. However, over the year I worked there, I simply learned how to do it by accident from observing others, and she took advantage of that. She even told me point-blank that if I knew how to do it, why would she learn it? I tried to talk to my boss for a week, but she didn't care. I ended up filing a complaint against Olivia with our pharmacy chain support team. I didn't insult her in the complaint, but simply said she wasn't coping and didn't want to work, and perhaps she should be transferred to a pharmacy with another pharmacist on shift who could help her. In the end, it happened as I advised, but for me it had bad consequences. Ever since then, my boss has been convinced that I drove Olivia out of the workforce. I explained to her that this wasn't true, and that I wouldn't have cared if Olivia had simply been a lousy worker and hadn't interfered with my work, but she wouldn't listen.
My boss and I continued to interact as before until a new girl took over the pharmacist position. Let's call her Noel. She's 20 years old, and my boss invited her to work there because she knew her family and all that. It was Noel's first job, but I saw how hard she worked and how quickly she learned. Something my boss couldn't say. She believed that Noel was not grateful to her for helping her find a job, that she refused to work, etc. But what I saw was the opposite. Overall, Noel and I quickly hit it off, and I realized she wasn't the person my boss had described her as. One day, when my boss was once again accusing me of something I didn't do, Noel stood up for me and confirmed that I hadn't done it. This angered my boss. She never admitted her own guilt, tried to shift responsibility onto others, and often gaslighted me, saying I'd done something I hadn't. I once asked her why she told Noel I was lazy and didn't work at all, to which she became indignant and denied ever having said such a thing. However, she had said the same thing to my friend who was covering for me at work, and she had even said the same thing to me personally.
That evening, they met with Noel on business, and Noel was able to record their conversation for 20 minutes. During the conversation, it became clear that my boss and her daughter, who was also present, considered me "a sick psycho who shouldn't be told anything serious." And the reason for this is that I don't hide the fact that I take antidepressants. I never hide it from people; my mental state barely affects my work, and I don't consider it shameful. Personally, they never said anything like that to me, but after that, everything fell into place. That's why my boss was constantly gaslighting me, telling me I'd done things I hadn't. She used my condition as a cover for her own mistakes. Supposedly, I am so inadequate that I don’t even remember what I did and when. Her real attitude toward my transgender identity also became clearer. She told me she was okay with it, but then she describes me to people as "she was *deadname* but she had problems with her head and decided to become Victor." That's what she told Noel before she even showed up for work. So, all this time, she'd been revealing details of my personal life to strangers, and in that vein. I don't particularly hide my identity, but I should say such things myself, and not someone else for me, especially like this.
The last straw was when she again blamed me for giving her a yellow card (a type of punishment for a violation) and called me a "moron". In fact, "moron" doesn't sound as bad as that word in my native language, but I can't think of one that's as offensive. She also called Noel a "stupid bitch" in a fit of anger. This phrase is also not as offensive as it was, but in meaning she called her a prostitute. Noel wasn't at work at the time, but I told her.
And then I wrote a complaint again. I spent a week writing the text of the complaint, trying to include all the possible violations of the boss, which I turned a blind eye to for a year. I also attached the video footage of her insulting me, as well as a piece of that conversation where she calls me "sick psycho." I also described other things she did towards Noel, her biased attitude, etc. I was hoping she'd get fired. While I was writing this complaint, I learned that my boss hadn't just lied about me and Noelle, she'd also lied about that 18-year-old girl, Olivia, and several other people to make them look like idiots.
In my ideal world, she would be fired for the number of violations I described. But no. Our pharmacy supervisor showed up the next day, when Noel and I were on shift, and clearly took my boss's position. She tried to smooth things over and even said that "everyone was to blame for this conflict," meaning we were somehow to blame for being vilified. She said she couldn't fire my boss (and I don't understand why) and that the only option was for Noel and me to transfer to other pharmacies in our chain. They didn't force us to do this; they simply presented it as the only solution, in their opinion. I was outraged that it had turned out that way. I wrote to the boss at the other pharmacy, who was aware of the situation and was on my side, and she also expressed outrage at the outcome. And you know what? The next day, she asked Noel not to mention her in the situation because the supervisors had called her and started blaming her for what had happened. I also asked for the phone number of my friend’s supervisor, who was also on my side, but when she called me, she began to convince me that the only correct option was for me to move to another pharmacy. Do you understand what I mean? They were intimidated. Their mouths were shut.
And... I don't know what to do. I'm not going to just leave; that would show that I've accepted the injustice and admitted defeat. I wasn't forced to transfer to another pharmacy, so I'm staying here. And I want to be here to see my boss fired. But I don't know what else I can do. Apparently, this company is very afraid of publicity; they're used to people accepting the insult and simply leaving, but I objected. Noel will leave; she's taking this more painfully and it's very difficult for her, and I understand her. But I'm upset. The abuser won't face any punishment (I was told they had a VERY SERIOUS talk with her, and that's it), and her victims are forced to simply run away because no one decided to help them. I wrote to a lawyer I know, hoping for help, but he hasn't responded yet. I've never been in a situation like this before; there was always someone higher up who stopped the injustice, but here they're just trying to shut everyone up.
Do you think I have a chance of getting my way? Is it worth going to court, or is that too petty? I haven't gone into detail, and it may seem trivial, but my boss had a ton of violations related to inventory and cash register fraud, which I unfortunately don't know how to prove, as it happened over the course of a year and I don't remember exactly when. She also literally overwhelmed Noelle with work she shouldn't have been doing, pressuring her, and yelling at her. Frankly, this situation brought Noelle back to suicidal thoughts. Do you understand the scale of it? But unfortunately, Noelle doesn't want to share this with others, and I understand that they'll probably think, "We really did hire a mentally unstable person," and the only way they'll react is if she actually kills herself.
If I just leave, I'll hate myself. Justice is a painful subject for me.
Posted Nov 14, 2025, 6:53 PM UTC