Job Advice
I need employment advice. Should I look for a new job? Is it really that bad to find a new job? Or should I try to discuss the situation with HR? I don't want to give a lot of details because it will reveal my identity. I need to stay with this job for a couple of months, and then I can look for something else, possibly outside a public library. I was stalling for this to address the problem, but it was too much. I wasn't planning to leave. I haven't had problems with management until recently, when new replacements were hired. I feel like this has sent me back to high school. And the workspace has been getting increasingly toxic. There is a lot of exclusion in the department conversations, favoritism, and procedures. The manager is very dismissive of what I say. I feel like I can't discuss anything with the manager. I have been corrected in public and interrupted on the phone. I have to be exact in my wording, or I will be constantly corrected until it's approved. I have to do everything perfectly. No mistakes, or they don't understand how I can make a mistake. I don't mind being corrected, but not in front of both patrons and staff. I am human and I make mistakes. I am not perfect either. And I was told that I was "the problem in the department." The manager gave an example of me being a problem from three years ago (I didn't realize that at the time), and when I gave another example, the manager said three years was too long ago to remember.
I really don't want to leave, but I feel this statement "I am the problem" has gone too far now. The blame is on a personal flaw. And it should of been addressed immediately and not just let go until this point. I want to address it with HR, but fear the retaliation, before I can fully leave. Should I go to HR? Or is it too subjective to discuss my feelings in this situation? Or just facts and leave out the favoritism (which can qualify as workplace bullying). The way they worded the statement hurt me, and anger me, as did other things this manager has said to me, but as the manager once said to me after discussing a patron interaction, maybe "I take things to heart too much." I have been documenting some incidents, but not others. I do no longer want to have private conversations with said manager alone anymore.
Posted Jul 11, 2026, 1:36 PM UTC