'I was bullied out of the workplace by my younger colleagues'

Call me naive, but I had this crazy notion that one day I’d go back to my first love. I’m not talking about romantic love - that ship sailed a long time ago - I’m talking about my career. 
 
My first love has always been news. I’ve always loved knowing what’s going on in the world around me - being able to discuss anything to do with world affairs, politics, crime, human interest. 
 
I spent most of my youth in South Africa writing in one form or another, so it’s not at all surprising that after three disastrous years of law study, I returned to my happy place. I studied English Literature, followed by journalism and found my first job on a local paper.

A family friend had a gig on the only talk-back radio station in town and mentioned one day that they were looking for traffic reporters. Knowing the ‘traffic desk’ was situated in the heart of the newsroom, I jumped at the opportunity.

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Gradually, I worked my way up to reporter, then newsreader, senior reporter and finally morning news anchor and reader by age 25.  
 
Fast forward a few years, and I found myself in my dream job - reporting for an international news organisation in New York. The grind was tough, but my focus was clear. This was where I wanted to be. 
 
My dreams were cut short a year later when my parents were the victims of violent crime in South Africa and I returned home to care for them. We soon made the decision to emigrate to Australia.

I landed my first job in Sydney within three weeks of arriving. It was a good role at a media company and I happily rolled up my sleeves, smiled through endless months of night shifts and quickly rose through the ranks.

Six months ago the opportunity I’d been waiting for came up. A friend at a television station told me they were looking for senior producers. I sent off my CV and two days later, I had the job.
 
The role was a senior one and the hiring manager made it clear he wanted me for my experience. “We have a bunch of twenty-somethings in the newsroom and we need someone who can share their experience and expertise,” he told me. I was delighted. Finally, someone was valuing me for the experience my age (45) brought and asking me to impart my years of on-the-job insight.

I knew there would be challenges. I struggled to get my head around the two computer programs needed to write content and edit vision and sound. I’d never used either program before, but I set myself daily challenges to meet. Some of the newer recruits who had been there a few months longer than I had were amazing, sharing their knowledge and tips. Others were cold as ice with no interest in getting to know me or giving me the time of day. 
 
I very soon realised the ‘pecking order’ among the women of the newsroom. There seemed to be an all-round attitude of arrogance, unfriendliness and curtness. I wondered if one person had set the tone and the others had decided to follow suit. Nonetheless, I was determined to remain friendly, after all, I was the newest, the most technically inept and I was lucky to be there, right?

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No one looked at me, no one ever made eye contact, no one ever said “please” or “thank you”. Call me old fashioned, but basic courtesy goes a long way in any work environment - especially a high pressure one like news. Even senior staff would walk into the newsroom, skulk into their work space and not greet anyone.

Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. I thought about using my sick leave for some mental health leave, but even then, I knew they’d got the better of me. I felt broken. Each day in the newsroom was soul-destroying. So, I quit.
 
I wrote an email to the twenty-somethings, telling them how they’d made me feel.
 
“I want you to know how much this job meant to me, and yet, to get to the point where I would rather be broke and unemployed than work with you, you have to know how deeply you have broken my spirit,” I wrote.
 
“The way you have treated me has been soul-destroying and has left me mentally exhausted and emotionally fragile. You have effectively bullied me out of a job. It’s like being back in the school yard and being targeted by the 'mean girls'.
 
“This job was everything to me - I needed it to literally put food on the table and petrol in my car. One day you may know what it feels like to be older, a parent, a partner and a breadwinner – to come back from a career break to raise a family - and have to deal with this relentless passive bullying ALL the time. YOU’VE WON.”
 
I hit ‘send’ and walked out.