I had this happen to me at best buy when I was 19. The assistant GM didn't like that I had purple hair so he would essentially bully me every day. To the point

I had this happen to me at best buy when I was 19. The assistant GM didn't like that I had purple hair so he would essentially bully me every day. To the point that other co-workers noticed, and were telling me that I should say something to HR or OSHA[1]. As someone who made it through catholic grade school I prided myself on being able to take shit from authority with a smile, so I put up with it. Until one day I overslept and the thought of having to call in and say I was going to be 15 minutes late was too scary and I just didn't go back. Only time I ever no call/no showed anywhere. More recently I had an "architect" on a team who felt threatened that I knew more about our tech stack than he did. He would constantly go against my recommendations without giving a reason, and would assign me boring things. If something broke he would spend the whole time trying to figure out how to blame me, instead of how to fix it. In return, I would just say it probably is my fault let's fix it, even when I knew it was someone else's fault, because who cares. I would also be very public about my technical opinions. The result was that management decided our team didn't need an "architect" and we now have a few Sr. engineers instead. If I didn't have that awful experience at best buy 20 years before, I don't think I would have had the courage to stand up. [1] This is a funny story that I still tell. One day it was slow, he assigned me to wash the walls with a brush and bucket. One co-worker just kept saying "I've never heard of washing the walls. you paint the walls." Another said they would refuse do it unless they had all the appropriate OSHA safety gear. But the best part was that I was just spot washing the dirt and stuff, and the manager came over to me like an annoyed parent and said I was doing it wrong and showed me the right way. He grabbed the brush soaked in soapy water and used big aggressive strokes water dripping down, and so I followed his example. Within 10 minutes he had me stop because the carpet was stained from the paint dripping off the wall, because you don't wash walls, you paint them.