Comments on: How do I deal with slander in the workplace?

By: Kirsten

Kirsten — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 19:38:49 +0000

I experienced some painful slander over the past two months because I was doing very well at my job, putting in extra time to acheive my personal goals. My hard work was evident to all, expecially management. A co worker who was not succeeding in the same role began slandering my work first stating that I make everyone else look bad by working too hard. He discouraged my work ethic repeatedly. When the employee came under fire from managment he began spreading visios unsubstantiated rumors while training a class of employees, stating that the only reason my agents have have such high scores is that I provide answer keys and cheat my way to the top. Thankfully my management knows that I am a woman of integrity and they stand behind me completely. But the damage has been done, My reputation smeared and damaged. I have a few choices, I can smear back and be just as bad as the person who has attacked me or I can choose to take the high road.
There is a scripture in provebs that say: Proverbs 12:13 (New International Version)

13 An evil man is trapped by his sinful talk,
but a righteous man escapes trouble
As long I choose to have integrity, everyone around me will see the truth in time. The person opening thier mouth with lies will eventually be found out. People wont trust them, and they will loose others respect because of how they treat their peers.

We are to love those who hurt us.
Honestly I am very hurt by the slander that had taken place. The truth is however, that God is my defender!
Proverb 6 states
14 who plots evil with deceit in his heart—
he always stirs up dissension.

15 Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant;
he will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy.

16 There are six things the LORD hates,
seven that are detestable to him:

17 haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,

18 a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,

19 a false witness who pours out lies
and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.

If God HATES the harm done to people, HE hates the slander and lies and dissention, then He will surely judge fairly. Although I may suffer for a time, God being soveriegn will not excuse such behavior. Like a good loving parent he ensures that consequences take place to discipline individuals in hopes that they will come to repentance.

Its enticing to take things into our own hands, but the botten line is that I will stand in integrity, continue to do my best, and I will honor other and treat them as I would like to be treated. God will honor me for this.

I do not say this naively. I was once severly victimized, and fled for my life with my children. I know the pain people can inflict. I know all too well what it is to suffer.

I have learned more importantly that the reward of suffering is LEARNING to forgive. Learning to take the pain you’ve suffered and invest that understanding into the lives of many others who are also suffering. I have learned that no matter how painful hurt is…. God always heals, and if you are faithful in honoring him, he will restore you, heal you and give you joy that is greater than the pain ever was.

Kirsten E.

By: Invisible Refugee

Invisible Refugee — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 00:21:57 +0000

Bullied Anonymous -

It didn’t follow you there? That’s lucky. I think people who live in small towns have a harder time shaking it off — the gossiping back from the bar thing works best in small towns. Hopefully you won’t experience it again. If you do, you might find yourself moving a lot. Bullies have a way of destroying references too. It’s amazing that a person can go from a most respected member of the community to the most despised practically overnight & all it takes is one liar to get it all started. Because I have experienced this slander more than one at different points in life & the last time it happened it literally ruined the rest of my life pretty bad, I now own several hidden cameras with microphones. My cameras are small enough to hide in buttonholes and can record and send footage 300 feet to my computer. I can put the computer on in a locker, in my backpack, in a car outside or wherever, and still be recording live onto the internet. I love technology! The horrible experiences I had last time will not happen ever again — I am making sure of it ;)

By: Bullied Anonymous

Bullied Anonymous — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 23:31:27 +0000

Invisible Refugee is right. A co-worker slandered me. I just kept quiet until it became worse. When I finally talked to the manager or HR they just called me paranoid and the manager even mentioned that maybe I am just hearing things.
So I just asked to be transferred to another project. My company was Accenture, btw.

By: Invisible Refugee

Invisible Refugee — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 00:20:58 +0000

I was going to suggest a cool website I discovered: http://www.overcomebullying.org

But the advice here & even the cool website don’t help anything. You see, this is how it goes: When you confront the coworker by letting them know you heard what was said (in as cool a way as possible) they make you out to be “paranoid” and “insane”. They then gossip that around, so that if you even TRY to go to HR, even HR calls you “paranoid” or “having a problem” – as in “troubled”, or “mentally insufficient in the insight department”… catch my drift? the best option would probably be to start inviting your coworkers out to the bar, or join them when they go, and sit there over some beers and talk about life – but MAKE SURE to slander the one(s)that have started slander against you. I once tried this, and I have to say it was the most effective thing I ever did in fighting this kind of thing, which comes up wherever you go in life. You just have to be an asshole, because it’s an asshole’s world.