Wednesday, May 20, 2026
One thing about the group chat, somebody always has a story.
One of my girlfriends and I go all the way back to college roommates. The kind of friendship where decades later you still laugh about the same ridiculous memories. Oatmeal creme pies stacked in the dorm room because campus meal plans basically starved us between lunch and dinner. Me playing Mariah Carey’s Butterfly album on repeat like I was going through a personal life crisis at nineteen. Somehow, almost thirty years later, we’re still laughing, still venting, and still helping each other survive adulthood.
Recently she told me about her new job and honestly… the energy was off from the beginning.
She had finally escaped one toxic boss only to land in an office where the dysfunction felt built into the culture itself. Her old boss was the kind of person who seemed to wake up looking for something wrong from overnight just to throw your energy off before the day even started. “Satan, not today,” type energy.
But the new office? Different kind of chaos.
Everybody talking about everybody. Gossip. Manipulation. Sexual relationship dynamics spilling into professional spaces. I mean literally. Backrooms. Closets. Corners. Meanwhile, all she wanted to do was work her eight hours and go home in peace.
Then she offered to help one of her coworkers and her boss told her not to be so willing to help people because they wouldn’t do the same for her.
I’m sorry… what?
Since when did teamwork become a weakness? And your boss is the one promoting “self service”.
The whole thing reminded me of showing up to a wedding in jeans and a white t-shirt. Technically, there’s nothing wrong with the outfit itself. It’s actually a classic combination. But for that particular environment? Completely wrong energy.
And once the energy is wrong, even off, everybody feels it.
That’s the thing people underestimate about workplace culture. One unhealthy person or toxic environment can spread like cancer. Which is why my advice to her was simple: protect your peace, document everything, and if the company doesn’t deal with the root cause, start quietly building your exit strategy.
Because some workplaces don’t deserve your energy and protecting your peace is worth more than anything they can offer.
To be continued…
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