“Are You Over It Yet?”

Theresa

While working for Mike Rinder in a secretarial capacity, I found him to be routinely abusive to those he worked with. The abuse came in many forms, both verbal and physical, regardless of whether you were a woman or man.

One of the first instances of this I experienced myself was when I was new in working for him. I had some work to do that was not directly related to his needs. I did this during my lunch break so as not to take too much time away from what he routinely requested from me. When I returned to my office, he was furious and was yelling madly, incessantly, about how I hadn’t informed him where I was.

He pounded the desk with his fist so hard the computer blew up. But that wasn’t enough. He then grabbed the telephone from one of the desks and threw it across the room. Both the telephone and computer had to be replaced.

It was completely shocking and terrified me. I had just gone down the hall to take care of another matter during my own meal break, and as I returned, he suddenly had this psychotic outbreak. I was stunned.

However, I shook it off as best I could and went on with my business for the day, at my desk a few feet away from his.

At about dinner time he asked, “Are you over it yet?” and I said, “No.”

Mike never apologized.

But Mike Rinder’s bullying was not limited to one isolated instance. As another example, one morning after I had come into the office, Mike charged at me from one end of the room. He was yelling and outraged at something. He brought his fist up and swung it up at me, about an inch away from my face. Luckily, there was another male behind him that physically stopped him, pulling him away. He was in a mad rage.

And that was Mike Rinder.