Checking in - Narc at work

Hi! I'm so sad to see that the forum has kind of died down. This place was a life-saver for me years ago when I had and relatively short but nevertheless painful encounter with the narc.

I was self-employed for over 10 years and decided to enter the world of employment 5 months ago. I am happy / sad to report that it was very short-lived as a few days into my employment, I found out the CEO of the company was a narc and he was the one I ended up having to ultimately report to. The first time he was inappropriate (i.e. behaved abusively in narc-like fashion), I made it very clear to his partners that they better get him off my back and find someone else to communicate with me when necessary, rather than direct contact between the two of us, or I was going to leave. Thankfully, the company was relatively small and I had some leverage. The communication ceased but there was some covert abuse here and there. I stuck it out while looking for other job options and finally 2 weeks ago, he contacts me and that was my breaking point. He got my 15 day notice and I was out of there last Thursday. Apparently, everyone in the company is afraid of him and no one stood up for me. I was harrassed for 15 days but I am glad to be out. It is funny (well, sad really) because his partners are mental health professionals and they know EXACTLY what he is. They say he is "tone deaf" when it comes to understanding "other people's feelings" and he "doesn't have empathy". It is like ok -- we are all professionals here -- can we just come out and just call a duck a duck rather than beating around the bush? LOL!

In my not-so-small world that I work in, I had an opportunity to work briefly with the ex-N's ex-GF. She saw my boss for who he was immediately and told me to run, haha. She recently texted me about a job opportunity and she still keeps in touch with the narc (very odd relationship there) and I told her to tell him "thanks for the lesson" because really, as painful as it was, it was a very valuable lesson for me -- to learn about myself, to change myself, and to never put up with that bs again. I understand that he is a lost cause that I can only change my situation by changing my actions.

So, to all of you that are struggling, do the work. They are troubled people, for sure. But we are troubled in other ways and we need to change that if we want a different and better outcome for ourselves. Wishing you all the best and sending strength and love! xoxoxo