It’s been a few years since finishing my postdoc, and I’m curious whether others have dealt with something similar from senior PIs or staff scientists.
The environment was toxic and hierarchical. Feedback was given passive aggressively rather than through direct conversation, and conflict was rarely addressed with the kind of mutual respect you’d expect between colleagues. There was persistent youth-directed condescension — being called a kid, being dismissed, shooed, blamed for other people’s mistakes, etc. Despite consistently demonstrating competence and pulling weight around the lab, that effort wasn’t reciprocated in how people talked to or treated each other.
The PI said I needed to adapt to difficult personalities and display more resilience 🤣🤣