Trapped under a toxic, unchecked SVP at Citibank. The goalposts keep moving and I can't escape.
I just need to vent because I feel completely paralyzed right now. I work at Citibank, and the culture here is an absolute nightmare. The entire hierarchy is rigidly top-down, designed to squeeze every drop out of the little guy, and it’s all driven by a Senior Vice President who runs our division like they are an untouchable king.
This SVP is incredibly powerful, operates with absolutely zero checks and balances, and is completely manipulated by the VPs in their inner circle. If you aren't one of their favorites, you get nothing. I have stepped up constantly. Whenever a newcomer joins or the team is running dangerously thin, I’m the one picking up the slack and keeping things afloat. Yet, somehow, my output is never "good enough" to warrant a promotion or a raise.
Whenever I try to advocate for myself and ask about career growth, the goalposts immediately shift. They dangle advancement like a carrot, saying things like, "Just take on these extra projects and deliver on this massive new workload, and then maybe we’ll allow ourselves to start thinking about it." It is just a manipulation tactic to extract free labor.
The scariest part is how completely trapped I am. Changing teams internally is notoriously difficult, but I thought I had finally found a lifeline. I recently interviewed for a role on another team, and the hiring manager literally confirmed I had the job in the morning. By the afternoon? That exact same manager completely backpedaled and denied the move. It’s terrifyingly obvious that my current leadership stepped in to block it.
I want to walk away and tell them all to go to hell, but the reality is just too scary right now. The job market is absolutely brutal, and at the end of the day, I need this money to survive. It is a suffocating feeling, knowing you are at the mercy of a corporate dictator who faces no consequences, simply because you can't afford to lose your paycheck.
Has anyone else survived a tyrant SVP like this? How do you protect your sanity when you literally cannot afford to quit?