“I felt like I was in a combat zone,” Phyllis said. “I knew the moment I walked on that property, they had already made plans to make my day a living, whatever you call it, that day.”

In my last post, How to Support Coworkers When Tragedy Strikes, I saw an unexpected but somewhat common thread in readers’ comments.People had experienced tragedies and returned to work environments that were –- for lack of a better word –- hostile.

We now know that whether it is online, in the hallway at school or even at the office, bullies are everywhere.

But many are afraid to admit another dirty little secret: Bullying is just as big a problem for the adults in the workplace.

Kathie Gant knew the relationship with her new boss was bad, but she didn’t know how bad until the woman, a Maryland attorney, hurled a bundle of pencils at Gant, her administrative assistant. “You just don’t sharpen my pencils for me!” the boss raged, punctuating each word with exaggerated enunciation and the zing of a pencil across the office toward Gant.

The study of more than 1700 workers found a clear link between people being exposed to bullying and poor perceptions of their work environment.

LONDON: Boredom and amusement are behind many incidents of cyberbullying and trolling on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, a new first-of-its-kind study has found.