How do you know when enough is enough in the workplace? Everyone has a breaking point and only you really know what you can handle. My experience with my last work situation became too much to handle when I had become the one frozen out of the circle.

I finally had found a job where I enjoyed the work. For me, that's one of the most important factors in a job. You need to love the actual work. And I did. Unfortunately, the people around me weren't as wonderful as the work.

The first person I worked with was a joy. We got along really well, our personalities meshed and we were on the same wavelength, personally, and work-wise. After she left, the job was never quite the same.

The person who took over for her was a basket case. She was overwhelmed and tended to get mean and ugly when she didn't or couldn't understand what she was supposed to do. Her anger would inevitably turn to me, the person who knew what to do. Work, which had always been fun before, turned into the last place on earth I wanted to be.

I put up with it for a year and after that long and tedious year, I was asked to take over as the lead person. I was happy but a bit unsure, the little voice in my head kept saying, "Don't do it. You'll be sorry!".

The immediate manager could be very difficult. She was one of those people who assumed she was the best at everything, her expectations were very high and her on-again-off-again personality combined with these expectations, made dealing with her quite difficult, and sometimes, downright explosive.

I had watched her freeze out two other people through the year. Both ended up leaving. One got transferred and the other quit. She not only micro-managed but she also used intimidation to get people to do what she wanted. I think this is the worst type of manager. And not only was she an icy cold sort of human but she brought her best friend and her roommate into the workplace.

This lead to all kinds of odd situations. It was a little bit like re-living high school. Remember when you had a pack of so-called friends but never trusted any of them and knew that the minute you left the room, they'd be talking about you? Imagine re-living that. It wasn't pretty.

I knew, sooner or later, I'd be on the outside and she'd go for the jugular. I just didn't expect it to happen as quickly as it did. Two months after I took the "lead", it came to a head during a very busy time of year for our work. The immediate manager

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