Dr. John Clarke, an expert in the criminal mind, discovered that psychopaths are not only people you'd find in prisons or in the courtroom. They are lurking and scheming in workplaces world-wide. They lie, cheat, steal, and they manipulate, victimize, and destroy co-workers.
The problem for their victims is they are very good talkers and appear to be charming and intelligent. Their ruthlessness is mistaken as ambition and a drive to succeed. In a way it is. They will do anything to get what they want--power, salary, status.
According to Dr. Clarke, the workplace psychopath thinks the same as the criminal psychopath. The difference is criminal psychopaths physically destroy their victims; whereas, workplace psychopaths psychologically destroy their victims. I would add that the health of workplace victims is often seriously compromised for the long-term due to intense and prolonged stress. Indeed, workplace victims often feel their lives are destroyed.
Clarke says there are two weapons you can use: education and teamwork. Education helps you recognize what is happening and empowers you to stop the self-blame. Teamwork keeps you from becoming isolated.
Build a personal team advises Clarke and tell people what is taking place, because "if a psychopath can't isolate you, he can't destroy you."
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I may be dealing with a "psychopath" at Gateway Computer Co. I purchased a new computer the end of December, 2007 (Model #FX530XG) and have had continual problems with hardware and with Windows VISTA. I have reinstalled the operating system 4 times, following a complete "crash" of the system. There are no technicians at the company who have correctly diagnosed or repaired the problems, yet they have indicated I have "hardware problems". When the issue was escalated to a Senior Case Management Engineer, Mr. Thomas Bakker, he could not solve the problems either. He refuses to replace the computer and has been extremely combative to deal with. He dominates any conversation with verbal abuse talking "over" any responses I have. In fact, he has threatened me and said I was to pack up the computer, ship it back immediately and in his words "you can figure out what to do about getting another computer." Mr. Bakker seemed to pride himself on gaining "the upper hand".
The behavior by this Senior Technical Engineer should not be tolerated by ANY company, yet, when I brought it to the attention of a manager in customer service at Gateway, he did not respond.
If Gateway’s customer service policy fully supports the approach taken by Mr. Thomas Bakker to service my computer problems, I can assure you that the Company will soon be out of business!
Robert D. Hare and Paul Babiak have written a book entitled "Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work" which deals exactly with the issue of psychopathy in the work place.
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