As a victim of workplace bullying, I take the allegations against Sen. Klobuchar extremely seriously.

We hear a lot about sexual harassment in this era of #metoo, but we rarely hear about workplace bullying, which can be just as serious and damaging to the victims. Just like victims of sexual harassment, victims of workplace bullying also feel shame and fear and can suffer from psychological trauma for many years after leaving the job. They are often afraid to speak out because they fear no one will believe them and they risk ruining their jobs or careers.

As a woman who has experienced both sexual harassment and bullying on the job, the bullying was far more traumatizing, leaving me with PTSD for years. If you’ve seen the movie The Devil Wears Prada, Meryl Streep’s character was basically my boss.

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Workplace Abuse Happens Behind Closed Doors

The behavior Klobuchar’s former staff reported sounds eerily similar to my old boss, which is why I’m inclined to believe the stories are true. At least eight staffers have spoken out and the high turnover rate in her office appears to support their claims. Klobuchar has not even denied any of the claims, and has trivialized the allegations by claiming that she’s a “tough boss.”

The Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde personality seems to be common with workplace bullies. They don’t always expose their ugly, cruel side to everyone, and often target select individuals, which is why I believe there are people who truly had a positive experience working for the senator. Most workplace bullies are smart enough to put on a good public face, they make friends with the boss and other important people in the office and in the community.

In my case, my boss befriended the head of HR as well as the big boss, so I obviously didn’t feel comfortable reporting her behavior. My boss also acted like the sweetest, most thoughtful person around others. She would bake a casserole for someone in the office who was having trouble at home or bring in a movie that another coworker would enjoy. I knew no one would believe this woman was a horrible jerk, aside from a handful of colleagues who had experienced her shocking behavior firsthand. This is the same kind of thing that happens with sexual harassment victims as their harassers are often the fun, popular ones so they’re afraid to speak out.

There is a clear difference between ‘tough boss’ and abusive bully

It took years for me to recover from the workplace abuse, but reading about Klobuchar’s alleged behavior has brought these emotions back up. It is especially difficult to hear people defending her, saying the people working for her must be oversensitive, entitled or lazy Millennials. In other words, they deserved it. This is no different than saying a victim of sexual harassment deserved it because of the way she was dressed. You’re not entitled to treat people like garbage for any reason, even if you think their job performance is poor.

There is a clear difference between being a difficult, demanding or even a bad boss and being an abusive bully. The stories about Klobuchar clearly cross that line. If they are true, there is no acceptable defense for this kind of behavior, period. The examples are so specific and numerous I don’t understand how anyone could defend behavior like throwing objects across the room (sometimes injuring others), publicly humiliating those who made mistakes, and having staff go to her home to clean her dirty dishes. The fact that she was so vindictive to try to get job offers rescinded when employees left her office shows what kind of character we’re dealing with. What kind of person does that? If you are defending her, you are part of the problem.

Democrats shouldn’t protect and enable bullies

I also see people excusing her behavior saying Trump is worse so she can do whatever she wants. This has nothing to do with Trump. As Democrats we need to aim higher, not replace one bully with another that happens to have a D next to her name.

Other Klobuchar defenders are trying to hide behind sexism, which I find shameful as a woman. This behavior is inappropriate in any boss, and if a man like Biden, Booker or Sanders had done these things we would rightly call them out as well. If Klobuchar was a man accused of sexual harassment, her campaign would already be over with. It’s time to have a zero-tolerance policy toward bullying as well.

How can you be expected to lead this country and look out for American workers when you disrespect and mistreat your own employees?

If the allegations against Sen. Klobuchar are true, she not only isn’t fit to be president, but she also isn’t fit to serve in the senate. She isn’t even qualified to manage a McDonalds. She should immediately resign and seek therapy to work out her issues.