I failed to integrate into the team. I found them all too old and dull to hang out with after work and did my own thing. I started to go to the gym and since I stayed in Milwaukee over the weekends, I got a nice bunch of friends who I obviously preferred to spend time with rather than that project team.
It was a fatal mistake. One day, Chad, the project auditor, arrived and did an audit. I told him the truth what was going on. In those early years I thought I were able to change something and turn the project to the better. In the project team nobody listened to me and my concerns. I was then already too far away from them. Plus I was the only foreigner who was also the youngest one. I manoevered myself into that corner.
That bully colleague from North Carolina called me all sorts of names and blackmailed me. My company did not give me a proper work visa for the US but urged me to enter the country with a "business trip" visa waiver form. So yes, I was an easy target for blackmail. The project managers sat in my management workshops and openly during the training called me a liar and unable to train.
So yes, things went extremely bad. I cannot even tell anyone how hurt I was and how terrible I felt. Now, in the aftermath, I know I learned from this experience. Such a situation would never ever happen to me again. And from a learning perspective I am actually glad it happened. I flew back to Europe and left that company. I moved to Berlin for a few months and re-orientated myself.
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