I was a paralegal working in a law firm.

Here are some examples:
1. A co-worker asked me if I liked to sleep around. I tried to dodge the question and get back to work but she was insistent. Fearing that she was hitting on me, I replied "no, I don't sleep around" thinking what's the harm? Her reply was to say that she believed in free love and that my thoughts were now harassing her. Management bought her story and asked me to move my desk. This co-worker had been harassing me for months beforehand and I had managed to ignore / tolerate it before that. At one point she insulted me daily. (She was the receptionist and most likely the girlfriend of the lesbian senior partner.) When I complained about her daily insults to management, they said I had to understand that she had emotional problems for which she had to take numerous medications daily. They did not reprimand her. Management seemed afraid to reprimand her.

2. One day at my last permanent job, my manager came up to my desk and asked "so you're leaving?" I did not know what she was talking about and did not answer. Apparently, they had decided to downgrade my job description. Later, she yelled at me that my job was not doable. I refused to resign and was treated as insubordinate for months for not resigning. Finally, one day she threw a tantrum about a missing letter. I knew it was not on my desk. Finally, I asked her - don't you have it? Didn't I give it to you a few weeks ago? It's on your desk - I'm sure. She went ballistic and I became panicked. To end the tirade, I got up and went to her office, looked on her desk, saw the letter and brought it to her. I complained that she had been harassing me for months. I was fired even though my manager and her bosses had a reputation for harassment.

3. I had a temp secretary job and a new female temp was repeatedly rude. Finally, I said "don't talk to me like that." She was inept at everything but office politics. She would start arguments and blame me. Unfortunately - again - my boss was a woman who asked me to explain my behavior after the other temp complained daily. I replied that I had in fact been nice to her and helped her but that she was a shark trying to make me look bad as she considered me competition for a possible full-time job. The other temp - as many of my female bosses - had no compassion for anyone but other women. I was given the harshest of treatment while the women could get away on their charm even though the quality of my work was far superior.

This is a repeated pattern that I have experienced for over 20 years. I am not a stone. Eventually, I will break under such abusive treatment. Sadly, it seems that people enjoy doing this to me, as if I am less than human. I suspect that since I am gay there is also anti-gay prejudice involved. I am at my wits end. I just want a job where I can work hard, collect a paycheck and go home.