Last February I started a job with a new company. The owner was someone who was a contact at my previous job and I also had consulted on some projects for him.

A lot of promises were made in terms of raises/bonuses as we signed on more member companies as well as having creative control over my work. None have been fulfilled. He weasled out of a promised bonus and I haven't gotten a raise even though we have gone from 2 members to 5 and my responsibilities have gone up. He pays me my meager salary later and later in the month. He is a micromanager and takes no advice from me or the other member of the editorial team.

It is chaos; there is no planning,. He decides we should do things on a whim, asks people to research things and then forgets about them. Of the 8 people that started last year, he has fired 3 people and another has quit.

Now he wants me to get involved in an additional project. He vaguely mentioned he might need my assistance with something, but we never agreed on any terms or details. Now he promises extra pay to participate, but after so many unfulfilled promises, I don't trust him. On attending a meeting about the project details, I realized it would be very time consuming and it also sounds unethical (think borderline industrial spying). So, I decided to say I won't do it.

He never takes this type of news well in person (anger management issues), so I e-mailed him about it and left the WhatsApp group that he set up for project. Obviously, he is mad and said I promised to do this (not true) and he doesn't understand what I am doing. He wants to meet me to discuss, but I am sure he is going to make a scene if I do. Every time someone tries to set a boundary with him, that is what he does.

I am thinking he is going to either fire me outright or give me an ultimatum to do that project as part of my continued employment. If the second option happens I will quit. It's probably a sinking ship anyways. Team meetings have a toxic atmosphere, and he is oblivious to it. It's sad, though. I started with a good attitutde and wanting to contribute, but I can only take so many lies and being taken advantage of.

The worst thing is that I was unemployed/underemployed for quite a while before getting this job. I was laid off and ended up working freelance sporadicaly while job searching, until this opportunity came up. I am an expat, but I speak the language fluently along with English and a 3rd language. I have a graduate degree, good work experience, and initially found my other job quite quickly. However, once I was laid off from there, it took a while to even find this, which is no prize. I am really worried about what I will do now as far as work.

I have had some panic attacks in the last few days when dealing with anything work-related. My health insurance is not the greatest, and faced with the possibility of no income, I can't afford a psychiatrist/therapist right now. I am really feeling hopeless right now. Thanks for listening.