I recently spent a year at company I loved, but it was a position I loathed. I have 15 years of experience in my field and seriously have never experienced a "manager" such as this one. She never told me what she wanted or how she wanted things done: if I asked, it meant I was inept because "someone with my experience should already know". If I was proactive, I was stepping on her toes. As well, I was not allowed to sequentially approach projects and focus on them to my satisfaction. I feel I was set up to fail from day 1, but I did not want to give up, as it was such a great company.

I was the second person in that chair in a year and half and I know she has had personality-related run-ins with almost everyone (she demands respect, dammit!). Since she is big on running to HR for EVERYTHING (she is pals with the HR Director), I kept my stress and unhappiness to myself and did everything in my power to try to turn the situation around. I did not go to HR, but did speak to her boss who basically told me "I know where you are coming from, but you gotta buck up, as we are stuck with her". Also, she gave me a HORRID (and unfair) 6-month review to which I offered to leave if she was that unhappy with me; she declined.

At the end of May, I cracked and told her that I didn't feel I was the right person for the position - of course she didn't know how unhappy I was (just she and I in the deparment) and offered to treat and speak to me with more respect. I agreed, and did not continue to stress that I wanted to leave then and there. My plan was to stick around for a few more weeks to see a project through to completion and then give notice; I didn't want to leave the company "in the lurch."

Sure enough, 2 weeks later, she called me into HR and had me terminated (the company allowed me to collect unemployment, thank gosh).

Now I do not know what the heck to say about why I left - do I have to tell prospective employers that in effect, I was fired? I had a phone interview today and I simply said that it was mutually agreed upon that I would leave as the position was not a good fit. Nevertheless, this woman kept pushing and pushing for more specifics.

I need some advice here, you guys. Did I leave? Was I canned? Both? HELP! THANKS!