How should I answer the interview question "Why did you leave your last job?" when a large part of the reason is due having an emotionally abusive boss

Hello all!

I recently left a role in sales with the desire of moving into an operations/ servicing position in my industry. I did not like the monthly quota requirements of the sales role, and the fact that you could have a great relationship with a client, but then their boss's boss decided to take their business elsewhere. It was draining.

However, that's only a partial reason why I left my job. A huge part of the reason was due to the fact my immediate boss was a bully, and frankly a crap manager. I had no formal sales role training, and everything I learned on the job was similar to "trial by fire". One moment my boss would be my best friend, and want to discuss everything going on in my life, and the next he would berate me in front of all the other managers during a property wide staff meeting. He would slam my office door when leaving. He would cuss, and yell. When I came to him for help, he treated it like a severe inconvenience. However, when I screwed up on something that I attempted to ask for help on, he would make sure that any negative feedback was always given in front of an audience. One week I would be told that I am the best person on the team, the next week I would be told that my performance has been shit for the last 6 months. This took a toll on my mental state, and my depression hit an all time high. So finally, I said, enough is enough, and decided the job was not worth it.

Now here's the thing. I was not the only person who suffered from this treatment. My colleagues under him all went through it. The same "do as I say, not as I do" attitude. The things he would yell at us for if we messed up, he would try to brush under the rug if he did them. We had long talks with his superior about his behavior, and everyone brushed it under the rug. There were promises made that it would change. Another one of my colleagues said (after learning of my notice) "My ex husband was emotionally abusive, and the way your boss treats you is the exact reason I got a divorce." In fact, when I left, my boss's boss told me "We failed you, and I've been making excuses for him, but I honestly thought he would change." I had an ex coworker call me crying last night due to his behavior, so I know I made the right decision for my mental state.

I have been unemployed for about a week, and have some upcoming job interviews. While I have references that truly would verify my story, I do not want to come across as the whiny millennial who is emotional, and can't handle criticism. As I am brainstorming interview questions, I know one of the first ones that comes up is "Why did you leave your last job?" My family thinks it is a bad idea to just say I wanted to be in a different type of role. They say that it will make people question whether or not I am a reliable candidate. I stuck out that role for a year to prove to myself that I could do it, but I truly did not enjoy what I was doing. It wasn't like I flaked out after 2,4,6 months. (Trust me, there were many times I wanted to). Currently, I have no intentions of bringing up the situation with my boss. So my question is how should I go about answering the "Why did I leave?'" question.

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Also, I apologize for the word vomit, but damn it feels good to kinda just put it all out there.

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