4/17/2008

Praised and Damned

Hello,
It's been an odd sort of day. This morning I was being brought gifts by clients and hailed as the 'Queen of Scotland' by one particularly excitable fellow -mind you after what happened to the last one I'm not sure that was as complimentary as it first seemed. The only sad note of the morning was it being the last shift worked by my glamorous, clever, reliable and bloody fantastic assistant. Actually it's an insult to refer to her as that she was the nearest I've had to a mentor and role model in my working life.

Before anyone says it I didn't drive her out a job. In fact it was her personal loyalty and kindness to me that did for her. When I had all that awful bother with my health she refused to participate in the bullying campaign my boss orchestrated when even people who like me did out of cowardice half heartedly stuck the boot in. In fact she is the only person in my career who has ever stuck their own neck on the line purely to defend my interests. To put this in context one can have a very good life in my office if you sneak in with the boss. In return for your loyalty you can get work for any tradesmen you happen to be married/living with or related to. Not only that but there are the extra holidays, 'extra' expenses and use of the taxi account. Still my heroic assistant turned her nose up at all that and paid the price by having her work excessively, unreasonably and unfairly monitored, by being unfairly selected for redundancy and sent to coventry on and off for the last few years. So accustomed was our esteemed boss to finding fault with her she got a tongue lashing for handing in her notice.

I must confess there was a tear or two when she left today and a fair bit of repressed rage on my part when she left. So when the assistant manager had a go at me in a most aggressive and confrontational manner for leaving at five and not doing any unpaid overtime last week she got it one barrel- both barrels involves complete honesty. I had no idea I was so ferocious. When I paused for breath she announced she was going to fetch her boss to speak to me. When I started laughing she started shaking and ran out the room, then came back alone still shaking. I merely continued where I left off and tears sprang to her eyes and she said she had nothing further to say and released me from the office. At one point she unfairly accused me of showing her disrespect which I have made every reasonable human effort to conceal. The cheek of her -if I was completely honest about what I thought of her she'd kill herself. She has a backbone like her belly -useless and flabby and the management skills of a dung beetle. No wonder her ex tried to strangle her. His only crime was amateurishness. Why couldn't she have married the Yorkshire Ripper instead?

Mind you I'll be in for it when her boss decides to collar me. As she didn't capture me today I presume she's picking her moment. I really wish they'd just sack me, they know they want to.

Cheerio

7 comments:

iLL Man said...

Clairwil, I only wish I had been there to see it.........

Just a pity the boss wasn't there to get 'the other barrel'

How's the job hunting going anyway...... Hope you get out of there soon, they sound like a bunch of risible cunts and no mistake.....

Clairwil said...

If you'd been there you'd have hidden under a chair! I think I may have come across as slightly more annoyed than I was. It was when she complained that I didn't tell them why I needed to be away on time that I saw red. These mentalists actually think they own me.

Job hunting is plodding along, there isn't much suitable on offer but I've been whoring my cv about. I'm not too fussed (within reason) what job I end up with as it's only a stop gap until I get my business started.

I cannot wait to tell that virus where to shove her job.

Anonymous said...

It might not have been the wisest course of action to post this. I may be jumping the gun, but and this may seem rather galling to you; you could be accused of bullying/harassment by this cunt of a manager.

Its sounds worse than my old place, I only had to deal with one twat not an office full of them.

iLL Man said...

David, a well deserved 'Clairwil Hairdryer' isn't bullying, but you can bet yr life there are people who will use such an instance as an excuse to 'play the victim'.

The insidious, sneaky, cowardly bullshit used by management to demoralise and undermine people they don't like on the other hand is a prime example of workplace bullying, but it tends to go unchecked.

I think it's the cumulative nature of such bullying, there is no one instance of punnishable behaviour, rather a series of seemingly petty and minor gripes that appear slightly absurd in the cold light of day.

I've been there myself, sort of..... i.e., not at work.

Anonymous said...

My point entirely.

That manager has probably got her sob story in order as we speak.

Clairwil said...

David,
It's a fair point and famous last words -I think my identity is safe enough. Such is my paranoia I have never emailed my work from my home pc and go to internet cafe to do so. I've also got a different email address without the 'clairwil' in it to use for work purposes.

And yes she has indeed to got her sob story in order -so alarmed is her boss by my behaviour she's going to speak to me again next week as she's concerned I may getting depressed again -which I most certainly am not despite their best efforts.

Their solution to the situation has been to make me share an office with the assistant manager because she only wants to be my friend and seems to think we'll get on better if kept in a confined space together.

You don't have to be a genius to work out that they want to get me so angry I attack her giving them an excuse to sack me. Normally I'm fine with controlling my temper but she got me at a pretty horrible moment.

I've applied for a further five jobs since it happened and sent out another dozen cvs. Keep everything crossed.

Clairwil said...

Anon,
Thank-you for your kind offer but to be honest I'm rather bored of tits at the moment. I've got two of my own at home. If you've got a bit of remarkable dick going I might take a look at that but otherwise you really are wasting your time.