Today we went to lunch in a somewhat-fancy restaurant for someone else in the office who is retiring tomorrow. I had one embarrassing moment when I was gesticulating during a story I was telling, and plunged nearly my entire hand into the giant vat of ketchup on my plate. I lifted it out, just covered in goo, and made a quick comment about "humiliating social situations" while frantically wiping it away with my fancy napkin and trying to continue my story with some dignity. The two men I was talking to had the grace to look non-plussed.
The retiring guy - I've mentioned him before, I think - is Ted. Ted is kind of like the class clown, and he talks NON. STOP. Normally, that would make me bat shit crazy, but I just adore this guy. He's an older, professional person with great skills, but he's also a total goofball who talks to himself just as often as he's talking to you. I am endlessly forgiving of his ways because he's such a needed counter-measure to the Evil Office Manager Woman (EOMW), who has only gotten worse. His light-heartedness is so welcome after experiencing EOMW's unnecessary intensity.
In other good news, the guy replacing him, "Rex," also, thankfully, appears to be a great guy. He has a kick-ass sense of humor that is attuned to my own dry, smart-ass remarks. Also, he has gobs of labor relations experience, so part of his new job is to fix the tension in the office caused between EOMW and everyone else (including the departing Ted, who every now and then launches into a surprisingly scathing rant about her). It's too bad I won't be around long enough to see what Rex does with the place and if he is successful. So far, it's just a lot of one-on-one meetings.
Well, with the exception being last Friday. Another co-worker here, is Mr. Nice Guy. Mr. Nice Guy is just that, a sweet
, harmless guy. I'm not trying to emasculate him in any way, since he's also very much a guy's guy, just that he's non-confrontational and has a desk way back in the corner where he sits all day, quietly and diligently doing his work. I adore him. EOMW does not. She thinks he's incompetent and wants him gone. The problem is that his job is one thing, but when she has him do something totally different and outside his job description, and he makes a mistake, she immediately brands him as a tool, which is really unfair. Last week, she got pissed at him and sent him one of her trademark nasty emails which she proceeded to cc to all the supervisors. This tactic is something I absolutely CANNOT STAND. You do something wrong, and someone else decides to broadcast it to anyone above your pay grade. It happened to me once from someone in another office after I was doing something NICE for her and her co-worker (but apparently "VERY INAPPROPRIATE!!!"). To me, it's the equivalent of a tattle tale, but much worse, since we're all adults now and the tinge of maliciousness just makes this behavior all the more disgusting.Anyway, Mr. Nice Guy decided to fight back in his own way, and then did a "reply all' and basically told the truth about the situation (he couldn't do B because she had repeatedly refused to give him A). EOMW did not like being called out, despite her own behavior.
The next day, right after we all arrived in the morning, EOMW marched (yes, marched), into my boss' office and closed the door. This is never good. Anytime EOMW goes into one of our boss' office and closes the door, that means she's talking a whole bunch of shit about one of us. Several minutes pass, the door opens, then EOMW marches out with my boss and heads STRAIGHT for Mr. Nice Guy. EOMW had went and "told" on him regarding something that was "left out." Let's keep in mind that EOMW and Mr. Nice Guy's desk are RIGHT next to each other, and these things had been "left out" for about 4-6 weeks. All the while, I had repeatedly heard Mr. Nice Guy ask the supervisors if he could get rid of the stuff and get it out of here, and he was repeatedly told to wait. But EOMW had gone to my boss (a different supervisor) and now Mr. Nice Guy was getting his ass chewed out (well, as much as my boss chews anyone's ass out). Mr. Nice Guy tried to explain the situation, that yes, he was on top of it and had consistently tried to take care of it all. But EOMW didn't believe him, and kept at it.
I sat here at my desk and felt like my bloodstream was just being flooded with red hot anger. This was just retaliation, pure and simple. Mr. Nice Guy had embarrassed her, and now she was trying to get him on anything she could. I couldn't believe how pissed I was, I was even finding my b
reathing kind of raspy and difficult. Immediately, Mr. Nice Guy emailed Rex and asked for a meeting, which was granted just later that day, and I was asked to come. In the meeting, trying to control my voice, I told how I was just so sick of this and how awful I felt for Mr. Nice Guy. Rex did his thing (lots of talking and reassurances), and Mr. Nice Guy felt much better. I felt only a little better, just because Mr. Nice Guy did. There is a part of me that really wants a confrontation with this woman, and if I had stayed, it would have surely come up at some point, but with my leaving, there's no use burning bridges now. It's just a shame that my own boss, who is smart as a whip seems so snowballed by EOMW, despite EOMW's fawning over my boss at all times.Anyway, garbage in garbage out. Beau and I will be moving on soon, and I am beginning to realize that nowadays, every job has at least one crazy co-worker. Hopefully, it one that you can stand (a la Crazy Carla or Ted), rather than one you want to stab (a la EOMW).
