Sweet, Dark and Crazy

Monday, September 14, 2009

Laughing at a Funeral and other Inappropriate Responses

I have avoided doing a lot of posts about my job, because, well, I hate it. Or, should I say hated it. I had been with my old company for about two years and really liked it, but they had started downsizing and with people all around me losing their jobs, I knew my time was coming. So, I started looking for another job. I found one I would have been perfect for but another person got it. Then, the same company came back to me a few days later and offered me another position. My gut told me not to take it but I was scared of ending up out of work and with this economy, I wasn’t sure when the next job offer would come along. So I took it.

Big mistake. The past 5 months have been hell. I hated what I was doing and for reasons I'll never know or care to know, my manager hated me. She was so rude to me that it was comical.

So, fast forward to about a week ago. Long story short, I fucked up on an assignment she’d given me. I took responsibility for it. Apologized. Promised to do better. Blah, blah, blah. However, I knew it wasn’t over.

Friday morning, she calls me into her office and closes the door. The supervisor of my department is there too and she’s not making eye contact – never a good sign. Since one of my best 'work friends' is in HR, I know how these meetings go, so I had a feeling of what was coming next.

I must have had that look on my face, so my manager says, happily, “What’s wrong? You look like something’s wrong?”

I said, "I 'm just a little nervous." I wanted to say, "No Bitch. Nothing's wrong. I mean, I think I'm about to get fired, but that's it. No big deal."

So she continues on in her upbeat, optimistic, sing-song voice to tell me that they’ve decided to sever their relationship with me due to the mistake I’d made the week before (a mistake that others have made and still managed to keep their jobs). The truth of the matter is that I was relieved. Happy, even. However, I had enough sense to continue to look and act like this was the serious discussion it was. Not my manager…

She was positively GLEEFUL. Yes, gleeful. I mean, I get that she didn’t like me – well I don’t get it, but damn. When someone loses their job at least have enough respect to act a little concerned.

She was positively USELESS when it came to things like knowing little things when my last check was coming, when my benefits ended or any of the things that most people want to know when they are being fired. She was more concerned with whether I’d want to pack up my own stuff or let them pack it up and send it to me.

I said I would pack up my own stuff. So she cheerfully ends the meeting and we all walk out together. Now, I’m packing up my stuff at my cube, she and the supervisor are standing by the supervisor’s cube talking. I finish getting my stuff together and I’m standing their waiting for someone to escort me out of the building ... which is customary.

Finally I catch her eye and she says in the rude tone she always takes with me, “What is it?”

I say, “I’m done. I just thought that you would want to walk me out of the building.”

She waves her hand in a dismissive ‘shooing’ motion and says, “You can just go.”

It took everything in me not to smile and say, “Well, okay. Bye Bitch!”

Actually, I'm tempted to send her the link to the article I'm quoted on over at ABC news.com. In it, I talk about all the reasons I prefer working for men. http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=8260710&page=1

Labels: Work

posted by SDC @ 2:24 PM

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