...In my post about a week ago I talked about the 'co-worker from hell' BL who made it her personal vendetta to get me fired while I was going through the Idaho trial and counseling. It was obvious she wasn't a nice person and virtually useless as an employee but her behavior in the Fall of 2012 would create undo stress not only on me but just about everyone else who worked at the company. I was already overworked and exhausted but her actions would increase both exponentially. Thankfully there were the visits from my boyfriend, my Make-A-Wish volunteering and speaking events that had kept me focused on what was positive in my life. On one particular ride home from the airport after picking up Steve I got a text message from a friend at work that I mentioned in another earlier post. He dropped a bomb of information that stopped me in my tracks. I couldn't wait to get home and out of the car so I could text him back. Apparently for the past several weeks BL had started an affair with another married employee who worked in the shop. Remember she had a toddler plus two older kids at home. They didn't even try to hide it as several others had the unfortunate luck of encountering them in various locations of the building in various states of affection. I'm wording this delicately but it was as bad as you can imagine. Their behavior would escalate over the next 6 months.
This information allowed me to put two and two together. BL had started to arrive at the office earlier after 5 years of showing up late every day. She was hanging out with the guy by his workbench until she was required to sit at her desk. She was disappearing a lot from her desk to the point where the most frequent question I got each day was "Where is BL?" and when her schedule allowed she was taking long lunches. You see several years earlier the company fired our receptionist and decided I would have to split the duties of receptionist with BL including answering the phone and no I didn't have the time in my day for these extra responsibilities but my comments and suggestions fell on deaf ears. The powers that be didn't care. Because BL was absent from her desk so often I was then interrupted by employees to answer questions and complete little tasks that should have been done by the missing BL. Not to mention word was spreading fast about her behavior and how disgusted those were who caught them together and all this was being shared with me. I was someone who people liked to talk/complain to because they knew I would keep it in my confidence and most knew what BL had done to me in the past and didn't like it at all. Secretly I think they wanted me to do something about it too.
The real problem began when they were carrying on while clients were in the building which was upsetting those bringing in the clients for meetings. I confided in a select few saying I had no problem meeting with my boss (an executive) and telling her everything but I needed to witness it myself too in order to give it more validity and so I would look less vindictive. Well you knew where this was going eventually because I walked into the Kitchen one morning to get supplies to set up for a meeting and through the wall I heard them carrying on. The other side of that wall was an empty office in the shop area I was told they were using for their hook ups. That was it for me I requested a meeting with my boss the same day. I went in as usual with the facts and details and laid it all out on the table. She was shocked, thanked me for the information and said she would meet with the other employees boss too. BL would be put on certain restrictions but those would be violated soon enough and she was back to misbehaving as relayed to me by more witnesses. Then one day my supervisor took the afternoon so she could attend the closing of her new home and BL left the building for almost 2 hours. She was so late coming back to take over the phones in order for me to take my lunch break I had to ask the other girl on our team to help me out. She didn't call to even make an excuse as to why she was late but returned with her hair in a ponytail and different clothes on and yes the other employee had been gone all that time too. This brought on more discipline as the two of us informed our boss but BL would also disregard those punishments. She had gotten away with so many things for so long she was cocky.
Five more months before she was finally let go. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw her called in by the Execs and then listened as she cried and watched as she packed up her desk and was escorted out to her car. I'm not going to lie I started the texting frenzy throughout the building. So many people had unwillingly become involved and been affected by her bad behavior. As a 46 year old professional who has worked at my fair share of companies I never saw an overwhelming reaction of joy and relief once word spread. She was so high maintenance to deal with, was so careless with her work and her poor me, negative attitude sucked the life out of an office like I had never seen before and now the dark cloud was gone. I wish I could say this made my work life better and it did alleviate a big problem in the office but what happened is it shined a light on the other issues and dissatisfaction I was having with my job. I began to realize what was most important to me in my future career and personal life and it gave me perspective so I could take a look at my future in a whole new way. As I had done before with obstacles in my life I would turn it into something good...
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