Today my boss called a meeting, a postmortem of sorts to explain what happened with Long Tall Sally. He told us that part of her problem was her inability to get along with Christine.
Oh. My. God. I clashed with Christine and told LTS about it. I may have unwittingly thrown gasoline on the fire. I may have contributed to LTS' dismissal! Because of my actions, this 40-year-old woman who lives with her widowed mother, who has no savings and few friends to turn to or share her troubles with, is now out of a job.
After the meeting, I went straight to my boss and told him it was me. That I had bumped heads with Christine and that LTS was probably defending me. I asked him if he thought I should talk to Mr. Big.
He told me to forget it, that it would have happened to LTS anyway, and he added the names of others
who wanted her gone.
I still feel terrible. My conscience is not clear and besides, I'm worried about LTS. The comments left in a previous post by you blogging buddies have me thinking that she may be bipolar. She needed this job. It makes me very sad that she lost it, even though it may be for the best.
These are the thoughts and observations of me — a woman of a certain age. (Oh, my, God, I'm 65!) I'm single. I'm successful enough (independent, self supporting). I live just outside Chicago, the best city in the world. I'm an aunt and a friend. I feel that voices like mine are rather underrepresented online or in print. So here I am. If my musings resonate with you, please visit my blog again sometime.
I just posted on Facebook this morning a quote i had seen...good words to live by and I plan on using them.
ReplyDeleteMAKE A HABIT OF SHUTTING DOWN CONVERSATION THAT AIM TO TEAR OTHERS DOWN.
yikes!!!
OK, and now I feel awful about mentioning the bipolar possibility! All you can do now is learn from this. A note from you, I suppose, telling LTS about the parts of her presence that you enjoyed... is a possibility. But you didn't cause her behavior, you can't control it, and you can't cure it.
ReplyDelete(off to flagellate myself now)
This is not your fault. Cat is right. You didn't cause her behavior, you can't control or cure it. And though you're realizing in hindsight that she may have had a mental disorder, it's also not in your training to recognize it. If LTS has a mental instability, she's had years of practice coping and covering to make it as unnoticeable as possible - most people naturally strive to be "normal." Forgive yourself.
ReplyDelete