One month later ...

Christine is staying through the end of the month. She's wrangling to stay even longer.

She still annoys me every time she opens her mouth. She's still a freelancer with an agenda. I still hate her. I just get along with her to make my own day easier.

And, it must be said, she's a bit more deferential to me than she was. She's no longer all bossy pants on my ass. Part of it is because she's learned my boss trusts me with The Big Project, and part of it is that she sees that the client likes me. So while I'm under no illusions that she likes me, either, at least there's not a lot of stress.

But here's why I don't like her, won't like her, can't like her.

Mr. Big and Christine

Christine is a mole. She reports to Mr. Big, twice a week, about Long Tall Sally, aka The New Girl,her immediate supervisor.

Long Tall Sally, aka The New Girl, went through a period there where she was, to be honest and fair, nuts. The client complained about her to Mr. Big and Mr. Big freaked out. Long Tall Sally is his first-ever hire, in a high profile position, and it would be very bad for him if she didn't work out.

Right about the time the client complained, Christine showed up. Once a VP, long out of work and available for a much lower position. Hungry to, in her own words, "get back into it." She meets with Mr. Big "on the sly" -- or so they think, one of the downsides of our current open seating arrangement is that everyone sees what everyone is doing, all day long -- twice a week. And reports on LTS.

I don't respect that.

I have no doubt she's done the same to me with my boss, only 1) my boss is lazier than Mr. Big and 2) my work this year really has been very good. So I'm not worried. But I still want her gone.

PS This is why I miss Mad Men with every fiber of my being. That show was so knowing about my world, I found it comforting.