Suppose you were treated poorly in your past job. Suppose there was a lot of gossip and rumor spreading, as most gossip is, was untrue. Suppose through it all, you developed strong relationships with a handful of people. Those people are the ones that know what truly happened. They were the brains. They were the reference manuals you turned to. Put them all together and you had a set of Encyclopedia Britannica. All of those people have now left and moved on. All have left, except one.
You have also moved on. Yet, you continue to receive emails and calls for assistance from past clients. Before you took your last step from the building your name was removed from the official documents yet people still locate you for help. You kindly push them back to the proper contacts and then one day; the cheese that stood alone calls you for help. It’s a small thing, nothing major. Yet, she begs you to not tell the people that spread the rumors that she contacted you. Since everyone has left, the gossip folks are in charge. They continue to spread lies but you tell yourself that the truth will prevail.
Would you feel hurt that your friend asked you for help but asked you to dissuade any affiliations?
There was no doubt in my mind, I wouldn’t help my friend. I’m just a little hurt that she asked me not to tell anyone. Firstly, I’m not the type of person to go around saying, so-and-so asked for my help. If I know something that may assist, I’ll tell you, friend or not. Secondly, by asking me out right to keep my mouth shut, I feel like the idea of an affiliation with me would put a dark mark in her record.
I’m like the trouble maker in school. If you’re seen talking to me, the principal assumes you’re a bad egg too.
She told me later, that she’s paranoid and to forgive her but it still stings a little. I suppose she has to do what she needs to in order to survive in the cliquey world she’s working in right now. She’s the only person not in the original ‘Heathers’ clique.
I’m trying to be understanding. I was in that environment. I know how crazy and irrational things can be. I know how affiliations made you or broke you there. I still feel a bit slighted. It makes me think, when the chips fell, she may not be there for me. We’ve been friends for 6 years. Is this how or relationship dies?
Bloody hell, office politics gets to be too much for me, especially when cattiness is prevalent. As many have said to me, “Be glad you’re no longer in the thick of it.” Still Lrudlrick reminds me, “It’s a small world. Keep your friends close but your enemies closer.”
I wonder if I changed my profession and become a cashier at Starbucks would it be the same.
