In this case, I use the title in its literal form. The pen just might be mightier as I draw attention to something I have let simmer inside me long enough. Recently a co-worker from my past had the audacity to question both my business practices and work ethic. I have always stood by my work ethic which has been near flawless to a fault. I don't plan on drawing any attention to this particular posting, but those who know me may accidentally find it on their own and will undoubtedly know of whom I speak. Sadly, my mild mannered personality forces me to internalize things rather than speak my mind.I don't like confrontation.
I don't like rocking the boat.
The recent assault on my character has been all consuming. In typical Morty fashion however, rather than physically stand up for myself, I have chosen to take the coward's way out. Writing about it, while I hope may prove therapeutic will, if nothing else set the record straight. The dramatically creative side of me will take over as I write an imaginary response in letter form. The letter of course will never be e-mailed, nor sent in the traditional sense, but will remain here.
No names will be mentioned.
For all who continue to read this, you may draw your own conclusions.
Former Co-Worker,
Your recent ambush on my current employer while he visited the facility I selflessly and often over zealously gave 18 years of my life to, was unfair and uncalled for. If your desire was to get under my skin, then I offer congratulations.
It worked.
If your despicable plot was to somehow debase my character, or instill in his mind some degree of doubt or mistrust, it failed.
Your delusional rant and factual misrepresentation was met with derision and laughter.
You consider yourself some type of martyr, choosing to accept unemployment in lieu of putting your older and last remaining colleague out of work, while portraying yourself as a victim at the same time. You selfishly insinuated that I was partly at fault for the final demise of the company, a company which was wildly in free fall at the time of my departure. On the surface, my decision to leave may have seemed hasty, but inside I spent many months agonizing over it while simultaneously trying to devise creative ways to keep the business viable. Already inundated with the consistent amount of work that continued to come in, trying to grow (or at the very least maintain) that business on my own proved a near impossible task. Understanding thoroughly that book/autograph signings, abundant personal days following late night shows and the disgustingly inordinate amount of company time you spent surfing the web were clearly your priority, I chose not to inconvenience you with work related tasks, which admittedly can be bothersome, especially when it interferes with far more relevant issues on Blabbermouth.com. Thankfully, the clients I had nurtured for more than a decade (and long prior to your arrival) kept enough work coming in to support your enthusiasm for the World Wide Web while contributing in part to the paycheck you received on a weekly basis. The fact that a small percentage of those very clients chose to follow me in my endeavors is testament to the service and enthusiasm I showed them over the years. I apologize if you mistakenly construed their dedication as theft on my part. Remember how often you would exclaim in exasperation what a pain in the ass the woman from the largest news gathering agency in the world was? Luckily, I handled all of her incoming work following the multiple mistakes made by my predecessor, placated all of her doubts and kept her as a viable customer within our former company. With my decision to find a more stable environment elsewhere, you suddenly came to the decision that she really was not that difficult to deal with after all.
Hmmm.
It was never my intention to take any of the clients with me, although I certainly earned that right without question. I could have been a typical scumbag citing the unwritten rule which says business is business, and taken the entire client database with me, unfortunately the shrewd gene does not lie within me. As I had made my transition prior to the onset of the traditionally slow summer season, there was no reason for me to make contact with any of those clients, short of saying farewell and thanks for the support, at least not until the e-mails loosely hinting that I had also absconded with video editing software started showing up in my inbox. I literally lost sleep for nearly a week, knowing that our former employer may have harbored the very thought that I had stolen anything! A frenzied string of responses followed as I continued to add to the list of places I felt the software might reside within our former office space. Several days later, I took it upon myself to drop by and look for it myself. The proclamation from your last remaining colleague that you had not gotten around to looking for it came to me as no surprise. Even after my absence, Blabbermouth, Break.com and YouTube obviously demanded your immediate attention. In less than the time it took for me to walk out of my way across town, the two of us unearthed the missing discs. For your records it was number three on my list of possible locations. Mere minutes spent away from your vaunted websites would have saved a week of unneeded stress and sleepless nights on my behalf. You can bet if our boss had been in town you would have been on it in seconds, similar to the employee of the month act you would pull every time he was in the office. Disgusted, I would inwardly laugh as I opened the door on a morning when he was due to arrive to find you already at your desk, something that for the most part was a rarity. The staged interest you took in the welfare of our clients was often a brilliant performance that our former employer seemed to enjoy with relish. You often mentioned your 15 minutes of fame spent on the big screen for an independent film. Obviously, you took something away from the experience, because several years later you sure convinced our boss that the salary you were paid was actually worth it. I could go on with a laundry list of further examples, your seemingly endless quantity of sick days for instance (various procedures notwitstanding), but that would fall under the category of sour grapes and nitpicking on my part. I never professed to be the golden boy in that organization, and openly admit to both yourself and the untold millions in cyberspace, that I too spent a fair amount of time surfing the web on the boss' nut. The only difference between you and I was that I EARNED that time, much of it based on late nights, weekends and work brought home (without any compensation from our esteemed leader), not to mention the time spent working durng regular business hours while you pretty much took a pass. In closing, I will say in your defense that there were times when you busted your ass to help get product labeled, packaged and shipped, especially when things were simply overwhelming. You also paid attention to detail and presentation when something left the office. Yes, there were a few shining examples of some actual work and caring on your part. Sadly, those moments were too few and far, too far in between. To answer your accusation that I may have had something to do with the final death throes of that company, I wholeheartedly agree. I should have made the boss aware of your lack of input several years ago, before he literally wasted untold THOUSANDS on your mostly undeserved paycheck. It was he who once told me as I tried to hint what was really going on behind his back, "There's two sides to every story."
You have told yours, and now the world knows mine.
I would tell you that maybe we'll cross paths on Blabbermouth.com sometime, but that's kid stuff. Besides, I have work to do.
It's what I do.
When I'm on company time that is.
Sincerely,
your disappointed, but no longer disgruntled ex-co-worker.
*Blogger's Note
For all of those who patiently made it through this last posting, I apologize for the detraction from my original mission statement to keep this place positive. I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
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