The Nutty-Ass (Ex) Coworker Strikes Again . . . .

The BBQ Pit
1

For those of you who were around for the Missing Coworker Fiasco, you will be pleased to know that the crazy bitch is filing a discrimination suit against my former employer, on the basis of “race and color”.

Her claim is that she was discriminated against not just because she’s black, but because she is dark-skinned, whereas I (a black person of lighter hue) was treated fairly. Her basis for this claim is that our former boss asked her (many, many times, and she never complied) to let us know where she was going to be whenever she left the office, whereas the two other employees in the office (including Yours Truly) were not required to do so.

Hmmm, could that maybe be because our jobs did not require us to be out of the office, so we rarely were? My job required me to attend one monthly meeting, and one bi-monthly (is that the word for every other month?) meeting. So basically, aside from those meetings and fetching my lunch from the nearby Wendy’s, I was never gone (and, for the record, I did let my boss know when I was leaving, because there were only four of us in the office, and we always had to make sure that someone was going to be there to answer the phone).

Crazy Coworker, on the other hand, had a job that required a myriad of meetings, as well as visits to clients in their homes, so she was NEVAH in the office. It was because of the home visits that my boss wanted her to write down her whereabouts; some of these clients did not live in the safest neighborhoods, and if she should, oh, I dunno, DISAPPEAR, he wanted to know where to start looking for her. Not to mention that the rest of us were stuck in the office answering her phone (she had her own line–the rest of us shared another line) whenever she was out, and it’s always nice to be able to tell an angry client (who has been calling every hour on the hour) exactly when we expect her back.

But, as I said, she rarely kept us informed as to her whereabouts, so it didn’t really matter.

At any rate, I knew (having visited my former boss a couple of times since I left that job) about the discrimination suit, but did not learn until yesterday that I have been named as a witness!!!

Some guy from the state HR Dept. called my mother looking for me. She gave him my number at work, but I went home sick yesterday, so if he called, I wasn’t there. (Mom did try to call me as well, to give me a heads up, but I was home in bed, and didn’t find out about the whole thing until I spoke to her yesterday evening.)

I know this is a lame-ass rant with hardly a cuss word, but I honestly cannot find the words to describe how I feel about Crazy Ass Coworker right now! Above all, I’m pissed to have been put in this position, because I am TOTALLY on my ex-boss’s side, nonetheless some of her claims are true. My boss wasn’t the most PC guy in the world, and was kind of gruff and cranky, but has a heart of gold and, I truly believe, loved us all and would have done anything for us. It was one of those working environments where we gave each other shit and took everything in stride. So yeah, he probably did make a reference to her “black ass” at one time or another, but shit, they’d been friends for almost two decades, and I don’t think any sane person would ever consider him a racist.

Luckily, I didn’t actually witness the “black ass” comment to which she refers in her claim, so I can honestly say I’m not aware of any such comment. I am, however, nervous about what other questions may be coming down the pike. My plan is to keep my answers as brief as possible, lest one of my “embellishments” (in my opinion, a good story is all in the details) get my ex-boss into trouble.

Anyway, sorry for the lameness of the rant, but maybe this will make up for it:

FUCK! SHIT-STAIN, PISS-GUZZLING, SPOOJE-SPEWING BUTT-HEAD!

Oh, and one more thing: When my mom talked to the state HR guy (whom she knew from church, and so felt comfortable telling him HER opinion of the situation), she said that her mention of Crazy Coworker’s disappearance last year came as quite a bit of news to him!!!

SCROTUM-SNARFER.

2

Wow, sounds rough.

Right now, I am dealing with a particular person at work (not saying who) that sees fit to try to exploit every and any loophole in the system.

One aggrivating thing about it is that there have been many things he pointed out which were legitimately correct- such as us getting a break during four-hour shifts (we work 3-4 hour shifts at my job). However, he goes about it in such an obnoxious, I’m-right-and-you’re-wrong way with the managers that it makes everyone miserable. He then acts like he is doing this on my behalf :eek: and claims to the managers that this is something I wanted all along :mad:

When I confronted him about this, he couldn’t understand why I was upset, because he thought he was just helping me. I tried to explain to him that I have a very good relationship with the managers, I don’t give a damn about some piddly ten minute break, and that he’s stressing out the managers by trying to make them feel like idiots. Now honestly I don’t think he’s a mean or obnoxious person, he’s just extremely naive and doesn’t seem to know when to close his mouth.

3

That’s exactly the right approach to take when CrazyCoworker’s attorney is questioning you. Tell the truth, but don’t volunteer any information that you’re not asked for directly. It’ll be tough to resist the temptation to try to do more explaining (“Well, yes, the boss did say that, but it wasn’t like it sounds, and I’m sure he didn’t mean…”), but hang tough.

If something needs explaining, you just have to rely on your boss’s attorney to draw that out when he questions you. “Now, Miss Auntie Em, in your testimony, you said that your boss said ‘XYZ.’ Did you find that offensive? No? And why not? Is it because of the way in which he said it? Is it because the boss and CrazyCoworker were longtime friends, and you took this statement as the kind of friendly banter that passes between people who know each other very well?” You get the idea.

Pain in the ass to have to go through all this, isn’t it? Some people can never accept the fact that sometimes bad things happen to them because they fucked up.

4

I’d like to know why she maintained a relationship of almost 2 decades’ length with someone she found so offensive. That doesn’t make sense.

5

Who said sequels are never as good as the original?

Keep us posted, Auntie Em- sounds like you’re in for another adventure. We want to go along for the ride. :smiley:

6

What? You’re black??? Dammit, I am so behind in discriminating against you!!!

Oh, wait, you’re light-skinned black? Well, never mind, then. :smiley:

Great googly moogly, people still get worked up over that?

7

I was a witness in a frivolous worker suit one time. The best thing that you can do is to tell the truth and answer the questions as briefly as possible.

Haj

8

Huh? You don’t sound black.

d&r

Ever see that old SNL where mayor Dinkins (sp?) and Garrett Morris were doing atalk show skit? Dinkins had a funny line something along the lines of…

“Of course, the misconception and myth about Whites being smarter than Blacks is wrong. But, interstingly, it probably has as its roots the well known scientificly proven fact that light skinned Blacks are smarter than dark skinned Blacks.”

Of course, Garrett was significantly darker than Dinkins.

As for the co-worker, did the boos save any of the documentation about her whereabouts so that the reason you stated could at least be verified? Still, with her squirelly record of late, I wonder how far this case would be allowed to go. Surely someone will clue up to her goofiness and figure it’s not worth the time to keep it going. Right?

9

what the fuck is wrong with my keyboard? always switching and dropping letters…

10

Scrotum Snarfer was my favorite part. I may incorperate it into my vocabulary.

11

It was Julian Bond, not Mayor Dinkins. We’re talking late 70’s SNL here.

12

Thanks, FrTed. I figured i would get the quote wrong, not the players. :stuck_out_tongue: to myself!

13

Is there a link to Episode 1? This sounds like good reading :smiley:

14

Please keep us informed Auntie Em! Your story of the missing co-worker is what helped me decide to become a paying member of the SDMB. I can’t wait to find out what happens. Jerry Springer’s got nothing on you! :slight_smile:

Although I know you don’t work there anymore, I always wondered how the New-Agey chick your boss hired worked out. I know many, many people like that. Too many, probably. A disproportinate number of them work in Social Services, too. I think you and I live in the same state, also, which makes it even more interesting.

Good luck to your ex-boss. My SO has been up against discrimination suits from firing bad employees, and the cases always get dropped because of lack of real evidence from the disgruntled employee. People are just trying to get a buck and for some reason they think it’s going to be easy.

Good luck to you! I’ll bet you’ll do fine.

15

Missing Coworker
Missing Coworker II

16

Interestingly enough, the guy from the state who called my mom to find me is someone that my mom knows from church, so she felt perfectly comfortable chatting with him about HER take on the situation. At some point during the conversation, my mom said, "You know, when [Coworker] disappeared . . . "

. . . and apparently the disappearance was news to him!

So who knows . . . ?

As SkipMagic can attest, it’s kind of hard not to figure out that she’s nuts within 10 minutes of meeting her.

At any rate, thus far I haven’t heard from the guy, but I have been away from my desk for most of the day today . . . .

17

Well of course I only skimmed for relevant parts, but that is one of the most fascinating thread(s) I’ve ever read on this, or any, board!

And now the saga continues…

18

Well, this one may end with a whimper too, much like the first one did.

19

But did you let you boss know where you were going and when you would be back? :wink:

20

Mkay, still working on Part I of the saga (which is engrossing, to say the least), and I have to remark - you know, dogs CAN smell cancer. Studies have shown.

>>>goes back to the story