A couple years ago, I had a carpool partner who made my day miserable. I used to post a lot about her, but I don’t expect anyone to remember anything I said, so the next couple paragraphs are a recap. However, if you don’t remember, but still don’t care, feel free so scroll past them and get to the truly dreadful part of the story.
She would preach to me her weird apocalyptic version of the Gospels, of which she seemed to think the Left Behind books should be made part. She would prattle on about her ability to drive out demons, her gift of discernment, her ability to heal, blah blah blah. She would also put on airs about how smart she was (she told me once how “deep” the book War and Peace was, so deep that even she had trouble with it… it’s a true story about the rise of the Third Reich, according to her), and how rich her family was, and how many famous people she knows. Despite all this, she’s wage slave for the state, all but estranged from her family, twice divorced, and driving a 1984 Ford Tempo that’s been on its last legs almost all of the 8 years I’ve known her. But that wouldn’t stop her from putting down other people’s cars or clothes or perfume, or criticizing them for not being Christian enough.
Even though all this was annoying, it might have been bearable if she hadn’t been so unreliable. She was always having car trouble, and she suffers (at least in her own head) from a litany of respiratory ailments. So she would be out of the office at least one day a week, and usually running late the rest of the days. And she always seemed to have a hard time paying her share of the gas. Halfway through the month, she’d end up “borrowing” gas money back from me. Having to rely on her affected my job, so I finally “fired” her and started carpooling with my mom.
I haven’t had much to do with her since we stopped carpooling. She was working for a different supervisor so, except for run-ins in the breakroom or hall, I rarely saw her or talked to her. One of the things that everyone knows about, though, whether they work close to her or not, is her gambling addiction.
There’s a casino about 30 miles from Salem. Every payday, she would call in sick. It was sad when she used to brag that God spoke to her and told her which slot machines paid off (God always told her to go to the smoking section, despite her asthma, allergies, etc.). It got really pathetic, though, when she started lying about going. If someone told her they saw her there, she’d claim they were mistaken; that there’s someone else out there who looks exactly like her and drives an identical red Tempo whom everyone confuses with her.
Then earlier this summer, long about July, she claimed that someone broke in to her apartment and stole her television and all the money orders she’d bought to pay her bills with (no bank will give her a checking account). However, she claimed that she couldn’t tell the police because she’d left her door unlocked so the thief hadn’t “broken” in, so technically no crime was committed :rolleyes:. We figured she had really decided to go to the casino rather than pay her bills. Not long after, she was evicted, so evidently she decided not to pay her rent, either.
The next payday she called in to work sick on payday. Not only did she call in sick, she called in at 9:30, about an hour and a half after she was supposed to be there. Her supervisor told her to get herself in to work, no ifs, ands, or buts. But things were rough for her. After she was evicted, lived with one of her daughters, then she lived in a co-worker’s fifth wheel, and then she was living in another co-worker’s mother’s trailer. She came up with a scheme to buy that trailer, if only someone would loan her $250 for the downpayment. But her easy marks at work at already loaned her money (some of them hundreds and hundreds of dollars) and were steadfast that, if she’d already blown her paycheck, she’d have to wait for the next one. But she was antsy and insisted that if no one would loan her $250 right now, she’d quit and cash in her retirement account (PERS). People tried to dissuade her. It could take up to 90 days for her to get the money; she’d get paid again sooner than that. Plus she’ll be 58 in 6 months; she could start collecting her PERS after that. Finally, though no one said this to her, we knew that once she got $20,000 in her hot little hands, she’d be back down at that damned casino trying to increase it. Unfortunately, it appears that she was facing disciplinary action, presumably because of her tardiness and absences, and was on the verge of a dismissal hearing. Evidently, she was building an excuse to quit before she got fired.
Management, not being totally oblivious or heartless to her situation, did try to get her into counseling. We have the Employee Assistance Program and other sources for help, if a person is willing to admit they have a problem and are ready to seek help. I just thought I’d throw that disclaimer in there.
Anyway, things rapidly came to a head and she quit. It has been a month now, and no one has seen her since. I don’t know where she’s staying. Not even the co-worker whose mother owned the trailer she wanted to buy knows where she’s at. Evidently, not even her family knows. Her daughter called work the other day looking for her and was shocked to find out she’d quit. It’s been a month and her daughter didn’t know because she hasn’t talked to her in that long.
I don’t know how this story is going to end, but I’m afraid it’s going to be awful. I feel perfectly dreadful contemplating it, but I can’t stop. I keep picking at it like a scab. Turning it over in my hands like a… I don’t know, what’s something you’d examine with a since of horror, fascination, and dread? I feel like I should have done more. Back when we were carpool partners, she was irritating, but I admit I would gleefully share her latest idiosyncratic pronouncement with my co-workers, husband, the SDMB, whoever had an ear I could bend. Now I just feel guilty, guilty, guilty, and little bit sick. I don’t know what I could have done, but I still feel like I should have done something. I feel like we knew, we had to know, this trainwreck was coming, and instead of trying to avert it, we watched, even cheered from the sidelines, and now that it’s over we need to do more than shrug our shoulders and say it was inevitable. I’m not sure it was inevitable. I feel guilty that I didn’t stick by her, maybe keep her on as a carpool partner, miserable as I was, and at least try to delay the inevitable.
I just needed to get this off my chest.