[QUOTE=Muffin]
Document, document, document.
The jerk likes to play power games, and has already reported you. You should expect more of this sort of thing over the years, so note down every incident, and review them with your boss on a regular basis, so that you will have fewer worries the next time he makes a run at you.
[/QUOTE]
This has turned out to be excellent advice. I have documented *every single * thing he said to me, how I reacted, why I reacted, etc, from last Tuesday onward. I would get home and just write it all down. I kept going the way I was going; acted professionally, didn’t respond to further taunting (which he kept up). Yesterday, my manager got back from vacation, and when I got in, before I could even request it, he requested a private meeting with me in the afternoon. He listened to everything I had to say, and I went through the entire list of things I had documented. When it was over, he told me that first off, he was very sorry that I had to go through that, second, that he was very pleased with the way I had handled myself so professionally, and third, apparently, my story was only fuel to an already well-burning fire - this guy has been doing things I was unaware of for some time, and is pretty much toast. I say “pretty much”, because today he was supposed to get written up, but didn’t show up to work. He skipped out on work yesterday, too. Also, he bounced out on us in the middle of the day on Monday, leaving a customer halfway through a transaction. Confounded red tape aside, if he doesn’t show up tomorrow, the deal is as good as sealed. He’s already in a whole heap of hurting as it is. Since my manager did not go into further detail with me about how he has been in trouble, and what I have heard has just been rumour and nothing official, I won’t bother going into those details at this point.
Also, my husband was kept out of this. At one point, he called our regional manager - as a friend, not a co-worker (the guy was the best man at our wedding, and also one of the people affected by the jerk’s childishness, so none of this was news to him), and vented his frustrations about the situation. He was given great advice on staying out of the situation, given great reasons to stay out of it (this is one reason it’s tough for husbands and wives to work together, and if he can’t keep it together while we’re working separately while at the same company, that can be totally unprofessional and cause some major problems for us) - ultimately, he cooled his jets a little and let me handle things my own way. He remained supportive but silent ever since. He’s a good man, my man.
There was an interesting kick to the story yesterday, however, so I will include it for those of you who are fans of karmic retribution: yesterday he called in and said he wouldn’t be showing up for work (and was subsequently told by the manager that his excuse was unacceptable. Oh, his excuse? “I don’t like [ass. manager].”) Anyway, later in the afternoon, his wife calls and asks for him. She is told, naturally, that he is not at work. She pauses, sounds confused for a moment, then says, suddenly, “BUSTED!”
While I can’t claim to know what’s going on at the old jerkwad homestead, I haven’t ever known “BUSTED” to be a very good omen for anyone. 
All right, all right, all schadenfreude aside, it looks like this problem is about to wrap itself up. I made it out with all of my faculties intact thanks to all of your good advice, and keeping my husband out of it.
I’ll keep you posted on whether or not he gets canned or stays on on the thinnest of ice. We predict he won’t last the week, either way.
