Update on Melodrama at Work

The BBQ Pit
1

For those who followed the melodrama thread about work I posted a while ago, I thought I’d offer the denouement to the story.

So, I believe I called her E. in the story. I’m reverting to her real name as I no longer feel any particular compulsion to reveal her identity.

Backstory. Dawn’s a fucking psycho. She threw a pyscho fit and left work for two days with no phone call or explanation and was not fired. For more details, read the thread.

Dawn’s been fired. WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

So, my boss left for another vacation, his first since the “incident”. He told everyone in the office that he was leaving J. in charge in his stead, that he had promoted her to office manager, and we were to respect her as we did him. J. came into work on Monday and went through D.'s inbox, only to find she was insanely behind in her work. She told D. to split up her work between S. and herself. D. ignored her and proceeded to be a class A bitch all week, talking on the phone when she should have been working. J. (office mgr) calls her in Friday to discuss her behaviour. D. throws a hissy fit, complete with crazy hand motions aka Wayne’s World’s going back in time motions. (best descrip I’ve got). She then sends an e-mail to my boss completely bashing the shit out of J. in a very juvenile manner. He fires her.

She:

  • proceedes to call all the clients she’s service to tell them what happened
  • steals a bulletin board, and when the boss calls her on it threatens to call her ex husband b/c he can prove it is hers
  • returns the bulletin board with a note on it saying “Just so you know, a bulletin board from Staples costs $18.75 and you personally have eaten more than that in my food alone.” She has offered my boss her food since day one. She writes this noted in purple ink on a pad of paper featuring horses, and arranges it perfectly in the middle of the bulletin board.
  • calls her former coworker daily and leaves psychotic messages, including one instructing her to brag loudly on her behalf about her new job
  • storm into our office talking very loudly about how “fucking” great it was to not work there
  • submits e-mails to myself and my boss to her from J. (office mgr) purportedly exposing her as the bitch she truly is. My e-mail was a typical “I’m so pissed off” e-mail about a collegue you’re stressed with, many of which I’ve written myself. It did not lower my opinion of J the office mgr since she wasn’t in a managerial postion then. When D. gave me the e-mail and says “FYI”, I looked at her coldly and tossed it in the garbage in front of her. When she leaves the office, the boss tells her to “put her big girl panties on.” She freaks out, tells him to fuck off and slams the door.
  • When the boss phones her telling her he will bring in his lawyer if she continues to harrass his clients, she informs him “Where I’m going, we don’t need your little clients” and hangs up on him.

I know where she’s found new work and I’m tempted to send her a boquet of flowers on her first day (since her dumb ass boss didn’t bother to check her references) with a note (not in an envelope) saying “Dear Dawn. Thanks SOOOO much for getting fired. Much Love, Jill.”

That’s petty, right?

2

Petty and delicious. The pause that refreshes.

3

Yes. Resist this temptation. She’s gone (both physically and mentally). Enjoy the vacant space where she used to be and move on.

She might actually be a wacko. Why tempt her to retaliate?

4

Of course, you’re right.

So then, it would be COMPLETELY inappropriate to make a list of the fuck up’s we’ve discovered since she left, including (but not limited to) leaving a brand new Beamer worth nearly 100,000 UNINSURED!!! for two months because she couldn’t be bothered to enter it into the system, and report them to the licensing board?

I just HATE the idea of her getting away with this shit.

5

Not only that, but why give her even the tiniest portion of a “legitimate” harassment complaint? Resist, and just let her see you living well. Glad she’s gone at least.

6

Preveiw is my friend. Yeah, report the fuck ups like you listed, that’s affecting other people, and could reflect badly on the company. Your boss should probably completely wash his hands of her, including coming forward with her screw ups, and pointing out that she’s no longer employed there. Let him report her if you think he will. Go by the book whatever you do, don’t make it a petty payback, do it for the good of others.

7

I’ve wandered in lated to the party. Is the woman in her late 40s? If so, she could be starting menopause. That can make some people crazy.
I’ve worked in a similar situation. I was the file clerk and Bev’s desk was 8 feet from my office door. She ran accounts receivable, but, she thought she should be in charge of the file room as well.
I ended up leaving because of her. She’d been with the company since it opened its doors. Hell, I think she might have been the owner’s wet nurse!
Anyway, glad its over for you.

8

Congrats, Rebekah!

Don’t fret. If she’s such a bitch at your work, she will carry that with her wherever she goes. A fewf points:

If she shows up at your work again, unless she’s buying insurance, she should be arrested for trespassing.

If she continues to call or send e-mails, then I would contact her current boss and tell them their new employee needs to stop harassing you.

I’m not sure of the laws governing your business, but I can’t see where it would hurt to report her for failure to properly insure a car (especially if the premiums were paid?)

Basically, in this case, do not be proactive. Only react to what further looniness she may do, and in a completely professional manner.

9

I am so glad to hear the good news! When the situation was going down a few months ago I bookmarked the thread and was hoping she’d get canned.

Sometimes dreams do come true!

10

I was following the other thread, too. I’m so glad she’s out of your office. Finally! I agree with the others, don’t do anything to her, sorely tempting that that might be. Just rejoice in her absence!

11

Ding Dong, the bitch is canned!
Which old bitch? The psycho bitch!
Ding Dong, the psycho bitch is canned!

I’m glad for you ** Rebekkah **. I don’t know how this chick got away with the uninsured BMW either. $100,000?!? Sweet Christ doing jumping jacks and eating chili.

12

It’s great that she’s gone. It’s important that you resist all temptation to sink to her level. Batshit crazy people think nothing of hiring lawyers with some imagined cause of action because in their dementia, they believe they have been wronged. Don’t give her ANY ammunition that would help her prove that she worked in a hostile work environment.

As others have said, simply rejoice in the fact that her chair is no longer filled with her.

13

So there is a God afterall…

I really like the purple horse paper, but am confused about the emails. J had sent emails around kvetching about you and various other people(before she was office manager)? Why would D show those to --sorta like a “full disclosure” thing?

anyway, definetly report the Beamer–afterall, you’ll be lucky to not lose that client.

I wouldn’t initiate anything–she sounds very unstable and her true colors will show very soon.

But I would jump with glee in my office/cubicle/employee lounge whenever the story is picked over by people…

14

Amen. A friend of mine has just been to small claims court because a nutcase former boarder at her barn – who got evicted for stealing and stirring up trouble – sued her for a bunch of lameass crap. My friend countersued for the couple of grand owed in unpaid board and damage to the facilities from her horses. Crazy bitch got told by the magistrate that all her stories about neglect and theft of her stuff were unproven, and irrelevant in any case. My friend gets the judgment for the back board and damages.

Which is nice, but doesn’t entirely make up for the months of dealing with the troublemaker, the histrionics of her departure, and the anonymous allegations of abuse and neglect that had the animal protection people inspecting within a week after nutcase left. Not to mention the anonymous complaint to the child protection people that my friend was forcing her foster children to do barn work, which also got an investigator dispatched.

Yeh, the humane inspector found well cared for horses and no problems. Yeh, the social services investigators found it absurd to even think that a foster child who’s two years old and in double leg casts, and a seven-year-old who’s so spastic he has to wear a full-face helmet all the time, were being forced to muck out stalls. Still, my friend went through a hell of a lot from the nutcase. People like this are dangerous, not just nuisances, and your best bet is to offer absolutely no hook they can hang their craziness on.

15

Sorry for the late reply everyone. I can really only find time to post on the weekends!

OK, so I resisted the temptation to send her flowers. My boss, however, was not so kind. He sent a letter to our licensing association explaining her behaviour after she was fired, including phoning clients. However, not everyone in my office was so cautious. I wish I had the e-mail at home to post just for laughs. My fellow coworker recieved an e-mail after she had disclosed to the boss that D. was phoning clients essentially saying she would not be getting her a job at her new workplace. This is odd, since S. had never asked her for a job. Now, I read the e-mail that S. sent to D. and I would hate to get on her bad side. She basically lambasted her for the shit she fucked up on, and then went into the personal shit she had been talking to D. about for the last year (they used to be friends) including her drinking problem (which we all knew about - she bragged about 8 coolers a night!), her eating disorder (unknown) and her spending 15,000 on clothes in 7 months (I believe this, since in over a year I have never seen her in the same outfit twice). It was nasty and reminded me of the type of e-mail you see between 16 year olds. And they are in their late fourties.

I know that D.'s relationship is shit, she is an alchoholic and obsessed with her weight, but do you really need to bring that shit into work?

Same song I’ve been singing all week. And yeah, $100,000 BMW which we saved. Not counting the guy who bought a $350,000 house which wasn’t input into the system. It gets much MUCH worse.

Nah, just a really pathetic attempt to make everyone in the office hate Jen. But she’s so damn nice (in spite of the occasional bitchyness we all experience) that her results really fucked up.

Everyone, thanks for your input.

I’m still torn up, after spending 2 weeks cleaning up her fucking shit (this is the pit, so I can use the words, right :P)

On Friday, I stayed late because she quoted one of our MAJOR clients (we write the whole family) at $576/annual for a house that was built at the beginning of the century with 60 amps and cast iron drains. For anyone who doesn’t know insurance, this is a high risk thing. I managed to use all my charm to get our insurer to write it, but it was still subject to the mandatory %50 surcharge. We lost the risk. Not good for the renewals, and I’ll have to do a major dance to keep them. On the plus side, I ended things very positively with the client when I told her that since she had a cheaper quote elsewhere, she should go with them but we would like to quote her next year. I was also full with the disclosure on the mistake, which she appreciated.

On the plus side, I was promoted!!!

I’m head of our new business department, and have a potential (depending on growth) to see 4-5 people under me. I have newbie training to do on Tuesday.

Thanks to everyone who followed me through the melodrama. I work with a new girl who replaced Dawn, and she’s awesome. Works hard and has a great personality.

Sorry I haven’t posted much lately, I’ve been really preoccupied with work. But I will be following this thread.

-R

16

Congrats on the new job, and sounds like all is working out well! What a melodrama indeed.

But definitely don’t give E a hook to hang anything on. My hubby is a manager and has dealt with problem employees who sue the company at every available opportunity, and he’s learned to tread very carefully indeed because with some of these folks it doesn’t take anything to set them off.

17

Whoo, good news! Dawn actually sounds very, very unhappy (possibly manic depressive and/or actually psychotic), and I think all the cosmic retribution that is needed is for her to be living in her miserable life.