I retired about a year ago, but still do freelance editing and writing work for my former employer. My replacement, who I will call “Maggie,” sent me a couple of pieces to “edit,” but they need to be completely restructured and rewritten. Maggie mentioned that she had already paid for a freelancer, we’ll call her Jenny, to proofread the pieces. In my view this is pointless, since the articles will just have to be proofread again after I totally rewrite them.
In addition, I was troubled by the fact that Jenny - a person I have known for years - said nothing about how crappy one of the pieces was even though she thought she would be the last reader before layout. The article was disorganized and repetitive; certainly not ready for publication. I would expect Jenny, a highly skilled editor and a native English speaker, to tell Maggie (who is not a native speaker of English and might not recognize the problems as easily), “You know, this piece needs more work before it is published; it is repetitive and incoherent.”
So, I mentioned to Maggie that I thought that proofreading pieces before they are sent to me is a waste of time. I also said I was disappointed in Jenny for not saying anything.
Within moments, I received an angry email from Maggie, saying “I will ignore your hurtful opinion.” She then proceeded to “ignore” it by writing several paragraphs in which she defensively explained why she had the material proofread prior to editing, and said that she was much busier than I had ever been in the job, because I had the luxury of concentrating on one thing whereas she had responsibility for other tasks as well. (Not strictly fair - first, I was about half-time and she is full-time; moreover, I did take responsibility for many tasks besides the one in question.)
Anyway, I have decided I won’t do any further assignments for Maggie. The work I do involves offering constructive criticism (something I am well-placed to give, as I worked in the job for 7 years and know all the people and situations). If I have to walk on eggshells around Maggie - well, I’m just not going to bother. I’m not particularly upset; it’s just that I don’t need that crap in my life.
If I want childish, I’ll subscribe to Trump’s Twitter feed or listen to the nastiness (on both ends of the political spectrum, I’m afraid) and recriminations that have followed our recent election.
Seriously. I think the reason I want to move on from Maggie’s histrionics is because I’m observing enough temper tantrums in my life just by paying attention to the news. Enough is enough, folks. GTFU.
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TLDR version:** I won’t put up with whiny, defensive behavior in the workplace because I’m sick and tired of seeing childish behavior all around me thanks to the US presidential election.
That’s bonkers. It implies a fundamental misunderstanding of the whole process – or else a touching faith that the piece is so perfect already that there’s no way you could make any changes to it.