In need of a raise June 23, 2012

 Being in the annex office four out of five days of the week, I’m not privy to the latest gossip until it’s already old on Tuesdays. My immediate supervisor who is privy seemed surprised when I looked shocked at the rumor about her (not my supervisor) and one of the owners, and that this was general knowledge around the rest of the main office.

I had suspected something when I saw her flirting with him several times after meetings and saw the look on his face during the meeting when she brought up very provocative story ideas. We could count on her to come up with risqué suggestions, some of which even actually eventually made their way into print – if in a modified form.

Other than such vague associations, I had no way of knowing the truth to such gossip – the main office is a treasure trove of such rumors, not so much about her, but about everybody, which is one of the benefits of my working elsewhere most of the week, even though I often feel completely out of the loop for accessing necessary information to do my job.

She has also become much more wary lately, either because she still sees me as a threat or possibly has found a new enemy, I know nothing about.

I do believe my Mary Ann (my old friend going back to grammar school) that she needs to feel in control and must manipulate the situation to allow her to do that.

How much control she has now, is anybody’s guess? She spoke a few times about trickling up and so the boss might be a logical next stepping stone to the top.

Rumors said she had been involved with one of the layout people on the first floor. So, it is possible she has moved up floor by floor until she reached the top of the heap, making each of us a member of the special selection she invited up to Cloud 9 from time to time, nearly all of them married.

She told me early on that she never cheated in a relationship, but that men who she got involved with sometimes did on their wives.

“I can’t control what they do,” she said.

She once told me that during her five years of marriage she never cheated once, despite the fact that her husband constantly suspected she was, and then did not have sex for a long time after the marriage ended. Two of her friends, a man and a woman, deliberately seduced her to get her out of that funk.

“They knew I needed to break out,” she said, calling it “delightful and fun.”

Maybe she has gotten wind of the rumors about her and the owner, which would explain the fresh batch of dark looks she gave me during the meeting, maybe even thinking I’m the source. I did email her last Saturday after she claimed she was to meet with the owner on Friday to ask for a raise.

“I can’t keep taking money from my father to pay my bills,” she told me.

In my email I asked if her attempts to get the raise were successful. She never responded.

 

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