Friendly advice July 17, 2012

 

He said he doesn’t want to lose one of his best writers over all this; we both know its about more than just that.

To begin with, since the regular boss has returned, she is no longer “his” writer.

And if Tom is right, she’s already have gone, operating on someone else’s behalf, this mysterious “RR.”

I also think he’s running for cover, scared about her reaction after I betrayed him, repeatedly telling me every time we talk “this conversation never happened,” and if I was to say something, he would deny we ever spoke.

Worse, I think for all concerned, is the idea that this might seep out of the office. Already, the infamous blogger, GA has been asking questions, saying she had a source inside the paper – and her questions suggest she knows a lot. I suspect the source is the boss, who spent a significant portion of her maternity leave, sabotaging via email comments to the paper and possibly the owners, the work of the her temporary replacement – no doubt fearing a repeat of what nearly happened during her first maternity leave, when the kindly owners offered her job to the temporary boss, only to take back the offer late – possibly due to additional behind the scenes sabotage by the boss he would be replacing.

GA knew intimate things about what went on inside the paper, some of which even made it to her blog – although using a fictious name.

He also pretends that he is not infuriated with me, when I know he is, acting overly friendly, like one of the characters from one of her poems, smiling behind clenched teeth.

He’s caught in a precarious place after he failed to disclose to her our conversation in the park, a seeming betrayal of trust since he had taken her under his wing for protection.

I suspect he’s the one who drafted her list of demands, and possibly suggested her to send her pathetically weak compilation of evidence to the public safety director as future leverage against me.

I suspect he knows how little any of that would hold up and apparently drafted a new plan, one that might keep him out of the crosshairs of management and could possibly get me fired.

This depended upon his keeping his cool and maintaining the pretense that all was still well between us and what was in the best interest of the company

“If she files charges, it puts the company at risk,” he said.

And by rights as former boss – he should report to the owners.

“But I won’t,” he said “But this doesn’t mean if they ask me about what you said to me that I’ll remain silent. I will tell them what you told me if they ask me.”

He suggested that it might be in my best interest to confess to management about my misdeeds.

Again, he repeated his often-repeated phrase, “This conversation never happened, and I will deny it if you said it did. “

He said I can’t tell management he encouraged me to call either.

“I don’t want to be in the middle of this,” he said. “She is my only concern. I don’t want to lose her as a writer and get stuck with some schlock.”

He called what went on between me and her “acrid” and didn’t want it spilling onto him.

I hung up; my hands shook so much I misdialed the first time the owner’s number. I reached him on the second try.

I told him about my dealings with her, about her warning, and the risk to the company, and how he ought not honor my request to work in the main office after all.

I hated saying this because I felt so isolated in the satellite office. But this mess made it necessary for me to live with it.

The owner said he would call his partner. She emailed me later to say we would have to meet after the weekend to discuss the matter.

In the meantime, I wrote down everything from beginning to end – with the exception of Tom’s suspicions – including conversations I had with the former temporary boss, including his recommendation that I should call, and his insistence about not telling them I had talked to him.

For most of the report, I drew heavily on my journal for dates, times, and events, detailing my conversation with the former temporary boss in the park, and his sneaky reaction afterward.

I emailed the document to both owners, giving them time to digest it all over the weekend, before we met in person.

 

2012 menu


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