Nemesis

Lately, angry memories had popped up regarding bullies during my work life.  Thinking about those situations through the context of hood-winking monsters on a personal ‘Odyssey’ is helping to see the whole truth.  I couldn’t understand why I had never named these situations as bullying at the time. Now I think I didn’t call it bullying because I didn’t see myself as a victim.  I saw them for what they were, incompetent, malignant malcontents.  I was good at my job, which gave me confidence in my own worth.  Even if it also invoked envy from others.  Their behaviour wasn’t pleasant, but if I look at the entire ‘odyssey’, I won. 

There were four bullies.  But I was wiser, more in touch with my own shadow side.  Plus, had met one early in my career, so knew the dance.  If all is fair in love and war, that’s doubly so within corporate bullying.  I got creative, stayed hidden, gave them rope to hang themselves and when it counted most, truth-bombed.  That first bully got me fired.  I got a new job two weeks later in the same Company, which would not have happened had I gone to HR about him.   The worst bully exhausted himself, to the point of making himself the victim.   But his behaviour had been witnessed by a high-flier in the client Company.  He left (although I’d rather he had gone up in a puff of smoke) and was never heard of again.  The cruellest one bullied a client when I was OOF, was escorted off-site and moved to another city – my best week at work ever.  The female bully, a contractor whose contract wasn’t being renewed, was told to pass her workload to myself.  Her smear campaign backfired. 

Because she was mad as a head of snakes.