Center of Attention. Ick.

Quite the drama at work for the last week. As well as the week before, while I was gone. Little did I know, while I sat at home hopped up on pain pills, that the controversy circulating the office started with me.

Yes, yes. I was the meat of the conversation for at least a day (or five) while on leave. ...Not a place I like to find myself, mind you.

When I returned, I was relaxed and oblivious and ready to work. With a smile, even! But when I started to ask what I had missed, everyone seemed to have the same answer: "A lot" with no explanation.

Now, I should mention that in the midst of my request for a leave of absence, I was, of course, in touch with corporate HR. And when it came down to them asking why I wasn't asking my manager the questions I was asking them... the floodgates opened.

Without naming names (which they did ask me to do), I proceeded to spill what I had observed since I had been with the company. Things like how my boss plays favorites, and was once seen spending time with his most favorite in his car for ten minutes during work hours. Alone. ...I mentioned the "targets" of the office... The people toward whom my boss takes his asshole-dom to another level. And if you couldn't have guessed, these "targets" just so happen to be men. ...I spoke of the inconsistency in lead distribution, and how the front desk chick was ordered to forward every 6 out of 10 call-ins to - you guessed it - his most favorite. (Call-ins are like gold in my business.) ...I mentioned his undiagnosed bipolar disorder... How one minute he's walking around all smiles, throwing candy on peoples' desks and the next he's standing over some poor sap, UN-constructively critiquing them in one ear, while their other ear was to the phone, speaking with potential applicants. ...Overall, I let HR know that the reason I did not go to my boss to ask questions about my benefits is because I didn't feel like I could trust his answer. That man has no one's best interest in mind but his own.

The HR dude said that there were some things he would be needing to look into. That - I expected. What I didn't expect was for there to be a full-on investigation spearheaded by the Director of our branch. .....At least I didn't expect it so soon.

Apparently, while I was away, the Director pulled a number of reps and people from academics, from reception, from the registrar, as well as teaching faculty in and interviewed each of them.

I suppose I should feel lucky and maybe even vindicated... But I don't.

Lucky because I ended up having such an enormous amount of support. There wasn't one person who didn't back up my testimony. In fact, more corrupt events were disrobed (pardon the pun), such as late-night, closed office-door sessions with his favorite rep and numerous bootleg liquor transactions made in the parking lot with other reps.

And vindicated because the guy that I couldn't stop writing on my blog, complaining about has now been hit with a shit-storm. Courtesy of me.

But I'm not lucky that I was backed up. The writing was on the wall for this guy... And he lead such a intimidating operation, that no one was willing to step up and say something. All it took was one phone call, and every truth and every fact about his unethical actions emerged. Luck didn't place him in that car or buy those booz. He did it to himself. ...If I didn't have a case, this would have fallen away never even started.

And I'm not vindicated because although the boss man has emerged as a newer and nicer version of himself (temporarily, I'm sure), HE'S STILL EMPLOYED. Perhaps it's the pessimist in me, but I'm expecting his little Eddie Haskell act to end the moment the investigation does. He doesn't have it in him to keep this up forever. I know better.

And as for me? What have I been keeping myself busy with while the rep room sky is falling? Well, let's just say you've probably never seen me work so hard. I'm not stupid.

When I was covering my past week in drama with my guru a few days ago, he made a very interesting connection with situations such as this and me: that I refuse to be a victim. ...And I really can't argue.

Take my boss from a few years back... My exit interview wasn't in her favor. In fact, it was the exact opposite. Times ten. And I can't definitively prove that her termination 6 months later had anything to do with me... But one can speculate.

And take my ex-landlord aka FuckFace: She imposed on us probably the most stressful 4 months of our lives by trying to sell her house out from underneath our lease and allowing strangers in and out at any given point, whether we were home or not. To seal the deal, she kept not only the rent money for the month we moved out (despite the fact that we were out on the 7th), but she kept our entire security and pet deposit. ....It took us over a year, but we walked away from the court preceedings victorious. (And no, we still haven't seen a dime).

And now there's this guy.

You might think I have a problem with authority. ...That these crusades I embark on are just the workings of a disgruntled employee/tenant. But my problem is not with heirarchy so much as it is with corruption within the heirarchy.

It's those who believe they're above the law, or that take power trips so massive it makes my head spin. It's those who seek out management as a way to take out all the anger and agression they have built up from their childhood, where they were picked on and disrespected.

Well I have news for all these unecessarily rude and dispicable middle-managers: We were all picked on and disrespected. GET OVER IT.