The Devil Wears Ann Taylor!

Working with a b*tch for a co-worker, who then becomes your boss can make your life a living hell! That is one reason I am soooo happy I work from home. Oh, and the title to this post - she could never stop talking about Ann Taylor clothing and I often got dragged there on our little business trips.

I started working with "Jamie" when I first transferred from one city to another, early in my corporate career for a bank. At first (day one only), she was simpering and sweet and seemed nice. Really, really fast, it became apparent that she was literally the DEVIL. Ask my family, they'll tell you. I wish I'd read the tips for working with an awful boss, but hey, back then no one was using the internet at all in our workplace, much less searching for advice with it.

Examples of HELL:

1. We had to travel together....frequently. All over the southeastern United States. Thank God there was usually one or two more people along as buffers. She had no problem saying things to me like, "you can travel, you have no life". She was as acerbic and abrasive as possible to me...when no one was looking. When the bosses were around, she was the golden girl. They loved her - what a kiss ass.


2. We had to do a project that required us to work, non-stop for 96 hours, with only a few breaks. When I suggested we should have more down time, I was scoffed at because "she could do it" (another suck up moment verbalized to the bosses). Never mind normal wage and hour law or worker's compensation. Do I wonder now why I am at the chiropractor for chronic back problems years later? My parents begged me to quit. I stayed.


3. Once, we had to travel to a little po-dunk town in south-central Florida for a week. There was no entertainment there and no decent restaurants. We stayed at a bug-infested Holiday Inn. Our entertainment was going to Walmart and getting Christmas craft kits to make little items in our hotel room in the evenings - this was maybe the only time she was sort of nice to me because we were both so horrified at our "living conditions" for the week.


4. In no time, because she was such a suck up, she was promoted over our department, when the former supervisor moved away. Horrified, I immediately went to apply for an internal transfer. This made her angry. Very angry. Gee, I don't know why - before you could clandestinely abuse me - now you could do it openly! I, luckily found a position quickly in another area. She turned off my security access a week early ("oops, she said, my mistake") causing me to be detained by security.


5. Happily, I joined a new boss, after three years of mental abuse. I heard later on from another of her workers that she was always berating the hourly workers. She said "you can't trust them if you'd don't make them do the work".

I never had such a bad situation in my working life as that one. No character on The Office could ever do that situation justice. I wonder who the Devil is terrorizing now, 13 years later. Thankfully, not me.