We Can Smell The Guilt On You

I was hired to be a unit clerk at the local hospital back in the late 90s. They were transitioning from paper to computer (yes, I’m old), and I was hired specifically because I knew how to use a computer. Apparently, that made me a threat to one particular woman on the unit.

She was so much like Mimi from The Drew Carey Show that I honestly thought the character was based on her. Thick makeup, strong perfume, mountains of jewelry, and an absolutely horrible attitude. She had been there for decades and made it very clear that she did not want to learn new things. Because I was new and computer-savvy, she hated me on sight.

From the very beginning, she started reporting me for random things that didn’t happen, and even turned some of the aides and a few nurses against me. When I got pregnant with my son, she told everyone I didn’t know who the father was. The nurses actually staged an intervention just to be told: “Of course I know who the father is! I live with him, and we’re engaged!”

At around five months pregnant, she even told the supervisor that I had threatened to “jump” one of the aides in the parking lot. It was that ridiculous.

The breaking point came one day when the supervisor called me in.

Supervisor: “We got a patient complaint that you wore so much perfume it triggered his allergies.”

Me: “Perfume? I don’t wear perfume. And… I wasn’t even working the day you’re talking about.”

Turns out what actually happened was this:

Mimi, who always drenched herself in perfume, saw a patient’s family leave a complaint form in the box. She opened the box, took out the complaint, and changed the name from hers to mine. But she forgot to change the date to a day that I actually worked. And guess what was right above the box? A security camera.

Security caught everything on tape.

The complaint box was between the supervisor’s office and the unit clerk’s desk, where a ton of patient information sits, so there are always cameras on that spot. Sure enough, they watched the footage and saw her swap the names out on the complaint.

After nearly forty years at the hospital, she was fired. All because she hated me that much.

And the kicker? I was put on bed rest at six months pregnant. If she had just waited two more weeks, she never would have had to work with me again anyway.

What a way to throw away a career.