You Can’t Dismiss The Karma On This One

(Since I began my job, one of the managers has taken a dislike to me, which I cannot understand and which she never explains. I get on really well with everyone else, and over time they all notice her attempts to bully me and the unfair way she treats me. They cannot understand it, either, but according to some of my colleagues who’ve been with the company a long time, she has a habit of singling out a particular person to try and bully and dominate. Our working relationship deteriorates over time. I stand up to her bullying, which she hates. I always make sure my work is flawless so she has no reason to complain, but she deliberately gives me the most difficult tasks to do. The better I do my job, the more surly she becomes. Finally, she resorts to accusing me of things I haven’t done — including stealing — and fires me. I immediately hire a lawyer and claim unfair dismissal, and legal proceedings begin. We start with a mediation session between me and my lawyer, and her and the company lawyer. When it’s over — and I am shaking with rage at the lies she’s attempted to tell, and that I’ve been able to prove are lies — I go into the ladies room to take a few deep breaths and splash my face with water, etc. The next thing I know, she’s entered the bathroom, too, and stands there grinning at me. I go to push past her, when she says:)

Manager: “Do you remember [Client] file you were working on?”

(I stop. The client in question involved many complex tasks, and delicate and difficult work. I’ve actually been wondering how they’ve been getting on without me on that one, because I had been doing the majority of the difficult tasks. So, curiosity, and the dawning of a realisation that I might be about to have the opportunity for a little revenge, stops me from storming out.)

Me: “Yes.”

Manager: “Could you bring me up to speed? We haven’t been able to move forward since you left, and [Client] is threatening to leave. What I need is an hour of your time right now so we can go over the unfinished work. Are you free now to do that now?”

Me: “Yes, as a matter of fact, I am. But I’m not going to. It’s called karma, you psychopathic b****, and there’s a whole lot more of it coming your way.”

(With that, I marched out. The case proceeded, and I received compensation for unjustified dismissal, loss of wages, pain and suffering, etc. I heard from my old colleagues that she was moved to a different position in the company, one where she wasn’t in charge of people, and a few months later was fired for gross dishonesty. Karma got her good!)