Quality and Workplace Bullying - How I Survived! - Part Three

Shortly after the blueprint class incident, the hawk retaliated by removing the phone off my desk and nails excluded me from a social event. Nails had arranged a baby shower for one of the male inspectors who was having his first baby. She strategically scheduled it for my birthday, which fell on a Friday that year. Generally, we celebrated birthdays by going out to lunch. There were many good restaurants nearby, so going out to lunch on Fridays and celebrating birthdays was something we looked forward to.

Nails wanted to make sure no one would be available to go to lunch with me to celebrate my birthday, so she scheduled the shower for my birthday. It was weird that it wasn’t even close to his baby’s due date. To make it worse, I was not invited to the baby shower, so I did not know about it until that day. ?Here’s where she gets deliberately mean. When she knew I was sitting at my desk, she walked into the Inspection office carrying a cake with a lit candle. She walks towards me, so I will think the cake is for me. And then passes me by and gives the cake to the Inspector who is having the baby. He seemed surprised by the cake, saying, “It’s not my birthday!”

It didn’t matter; I had my birthday lunch with my engineer friends, who took me to my favorite Thai restaurant. Looking back, I realize that the entire group was nothing but a bunch of bullies. This was before anyone thought about or talked about bullying in the workplace, not like we do today. I knew it was wrong, and I would not let myself be treated that way by people who acted like thugs. It was pretty gangster, if you know what I mean. And even though I had continuously been marginalized, belittled, insulted, excluded, silenced, and criticized, I stood up for myself. I let them know I knew who they were. I was not afraid. Did I learn from this experience? Yes. Did I get even? Yes, eventually. But I did not have to do anything. All I had to do was wait.

One afternoon I was in the Inspection office working quietly. One of the owner’s sons came in looking for the commander. He was beet red in the face and very agitated. No, he was on fire! I recognized that rage as I had felt it very often myself. Something had gone wrong with a large order, and the product reached the customer. “Where is she?’ he growled as he looked back and forth. Silently, I pointed to the small office. She showed her face and answered in her robotic terminator’s voice, “Yes, what can I do for you?” He started yelling at the top of his voice and pointing at her hard like he wanted to strike, “There you are!”

I remember hiding behind a large wire shelf stand where the travelers were stored, thinking to protect myself because, as crazy as it sounds, he looked mad enough to throw something. I honestly thought the poor man had lost it. We were the only ones in the office. Each was positioned on either side of the granite surface plate that occupied the middle of the floor. Most often a place for good conversation and knowledge exchange, it had become the scene of a heated battle. ?Standing very still, I gently asked him, “Would you like me to leave?” ?“No, he proclaimed, I want you to be my witness.”

Then with all his might, he screamed, ‘This is all your fault; You are ruining this company! I will have you fired! You’re finished. I’ll see that you never work in a company like this again.” Waving the papers he was holding, he stormed out the door. Holy %$#@!! I must admit I was embarrassed to have witnessed that, but I knew I was there for a reason. Then and there, I realized it was just a matter of time. Relentless, the commander threatened me as she made her escape, “Don’t say a word of this to anyone; you didn’t see this.” But everyone in the shop heard the yelling, and after she left, several production workers rushed into the office to assess the situation. “It’s over,” they said.

The next afternoon, I saw the commander walking towards the exit door carrying a cardboard box with a plant sticking out of it. Oh my God! Finally! I saw nails and the cowboy walking out; they looked visibly shaken. I asked the cowboy, “What happened?” Looking down and shaking his head, he said, “They let her go.” His skin was visibly grey, and he looked stressed. I responded boldly, “Good, this party is over.” Then he says, “You got that right.” It’s like they knew they were riding the gravy train all along! The song from the Wizard of Oz was playing in my head, Ding Dong; the witch is dead! I felt giddy, and it was hard for me to hide my happiness.

I followed the entourage to the parking lot, where they led the commander out. The cowboy had rushed to move her car onto the driveway, facing out to the street like a getaway car. That way, she could get in without having to look at anyone. I remember wondering if they had done this before as it seemed like a routine. I positioned myself behind the vehicle so she could see me in her rear-view mirror. Nails was sobbing uncontrollably as she helped the commander into her car. Defiant, I crossed my arms, shook my head, and said, “Good riddance!”

But I wasn’t the only one that was happy. News of the commander’s departure had spread like wildfire, and people came running out of the two buildings. A boisterous crowd had gathered. People were cheering, jeering, booing, laughing, clapping, and making crazy hand gestures as she was about to drive off. One guy from the shop mooned her! Well, it was the nineties! Wow! I remember thinking, is any of this even legal? Are we going to get in trouble? It was like a scene from a really crazy movie.

It was the end of the day. As the commander pulled away from the parking lot for the last time, we all looked at each other and thought of only one thing. Everyone yelled, "PARTY!!" We all jumped in our cars and transported our jubilation, mobbing a nearby bar. Celebrating with shots of Tequila was never so much fun! ?There must have been fifty of us at that unexpected gathering. Seeing the large crowd on a weekday, the bartender asked, “What happened? Did someone win the Lotto?" In unison, we yelled, “No! Someone got fired!” And the whole crowd roared with laughter. Then someone ordered another round. We were all giddy. I happily raised my glass to the end of that painful chapter. Cheers!

I can only sum it up in one word, RELIEF! I was hopeful that now things could get back to normal. Even though the rest of the crew remained behind, they were scared and had been neutralized. The head of the snake had been cut off.?