Well, She's Back: Part Three

In the previous two posts we've established that the Worthless Co-Worker has been rehired and is as loony tune as ever. Actually I believe she's even more mentally unstable now than when she worked here the first time.

I think everyone knows someone who is mentally unstable, or bat shit crazy if you will. There are some people who actually get more unstable as they age. It's almost like Alzheimer's where a person starts out getting a little forgetful and progressively gets worse. That's the best way to describe her in my mind. The first time she worked here she was a little bit unstable, and now is even more unstable. I just see it getting worse as she gets older.

We also established that my boss is in hot water with his new boss in the last post as well. To some extent this is warranted because he's been allowed to coast and under perform in the past.

The Worthless Co-Worker went through the 30 day probation period on her best behavior. There weren't any signs of the shit storm of a tsunami approaching once she got past this 30 day probationary period. Oh yes, there were signs of loony tune there, but it all related to her personal life, which the boss and I really didn't care about. As a matter of fact we expected that to be the case because that's just her.

In hindsight two and two should have been put together. If she couldn't get along with anyone, and I mean anyone in her family, why was she getting along with us so smoothly during her first 30 days here? This applied to any friends she had. Well, friend any way, I only know of one person who tolerated her who could be classified as a friend to her, and that friendship ended in this time frame as well.

No, we were simply amused by her tales of woe when it came to her family and friend(s). The thinking was "Yup, she's still crazy, but no trouble here, so whatever." It was entertaining in a train wreck, non-lethal way to us.

Once the probationary period ended it all changed. The boss was her main target. She knew his boss disliked him and in her demented mind she thought if he was fired she was the logical choice to replace him. She knew I had no interest, and never have, in being the manager of the store.

All of a sudden when I was working with her, her litany of complaints about the boss grew. As they grew they took on a life of their own, becoming far worse to her than the reality of the situation. While some of her complaints had validity, most were overblown and way out of proportion. When she wasn't receiving a sympathetic ear from me all of a sudden I was a problem to her as well.

When she made a mistake it was always my fault. Most of her assertions were so outlandish I spent most of my time simply alternating between being amused and irritated with her.

She'd ring up a sale using a wrong finance option and it was my fault because I told her it was okay. Never mind I was off the day it occurred, it was still my fault.

She'd screw up inventory when product shipments were received and it was my fault because I told her not to worry about updating the system. (Um, yeah, not so much. The company takes inventory control anally serious.)

She left a product bin outside the gate on the mall floor one night when closing and apparently I once again was at fault because I told her it was okay to do something like that. Never mind that what was actually said by me to her the next day was that this had happened in the past by a previous employee and we were lucky to have nothing stolen overnight. (And seriously, how does one close and lock a gate, kneeling down right next to this product bin by the way, and not realize that maybe you should pull it back into the store prior to locking the gate?)

Naturally she uses these excuses when confronted by the boss and he sees through her absurdity. She then goes off the deep end and declares she doesn't appreciate being called a liar. My response to her is to simply quit lying then and take responsibility for her own actions. As you might have guessed this doesn't go over well either.

One of her biggest complaints about the boss is that he never cleans. True enough. Sadly she thinks she's the only one who does any cleaning though. The truth of the matter is all she does is talk about cleaning and by simply talking about cleaning it suddenly transforms into actual cleaning on her part. I've never seen her do any cleaning, ever. When I pointed out to her that talking about cleaning and actual cleaning are two different things she goes berserk. Bat shit crazy berserk.

If she's not selling well it is the fault of the boss because naturally, in her mind, if he's not doing his job, she can't sell anything. Now I'm willing to concede the boss is lazy, although he's improving because.. well... he has to due to his new boss and his demands. I also know that neither his laziness nor her craziness for that matter, have never inhibited my sales.

There have been many instances of property destruction since she's returned as well. A towel rack in our bathroom has mysteriously been pulled off the wall. One of our phones has had its phone cord damaged and the phone rendered unusable. While it can't be proven she's responsible for the damage, both items, in her mind, didn't work properly and she has wanted them replaced. Since there was nothing wrong with either item they weren't replaced, until damaged of course.

Any way....

Her complaints and whining were falling on deaf ears here. This enraged her, more so than a normal person could ever imagine. The week of Black Friday rolls around and in the retail world this is a huge event. Our district manager decided to show up on Monday of that week when it was just myself and the Worthless Co-Worker working to cover plans and strategy for the week. The day was going well and the Worthless Co-Worker was behaving and acting reasonably sane for a change. Right when the district manager announced he was satisfied with what we were doing and he was leaving she speaks up.

She informs him she needs to speak with him privately and off they go out into the mall and they're gone for over 2 1/2 hours.

And once again, as this post is long enough as it is, the next post will continue this seemingly never ending drama. As you may have guessed she threw the boss, and myself to some extent, under the bus. She came back into the store all teary-eyed...... to be continued.