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Tattletale

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"I have a problem," my supervisor said to me just as I was about to take a late lunch.

"What's that?" I asked, stopping in my tracks toward the door.

"You had your boyfriend in the office after hours with the lights out!" she exclaimed, her voice raising.

"No, don't tell me. Someone told you this, right?"

"Well, yes."

"And you just believed them. Right? No trial. No jury. Just straight execution. Right?" I asked calmly, shaking my head in disappointment.

My supervisor, both surprised and frustrated at my composed disposition finally said, "I don't want anybody in this office after hours! You got that?" After this she stormed out of the office, straight downstairs to a comrade of hers to discuss me. I followed her out the door. I would have my entire lunch to contemplate on the entire confrontation.

I knew exactly who had ratted me out to the supervisor. An old disgruntled co-worker, who was bitter about being overlooked for promotions after all those years working there. After the office closed, I came back to the office to grab an item that I had forgotten to take, and my friend was with me. My co-worker who was waiting for her ride had seen us go toward the office. The door leading to the office was out of her view, and she just assumed that we went into the office. But once we returned to work the following holiday weekend, she did her deed.

To stress the vicious nature of this particular tattler was that she held onto this information for three days of a weekend, and made it her business first thing Monday morning to tell the boss on me. A less concerned individual would've probably forgotten over the weekend. But I guess she had nothing better to do, and thought that perhaps this might gain her notoriety with the higher-ups.

I thought that reporting me to the supervisor was an incredibly underhanded thing to do. Furthermore, she never saw me take him into the office. She went purely off of an assumption. And the blood-thirsty supervisor, who is a little spit-fire of a woman harboring the same bitterness as my co-worker, bought right into the story.

I never, exactly, admitted to bringing my friend into the office with me. But, I never denied it either. However, for several months, this information spread all over the office building. One version had it that we were in the office making photocopies of ourselves having sex. Another version has it that we were having sex all over the building.

Not only was I disgusted by this incident. My co-worker did a great injustice to me. Things had gotten so out of hand that I just blocked everything out of my mind until it blew over.

I truly believe that bosses don't really like tattletales. Because they are just kiss-ups. But, they do keep them around because a good "snitch" can keep them abreast of those minor but important issues that may otherwise get overlooked. Basically, I don't believe in tattling. Simply because justice can take care of itself.

Eventually, my co-worker, herself, had to answer to our office manager(higher than the supervisor) when she was caught sneaking into the building to pick up her paycheck after she had called in so terribly sick! She became the victim of her own poison. Nobody had to tell on her; she told on herself!

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