"Wow, she must be REALLY dumb..."

[Marlowe]

I just posted a thread in Sightings, and my story about the crappy shop assistant in M&S reminded me of one of my coworkers at Local Law Firm, and her evil friend who was a customer there, or what passed as one... I don't know why I didn't think of it before now, I guess maybe I blocked it out or something It could have gone in either bad coworkers or sucky customers, but seeing as the bitch was always reasonably civil when her evil friend wasn't there, I decided it belonged here.

Background: I briefly worked in a law firm near my house doing filing, reception etc. I had no formal law qualifications, but know most areas of law back to front (advantages of working for a political group where your friends sometimes wind up in jail and can't afford an actual lawyer...) and the firm needed temporary help while a girl was on maternity leave, and they knew I was good, so... yeah. I started there. I didn't do anything that required law qualifications, or indeed any qualifications at all really - it was just basic admin.

The Bitch was also admin, but was doing her law degree at a university in London that is pretty much synonymous with "place where you walk in off the street and spell your name right and we'll give you a diploma." For some unexplained transgression, she was back home for a year, and during this time had been made by Mummy and Daddy to work for once (so whatever she did, it must have been BAAADDDDD.) We did the same basic things, but her "superior qualifications" meant that she was of course so much superior to me

Her friend did some unspecified thing which largely involved hanging around the office at all hours and being a pain in the ass. I know she worked, because she bitched about it, but never found out what she did. I did however find out that she is as dumb as a box of bricks (highlights include "duh, Cairo's not a REAL place, it's like Narnia", "Hey, you spelled Iraq wrong" (when I was making notes on art in IRAN), and "when people make love, they have to both be wishing for a baby while they do it, otherwise they CAN'T get pregnant.") Many hours were also spent reassuring each other how "cute" they were. Even if her friend had come in to talk to one of the lawyers about one of many citations she had gotten for public drunkenness/lewd behaviour/public urination/DUI

This made the way she behaved towards me even more inexplicable.

A typical day would go like this. I'd get in at 8, start working. Around 10, Bitch (B) would saunter in with some lame excuse about traffic or something. She would then pick her nails and play on her phone until around midday, when her friend Dumbass (D) would wobble in on her usual stack heels. They would spend some time squealing, discussing who was "fine", and discussing how they got so "wasted", before their usual segue into how cute they were.

D: Do you like these shoes?
B: Oh yeah they are SOOO cute!
D: I dunno like I think they make my legs look short or something...
B: Oh NO, you are sooooo cute! Those shoes look so CUTE on you!
D: OMG YOU ARE SO CUTE TOO

etc etc. *quietly vomits*

Then, this would begin. (All their conversing is in very loud stage whispers)

D: What the hell is that girl (me) doing?
B: I dunno. Something dumb.
D: God she is so dumb.
B: I know, did you know she's, like, not even in law school?
D: Wooow, they should like fire her or something...
B: I KNOW!
Me: *seethe*

I always try to turn the other cheek in situations like this. It's more important to be professional than it is to tear bitches like this a new one, however tempting. I've been bullied all my life, I can live with it a little longer, right? So I resolved to ignore them.

Until one day... it got too much.

It had been a rough week. I hadn't been sleeping, I was short of cash, I was worried about my sick uncle, things like that. On top of all that, I was getting sick, and I was still coming into work and picking up Bitch's slack to make sure stuff got done. It wasn't just busywork that wouldn't matter, it dramatically affected actual people's lives. If something wasn't completed and didn't make it to the lawyers before a deadline, it could have serious repercussions for a client.

D: God is she (me) still working?
B: Yah. She's always working. I guess she must just be slow or something because it takes her FOR EVER to do stuff.
D: Wow, she must be REALLY dumb...

etc.

Me: *snaps* RIGHT! *thumps desk with fist*
B + D:
Me: *in a slow, quiet, but from what I've been told by friends is a TERRIFYING voice* I am NOT dumb. I am smart. I am very smart. This is not arrogance, it is fact. I was valedictorian of my senior school. I had the highest GPA in its history. I tested an IQ of 170 before I was even 15. I went to freaking OXFORD, and if I was DUMB, do you really think I would have done all that??

You could have heard a pin drop in that room.

Me: There are so many things I could say to or about you right now, but I won't. Do you know why? Because I was raised better than that. I was raised to treat others with respect. I was raised to be polite and civil and to keep my own stupid opinions to myself rather than gossip like a couple of vindictive old crones. *grabs bag* Now, I'm taking a long lunch. If you need to look up any of the fancy long words I used, the dictionary's on the shelf.

And I left.

They kind of left me alone after that. I wonder why


Has anyone else ever had this experience? A coworker who while rather sucky on her own, evolves into a full-on nightmare bitch in the presence of a particular customer, or just customers in general?

[IT Grunt]

I figure they needed serious treatment after a burn like that.

[Jay 2K Winger]

I've always been fortunate in my working environments to be a genial guy, who does his work and helps pick up slack when necessary, but who also doesn't really suffer idiots that well. So, no, I've not had that kind of experience in my jobs.

What you describe is typical "bully" behavior. They love to run their mouth and make people feel small or inferior, even if they're not saying it to your face. Often times, they'll do it to try to provoke an angry, violent reaction, which they can then use to play the victim in front of the boss or teachers or whomever.

When bullies are called out for it, however, especially when their arguments are shot to pieces as the OP showed here, they tend to back off and quietly sulk while they try to find a new angle with which to start on you... or more likely find a weaker target.

[Marlowe]

find a weaker target

See, now that's the error most would-be bullies/SCs/general assholes make with me - they assume I'm an easy target and weak, because I'm a small girl.

Oh, how wrong they are...

[Sandiercy]

Did you have a camera there??? I demand footage!

[Aethian]

I used to have a coworker like that. She knew *everything* and could tell you *everything* and she was always always right....

Yea...no.

There was one time one of the GM boys would come in and cash his check. He was very easy on the eyes and if I hadn't been engaged at the time I would have jumped at the time he asked me out. Of course she had to butt in on every conversation we were having cause of course she knew exactly what we were talking about.

Until that one day we were talking about our respective Rainbow Sharks. I was telling him about a brand of blood worms mine liked. The name at the time was cutesy sounding and I said they sounded like candy. Insert miss know it all proclaiming that she just loved to have those while watching movies. The faces we must have made.

Sadly that was the last time he came up to the counter and constantly gave her wide berth. I don't know if anyone actually clued her in as to what she admitted to eating.

[shopgirl15]

You rock.

[Marlowe]

You rock.

Thanks I'm Irish. Snark and badass kind of run with the genetic territory, especially since I'm a Northwest girl.

[mjr]

highlights include "duh, Cairo's not a REAL place, it's like Narnia"

My response to this would be something like taking out a world atlas and saying something like: "Really? Let's see, here's a map of Egypt. And Oh, look! Cairo!"

"Hey, you spelled Iraq wrong" (when I was making notes on art in IRAN)

My response: "You do know that there is Iraq AND Iran, correct??" (pull out world atlas again, point out Iran and Iraq).

, and "when people make love, they have to both be wishing for a baby while they do it, otherwise they CAN'T get pregnant.")

I seriously, seriously hope you're joking about this. How old was this woman? You have to WISH for a baby when you're making love?? Do you have to wish the whole time? Or just during the orgasm, or what?? Did she say??

Wait until she gets pregnant and WASN'T wishing for a baby...she'll be really confused then...

Schooling people is fun, isn't it??

[Catwoman2965]

I had a kind of similar incident, many moons ago, while on a temp assignment. I was going to school, to become a paralegal, and temping to pay the bills as I was going at night. I worked in the loan dept of a major, now bought-out and merged, bank. We did processing of applications, loans, etc. a lot of data entry, filing, some phone work, but basic admin stuff, to help out the loan officers etc.

i don't recall exactly what it was I had been given to do, but it apparently was the task of an older woman, who had been there for years. My impression was she wasn't quite as computer saavy as some of us "younger folks" but she certainly wasn't lazy, it just took her longer to do certain tasks.

I'm someone who, if you give me repetitive stuff, like data entry, or making sure all docs are in a certain folder, labeled, alphabetized, that kind of thing, Im very quick and can get it done and then will look for more to do. So the bosses' gave me one of the older lady's tasks,and she was NOT happy about it. She'd make snide comments, and was kind of nasty to me. I think she was afraid she was going to be replaced by me, which was silly, since I was only a temp, and didn't WANT this as a permanent job.

I finally told her flat out, which was huge for me since I was very shy and not at al confrontational, that I was only doing what the boss gave me to do, I wasn't at all interested in HER job, and if she had issues, she needed to speak to the boss. I think once she realized I was no threat, she backed off, and we got along fine.

[Marlowe]

I seriously, seriously hope you're joking about this. How old was this woman? You have to WISH for a baby when you're making love?? Do you have to wish the whole time? Or just during the orgasm, or what?? Did she say??

Wait until she gets pregnant and WASN'T wishing for a baby...she'll be really confused then...

She's a couple years younger than me, so 24 or 25.. so back then she would have been early twenties. And no, I'm not kidding... I mean, I went to a religious school, so I'm familiar with the whole no-touching, no-sex-ed-till-12th-grade, six-inch-rule thing... but she took it WAAAYYYY beyond what even those nuns could have dreamed of Sadly, she didn't expand on it, but I assume that from what I've heard about her then-boyfriend and now-husband, she doesn't even know the female orgasm exists, so that might answer your question.

And would you believe she ended up getting married suddenly and then dropping a kid a short eight months later?

[Jester]

"when people make love, they have to both be wishing for a baby while they do it, otherwise they CAN'T get pregnant."

Yes, because every unwanted pregnancy happens because the people who didn't want to become pregnant were actually wishing for a baby while they were having sex.

Isn't that what every person who doesn't want to be pregnant/cause a pregnancy thinks about while they're having sex?

D: What the hell is that girl (me) doing?
B: I dunno. Something dumb.

"It's called 'work.' You might want to try it sometime, since that is what they are allegedly paying you to do here."

D: God is she (me) still working?
B: Yah. She's always working.

"Yes, because it's my job. This is what they are paying me for, not to sit around and talk with degenerate friends about how cute we are and how wasted we got last night."

And would you believe she ended up getting married suddenly and then dropping a kid a short eight months later?

No! That's shocking!

[mjr]

And would you believe she ended up getting married suddenly and then dropping a kid a short eight months later?

I wonder where she even got that idea...and was she surprised she got pregnant? Did she say she was wishing for a baby??

[XCashier]

I hate people like this. Bullies, yes, because they're too stupid and lazy to improve themselves, so they treat those who are willing to improve themselves with contempt and belittlement. Then they're shocked...shocked, I tell you!...when their target turns on them and rips them a new one.

Schooling people is fun, isn't it??

With this idiot, teaching her anything must've felt like all day long.

And would you believe she ended up getting married suddenly and then dropping a kid a short eight months later?

I'd say "no! " but I'm a very poor liar.

[Jay 2K Winger]

I hate people like this. Bullies, yes, because they're too stupid and lazy to improve themselves, so they treat those who are willing to improve themselves with contempt and belittlement.

It's the "crab bucket" effect. If you put a bunch of crabs in a bucket, and one tries to climb out, the other crabs will pull it back in.