Follow-up on the EFC
After several busy weeks, I can happily announce that I'm nearing the end of my work with the Evil Former Coworker. While it wasn't as horrific as I was dreading, it reaffirmed that she's essentially the same since we parted ways over two years ago, and I was wise to brace myself for impact, and even wiser to escape her clutches in the first place.
The files she sent me were mostly organized, with a few glaring exceptions and omissions. As my project manager was reviewing my analysis, he kept finding instances where her maps didn't match the data in the files they sent to us. None of that was surprising to me, given my knowledge of her past performance. But overall it was relatively painless, and she and I didn't interact as much as I was dreading we might.
But the highlight in all this came late last week after the PM had finished comparing our work against the maps from her group and one other firm. His comment went a little something like this: "Overall I'm not impressed with the maps from 'X Company'. They're hard to read, they chose poor colors, and they didn't even bother to put a base map on them." I merely shrugged and nodded, though that little voice inside my head was alternating between laughing its ass off and gloating. At no time did I have to point out any of these errors. Throughout the process, they presented themselves without any prodding from me.
So now I can let out a sigh of relief. I didn't have to bad-mouth her, which wouldn't reflect well on me, no matter how well-deserved it might have been. I wasn't forced to converse with her for long periods on end, and the only personal update I've been forced to endure during this time was a brief email about their family's new kitten. My work and effiency on the project have been receiving excellent reviews, and as someone who, for better or worse, still derives a significant amount of self-worth from her job, that's always appreciated. And because my work isn't travelling back to her firm, she doesn't have another opportunity to stab me (and my career) in the back.
It's a certainty I won't ever look back on this and wish I'd done it all differently with that awful woman. Taking the high road was a worthwhile journey. In addition to everything else, that knowledge gives me much peace.
And I'm happy to say chewing my own arm off wasn't necessary; besides, that would have made typing this a little too difficult.
The files she sent me were mostly organized, with a few glaring exceptions and omissions. As my project manager was reviewing my analysis, he kept finding instances where her maps didn't match the data in the files they sent to us. None of that was surprising to me, given my knowledge of her past performance. But overall it was relatively painless, and she and I didn't interact as much as I was dreading we might.
But the highlight in all this came late last week after the PM had finished comparing our work against the maps from her group and one other firm. His comment went a little something like this: "Overall I'm not impressed with the maps from 'X Company'. They're hard to read, they chose poor colors, and they didn't even bother to put a base map on them." I merely shrugged and nodded, though that little voice inside my head was alternating between laughing its ass off and gloating. At no time did I have to point out any of these errors. Throughout the process, they presented themselves without any prodding from me.
So now I can let out a sigh of relief. I didn't have to bad-mouth her, which wouldn't reflect well on me, no matter how well-deserved it might have been. I wasn't forced to converse with her for long periods on end, and the only personal update I've been forced to endure during this time was a brief email about their family's new kitten. My work and effiency on the project have been receiving excellent reviews, and as someone who, for better or worse, still derives a significant amount of self-worth from her job, that's always appreciated. And because my work isn't travelling back to her firm, she doesn't have another opportunity to stab me (and my career) in the back.
It's a certainty I won't ever look back on this and wish I'd done it all differently with that awful woman. Taking the high road was a worthwhile journey. In addition to everything else, that knowledge gives me much peace.
And I'm happy to say chewing my own arm off wasn't necessary; besides, that would have made typing this a little too difficult.
posted by Gospazha at
5:22 PM
