"A Last Straw" from My Past

What was your “last straw” with someone you stopped speaking to?

I had to think long and hard on this prompt. Mostly because while I can identify five people I never wanted to speak to again, I have never completely cut someone off. After a deep dive I was able to identify one person that I had not spoken to since the exchange that followed.

I was working as an office manager for a small husband and wife co-owned company. The office we worked in was one large office with four employees sharing the space. The female co-owner came storming into the office looking upset. She planted herself in front of my desk.

Her: “I ran into Mr. Y at Target, and he asked me about my relationship with Mr. J (not her husband). I told him we were just friends. He then told me he had seen you and asked you and you told him you did not know the relationship.” [Note: Mr. J and her were in public together every day for over two months and I had already had about ten people ask me about the relationship between the two. I was really trying to stay out of it and not judge].

Me: “Yes, I did tell him that.”

Her: “Well, if anyone asks you again, I want you to tell people that you know we are not having an affair – that we are just friends.”

Me: “I would prefer to not talk about the relationship at all. That is your business.”

Her (Screaming, in front of co-workers): “You will tell people what I want you to tell them. I own you.”

I picked up my purse and walked away from that job. When someone who signs a paycheck tells me they “own me.” I am not in the right company.

I had been home about two hours when the loan officer from a bank the owners were negotiating a business loan with called me. The loan officer said, “We would not normally call you at home, but “female co-owner” came by with new financial statements for the loan and she said you had given us the wrong ones. She said you left because you didn’t know what you were doing, and she called you out on it. We want to know if that is true.”

Me: “K does the accounting and financial statements; she has been doing them for five years. Give her a call and ask about the financials. As for why I left, I would prefer to keep that to myself.”

Later in the afternoon, the male co-owner of the company (and husband of the female co-owner) came to my house to talk. He asked me to, “Please just apologize to her and come back to the office. Our business needs you.”

I told him no I was not apologizing, that I could go to work for a temporary agency until I found a full-time job and that I would come to pick up my final paycheck on the next regular pay date.

Come to think of it, I have never spoken to him again either.

An employee later told me the bank declined the bank loan unless the owners provided an audited financial statement. The owners didn’t want to comply, and they didn’t get the loan.

The business closed down about five years later. The co-owners divorced. I went on with my career and learned a valuable lesson about recognizing toxicity.