Yesterday I went to an off-site meeting that was attended by about 40 people. To say it was tedious is an understatement. During one of the breaks, a woman I worked with in a very limited capacity years ago came up to me (she’s one of those people you hope to see first so you can take evasive maneuvers) and bumped my leg with hers to get my attention (her first mistake—I believe in the personal space bubble and believe others should respect it). I was nice because I’m a professional. After the how are yous were over the conversation tanked. It was clear this woman is still as smarmy as I remember.
She asked me what I do for my organization and I told her. She said something about having worked there many years ago. And then she said I was picking up where she left off-which kindled my loathing into a nice warm feeling in my chest. From what I can tell her legacy at my organization is that she left no legacy. I’m definitely not picking up where she left off.
She works for another university which also happens to have a contract with the same state agency that my project has a contract with. There been some contract negotiation sticky points with the mutual state entity and, naturally, there are some feelings of anxiety. This smarmy woman wanted me to spill the beans on what’s going on at my organization. I figure if you aren’t waterboarding me you don’t get info willy-nilly. I was non-committal.
She told me she believes we should all get out while we can and she has submitted 40 applications. My first thought was “LOSER” (seriously, who puts out 40 applications and then brags about it) but what I said was “I’m sure you’ll get quite a response from that.” 40 applications, jeez.