Ever Have to be a Bitch?

Every Once in Awhile, You Have to be ...

Have you ever gone against your grain and been someone you’re not?  It’s not something I’m proud of, but I did just that. I was pushed to the limit and I was a bitch.

Years ago, I was a secretary for one of the co-owners of a mid-size company in DuBois PA.  My employer was wonderful to work for and she was pleased with my work, so besides working well together we were also good friends.

I got along great with everyone there, except the office manager. She was a feisty short statured woman everyone secretly referred to as ‘Dragon Lady’. No matter what I did, how well I did it, or how late I stayed to help if the need arose, I could not please the woman --and she actually hired me for the position.

I wasn’t raised to treat like with like, although in this case, it was hard not to. I did my best to at least be cordial, since there were times I had to work with her in the office. I wasn’t the only one who noticed her attitude. My co-workers often asked how I stayed so upbeat when Dragon Lady was so rude.

I had been there almost a year, when we had a terrible overnight snowstorm. I lived twenty miles away with a commute full of hills and sharp curves, so I left my apartment early with the storm in mind. I knew I would have to shovel my car out before I could even leave.

As I walked out my front door, I slipped on a sheet of ice hidden under the snow on the concrete stoop. My legs went in the air, lunch bag and purse went flying, and my butt and I landed painfully hard on the third step down. As I landed, both elbows slammed onto the step behind me sending shock waves through both shoulders and my back.

The pain was excruciating and at first, I couldn’t move at all. My tailbone hurt like hell as did both shoulders. It was a while before I could pull myself together enough to stand and go down the rest of the steps to retrieve my purse and lunch from a snowdrift.

It was still snowing hard as I shoveled my car out and got in. I was grateful I was able to get behind a snow plow with a salt/sand spreader on the back and I followed it the entire twenty miles to work.

Still in a lot of pain, I slowly went inside, took off my coat and hung it. When I turned around, there stood Dragon Lady. She immediately pointed out I was ten minutes late, without even asking why.

When I look back, I realize what happened next was the direct result of having a horrible day already and being in so much pain. The top of my head exploded, exposing a year’s worth of her rudeness.

Looking her in the eye, I gathered my personal effects from my desk, painfully put my coat back on, and turned to go back out the door.

“Where do you think you’re going? YOU CAN’T LEAVE!”

“Oh REAL-LY?  WATCH me, B I T C H!”

Then as I slowly made my way out the door, I turned to my friends and said, “I’ll miss you. Watch your backs. ‘Dragon Lady’ will be looking for a new patsy.”

From work, I went straight to the hospital Emergency Room a few blocks away. Later, I left for home knowing I had torn both shoulder rotator cuffs and cracked my coccyx (tailbone). 

There wasn’t much they could do for either of my injuries. The osteopathic physician said he would only recommend surgery on my rotator cuffs if I was into playing contact sports, or had a physically demanding job. 

He told me to wait it out and they would heal to a point of being bearable as long as I didn’t overdo.  There wasn’t anything they could do for my tailbone.  I just had to let that heal as well.

For the next several weeks, I was miserable. Tylenol had become my middle name … but I welcomed my new sense of peace. 

Published Poet/Writer/Author of 5 books.
Quora Top Writer 2018
CJ’s World is a reader-supported publication.
If you enjoy reading my work, please
consider a paid subscription. Thank you.