SECRETARY WAS FIRED!

A short while ago, I realized while I was screaming at my husband about Secretary X for over an hour (or at least it seemed that long to him), that Secretary's ridiculousness had to stop and that I was not going to take it anymore. I reached my boiling point.  Life is way too short to deal with people with terrible attitudes who refuse to do work they are paid to do.  I swear I felt like telling her to go live with the Occupy Wall Street folks down the street in their tents if she wants to soak up other people's money and make them angry while accomplishing nothing! Those are HER kind of people. Anyways, I digress...

So, the next day, I walked into the office, dropped my crap in my office and marched straight into B-Dub's office and told him I was done dealing with her crap!!! (No joke, just like that.) I told them that I was resigning and that I would stick around until they transitioned someone new into my spot. I didn't have a job lined-up, but I couldn't take it anymore.

Then, he called Associate in. I was happy he did because it saves me some time repeating the same crap he also needed to hear.

Then, I made a 45 minute impromptu exit interview speech, which included the following key points:

1. The solution to Secretary's insubordinate refusal to do her work is NOT to accommodate her and give her work to other people, but to get rid of the cancer that she is;

2. My three year old doesn't behave the way she does. She is disrespectful, immature, and she is dragging everyone around her down into her abyss of unhappiness;

3. The absence of management of personnel is alarming and out of control. I gave specific examples, and they admitted they saw the behavior I was describing. I explained to them that watching Secretary X behave the way she does and then turning their cheek until they're forced to deal with the next atomic explosion is less than satisfactory;

4. Office morale is suffering because of the firm's supervisors' lack of positive feedback and absolute focus on negativity;

5. She is creating traps for malpractice left and right and the firm's reputation will soon be suffering for her misdeeds;

6. She is rude to clients, opposing counsel and court staff and I am tired of apologizing and making excuses for her utter lack of professionalism.

7. Most importantly, I told them I enjoy working for them, but I cannot continue down this reckless path with them. They may have accepted her behavior, but I refuse to do so anymore.

If you read one of my posts for Quote of the Day recently, you read this quote:

"You either start losing the bad employees, or you start losing the good ones." -Superlegal

That was my turning point.

I was pushed to the point of no return with her. I was D-O-N-E, DONE!

They both had sweet things to say about me, which was very nice to hear. I thanked them for their comments, but told them that unfortunately, that doesn't solve my problem. Their impression of my work and ethics was not at issue.

I told them that I try to be as honest as I can with my employers when I start to look for other employment because I would expect that honesty to be reciprocated if the tables were turned.

Well, the long story, slightly shortened, is that they agreed to fire her to keep me if I would stay.  After a great deal of patience over the last several weeks, Secretary was fired!  I have grown to like these guys, but they need to realize how their actions are effecting their firm. Everyone else in that firm is so worried about sucking up that they won't tell anyone about real, serious issues that are slowly suffocating it. Someone needed to step up to the plate and tell them what needed to be said. I was certainly prepared to make good on my threat to leave, but I am happy I don't have to.