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I'm still so stunned about events yesterday that I'm trembling. Not that anyone died or there was a horrific accident or anything like that, but my world has been, if not flipped upside-down, then shaken up. I don't want to be a big spreader of negative news or anything, but I wanted to share because I feel like I need to let it out, because even my boyfriend doesn't seem to understand these things. I showed up to work yesterday, really rather sweaty as I'd been literally running late and jogged in the hot sunshine. There were lots of men in suits, which meant something was up, and alarm bells immediately started going off in my mind. As I was trying to get ready (and de-sweat myself), one of my co-workers came up and asked if I yet knew what was going on. No.... He said, well, I'd better talk to the men, and walked away, afraid to say more. I got myself ready - not a good day to try something new with wavy 'beach' hair - and went to find these suited guys. They informed me that our store, as of this day, was changing from franchise to corporate, and that our general manager had been replaced with a GM that turns out to be younger than me. Now, this is all a bit shocking, as I (and the rest of the staff) really like what is now our old GM. He's been probably the best guy I've ever worked with, and has never been in a position where he would be let go, so the fact that he has been due to corporate politics is rather alarming. Last night there was such an unhappy air of uncertainty and many staff wanting to leave as a result of this. And along with having someone new, on a personal level, this means things will change for me, as I've been doing things in a certain capacity as an agreement with the old GM - I'm sure I'll no longer be able to work in the same way as I have, which is working fewer longer days (which always seemed to end up being lots of long days, but still...), and being kind of a bit of everything there. So I'll have to see how the future unfolds in this way. But what I'm really upset about - because, after all, this is just change, and we all know that the more that things change, the more they stay the same - is something else that has cropped up. A few months ago, some staff were having issues with one of the girls, who happened to be the out-spoken daughter of the GM. They were afraid to approach her about these issues, and decided to group together and confront the GM - her dad - about it. I'd suggested to them before that we could more anonymously bring up the issues at a staff meeting, but I wasn't listened to. Well, the confrontation backfired, with the girl getting enormously offended when she heard, and of course the GM being defensive. (This, by the way, is the one thing that I won't miss about him - his mix of family and business) The group of people apparently decided to kind of put the blame of the whole thing on me, as I found out a bit later. I had to try to explain how things actually happened, but I don't think I was listened to. The girl was put-offish with me for a while, but then it kind of fizzled out. I am not a confrontational person. I don't say bad things behind others' backs. I like for everyone to just get along, and if there are issues, to work them out reasonably. I've been hurt that someone could believe I would mastermind a 'lynch mob attack', as the girl called the confrontation. I was so frustrated by this, as I hadn't done anything wrong! But it gets worse. I was talking to another guy at work, who was having a rough day, and we talked about things we didn't like. I mentioned that I was feeling uncomfortable working with the girl, as I was getting a cold shoulder from her and I'm not good at dealing with people that don't like me, and I found out shortly after that he turned around and told her that I didn't like working with her, and this exacerbated an already tense situation. She became openly rude to me, so that I had to find out what had happend (the guy telling her this), and try to explain what had actually happened. A fault of mine is that sometimes I'm not very clear in what I'm saying, I think, so that others might take things the wrong way. I'm not very direct and out-spoken, and this might be perceived as wishy-washy or devious, apparently. The girl is definitely direct, as was the guy I had talked to. So, this created an unnecessary, bad atmosphere for me. But, things seemed to smoothe over as time went by, so that the girl would laugh around with me again. Now, yesterday. Since she is the daughter of the GM that has just been suddenly fired, I'm sure she's feeling a bit stressed and angry right now, and has quit, which is understandable, since why would she want to stick around at a job that fired her dad? Well, she posted a message on good old facebook, saying that she would miss "lots of" us, and then left this further comment, in regards to how she won't miss everyone: "Yes particularly one ass kissing backstabbing ***t bitch that will one day get what she deserves ... we should hope that snakey bitch never does." I tried to think if this comment could possibly be directed towards someone else, but no, it would have to be about me. Me! I happened to talk to the guy I mentioned earlier, as he called, drunk, while I was finishing up at work late last night, and I asked about that comment and he's quite sure it's directed at me. This, above anything else that happened yesterday, made me feel like I want to throw up. It's so vicious and undeserved. I know that you all have only what I say and your own opinion of me based on my posts and everything, but I am not what her words say. Or am I? I feel like a failure of a person right now. I can't stand stuff like this, and I'm so frustrated because it's so undeserved. I feel so deflated right now, so stunned and depressed, and I don't know how to respond to this. I could just let us part ways and let the whole thing fade away, since it seems I'm not going to be in contact with her anymore if she's quit, but I feel like that's just taking the easy way out. I want to respond to this message on facebook, saying something about how it appears that this comment is about me and that it would have been nice to actually talk with her over things instead of resorting to something like this, but what's the point? The worst thing is, a few of our co-workers have 'liked' this comment, though I'm not sure if they're aware that it probably refers to me. But how can I work with people that would 'like' something as rude and brutal as this? I happen to have three days off right now, so things at work will go ahead and start changing in my absense, so I'll have time to let things kind of blow over. But my feelings are very hurt, and that's not going to magically go away. Maybe I need to develop a tougher skin and not let something like this bother me so much, because in the grand scheme of things, it's not as big a deal as, say, having a family member develop cancer or losing my house in a fire, or something. Perspective. It's just that these personal slandering attacks hurt so much. This is post #999 for me, and all along I'd planned something special for post #1000, so I'll have to get over myself a little, maybe, and do what I've planned later. I don't feel quite so festive about it right now, but maybe if I spend some time in my garden, and pop in my headphones and get carried away by the soothing voice of Geddy, I will feel a bit lighter. Thank you to anyone who has read through this entire thing, as I know I tend to not keep things short, and I could really do with a kind word or pretty much anything right now.