Back in 2012, I was working in a reasonably respectable line of work. I had a lot of responsibility but not an awful lot of money. Weekends were okay - about eleven to twelve pounds an hour.
My boss didn't take to me from the very start. She said right in front of a client - "don't worry the next girl actually has some experience." They advertised - "experience preferred but not essential."
She also had a problem with my more reserved personality. She seemed to gravitate towards the more brashy women.
She was a bit of a tyrant, and was always suspicious of me. At a meeting she was talking about a clients family members girlfriend and she stared right at me while she called her "ignorant" and "I don't trust her." Well, it was because sometimes I used to speak for the sake of speaking to try keep clients at easy as no one likes uncomfortable silences right? I felt pressurised to put on a front .
My personal life began to fall apart and the strain must have been showing. I lost a lot of weight. I made a massive mistake at work. Yet one client hinted I should try my hand at nursing. My boss knew I had good qualifications and found out about my spell in the psychiatric unit in my town.
When I handed in my notice to flit town, I attended the last meeting even though I didn't really have to as I didn't have much time left to work. She didn't notice me and steadied herself to dispel some juicy gossip. "oh Laura's not here...." And I moved forward and I can't remember what I said but she started stammering and her henchman got up with a start and bolted. She had obviously told her about me and the boss thought she could get one up on me by telling everyone.
One of the other workers put the knife in me in the meeting before that when the boss announced that we would have to go through occupational health to maintain working expecting everyone to do it as it was actually voluntary. And everyone was like "what is occupational health?" and one polish lady fixed her eyes on me and says "mental health."
I honestly thought nobody had cottoned on, I thought I kept it hidden, blagging my way through but I guess people do pick it up, without knowing.