Looks like I am talking to myself in this thread, lol.

Well, I spoke with my own boss about what her boss had said to me. I had a heart to heart conversation and was very open and honest with my feelings.

I told my boss that this conversation with her boss left me feeling very unwelcomed by the company and shi*tty, on the heels of my job offer. And that was because she had given me a laundry list of things to improve upon with no positives included regarding my performance, I explained. My boss was validating and said I am adding value to the company.

I also stood up for myself and said I had never been told these things in my career, only that I need more confidence. I asked her for specific examples of my behavior that may have rocked the boat or pissed people off.

She gave me a couple of examples, but these were examples from when I first arrived and when I had some trouble with the external agency's work not being correct or up to standards.

Even though we had a couple of different conversations about it at the time, my boss completely misconstrued my stance and approach, and twisted my words around to mean something else, ie, that I was telling these colleagues what to do and how to do it because I am more senior.

At the time, I had explained to my boss that I was taking on more of a leadership and coaching role with this external agency partner because I am senior to the two colleagues I am working with in years of experience. And THAT was completely misconstrued. Oh man. Given what she said to me yesterday about this, she had apparently interpreted this to mean that I am arrogant and telling them what to do. That was NOT how I handled this issue with the agency. Instead, I coached them on two separate occasions, I gave them my tips on what works well, and I had communicated that their work wasn't yet meeting my expectations and needed improvements. My boss at the time had even coached me to say exactly these things!! GEEZ!!!

So I've learned that my boss twists things that I say into something very different than was meant.

Bottom line: you cannot trust anyone in a work environment, apparently, and you always need to watch your back with what you say to people, especially your boss!

I am thinking of contacting my employment agency to see if they can find me a different contract/freelance role.