In last week’s blog, I mentioned there is a solicitor out there trying to cast doubt on my credibility. I know that it’s hard for some solicitors to believe that everything I blogged about actually happened in a law firm. They compare it to their own business and say: ‘Bullying could never happen to that extent. You must have been exaggerating or brought it on yourself’.
Sadly, it really did happen and I did nothing to deserve it.
The gentleman
in question is a partner in a HR Department and a specialist at defending employers against employment claims, so do I expect him to have
much empathy for a bullied member of legal support staff? No, of course
not.
With an
implied insult that I almost found funny, he has drawn attention to the fact
that I am a ‘creative writer’. The implication being, of course, that I have a
vivid imagination and that this might impinge on my ability to know truth from
fiction.
Petty insults
aside, I have been fortunate this week to run into an old friend from my original firm
from hell. She walked out years after me and has all the inside gossip. What she told
me left me reeling. It’s a list of horror stories involving inappropriate
behaviour in terms of bullying, partners treating staff as though it’s a dating
agency and, as they did in my day, no one ever hands in their notice. You simply
get to the point where you walk out – whether you have another job to go
to or not.
The good news
is that she’s putting me in touch with my old colleagues. It'll look more like a support group than a creative writing circle. As I said on
Twitter earlier this week, I’ve been running my anti-bullying campaign since
2009.
That’s not creativity - that's passion.
