We're constantly told to be kind and considerate of other people. It's talked about in books and films; it's a never-ending topic in multiple households; folks speak up about it on online platforms, hoping to encourage fellow humans to make this world a better place. Unfortunately, cruelty plays a significant role in our everyday lives, and no matter how hard you try, you're still bound to encounter some terrible individuals that are more than happy to ruin your day.
Some people grow out of this phase, for instance, when your school bully finally decides to become a decent human. However, usually, it's in a person's nature, and it tends to stick around until they're old and grey. Being in contact with unpleasant people is a struggle and a half, but sometimes all you have to do is wait for the right moment.
More info: Reddit
It's crucial to be kind to each other, especially in a workplace where everything is already stressful enough
Image credits: barb howe (not the actual photo)
"Solicitor embarrassed me and made me cry 3 times. So I became super efficient at my job" – an online user took it to a well-known subreddit to reveal her story about the time her boss made her life a living hell. Treating people well, to most, seems like an effortless and natural thing – however, sometimes you get "lucky" and a once adequate person decides to humiliate you without realizing that the conflict ensued due to a technological malfunction. The post received over 29K upvotes and 473 worth of comments discussing this rather emotional situation.
Boss repeatedly yells at her employee for bringing documents late, turns out it was the fax machine's fault as it didn't update its time to daylight saving
Image credits: u/SabrinaSpellman1
The author began her post with a brief introduction, saying that the event took place many years ago – however, it still makes her chuckle. When Sabrina was around 19 years old, she was working as a receptionist at a solicitor's office. It was a small business but still quite successful; they had 4 partners and even their own Judge Judy.
Image credits: u/SabrinaSpellman1
The company had a couple of teams – a conveyancing department, a personal injury, financial and criminal department, and a family law one that a new solicitor named Anna had joined. Her main focus was to help domestic violence victims and Sabrina mentioned that the woman was, in fact, exceptionally great at her job. The author said that she saw a lot of abuse victims while they patiently waited for the solicitor in the reception, and since most of them were extremely stressed out and had to wait an hour or longer, they would often tell Sabrina their stories.
Image credits: u/SabrinaSpellman1
Anna'd go out of her way to obtain restraining orders, appoint emergency hearings and police interviews, she'd find safe houses for the victims and deal with the custody of their children. Moreover, the woman was extremely posh, well-educated and according to Sabrina "spoke better than the characters on Downtown Abbey". However, she was also very opinionated and swore a lot. The OP revealed that hearing Anna talk about one of the husbands of abused women, swearing and sounding a lot like the Queen made her and her colleagues giggle.
Most of the author's job was focused on filing, typing voice statements and logging calls from the victims with restraining orders who had been contacted by their abusers. Every little call she'd get, she would have to log and report for court files, and since the woman got a ton of these, she eventually learned to recognize each victim by voice.
Back then, most documents had to be faxed and the author was responsible for bringing them in as soon as they'd come through
Image credits: u/SabrinaSpellman1
Approximately a month later, Anna was featured in an article that positively affected the company; it highlighted how crucial it was for her to keep the people safe and the whole office celebrated with her. However, not long after, the newly-found fame had transformed the woman into a completely different person. Anna became extremely full of herself, and even developed a new habit where she would demand Sabrina bring her coffee as soon as she'd walk inside.
Since it was quite a while ago, most documents had to be faxed. Anna's office was two doors away from the reception and she would always let the author know if she was expecting important papers. If that was the case, the OP would drop everything and rush the documents straight to her; waiting for legal papers, such as police reports or restraining orders, could be a literal life or death situation for the clients, which is why it was so significant to bring the documents as soon as possible.
Image credits: David Mulder (not the actual photo)
Image credits: u/SabrinaSpellman1
One time, a restraining order came through for a woman who was already discussing things with Anna in the office. The victim was in a terrible mental state and her story was truly terrifying. The overall rule was that if an important document was in need of collection, the author of the post would stop typing up the statements, interrupt the client and run to the fax machine. Sabrina did exactly that, handed the papers to Anna and left.
Moments later, the woman was already in reception, yelling at the OP because the timestamp on the restraining order said that it had been delivered a whole hour earlier. Naturally, the woman was pretty bewildered as she knew that she had handed the document over as soon as it came through.
The timestamps on the documents kept saying that they were delivered an hour prior, making the solicitor completely lose it
Image credits: u/SabrinaSpellman1
Because Anna had decided to cause such a scene, "Judy", the founder of the company, came out of the office to listen. The woman's demeanor gave absolutely nothing away, and in the end she quietly told the author to make sure to give the documents in a timely fashion to avoid any kind of altercation in the future. However, the timestamp problem happened again, moreover, with the same client.
As always, Sabrina brought the papers to the office as soon as they came through, and before she could leave, Anna, once again, verbally lashed out at the poor woman. This time the conflict included a ton of swearing and happened right in front of the already traumatized client. Thankfully, Judy decided to interfere and asked the OP to explain the situation.
Image credits: u/SabrinaSpellman1
Later on, Anna followed the woman out of the office and continued yelling, saying that the OP had no respect or kindness in her heart, that she was lazy, utterly incompetent and, last but not least, ridiculously not right in the head. Naturally, the author of the post couldn't handle such stress and rushed to let her emotions out in the toilets.
Over the next couple of days, the same client came in. Her situation had escalated further and even hit the newspapers. The partners of the firm had gathered together at Anna's office along with the victim, and when Sabrina went back to hand a file to one of them, Anna let out a "was this from an hour ago too?". Luckily, it didn't bother the woman because she'd had her realization moment late the night before.
The OP had later realized that the fax machine simply hadn't updated the time
Image credits: u/SabrinaSpellman1
The OP calmly said that the reason why the timestamp on the documents was always an hour late was because the clocks had changed to daylight saving time, but the fax machine was old and simply didn't update its time. Unfortunately, the woman's little victory moment was ruined because she managed to trip over her own foot, giving Anna something to chuckle about.
A day later, a staff meeting was called to discuss professionalism in the office. Turns out, the client who witnessed Anna's emotional outburst had approached the founder of the company, as it really upset her seeing Anna treat her colleagues in such a disturbing way. Judy made sure to let the employees understand that their clients had already seen enough, and that yelling was totally unacceptable. Later on, Anna, very hesitantly apologized but the author just shrugged it off.
To avoid future conflicts, the author maliciously complied and decided to update the woman with post-it notes instead
Image credits: Nick Farnhill (not the actual image)
Image credits: u/SabrinaSpellman1
The malicious compliance of the story was this: every time Sabrina got a call from one of the victims, instead of logging it through a list on the computer, she wrote everything down on a post-it note instead. The OP would be in and out of Anna's office sometimes 10 times an hour, meaning that her desk was practically flooded with tiny notes.
Later on, one of the clients who was in a shelter with her daughter called and said that she'd decided to reconcile with her abusive husband, asking the company to drop the case. The author of the thread mentioned that such things do happen sometimes, especially when it gets too much for the victims. But this case was particularly brutal and Sabrina instantly felt that something was just not right.
Image credits: u/SabrinaSpellman1
Anna, without sensing anything, told the OP that she'd call the client back in a couple of days, as calling right away might jeopardize her safety, for instance, if the abuser was there. However, Sabrina interfered and told the woman to immediately call the police.
Naturally, Anna wondered why, to which the author said that it wasn't their client on the phone, as she always recognized her voice when she called. The women called for a welfare check and, as we all probably expected, her husband had taken her back and made his older daughter call the office pretending to be the victim. Fortunately, the victim was well and had been transferred to a better safe house.
Image credits: u/SabrinaSpellman1
After the situation was completely settled, Anna gifted the OP a bottle of wine, asked her to ditch the post-it notes malarkey and apologized properly. The author also revealed that she's no longer in the field, as it was a job she took after she dropped out of college.