Forgive me I have no idea how to spell that word, karma. So I am reduced to something like phonetics. Which while I'm at it, is a very strange word. Why isn't it spelled .. fonetix? or fonetiks? Does my head in that does. Oh well just something to ponder. While I like to think my command of the Queen's English is above the norm, when it comes to words from other cultures I am definitely left lacking. It's probably something like khama, but you know what I mean. Ok, on with it!
My home phone rang today. I was talking to a work client at the time, on my mobile. So let the home phone ring out. As soon as I finished my call my mobile rang. Incredibly it was a Manager from my previous employer's business. How strange I was thinking, what could they possibly want? They'd better not want their money back, if they made a mistake, tough! But maybe they didn't pay me enough? Well that'd be ok. My mind is darting here, there and everywhere, this call is completely unexpected.
So I ask out of curiosity, did you just call my home number? Yes. Oh sorry, I was on another call. So, they reaaally want to talk to me. And silly as it was, they asked about some work I'd done for them, did I know where it was saved?
That evil little person inside me giggled. So, six months later they need my work. Funny that. Didn't need me at all for over a year before they decided to pay me out. Deliberately ignored my pleas for work, not a single response during that time. Oh this was delicious.
This was work I'd done before my relapse and the woeful year that followed. And quite honestly I didn't have a clue where it was saved, apart from the fact that it would have been saved on the usual network drive. But these people are all new, don't know about any network drive. Oh dear (heh heh heh) you'll have to start it all over again, how horrible, months of work that was. But they have a copy of my final findings. Well that's a good start I say. But it's a pdf. Well if you want to use that as your basis, you could work backwards from there, do some surveying, a bit of PR, just convert it to Word and do it all over again. Draw your conclusions from the new work. Don't know how to convert a pdf? Well I was being too generous anyway telling you even that much. Madness, a bunch of novices I tell myself, makes me feel good, makes me feel pretty clever actually!
Now I know I should forgive and forget. And I really shouldn't be taking any joy out of anybody else's difficulty. But hey I tried to help. A bit. Those guys don't pay me any more, so what the ? How dare they try and get anything out of me, for free! Forgive. Forget. I think I can forget. The forgiving might take a while. Aarghh. I do try to be a good person, and this is only a minor fall from grace isn't it??!! Depends which side of the fence youre sitting on I guess. On my side we have some pretty smug looking faces. Nerrr. And anyway, nerrrrr.
Think I'll leave it there, just had to share my joy, and my ever-so-slightly guilty conscience!
Oh that was great, thanks for sharing. It's always a good feeling when that happens. Justice. And why shouldn't you gloat, you didn't wrong them as you were leaving. This is Gods gift to you in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteThank you, a gift, yes it certainly was :)
DeleteI don't think you have anything to feel guilty about. It seems to me that if they've got a PDF of your final product, they've got what they paid you for. I suppose an argument could be made that they're entitled to all the bits that went into it, but if they didn't think to ask for them when you were still working there, it seems a little unreasonable to ask for them now. Of course that's just me. In a similar situation (and I've been there), I'm slow to forgive and I *never* forget!
ReplyDeleteThank you, hadn't really thought of it that way, yes they got what they paid me for! In their situation I know there is no way I'd have called the ex employee, better to keep the tail firmly between the legs I'd have thought - aah well, think I'll take their call as a compliment - yay me!
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