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Manager promoted my friend instead of me despite my years of hard work. So, I decided it's time to leave. I've been at my current job for eight months now, but it's not as if I'm new to the team. My
An employee shares their disappointment after a friend was promoted over them despite years of hard work, leading to a tough decision about their job.
Key Takeaways
- Promotions can be influenced by prior experience and perceived managerial qualities beyond technical skills.
- Honesty about career ambitions does not always guarantee expected outcomes in workplace advancement.
- Emotional responses to being passed over for promotion can affect job performance and morale.
- Alternative career paths, such as technical specialization, may offer growth opportunities outside management.
- Clear communication and support from management are crucial but may not fully mitigate employee disappointment.
Summary
- The narrator has worked hard and been with their current job for eight months, with prior connections to the team.
- They were promised consideration for a senior or managerial role as part of a restructuring plan.
- A close friend and former colleague, whom the narrator recruited and trained, was promoted to a new supervisor role instead.
- The manager cited the friend's prior senior experience and qualities better suited for management as reasons for the promotion.
- The narrator feels crushed and deflated, leading to decreased motivation and plans to seek new employment.
- Attempts to maintain a friendly rapport with the promoted colleague have been strained.
- The manager provided feedback highlighting the narrator's technical strengths but noted areas for improvement in handling criticism and pressure.
- The manager suggested pursuing a technical specialist path as an alternative to management, with potential for future salary increases.
- Despite reassurances, the narrator remains disappointed and disengaged, awaiting their annual appraisal.
- The story highlights workplace dynamics, promotion challenges, and the emotional impact of being overlooked.
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
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manager, deputy manager, and another colleague have known me for years. I worked alongside them for two years before moving on in 2019 to my last job where I stayed until just last year. When I was discussing the opportunity to return, I
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was upfront with my manager about my ambitions. I told him point blank that I wanted to leave my previous job because I was putting in the effort and taking on responsibilities that should have put me in a manager's position, yet I was
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neither paid nor recognized for it. He told me that my new role here would be part of a restructuring plan. People are set to retire or leave this year. He remembered the quality of my work and assured me I'd be a strong candidate for
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a senior or managerial role. Eight months in, I'd passed my probation with flying colors and was doing really well in my position. There's another layer to this story though, involving a colleague from my last job. She's 36 and someone I
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actually consider a good friend. Plus, I know her husband from way back. I was the one who approached her about coming here, put in a good word for her, and vouched that she'd be a brilliant addition, and she's proven me right,
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quicker than anyone else I've seen, picked things up, and has just nailed everything she's been given. I've even spent time training her. Wouldn't you know it, though, I left my last workplace because they refused to promote anyone, let alone me. They
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didn't want to manage her. As soon as I walked out the door, they promoted her, gave her a pay rise, and tried to keep her. Last week, I was off on annual leave. When I got back, my manager
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pulled me aside for a private meeting on Monday. He wanted me to know before the news dropped. The team was being restructured and a supervisor role was being created, but the role was being offered to my colleague, not me. He
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could see the disappointment written all over my face. I asked candidly, "Why her and not me?" He told me, "As good as I am, he thinks she'd just be better in that managerial position. She's got more of the qualities they're looking for.
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And because she's technically already been a senior in the last role, it looks better on paper to the people above."
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Hearing that, I couldn't help but feel crushed, deflated. Really, he tried to reassure me, saying I was an amazing employee, probably the most reliable and technically proficient person on my team, but that he just didn't see me as
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having those elusive manager qualities. The rest of what he said blurred together. I zoned out and went back to work in a daze. Later, he announced the promotion to the whole team, and everyone was over the moon for her,
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offering congratulations and pats on the back. Meanwhile, I kept quiet. Later, I messaged her trying to mask my disappointment with our usual joking banter. I wrote, "Thanks a lot for nicking my job, mate. Really appreciate it." She responded with sympathy. "No,
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I'm so sorry. I feel so bad. How do you feel?" I didn't hold back. I told her straight, "I'm going to look for another job. I don't think I can stay here after this." She pleaded with me not to leave,
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asking if it was because of her. I confirmed it was, more or less, and told her I was done. She said, "Please don't.
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I'll need you now more than ever." I tried to keep it light with, "You'll be fine. Just don't follow me to my next place and steal my promotion again, mate. LOL." After that, radio silence.
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She left me on read. Since then, I've been doing the bare minimum at work, especially on my remote days. My CV is updated and I'm actively applying for new jobs. She's tried to reach out and so have a few colleagues, but honestly,
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I just feel like I need to get out of there. Update one. Looking back, I can admit I was probably unprofessional. But here's my side of the story. One of the reasons I took this job in the first
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place was because I was honest with my manager about why I was leaving my last job. Endless promises of promotion that never materialized. He assured me that I'd be in contention for a senior role here. Fast forward and now I've ended up
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training this colleague of mine twice, in fact, only for her to become my boss.
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Now I have to report to her, have her telling me what to do. This isn't the first time this has happened to me, and it never ends well. Somehow, the newly promoted person always lets it go to their head and ends up treating me like
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crap. So, here's what happened next. My manager pulled me aside for a meeting on Tuesday. Apparently, people had noticed I was down and wasn't acting like myself. And after our last meeting, he wanted to check in on how I was feeling.
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I let him have it honestly. I told him how hurt I felt that if I'd known this would happen, I wouldn't have left my previous job and certainly wouldn't have recruited my now promoted colleague here. He insisted her promotion was a
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professional decision, nothing personal against me, and then gave me some feedback. She's calm under pressure, doesn't make the little errors I sometimes do when I'm stressed, doesn't take criticism as personally as I sometimes do, and doesn't get angry when
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people are angry with her. He said, "Those last two things, dealing better with criticism and other people's anger, are areas I need to work on." Then came the patronizing bit that I should give her my support, learn from her, all
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that. I didn't agree at all. I believe I could work on those skills and that the whole learn from her spiel was just annoying, but I bit my tongue. He explained that her last role was senior on her CV. And when making the case to
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his bosses, it's just so much easier to promote someone who's already been a manager on paper. Then, almost as though to soften the blow, he started pouring praise. He stressed, "I'm still an amazing asset to the team, that my
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technical and legislative knowledge is the best, and my data analysis skills are powerful." He went on about how the reports I create are highly valued by his bosses. They noticed the bespoke report I made soon after I joined and
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still bring up how impressive it was. He tried to reassure me that just because I'm not a manager, that doesn't mean I'm any less important. So, I said, "Look, all that praise is nice, but that isn't going to give me the pay rise I want or
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the sense that I've achieved my professional and personal goals. That's the truth." In response, he suggested maybe I shouldn't see becoming a manager as the ultimate goal and floated the idea of me shifting into a technical role, doing a level four technical
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qualification instead of the manager course, really developing my technical expertise further. He said most people don't go down that route, but that I definitely should become the technician of the team, the go-to person everyone relies on. He even suggested
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that while it might not come with an immediate salary increase, if I were qualified in that way and sort of established in that role unofficially, he would take my case to his bosses and argue for the creation of a formal
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senior role just for me. One that could pay me on par with a manager but without managing people. And if that doesn't work out, he claimed his long-term goal is to raise our entire team's profile and bump up our grades and salary bands
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so that eventually, whether I'm a manager or not, I'll be well paid. It won't happen overnight, but he promised to do what he could. He told me to think about all this, avoid doing anything rash, give it my all these next few
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months, and we'd revisit the conversation at my annual appraisal in three months. I won't lie, I felt pretty down after that. I've kept to myself since, haven't slacked, but definitely haven't been breaking my back for the team either. My former colleague, now my
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manager, messaged me, suggesting we go for a lunchtime walk on Wednesday.
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backed off, and said we could talk whenever I was ready. Honestly, I'm just tired of these endless conversations.
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People talk at me, trying to convince me to feel okay about something that helps them, but they never really listen to how I feel. In the meantime, I've started putting my CV out there to a few places. Pretty quickly, I got a message
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from an old client I worked with in my last job asking if I wanted to talk about a senior role at their company in my field. We had a team's chat earlier, and it went well. They'll be letting me
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know soon if it's going to move forward to a formal interview. Update two. I didn't get that job. The call came in from my old client contact and he told me they're going to try and cope with the resources they already have for the
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foreseeable future. See if it's a success. He made a point of stressing that they thought I was great, the sort of person they'd want if they were actually recruiting. Promised he'd keep my CV and details on file. He said if
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something changes in 6 to 12 months, I'd be first on the interview list. Honestly, I think it's all a load of bollocks. I'm not holding my breath. I probably won't hear from him ever again, and if I do, I'll eat my own ars.
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Meanwhile, I've been applying for more jobs. One came up. A recruitment agent rang me about it. Seemed promising for a minute. Typical UK recruitment agent [ __ ] though. Not long after, they called me back saying they didn't go for
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me, but they'd keep my details on file, get in touch if something suitable comes up. The usual script. Everything else has been a dead end. Either the money's crap, or if it's any good, it's too far away to even consider commuting. Still,
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I keep my eyes open and remain super selective now. I've completely checked out at work. I'm just doing the basics.
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I've had enough. Don't want to be there anymore. This week, I'm doing the bare minimum, only my contracted hours. I get in on time, leave on time, take my exact lunch break, not eating at my desk.
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People keep asking me if I'm all right, and all I give is, "Yeah, I'm fine." They're even after my usual dad jokes.
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It's been a couple of weeks, and I keep telling them I don't have any. Our department's deputy manager, not the recently promoted colleague, but the big boss's deputy, came back from holiday on Monday. She was talking to us and
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mentioned the work experience person coming in next month saying the plan was for her to sit with me, shadow me, get me to show her things and train her. I just told her no, I don't think I'm comfortable with that. She should sit
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with someone else. She asked why and I told her to speak with our manager or the newly promoted colleague about it.
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She went silent after that. Nothing more said. The manager has been working from home so I haven't seen him. There's also this new task from all the restructuring, a particular procedure we're about to take on. A few people in
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my team, including promoted colleague, were discussing it. I knew exactly what we should do. Set up a new database, get it to write some code, create certain types of reports, have people check things a certain way. But I kept my
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mouth shut. When someone asked me, "What do you think? This is right up your alley, isn't it?" I just said, "No idea.
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I think management should handle it." And that killed my input right then and there. Promoted colleague is now starting to train with the deputy on the task she's going to take over from her and the manager. After the restructure,
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she's also started joining management calls and meetings. I've watched it all unfold in front of me like salt rubbed in the wound. Last night, there was a celebratory meal for promoted colleagues promotion. The deputy manager and another colleague who just returned from
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holiday jumped to book it as soon as they heard. They said we needed an excuse to do something social. I told them no. I had karate class and wasn't about to miss a lesson, but they were at me all week, not really giving me room
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to say no. Come on, don't be a Grinch. You can miss one lesson, mate. I just said, "I'll see what I can do." But I didn't go. Didn't turn up. Got a few WhatsApp group messages and texts, but I
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just said, "Sorry." Couldn't leave my class early. I guarantee they were bitching about me. Lol. Today's my work from home day, and I haven't heard a peep from anyone. Not even a question.
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Pretty sure people are starting to catch on now. I wouldn't be surprised if next week when I'm back in the office and the manager's around, there will be another sitdown with him and the deputy for another one of those chats. Update
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three. Well, I was right about the sit down. Monday morning. Barely got my coat off before the manager pulled me into a meeting room with the deputy. They'd clearly been talking over the weekend.
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Had that coordinated look about them, you know. Deputy starts off gentle, asking how I'm settling in with all the changes. I just shrugged, said fine.
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Then the manager jumps in with his concerns about my recent behavior, missing the meal, declining to train the work experience girl, being disengaged in team discussions. He's trying to sound all caring and professional, but I can tell he's pissed off. I told them
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straight, I'm doing my job exactly as outlined in my contract. Nothing more, nothing less. If they want someone to go above and beyond, maybe they should have thought about that before passing me over for promotion. The deputy got a bit
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sharp then said my attitude was affecting team morale. I nearly laughed. My attitude affecting morale, right? But here's where it gets interesting.
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Manager says they're concerned I might be looking elsewhere. And would I be willing to commit to staying if they could guarantee a formal review of my role and responsibilities within six months, possibly leading to a great increase. I could see the desperation in
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his eyes. They know I'm good at what I do, and losing me would be a proper nightmare for them. I told them I'd think about it. Truth is, I've got another interview lined up for Thursday.
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Found it myself this time. No recruitment agents involved. It's a senior analyst role, 20-minut drive from home, and the money's decent. Not amazing, but better than what I'm on now. Wednesday was when things got properly mental, though. I was working
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from home, buried in some data analysis, when I got a message from my mate Dave.
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Remember, promoted colleagues husband. He asks if I'm free for a pint after work. Bit odd since we don't usually meet up without her, but I said, "Yeah, why not?" We meet at the pub near mine, and straight away, I can tell
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something's off. He's fidgeting. Can't look me in the eye. After a couple of drinks, he finally spits it out.
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Apparently, promoted colleague has been really stressed about the situation with me. She's been crying at home, losing sleep, convinced she's ruined our friendship and that it's all her fault I'm leaving. But then Dave drops the real bombshell. He says she confided in
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him that she never actually wanted the promotion in the first place. She only took it because she was scared of refusing. Thought it might hurt her reputation if she turned it down after everything that happened at our last
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place. She apparently told Dave that she wishes it had gone to me instead, that I deserved it more. I'm sitting there thinking, "This is absolute bollocks, right? If she really felt that way, why didn't she say anything to the manager?
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Why didn't she recommend me for the role? Dave must have seen the disbelief on my face because he gets a bit defensive. Says she's been trying to figure out how to make it right. Then he says something that made my blood run
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cold. He asks if I think there's any way she could step down from the promotion.
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Maybe claim it's too much responsibility or something, so they'd have to offer it to me instead. I just stared at him. The whole thing felt like manipulation, like they'd cook this up together to try and fix things without actually fixing
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anything. I told Dave that if she really wanted to help, she should have spoken up when it mattered, not sent her husband to a secret pub meetings with me. I finished my pine and left.
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Yesterday morning, promoted colleague cornered me in the kitchen at work. She looked rough, properly rough. Dark circles under her eyes, hair not done properly. She starts babbling about how sorry she is, how she never meant for any of this to happen, how she values
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our friendship more than any job. I just stood there making my coffee, not saying a word. Then she says the most ridiculous thing. Maybe we could job share the supervisor role, split the responsibilities and the pay. I nearly
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choked on my coffee, job share a management position with someone who's supposed to be my boss. I told her that was the dumbest thing I'd ever heard and walked away. The interview's tomorrow.
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Part of me hopes I get it just so I can hand in my notice and watch the panic in manager's eyes. But another part of me, the petty part, wants to stick around just to see how this whole mess plays
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out. Promoted colleagues clearly cracking under the pressure. And I get the feeling this is far from over. One thing's for sure, though. I'm done pretending everything's fine. If they want me to stay, they're going to have to do a lot better than vague promises
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and guilt trips from concerned husbands. Update four. Well, the interview went brilliantly yesterday. Proper professional setup. They knew their stuff, asked all the right questions about my technical background and experience. The role is exactly what I want. Senior analyst, good money, proper
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career progression, and they seem genuinely impressed with the bespoke reporting system I'd built at my current place. They said they'd get back to me early next week. But I got the feeling it went well. For the first time in
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weeks, I felt like myself again. But then I got home to find three missed calls from Dave and a text saying, "Urgent, need to talk." Figured it was more of the same bollocks from Wednesday. So I ignored it and went for
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a run instead. This morning I walked into work and the atmosphere was properly weird. People were whispering, giving me odd looks, and the deputy manager was nowhere to be seen. Even weirder, promoted colleague wasn't at her desk. first time since she started
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that she'd not been in early, making a show of being the keen new supervisor.
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Around half nine, our manager calls an emergency team meeting. We all pile into the conference room and he looks absolutely shattered. Then he drops this bomb. Promoted colleague has put in a formal complaint about workplace harassment and bullying, specifically
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naming me. I felt my stomach drop. He wouldn't give details. Said it's all confidential and being investigated by HR, but apparently she's claiming I've been creating a hostile work environment since her promotion. The irony wasn't lost on me. Manager says I'm being
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temporarily moved to work directly with the deputy while this gets sorted and that I should expect a call from HR today. Then he gives me this look like I've proper let him down. Says he's disappointed it's come to this. After
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the meeting, I cornered one of my colleagues, Sarah, who's always been straight with me. She looked uncomfortable but eventually spilled.
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Apparently promoted colleague had a complete meltdown yesterday afternoon after I blanked her in the kitchen started crying at her desk saying she couldn't take the psychological warfare anymore. She told people I'd been deliberately undermining her, refusing to acknowledge her authority, and that
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Dave's pub meeting was actually me sending threatening messages through her husband. The absolute state of it. I'm the one getting painted as the villain when all I've done is my job and kept my mouth shut. But here's where it gets
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properly mental. Around lunchtime, Sarah pulls me aside again. She'd been chatting with one of the girls from HR, and apparently this complaint isn't just about workplace harassment. promoted colleagues also claiming that our previous relationship at the old job had
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been unprofessional and that I'd been pursuing her inappropriately ever since she got promoted. Previous relationship, I've never so much as looked at her sideways. We were workmates, nothing more. But suddenly, I'm remembering all those times she'd stay late when I was
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working, always finding excuses to come chat when I was doing overtime. The training sessions where she'd sit closer than necessary, asking if I fancied grabbing a coffee after. I'd always thought she was just being friendly.
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She's married to Dave for crying out loud. The HR meetings Monday morning. I've already called my union rep and she's going to sit in with me. But I can't shake this feeling that I'm being set up. Either promoted colleagues
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having some sort of breakdown and rewriting history or this is a calculated move to get rid of me before I can quit on my own terms. The really sick part. I got a text from Dave last night. Sorry, mate. She's not herself
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right now. Hope you understand. Hope I understand. His wife's trying to destroy my career and he wants me to understand.
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I've sent my CV to three more places today. If this complaint goes anywhere, I'm [ __ ] in this industry. Small world and mud sticks. Part of me wants to march into manager's office and tell him exactly what I think of his golden girl
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and her convenient breakdown. But my union rep says to keep my head down, stick to the facts, and let the process run its course. Still waiting to hear back from Thursday's interview. Right now, it feels like my only way out of
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this nightmare. Update five. Got the job. They called me Friday afternoon. Senior analyst role. 15% pay rise. Start date flexible. should have been over the moon, but honestly, I barely felt anything. The whole HR nightmare had drained me completely. The Monday
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meeting was a proper [ __ ] show. Union rep was brilliant, though. Came armed with printouts of every text message, email, and teams chat between me and promoted colleague going back months.
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Amazing how different things look when you've got timestamps and written evidence. Isn't it? HR woman, some stern-faced battle acts I've never seen before, starts reading out promoted colleagues complaint. Apparently, I'd been aggressively pursuing her since our old job, making inappropriate comments
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about our personal relationship and had recently escalated to intimidation tactics through third parties. The bit about Dave nearly made me laugh out loud. But here's where it got interesting. Union rep asks to see promoted colleagues evidence. HR shuffles some papers, says most of its
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verbal testimony and emotional impact statements. No actual proof. Then, union rep slides across our evidence. months of purely professional messages. Me helping her with work stuff, normal colleague banner, nothing remotely inappropriate. Then the real kicker. HR mentions that promoted colleague has
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also submitted a grievance about the toxic work environment and is considering signing off sick with stress. My union rep leans forward and asks when exactly did she submit this complaint. Friday afternoon comes the answer. Funny that same day I had my
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interview, which she somehow knew about despite me telling no one at work. Meeting ends with them saying they'll investigate further. But I could see HR woman wasn't buying promoted colleague story anymore. Too many holes, no evidence, timeline doesn't add up.
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Tuesday morning, promoted colleague wasn't in. Unwell, manager said, but I caught him on the phone with someone.
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Heard him say stress leave and doctor's note. Convenient. That's when Sarah dropped the real bombshell. She'd been at promoted colleagues leaving due from the old job way back. Turns out there's something I never knew. Promoted colleague had apparently been telling
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people there that she and I had history, that we'd been close before she got married. Complete fabrication. But several people remembered her saying it.
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Sarah reckons promoted colleagues been spinning this narrative for ages. Maybe even convinced herself it was true. The promotion just made her panic. Suddenly, she's my boss. Can't handle the guilt of what she's done. And her brains decided to rewrite everything to make me the bad
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guy. Wednesday, things got properly weird. Dave shows up at my house around tea time, looking like he hadn't slept in days. Starts babbling about how promoted colleagues been acting strange for weeks, crying all the time, going through my social media obsessively,
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talking about me constantly. Then he says something that made my blood freeze. She keeps going on about how you two should have been together. How she made the wrong choice marrying me. I'm standing there thinking, "What the actual fuck?" Dave's clearly devastated.
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Proper broken man. Then he drops this. He's found messages on her phone. Not to me, but screenshots of my Facebook, Instagram, even my LinkedIn. Hundreds of them going back months. She's been watching everything I do online. I think
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she's having some sort of breakdown, he says. But I also think she's been lying to me for years about you. I felt sorry for the bloke, but what could I say? I made him a cup of tea, told him I'd
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never encouraged her, never saw her as anything more than a colleague. He believes me, says it explains a lot about her behavior over the years.
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Thursday, I handed in my notice. Manager's face went white. He tried the usual script. Valuable member of team, don't be hasty. We can work something out. I just said my mind was made up, thanked him for everything, and walked
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back to my desk. Promoted colleague turned up Friday morning. Looked terrible. hadn't done her hair, wearing the same clothes as Tuesday. She made a beline for my desk, starts crying, saying she needs to explain everything, that she's made a horrible mistake. I
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told her to save it for HR and walked away, but I could hear her sobbing at her desk. Got a call from union rep Friday afternoon. HR is dropping the investigation. Promoted colleagues withdrawn her complaint. Apparently wants to move forward positively. No
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[ __ ] Probably realized she had no case and was about to get found out as a liar. But here's the mental part. I'm clearing out my desk this afternoon when I get a LinkedIn message from someone I
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don't recognize. Turns out it's a woman who used to work with promoted colleague at her job before our old place. She'd seen promoted colleagueu's profile, noticed we were connected, and thought she should warn me. Apparently, promoted colleague pulled the same stunt there,
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fixated on some bloke, convinced herself they had a thing, made his life hell when he got engaged to someone else.
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Even tried to break up his relationship by telling his fianceé they've been having an affair. Complete lies, but caused a right mess. She needs help, the message said. Proper help, but she'll destroy you first if you let her. I
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start my new job Monday. Part of me feels like I should warn Dave, but honestly, I just want out. This whole thing's been mental, and I reckon I've had a lucky escape. Still can't believe how close I came to having my career
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ruined by someone I thought was a mate. Makes you think, doesn't it? Update 6.
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Two weeks into the new job, and I thought this nightmare was finally behind me. The role's everything they promised. Proper respect, decent colleagues, manager who actually listens. I'd started sleeping better, stopped checking over my shoulder every five minutes. Should have known it was
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too good to last. Monday morning, I'm grabbing coffee before work when my phone buzzes. Dave's name flashes up and I nearly don't answer, but something made me pick up. Maybe the fact he'd called at half 7 in the morning. She's
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gone, he says, voice completely flat. Left yesterday, took half her stuff and just gone. Turns out promoted colleague, let's call her Emma since I'm probably going to be typing her name a lot, had another complete meltdown over the
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weekend. Dave found her in their spare room at 3:00 in the morning, surrounded by printed screenshots from my social media going back years. Year years, photos from my holidays, check-ins at restaurants, even screenshots of comments I'd made on other people's
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posts. She'd made this proper metal timeline on the wall, red string connecting different events like some deranged conspiracy theorist. When he confronted her about it, she broke down.
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Told him she'd been in love with me since our old job, that marrying him was a mistake, that she'd only taken the promotion, hoping it would make me jealous enough to finally make a move.
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The woman's completely lost the plot. But here's the kicker. Dave says she emptied their joint savings account. 12 grand, just gone. Left a note saying she needed time to think and that she'd be in touch. No forwarding address, phone
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switched off, even blocked him on social media. I felt bad for the bloke. I really did. But I told him straight.
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This isn't my problem anymore. I've got a new life, new job, and I want nothing to do with whatever breakdown Emma is having. Wednesday, things got proper weird. I'm having lunch at my desk when reception calls. Someone here to see me.
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Didn't give a name. Just said it was urgent and personal. I'm thinking it might be Dave. Maybe with more news about Emma. It's not Dave. It's Emma's mom. I've met her a few times at work.
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Doss and barbecues. Nice woman. Always seems sensible. But standing there in our reception, she looked haggarded.
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Desperate even. I need to talk to you. She says about Emma. Please, just 5 minutes. Against my better judgment, I agreed. We went to the cafe across the road and she starts telling me this metal story. Apparently, Emma turned up
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at her parents house Sunday night, rambling about how I'd been sending her signals for years, how the job situation was all part of some elaborate game we were playing. Her mom's worried she's having a proper psychological break.
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Then she drops this bomb. She's convinced you're going to come and find her. She keeps saying, "You just need time to realize you feel the same way." I'm sitting there thinking, "What the actual hell?" I tell Emma's mom I've
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never encouraged her daughter, never had any sort of relationship beyond professional, and that I just want to be left alone. But then she says something that made my blood run cold. She's been asking about your new job. Wanted to
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know where you work now, what your schedule's like. I didn't tell her anything, but she's been persistent.
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That evening, I called the police, not to report anything specific, just to make them aware of the situation. The officer was helpful enough, said to document everything, change my social media settings, and call immediately if Emma showed up anywhere near me or my
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workplace. Thursday was quiet, too quiet. I kept checking my phone, expecting some mental message or missed call. Nothing. started to think maybe Emma had finally come to her senses and buggered off somewhere to get help.
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Friday proved me wrong. I'm walking to my car after work when I spot her. Emma sitting in a silver Ford about 50 meters away just watching. The second she realizes I've seen her, she starts the engine and drives off, but not before I
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got a proper look at her face. She looked rough as anything, like she hadn't slept or washed in days. Called the police straight away. They said they'd send a car around to have a chat with her, but tracking someone down when
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you don't know where they're staying is easier said than done. gave me a crime reference number and told me to keep a log of everything. That night, I'm lying in bed around midnight when I hear something outside. My house backs onto
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an alley, and there's usually a bit of noise from people walking through late at night, but this sounded different, like someone was trying to be quiet, but not quite managing it. I crept downstairs and peaked through the kitchen blinds. There's a figure
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standing at the bottom of my garden, just beyond the back gate. Too dark to see properly, but the height and build looked about right for Emma. I watched for maybe 10 minutes and they just stood there, not moving, not doing anything,
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just watching my house. Soon as I reached for my phone to call the police, the figure disappeared. By the time I got outside to check, nothing. No sign anyone had been there at all, but on my back gate, someone had scratched
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something into the wood. Looked fresh, white would showing through the dark stain. Just four words. We need to talk.
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I didn't sleep much that night. Every little noise had me up and checking windows. Called in sick to work yesterday. didn't want to risk leading her straight to my new job if she was still following me. Dave texted this
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morning, "Police want to talk to you." Emma's parents are worried she might hurt herself or someone else. I'm meeting them this afternoon. Part of me wants to just pack up and move somewhere she'll never find me. But another part,
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the stubborn part that got me through all the bollocks at my old job, says, "Why should I run? I've done nothing wrong. Emma's the one who needs help." Problem is, I'm starting to think she's too far gone to accept it. And something
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tells me this is just the beginning.
Topics:workplace promotioncareer disappointmentjob restructuringmanagerial roletechnical expertiseemployee moraleworkplace dynamicscareer growthjob dissatisfactionprofessional development
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