Okay, so where were we? Let me give you a little background on the woman I was telling you about in part one. She wasn't too popular with other staff, considering herself to be the boss's 'pet', and she often tried to 'lord it' over them, with not much resistance due to her perceived status. Indeed, rumours were rife that she and the boss were having or had had an affair, though truth to tell, I myself never saw any evidence of it, but a helluva lot of staff believed it to be true and had stories to tell about it. I almost wish it were true, as then I'd have another means by which to expose her for what she is, but I've never been one to make accusations unless I know they're 100% true and accurate. However, the two of them certainly appeared to be close.
Anyway, to recap a little, we'd mended our fences until she offended me again and I once more decided to have nothing more to do with her, so simply acted as though she didn't exist. I continued my established daily routine of a few years, posting work to London in late afternoon and then stopping off at the foodcourt in the town's main shopping centre for a cup of tea, sometimes a meal, and a read of my newspaper. I started to notice I was getting dirty looks from some people and was stunned to eventually learn she was insinuating that I was stalking her, and using my letter from several weeks before as alleged proof.
Bear in mind she'd made no such suggestions about my letter at the time - the very letter that had led to us being 'reconciled' and getting along amicably until her re-offence. No, it was weeks (perhaps months) later that she sought to reinterpret my letter as evidence of a 'stalking campaign', even though I was studiously ignoring her very existence at that stage. Once, as I was sitting having a cuppa in the foodcourt, she walked through, looked around to make sure she was unobserved, scowled at me, and then drew her finger across her throat as if she was slashing it. But there's more. A local druggie told me she had approached him and asked how much he'd take for 'sorting me out'. He's now dead, but at least he was smart enough (barely) not to take her up on her offer. He'd have come off second best if he had.
Sounds almost unbelievable, doesn't it? However, I can assure you that it's all 100% factual. So what was in my letter that could be distorted after the fact to fit her malicious agenda? Here, let me quote some relevant extracts, which I can do verbatim (Susan's real name aside) as I made a copy before passing it on to her through her daughter.
"...without meaning to be rude to you, Susan is unequivically the only woman on the planet who I care talks to me or not."
"Anyway, Susan suggests that I apologise again, and her wish is my command. In fact, if she commanded, I would get down on my knees in the foodcourt and kiss your feet."
"However, that said, I shall continue to assume you want nothing to do with me unless you yourself indicate otherwise."
I just this moment dug out my copy of the letter to refer to for this post, but I'd forgotten that I'd previously passed her a brief note (in the company of her boss, who read it first), saying the following: "To be honest, I don't actually give a sh*t if you speak to me again or not (and I'm sure you care even less) but for (boss's name) sake, I'm going to try and accomplish what you wouldn't let me do last time, and apologise (for ignoring her apology).
The smarter among you will have sussed by now that one of the reasons for my letter was because I knew she'd more than likely show it to Susan, who I hoped would be touched by what a lot I thought of her. How could she not be, given how much I'd be prepared to 'humiliate' myself if she so commanded? Okay, admittedly I was indulging in hyperbole - kissing anyone's feet was definitely not a statement of intent, nor a declaration of ambition (or even a likely scenario), merely a way of indicating the high regard in which I held Susan.
Like I said, initially the letter mended fences, with no sly insinuations at the time. No, that came several weeks later, after the fences got broken again. And that's important to remember. Eventually, most of the security guards came to their senses and warned this woman about her behaviour and false claims. One of her staff later apologised to me and admitted he'd been manipulated (his own word) into corroborating her outlandish claims about me. She never made an 'official' complaint, it was all sly suggestion and sinister insinuation, and the boss of the shopping centre later told me she had done this sort of thing before.
There's so much more I could tell, and maybe I will at a later date, but for the moment, suffice to say I eventually had to go to the police about her, and I got a lawyer's letter sent to her, saying that unless she desisted from her false claims, I would pursue legal redress with the full rigour of the law. It's important for me to emphasise that she never thought she was being stalked for one second, it was simply a malicious, spiteful lie designed to create trouble for me. And it did. For example, fighting off three guys who attacked me in the food court on a day when the security cameras were turned off due to being repaired or replaced. Now I wonder who could've tipped them off about that?
However, at the end of the day I was vindicated and I derive a certain degree of satisfaction from that, though I'd prefer to have avoided the whole situation altogether. She was exposed as a bit of a nutter who enjoyed playing the victim, and she later advised one of her young staff who claimed a boy who fancied her was stalking her, not to say that as it could rebound on the girl as it had on her. (She told this to someone who worked nearby, who told me.) I suspect she still portrays herself as a victim to a certain extent, though she'll be careful who she does it with. Rest assured, if I ever hear even a whisper of her repeating her false and discredited claims about me, I'll be suing her for defamation of character.
So, Crivvies, anything like that ever happen to you, and if so, how did you deal with it? Reveal all in the comments section - if you're brave enough.
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