Yet another crazy week

The good news is that I have hired a new person to take Jerk's place. More good news is that I told Jerk to take a hike. The bad news is that he took the opportunity to wipe his hard drive clean, uninstalled programs and even erased his e-mail identity. But does he still get paid his two weeks: Oh, yes he does.

Since we backup our e-mail on the server nightly, I was able to retrieve his e-mail. Here are some choice snippets:

From jerk to his former boss:
"So long as they can pay me enough, I’d take it in a flash. It’s gotten pretty unbearable over here. XXXXX has reverted back to her old ways, I don’t even speak to her anymore. Should I leave, I may go in and talk to XXXXX, in defense of the unlucky bastid who replaces me."

From jerk again to another colleague within my office:
"The point is, she's trying not to hire someone who is better than her."

He also called me insecure and untalented and that the publication is a "shit storm."

It's pretty interesting that someone who worked for me for less two months (and three weeks of those two months were the vacation time) had these strong opinions about me. I let him take a ton of time off, he came in late, left early and basically got to do whatever he wanted, and he still hated me. And his former boss barely even knows me — very strange.

I know none of this stuff relates to fashion or being petite but here is the one thing that does about this whole mess. When I heard Jerk deleting stuff on his computer, I asked him to stop and leave, but he refused to listen. So I went to the VP of my company and asked him for back up. The VP told me to take a deep breath, calm down and to give Jerk some more time to finish up. Well, by the time he finished up proprietary company information was gone. Was I brushed aside because I am a woman? Possibly, but something else came up in that exchange that was quite interesting. The VP said he had forgotten how young Jerk was because he is so tall and you think he is older than he is.

So a tall person equals older? That equates to giving a substantial raise that wasn't deserved? And because I am shorter that meant I didn't deserve the same amount of money when I was in that role? Isn't that discrimination?

That aside here are the facts: this kid and his former boss lost the company more than $1 million. They were the team on a newly launched publication that never got off the ground. It folded and that is why I inherited him. Its interesting that this kid and his former boss don't seem to find fault in their contributions to this loss. I've been running a fairly successful (we are still in publication) book for five years now.

A co-worker of mine from another department sent me this e-mail:
"All I can say is, XXXXX is going to have some seriously bad employment karma
at some point in his life."

One can only hope.

Hello again

So, as work has continued to be super stressful, my shopping has increased. I nabbed two new boatneck tees from J.Crew during their Extra 30 percent off sale; a black trench dress from BR (below) two v-neck sweaters, a floral tee and a khaki skirt from BR; a new pair of AG jeans; and a pair of petite linen pants and a cute sweatshirt from J.Crew today. Jeez ... typing it all out makes it sound like a heck of a lot more. Yikes!

Yesterday, the new member of my team (who got the job after we laid off another worker. The new guy was deemed "more valuable" by the powers that be than the previous guy) gave his notice yesterday. I'm not surprised (anyone who takes 13 days of vacation in a new position is bound to be out the door) but here's how it went down:

He had a really bad attitude about working a full day (8 hours) and completing his job tasks so yesterday I sat him down and said something along the lines of "I'm concerned. You don't seem to be very engaged in your role here." Then he said he was expecting a job offer to come through that very day and if the offer was right he was going to give his notice. And he said that the fact that this offer was coming right at the same time his girlfriend was moving to New York and this job is going to be in that area, was just a coincidence. Yep, and I'm Angelina Jolie.

Why do people have to lie? I understand the approach to leave your job on your own terms. But letting a company lay someone else off so you can keep a paycheck for two months is something awful. How do you sleep at night?

I was glad though to hear he was on his way out, even if he did tell me that he plans on taking Friday and Monday off again! it'll clear the way for me to bring in someone who really wants to be here and learn — I'm actually looking for a little mini-me.

So, now the search is on. And hopefully, for my bank account, I'll find someone fabulous who will make my life easier and subsequently, make me cut down on the retail therapy.

Back in black, literally

I returned from Arizona, tanned and relaxed with a few additional items in my suitcase. Most notably two new shirts from Banana, a new bra and a pair of panties from Victoria's, and a bunch of new cosmetics from Sephora (including a new bottle of Prada perfume. It's so fabulous!)

The heat in Arizona definitely made me (and everyone else) flock to the mall. I found the cutest dress at BCBG, which may very well be my new favorite store, but didn't buy it. Totally regretting it. I was also going to buy a new Coach purse, but the store was definitely lacking in classic yet fashion forward designs. Louis Vuitton's Speedy 25 was calling out my name from the LV store, but I couldn't justify the $550 cost, especially after losing $150 at the casino.

Arizona — Phoenix especially — was a ghost town with the 108 degree heat blazing. No one walked the streets, no one jogged, no one visited the outside shopping centers. I could barely find a place to eat that was open — right in downtown! Isn't this one of the largest cities in the U.S.?

I will say the desert is beautiful. I was out in Fountain Hills — home of the world's largest manmade geyser — right outside Scottsdale. No one bothered me at the pool, where I felt like a kid again doing underwater somersaults and the place was very quiet.

I found a local yoga studio — At One Yoga — and tried out a few classes there. All the instructors teach to music, which I found a bit challenging since it was hard to focus on your breath. But it was challenging nonetheless — my studio at home is heated to 100 degrees for the power vinyasa style I study and this studio was heated to 85 degrees. I was sweating the same regardless of the temperature difference, so the degrees were made up with cardio points.

So I came back home late Wednesday evening and was back at work promptly at 9:15 am the next morning. I bet a colleague of mine that my zen mood would last two hours. In reality, I made it to 2 1/2 hours. If anyone is looking to hire a motivated petite and fashion-loving editor looking to escape from a badly managed company, send me an e-mail.