Any other time, I might have been able to contemplate the subject of “soul mates” and write about it. But you find me at a bit of disadvantage this week.
I had two dates with a really nice man within the space of a week. He ticks all the boxes. He bought me gifts. He has been kind, courteous, all the lovely manners you hope for in a man. He seems down to earth, hard-working (been in the same job for twenty years!) faithful, honest, sensible…he is a really nice man.
Yet after I said goodbye to him after our second date, I walked home in tears. It was a beautifully sunny day and the sky was blue. I looked up at planes stretching across the sky leaving white chemtrails and wished that I was on one of them. I wish I could walk to my local underground station and swipe my Oyster card and board a train that would take me to Adelaide, Australia. I wish it would take me to exactly where Goldfinch is.
I just need him to hold me close for a while, maybe just a few minutes, maybe a few hours, I don’t know, but just long enough to make it all better. And then…because I know there is a lot that he needs to be getting on with, I would board the train again and return to London until next time.
I really don’t know what to say about the subject of soul mates…
…all I know, is that I feel there is only one person who I want to hold me tight and make everything better.
Maybe another time I would have something more interesting to say on the subject of “soul mates”.
But this week, I am just grieving the loss of someone who has made me love him with my whole heart, my whole mind, my whole soul…and who is now not here. Yet…he still has my mind, heart and soul.
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Do you have more to say on the subject of “soul mates” than I do? Please feel free to write a post and link it to Sarah Elizabeth Moore’s original writing prompt post:
https://sarahelizabethmoore.org/2019/02/10/writing-prompt-6/
I really tried with Jack.
However…(when you read that word “however”, you must realize that there is going to be trouble ahead)…she was made a supervisor. She may have seemed to be suitable for the role, after all, her work was excellent. But you never know with people. They may be very good at their work, but they might turn out to be completely ineffective in their role of supervising a team.
So, on his first day, the supervisor trained him in how to perform the job. She seemed to be pleased with him. As time went on, issues arose. Some were due to his being new in that role. Every now and then he would have a question to ask because he was unsure about an aspect of the work, or he had forgotten something she had mentioned on that first day. She became impatient and irritable. Why should she have to repeat herself – what was the matter with him? She viewed him as an annoyance because his questions and requests for clarification slowed her down from getting on with her own work.
She became more and more hot-tempered with the new administrator. He began to look unhappy. Although I sat on the other side of the open offices and worked within a different department, I observed what was happening, I could hear the conversations between them. I also heard her grumbling about him when he was away from his desk. She was watching his every mistake and I could see her hatching a plan to get rid of him. Just like that cat up at the top watching the goldfish. She was scary! She was incredibly intimidating and icy when she spoke to him. She did not see why she should be patient and make sure he was confidant in his role. She was essentially a very poor supervisor.)
But she wore that man down. One Friday evening around five o’clock I saw him in tears at his desk. I knew why. The system had crashed for several hours earlier that day, so she insisted he would have to stay late to catch up with the work. I had heard him ring his wife to explain he was not going to be home on time. I approached him on my way past. I was aware that the manager of the department who was the superior to the scary supervisor was nearby. She noticed me strike up a conversation with the administrator.
He thanked me. I don’t normally get involved in anything remotely like “office politics”, but I felt that this guy was being pushed towards a break-down by his scary supervisor, so I intervened. I could see the huge sense of relief that came from over him and a weight lift from his shoulders. I went back to my desk to get my coat and bag to head home. I was extremely gratified to overhear the manager approach him and tell him that she did not want him to stay late on a Friday evening doing overtime. He should be with his wife at home. The manager said she would explain to his supervisor that she had told him to go home.
On the following Monday he handed in his resignation letter. He told me later that over the weekend his former manager, at the company he had worked at previously, had called him to ask him to come back to the company but on a much higher salary. He had jumped at the chance. I was so pleased for him. He was soon gone and I hope he never looked back.
The scary supervisor repeated her mistakes over and over. Her work was excellent. Her poor people skills, her impatience with new staff and her demanding, overbearing, intimidating manner of communicating meant that she was one of the names that were put forward to meet the quota for redundancies. She was soon gone…and I hope for her own sake, she learnt to be a bit more empathetic when she was a new member of staff at the company she went to work for, and had to be trained by her new supervisor.
Caramel 