Not too long ago I wrote about bullying I experienced in grade school.  I must just be a bully magnet because Saturday I was bullied at work.  I am so pissed off.

I have been out of the work force for a couple of years due to family health issues but now I am able to return to work.  I had to take a job at a "major retailer" in order to have health insurance and money while I am looking for a teaching job in a tight economy.  I actually like my job, or at least I did until Saturday.

I was minding my own business at the service desk at the large retailer in which I work.  There is a 22 year old employee which sometimes gets a little mouthy but I've never known her to bully anyone.  For some reason, she decided to come up behind me and punch me in the back, shoving me into the counter/register.  She was not even supposed to be in my work area.  I did not see it coming, and was so surprised and shocked that she inflicted pain on me.  Do I just ATTRACT bullies?  What the hell?

I immediately went and told the acting manager at the time.  She gave the employee a talking to and a "last chance" to keep her employment.  With the risk of such an employee running amok, she is a major liability risk, and I fully expected her to be fired.  My daytime immediate supervisor said she would have fired her.  Apparently the store manager does not see the problem with letting someone like that work in his store.

I suppose the fact that the girl's mother has a prominent position at a local college (big fish in a small pond) has something to do with the leniency.

I might explain that I could not move the day after the incident.  I was scheduled to be off anyway, so I rested that day.  The next day I could not move without being in pain so I stayed home that day, too, with an excused absence  (without pay, of course).  Ironically, the employee who shoved me got a day off with pay for her to "think about" her actions.  I did not go to the doctor because there's not much they would do except to tell me to rest it and take aspirin and don't do shit that hurts.

I know I need to do some paperwork and make a bigger issue of it.  I just know that doing so will possibly damage my employability in this town.  I know that doesn't seem right but that's just how it is.  Part of me wants to sue their ass.

Keep in mind that this large retailer is the only place to work for many people in the small town in which I live.  I cannot afford to drive to the next nearest town.  I need to sit tight and wait for a teaching job and try to avoid mean people.

Just like in school, I knew that if I discussed the bully with the powers that be, it would go nowhere.  The bully's dad was on the school board, and it would do no good to complain.  Just like now, the bully is allowed to keep her job because of who her parents are in a small town.

I'd like to move but at the same time this is my home and for better or worse this is where I am right now.  I just wish that people in power had the balls to call bullies on their shit.

Now I feel better, at least.