To Make a Long Story Short (too late!)

It did not occur to me when I started this narrative that it would be this extensive. Maybe because I've never really put all this nonsense and frustration down in writing before and did not realize the scope of my situation. Or maybe it's because I'm just milking the drama. Whatever.

At this point I finally understood the dynamics of the Supervisor-hires-Best-Friend situation at my workplace. I had figured out that our supervisor was actually using the Best Friend as a surrogate to needle, pick, spy, agitate, and punish. And the Best Friend was really enjoying it.
But with me and the Best Friend, it was personal for her. I had been warned previously and rather foolishly brushed it off. After the incident that involved upper management, I was very highly aware of the danger.

I was lucky in one respect: others in my group had been company employees for quite a while. Retirement was close but they needed more time and thus had to hold their noses and try to hang on. However, I had been a stay-at-home mom until my children were in high school. I had only worked at this particular company for 10 years and I was free to leave any time I felt like it. So I sorted out options, examined my home situation, and with my wonderful and supportive husband began The Plan.

One: use my company benefits to the maximum during my final months.

Two: use my generous salary to make upgrades in our house

Three: To be very careful at work and make sure that, as much as possible, I documented every confrontation and event and word I exchanged with the Best Friend.

So first came any unfinished dental work, new contact lenses, a physical checkup, etc. Then we landscaped our back yard, expanded the patio with stamped concrete, installed granite countertops in the kitchen, and went on a fabulous cruise. The real strain was the tightrope act I had to perform at work.

Any conversation I had with the Best Friend was immortalized in emails by me. For example, if she confronted me and told me I had handled some particular item in a manner different than she wanted me to (did I mention she was a control freak?) I would simply send a response to her via email. In the email I detailed what I had done, the results, her criticism (usually silly nitpicking), my verbal response and any followup. I would end the email by saying "I'm afraid I missed your point and since my customer got exactly what they wanted I guess there is no need to pursue this matter" or "I followed the process set up by our supervisor - shall we meet with her so you can present your objections?" and so forth. There is an evil part of me that took great satisfaction in knowing that these emails bothered her. But primarily I considered them to be a necessary form of protection. Our supervisor and the Best Friend had already fired two employees and destroyed the careers of two others.

Being as dense as she was and with her blind animosity to me, she couldn't stop and I had plenty to work with. Time after time she tried to nail me, even publicly, and I won every bout. She just couldn't help herself. She lost all the battles because her depth of knowledge in our mission was so shallow and she always picked a losing cause. But every battle I won came at a price. The animosity level became almost unbearable, and she began coming into my office frequently every day to say "What are you doing now?" (like I needed a babysitter) and whenever I passed her doorway (couldn't avoid it!) she would bark my name and call me in for more useless pontificating.
So I embarked on the Final Stage of my escape.