He’d been working for that company for a month now. He would’ve loved each day of his new job if she would’ve eased off him just a little bit.
As a person, she was great, but it was as if she was out to get him fired as a colleague. When she undermined him again, he knew he had to do something or lose his job.
Gary had always wanted to work at a big tech company in California. He’d spent close to a decade compiling and refining his resume as a software engineer.
When a chance to work for one of the most established companies in his city passed by Gary, he lurched on and never let go. What started as chasing a dream would result in one of the most memorable experiences of his life.
Gary’s professional world was highly dependent on teamwork. Most of the software he designed would pass through numerous teams before moving into production, which Gary loved.
He was pleased to find out that he would be working with several teams to push software features at his new company. This is where he met Kelsie, the coworker who’d seemingly come after his dream job.
When Gary first reported to his position, management assigned Kelsie to him. She was to train him on the company’s culture and everything else Gary would need.
The training went well, at least to Gary. And soon after, he was a fully-fledged member of the team. But as he settled in, Kelsie began brewing trouble.
The collision between Gary and Kelsie began while everybody was working from home. Gary was fresh out of training, but he realized that he was having trouble handling a task.
Gary immediately reached out to Kelsie, asking for help. Kelsie agreed, sending an email almost immediately. Gary was glad to see her come to his rescue. But his enthusiasm leached away when he looked closer.
Kelsie hadn’t sent the email to Gary alone. She’d tagged their boss as well. This would’ve been alright for Gary if Kelsie hadn’t gone ahead to undermine him in the email.
Gary sat and read the email carefully. Kelsie had reprimanded him for not paying attention during the training phase. Gary remembered she’d rushed through the training. Would he raise that issue here?
Since he was new at the company, Gary held his tongue. He agreed to everything Kelsie said and promised to be better.
As he was working on the task that afternoon, teaching himself as he went, he received an email from their boss. His heart paused. He knew he was in trouble.
“Kelsie tells me you’re having a bit of trouble handling our systems,” the email read. “Let’s have a call at three, and you can show me what’s giving you a hard time. We’ll work through it. Thanks.”
Gary held his chest. He’d been sure his boss would fire him. He jumped into the call thirty minutes later. His boss spent five minutes explaining what Kelsie spent eight hours brushing around. Gary wondered, was she out to sabotage him?
Kelsie continued tagging their boss whenever she sent Gary emails. She would call him out on the problems she found in his work.
What ticked Gary off was that most of the times she called him out, he was in the right, and she was wrong. Deciding enough was enough, Gary decided to go after her.
Gary sent Kelsie an email asking why she was constantly undermining him. He felt disrespected and wouldn’t let his dream job slip out of his hands.
Kelsie tagged their boss on her reply email. She explained that whatever Gary felt was his fault because she was only doing her job. Gary thought Kelsie was done with him, but what she did next left him speechless.
Kelsie sent Gary a list of software fixes she wanted him to work on. Gary failed to finish it by a split second, something he rectified immediately. But when he opened his email, as expected, Kelsie had called him out.
She sent the next batch of tasks and wrote, “Be sure to double-check your work and deliver as requested,” in the email. Gary was about to scream when he noticed something that made him smile.
Kelsie sent over her tasks instead of Gary’s. Interestingly, she was supposed to have delivered the software that the tasks revolved around about a week past.
Grinning, Gary set to work. He built the software from scratch, spending more time than Kelsie highlighted. He found a new email from Kelsie when he was done. His grin deepened. He would have his revenge.
Gary sent the completed software and the list of finished tasks to Kelsie. Knowing that their boss was copied on the email, he wrote that he had spent a little more time on the software since he started from scratch.
Since his position never dealt with building software from the ground up, he knew his boss would pick on this. A few minutes passed, and an email beeped into Gary’s inbox. It was his boss.
Not knowing what to expect, Gary opened the email. His lips twitched as he read, extending into a grin by the time he finished the email.
The email was meant for Kelsie, but his boss tagged Gary. He’d reprimanded Kelsie, reminding her of her job and stating that Gary was not there to fix her mistakes. But he didn’t stop there.
Gary’s boss called out Kelsie for her behavior in the next team meeting. He was more upset about the matter than Gary thought.
He had a one-to-one meeting with Gary afterward, informing him that he was not upset with him. He was also impressed with the software Gary built. “Such talent will take you places,” he said.