Alone In a Crowd

When it comes to whispering around the water cooler, my office certainly has no problem telling a tale ten times over. On a normal day, you can always count on at least three people to tell everything and anything they happen to know.

Last week was no different. Except this time, rumor was confirmed by fact. Someone we all work with had been arrested and hauled off to jail for something he had on his hard drive. Now I'm not one to throw stones without just cause, but it seems to me, that if they had enough reason to confiscate his computer and take his ass off to jail, then being innocent until proven guilty seems somewhat null and void.

Of course, that doesn't mean I believe everything I read. I'm quite positive that I'm not still that naive. I do however know just enough about this person to come to my own conclusions. And if you asked me my honest opinion, I'd tell you in plain English, that I think he's guilty as hell.

And as far as I'm concerned, there is a line that should never, ever be crossed. And it makes me sick, quite literally, that at a meeting held at the end of last week, we were all told that we have to respect his "rights" and keep our mouths shut, so as not to get ourselves into trouble.

So when the big boss asked if there was anyone who had a problem working with this individual, you can bet your Thanksgiving turkey, that I opened my mouth and said YES! I on the other hand was surprised to realize that I was the only one raising an objection, even though 3/4 of the office had been of the same opinion five minutes prior to the meeting.

Looking around at all the faces, all suddenly quite enthralled with the tiled floors, they sat mute listening to me, not bothering to offer up any of their own objections. And to tell you the truth, I was pretty pissed. Pissed because they know me so well, they knew they could count on me to speak my mind, while keeping silent on the sidelines.

But what burns me even more, is that after this meeting was done, two people yanked me into the women's bathroom for an Ally McBeal moment and said, "Well, we wanted to say something, but we didn't want to make waves."

Complete and utter bullshit if you ask me. Cause like it or not, when someone asks me my opinion, I'm not the kind of girl to hold back and play nice. I live more by the theory, don't ask unless you really want to know. And I'm certainly going to speak my mind if something makes me uncomfortable.

Unfortunately it doesn't change the fact that at the moment this guy is back in the company fold, whether any of us want him to be or not. And right now, all there is to do is wait, and hope justice is swift and served up on a platter.