Why I Quit: A Work Fable.
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Like popsicle sticks stuck on flimsy construction paper, her mouth glued shut. I just sat there and stared in awe while her lips moved but absolutely nothing came out. It worked, it really worked.
…
My apartment apothecary was flourishing. Growth crept out of every crack, crease, and crevice. My green thumb became forest and lush and magic. I’d been working on a few concoctions but never thought I’d need to use them. Until today.
Earlier in the week, I got a DM from a friend. I usually see them posting online in our favorite groups and sharing super insightful posts. But this message wasn’t that. This message deserved all my attention.
“Hey Berry…”
“Hey!”
“Do you work with an Alison?”
“OMG…what happened? What did she do?”
“Um, let’s talk…”
So we talked. And we talked. And we talked. A series of screenshots about me interrupted the call. My mind all over the place trying to devise a plan without me getting fired.
“Do with these what you will.”
Alison’s tears were her weapons and if I decided to confront her I have to find a way to make her tears transform into the Sahara desert. Because once they pierced the skin, the likelihood I would lose my job would be empire state building high. I sat there kind of numb.
In my previous schools, women like Alison, used their feigned softness against teachers like me. Teachers like me made teachers like Alison uncomfortable. We questioned authority. We challenged bias practices. We got loud when we needed to be. And nobody likes a disruptor. And honestly, we are the popular ones. The ones the children love and the kind that Alisons want to be. But the Alisons had those tears and those tears were violent and powerful. Alisons always got their way. But not today.
Today, was the day I’d use my new healing hands to put a lid on those waterworks as quickly as possible. I had been working on a muting concoction because my neighbors had a problem that needed fixing. I live on the first floor and there were times I had to bang my broom on the ceiling for some peace and quiet. After playing around with a few herbs, I decided to test it out on…
