I worked in the same government department for 37 years prior to retirement. About 10 years before I retired we were told that our office was to be disbanded and we would have to go to other offices within the same dept. and re-train. A job came up on another floor which involved the work I was doing at the time so I volunteered as I didn't want to re-train and liked what I did. What a mistake! There were 4 other women on my section, one of which took an instant dislike to me. The problem was that they were overloaded with work so obviously an extra pair of hands meant that the work was getting back to people quicker and I got a fair bit of praise. This seemed to infuriate this woman (she was just one grade higher than me but not my boss). She did everything in her power to make me feel excluded and was even insulting at times. I had been there a week when I took a pre-planned week's holiday. When I returned to work she had erected a partition between my desk and hers saying 'your fast typing is getting on my nerves'. She would go out and buy bars of chocolate and hand them around. She threw mine over the partition! Why oh why didn't I throw it back? I was in a very difficult situation as she was very well 'in' with the bosses and if I had complained they would have said 'well it was OK until you came' so I had to soldier on. It was horrible. She eventually told one of the bosses she was in love with him and he was horrified. She rather smartly went on a 'career break' and was never seen again.
Estranged Son and Future Granddaughter
To think that London, or anywhere else for that matter, does not belong to any one demographic