The Reluctant Empath – Part II

In the beginning, I thought I was imagining things. I had only ever worked as a waitress before, so didn’t know what constituted “normal” behavior in an office setting. Slowly, though, I began to realize that this was not a typical situation. Even higher-ranking members of staff would tiptoe around her. I then wondered if, perhaps, she had suffered some sort of tragedy or loss, which would certainly account for what I was seeing. But no, there was nothing like that in her recent or distant past. So, why was she behaving this way, and why was the rest of the staff putting up with it? The answer was that she had convinced the boss that she was worth a great deal more than he was paying her, but that she was willing to stay on because she believed in the business. In addition to being excessively thrifty, the boss was also quite self-centered, and the fact that she managed to be passably pleasant in his presence allowed him to remain oblivious.

What puzzled, and worried, me most were my own reactions to the situation. In addition to the cold and the foam helmet sensations, my limbs would grow heavy whenever she was in the building. I would feel waves of anger, frustration, and sheer malevolence, completely unrelated to whatever I was doing at the time. While my co-workers were obviously peevish and uneasy around her, they seemed to recover adequately once she was back upstairs. I, on the other hand, would remain on edge until I was safely home. I thought maybe the stress of my job was wearing me down and making me overly sensitive, or overdramatic. Then she went on vacation.

I didn’t know she was going on vacation, but I knew something had changed the minute I walked into the building. It felt like the sun had come out after a bad storm. The front office was empty, yet had the air of a home right before a party. When I buzzed upstairs to let them know I was there, they all were so cheerful that I thought we must have received a grant or something. All that week, no matter what happened, things just rolled off us like water from a duck’s back. I was downright giddy. It was more than just shared happiness; it felt as though I was taking on their joy along with my own. Then she came back.

To be continued…