Revenge takes time.
Sometimes you have to wait…and wait…and wait…and then wait some more. Think of Vito Corleone in Godfather Part II. Remember how he waited years to take revenge on the man who slaughtered his family, Don Ciccio. As a young boy, he escaped to America, but never forgot what that mafia chief did to his mother, father and brother. So when he became a successful “businessman” in America, he returned to Sicily and killed Don Ciccio with a well-placed knife in the old man’s stomach.
Now, I’m not advocating murder. That is a fictional—and extreme—example of revenge. I apologize if anyone is offended by my admittedly over-the-top illustration. But stay with me…because something happened recently that indicates that sometimes, if you wait, you can get your revenge on the people who have done you wrong. Or at least show them the error they made by say, laying you off.
Long story short: I recently went on the website of my former employer. In looking over the most recent articles, I noticed a story that seemed very familiar…and for good reason. The article was taken nearly verbatim from one I had written in 2009. The writer, a former colleague, had interspersed the article with some original quotes, but about half of the article was taken word for word from mine. Yet it had her byline. Stats that are nearly two years old were used and one quote in my original piece was attributed to another person in the latest version. This was an obvious and blatant case of plagiarism, not to mention misleading and shoddy journalism. There was no mention made of the earlier article or any credit given to me. To anyone who reads it, he or she would think it was original, not a rehash of an article nearly two years old
What did I do? I wrote a strongly worded email to my former boss, alerting him to this situation. I said that he could think of me as a disgruntled former employee. But I also pointed out that the proof was in black and white.
He wrote back and said he would “address” the issue in a meeting. He seemed sincere, but I don’t know if anything was said to the writer. Since I no longer work there, he is under no obligation to tell me what occurred in the meeting—if there were one at all.
My guess is that this person got a mild slap on the wrist. At worst, she may be put under an “employee improvement plan,” during which time her work should be closely edited. But I have no way of knowing what action, if any, was taken. Knowing the personalities involved, they probably just wanted to sweep the whole mess under the rug.
But the fact that this so-called editor is still working there points up the unfairness of layoffs. Someone who is so obviously incompetent gets to keep her job, while a laid-off employee has no chance to save his or her job.
To be honest, I don’t feel good about this. Yes, I stood up for myself, but to what end? I’m probably viewed as just another disgruntled employee, a bitch. I was raised to be a “good girl” and not make waves. So this was painful for me. I thoroughly expect the universe will whack me in the butt sooner or later for my rare foray into assertiveness.
Instead of taking the blame squarely for her mistake, the writer is probably angry with me for “tattling.” Yeah, we’re in junior high school. She is a grown woman, a professional. She made the mistake, a pretty egregious one, and now has to own up to her error and not make it again.
But she won’t. She is well liked by the powers-that-be, so she is safe. Easier to blame the messenger and not take any responsibility for her actions.
Yet it could be argued that she violated our former office friendship by ripping off my work. And why did she do it? Why not write a shorter story using her own reporting? Or pick another topic altogether? Yes, the remaining staff is overworked. But none have resorted to this level of plagiarism. There is no excuse for passing off someone else’s work as her own.
Maybe she thinks there was nothing wrong with what she did. That is sad, and incorrect. Just because I worked for the company when I wrote the original article doesn’t mean she, or anyone else, can steal my words.
I don’t plan on taking this any further. No point in it anyway.
But I do take some satisfaction in speaking up and bringing this to the attention of my former boss, even if nothing came of it.
Think of it as wish fulfillment. How many times does a laid-off employee get a chance to say, with concrete proof, “HEY, YOU LAID OFF THE WRONG EMPLOYEE, YOU BOZOS!”
Vito would be proud.
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