The bad seed

A stinky rat, a hovering vulture, a fly on the wall. Every place of work has a bad seed, a person that no one can trust and no one can quite figure out. This bad seed might kill you with kindness, or look over your shoulder with too close of a stance. This seed can spread lies, take clients, or even influence the people you work with to dislike and not trust you.

My salon is not that big. We have four hairdressers, one of which is the owner, a mesage therapist, a receptionist/facialist, an assistant with a kick, and our heart the owners wife, Tracy. I'm one of the hairdressers here, I fight for clients alongside another one, her name is Debbie.

Debbie is the bad seed. She lies, she steals clients, she always is trying to see what my day looks like and why i have so many clients that come see me, not that have many but compared to her empty collum its a lot.

Yesterday in the morning I was finishing up with a kids cut, I had two clients of the same family waiting on me. I was trying to rush when i hear the shrilly voice of someone way too eadger to say hello to my clients.

Debbie walks right in, a mess, flighty, but with enough energy to run a marathon. She greets them, tells them about her crazy morning and without hesitating asks one of them if she wouldnt mind letting her start on her hair.

I was throbbing with anger because at this point I wasnt even asked. She takes the client up to me and without warning marches right up to me to see if i would mind.

I have no choice, can't look cheap, can't stick up for myself. Sure.

She steals my client and laughs about it with her like it's not a big deal. I look over to my client, who also happens to be a friend and she can't even believe her eyes. Bitch!

I talk to Tracy in private, she seems mad enough but in a business state of mind. She tells me she will talk to her and make sure for this kind of thing never to happen again.

Later on i think on this situation and I can't help but stay mad. Ched, the owner and senior stylist pulls us in to talk. He wants to lay it all out on the table, fuck, "go ahead lets talk".

All right, I think to myself, I look over at the mummy, pales, thin, and smells like a crusty bag of tuna and I tell her straight. "I feel uncomfortable about what you did." she smiles like a child molester.

"I didnt think you'd mind?" she softly replies like she gives a shit. COME ON, your not fooling me I think to myself. My backbone fades away and she gives me some shit about how she's clueless and she tells me she is sorry.

SORRY?

the seed is planted in my pot of shame. Later on she tells me how she is putting flyers around town for us. She tells me of this school she just went to and how she set flyers for us there.

I feel a little better. This morning I find out that she actually put only her name on this flyer and people have been calling like crazy. The seed is now a bush that I can't control!

I'm angry, I'm dumb, and I dislike her more now than i ever have before. What can I do to get this old ass zombie face away from me? I can only try harder, play harder and let her taste a bit of her own nasty medicine.

Seeds of hate like this don't belong in a place where love is trying to grow, where people are trying so hard to enjoy what they are trying to make grow.