Pink Skipping Ropes

My mind started to wander to elementary school.  Like most girls, I had a pink skipping rope.  I had to remember to bring it to school in the mornings and take it out for recesses.  I was short so I was awkward at first and had to hold the rope down from the handles until I got better at it and stronger and could swing the whole rope up over my head.  My classmates and I could also combine skipping ropes and play double dutch and other group games.

And, then I felt her looking at me.  As if on cue, I smiled and nodded my head and then I focused on what she was going off on now.  She was still on the skipping rope.

Yes, this is what our daily management meetings were like now.  Ever since she became the leader.  They were no longer meetings, they were just her rambling off about nothing in particular.  The rest of us just smiled and nodded.  Sometimes, I mentally calculated what this meeting was costing in salaries per hour.  It was a lot of money.  In the beginning, I tried to uphold my professional ethics.  I spoke up when I thought she wasn't making sense.  I learned my lesson.  Hers was the only opinion that mattered.  She didn't have any friends or any interests outside of work.  This was her opportunity to have a captive audience for an hour a day to talk and have people listen.

She was talking about her ADHD and how it wasn't diagnosed until she was an adult.  She grew up in a small town.  While in elementary school, the teachers didn't know what to do with her to contain her.  First the teacher tied her hands together at the back of her chair with a pink skipping rope.  But, she was able to pick up the chair that she was tied to and walk in the classroom.  So, the teacher had to tie her feet to the bottom of the chair with another pink skipping rope.  She would be untied at recess where someone would be assigned to her to run around the school yard hoping to burn off some energy.  Sometimes she was still too disruptive so they had to put her in the hallway tied to her chai by pink skipping ropes. 

This story was so sad on so many different levels, yet, she was laughing so hard that she was almost in tears.  This was our cue.  We had to laugh along with her.  I forced myself to smile but I couldn't laugh.  It just wasn't funny. 

She was so proud of her ADHD.  I couldn't believe that she had fooled my company into hiring her.  She was able to convince  others in positions of power that she a strong work ethic.  She talked a lot and with such authority that she had fooled others into thinking she knew what she had been talking about.  She was also smart enough to take credit for everything that went right and to place blame on others for everything that went wrong. 

I tried to talk to her privately a couple of times.  When others talked to her, they were amazed at how bust she was yet she still gave them time.  She would always leave her door open regardless of who was with her, giving the illusion that was available.  An open door does not mean that.  She would wave to people as they were walking by or ask them a random question.  Also, she would be texting on one cell phone and talking on another.  She would be listening to a conference call on her land line although it was muted. so that she could credit for attending but not paying any attention to it. She also would be having multiple windows open on her computer so she would be also answering and writing email and working on spread sheets and who knows what else.  She would read reports by reading one word a line and think that she had the gist of it.  She was usually wrong but on one would tell her.  When she was driving, she would randomly call people on her bluetooth to give her something to do while driving.  When she couldn't sleep, she would call one of her employees to ask a meaningless question.  They would be so flattered and would brag that they were the favorite, not realizing how they were being used for her own purposes. 

I learned a lot from her though.  I learned the difference between a real leader and someone who had the title of leeader.  I learned about how not to treat people.  I learned how I felt being constantly disrespected and I never wanted to make anyone else feel that way.  I learned how dangerous it is to surround yourself with sheep.  I learned that some principles are worth standing up for.  I learned why our team wasn't affective.  I learned how your health is affected when working in such an environment.  II learned that no one can be effective in such a frenzied environment, but sometimes it takes a while for this to come to light. I learned to not trust anyone's judgement who was proud that she was tied up by teachers with pink skipping ropes.