When bad things happen to bad people

You know that book about when bad things happen to good people? 

Well, sometimes bad things happen to bad people. 

And sometimes that makes me smile.  Karma is a b!tch. 

At my last job, there was one older woman, a legal assistant, who made my life miserable.  And I'd moved to that small law firm after following a very good friend from big law.  And that same woman made my very good friend's life miserable too.  This legal assistant actually snooped through my friends desk and spread all kinds of rumors about her.  But I don't really bear much ill will toward her.  She is old and in poor health, and almost everything about her life seems miserable.  I can almost understand why she would delete documents, lie, blame, etc.

And there was one person at that job that I thought was a friend but it turned out had something very hateful and cruel about me behind my back.  As soon as I found out about that, I cried the requisite tears, and then I distanced myself.  I was polite but I never had another personal conversation with her again.  It was sad because I'd travelled to Mexico to go to her wedding, and I'd spent many a weekend afternoon at her house working on our scrapbooks together.  Things in her life have gone badly since I changed jobs, and I'm sad for her.  While she wasn't nice to me on that occasion, I think she has a good heart and she deserves to be happy. 

And then there the final office drama queen.  She was a fairly young receptionist and I thought she was a pretty horrible person as soon as I got to know her.  She said bad things about almost everyone I think behind their backs, and she struck me as very two-faced.  One thing I remember about her was that she would frequently tell me how disgusting my lunch smelled.  That was odd since I was a vegetarian and she would eat things like tuna and I would never say a word.  But I'm sure some foods I ate didn't smell great, but really, no worse than hers.  One of my favorite frozen meals to eat for lunch is an Amy's meal called Mattar Paneer.  It has a strong curry smell -- I think it tastes insanely good and I like the smell, but whatever, I'm sure not everyone does.  But you know, people made all kinds of things in that office (and my office was near the kitchen), and I just kept my mouth shut.  One of the funny things is that now she's become a vegan, so she probably eats a lot of the same stuff I used to bring for lunch.  I think she became vegan not by choice (i.e., ordered by her doctor), but she's lost over 100 pounds since, so that's good. 

I don't know why I'm struggling to think of some concrete examples about her, but she just struck me as evil.  She was the opposite of a team player, she was condescending (ironic, given her job and many aspects of her life that seemed far from ideal), she was petty, she was two-faced, she was bitchy, she was unprofessional, she was lazy, she did not make the world a better place. 

Well, this past weekend, my very good friend who I'd followed to that firm (she also left) came over to help me work on a jigsaw puzzle, and then we went out for lunch.  She had all the gossip on these people.  The old legal assistant is still smoking a pack a day but has emphysema.  The one I had thought was a friend has since gotten divorced and while she was apparently hoping to get back together with her husband, he has now gotten someone else pregnant.  And it turns out that this receptionist has gotten divorced.  That wasn't a big surprise to me.  She was young when she got married (maybe in 2010 or so? I remember being at their wedding reception and I was already married).  She was immature and from what I heard, she's gone through some pretty big life changes (becoming a vegan and losing 100 pounds are definitely good changes, but they can take a toll on a marriage).  I don't look at her getting divorced as any kind of kharmic payback or anything.  Obviously divorce happens to lots of people and as hard as it is, it can sometimes be a change for the best. 

But the big news is that she lives in some random suburb and the local police there apparently recently approached her and indicated that they suspect her husband (or ex) as being a serial rapist!  What???!!! 

Now really, I wouldn't wish that on anyone.  Imagine how it would feel to find out you were married to someone who did that to women.  But if it has to happen to someone, it couldn't have happened to a nicer person.  Especially since she's out of the relationship and safe, it's kind of funny to me that she'll have this among her list of horrifying life experiences (coupled with not being a nice person, etc.). 

I feel bad about writing this post.  I might hit delete later today...