Friday, March 13, 2009

On Schadenfreude

At Urban University, there is a certain administrative professional who has, in the past, made the lives of faculty and other staff in his/her administrative unit miserable. S/he is not someone that any of us have to deal with on a daily basis, or even every semester, but there are certain Important Things for which s/he is the only person empowered to process the paperwork. S/he has reconstrued his/her role to be that of a gatekeeper, telling faculty not to waste his/her time by submitting the petitions (for want of a better generic word) that are his/her job to process, and has badmouthed faculty who persisted to their colleagues. S/he has reduced a junior associate in his/her office to tears, through constant abuse.

And last week, it came out that this person was "reassigned", apparently against his/her will. I add this last part because rumor has it that news the reassignment was delivered without warning, and accompanied by the presence of two campus police officers.

It is unseemly how happy I am about this, and I feel a little guilty for feeling this way.

But only a little.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You're probably only happy because the lessening of stress released some mysterious endorphenes. Mmm...natural high.

Anonymous said...

Payback is a b!tch, ain't it?

If only all bullies were dealt the same blow.