I was a manager, and another guy was a more senior manager in another division. We both did IT. For some reason he didn’t like me and/or was trying to get our services moved to him, so he went to our director every week for over a year to tell him made-up stories about me.
He eventually left after a lot of people realized he was a highly manipulative, but I still hear things that he told people as part of an explanation about why I was passed up “for this” or why I wasn’t right “for that.” It cost me a lot of raises, especially in cases where things were gossiped to other people and the source was lost. Now I’m only a manager in title, but my management responsibilities were taken away.
Unfortunately, I’m caught in a ticking trap – another 1.5 years and I retire with a full pension for the rest of my life. Losing that by leaving isn’t worth it (assuming I live long enough afterwards).
Growing up we had two large mulberry trees in the yard, and every summer I was sent out daily to pick a bucket full of mulberries. My Mom made mulberry syrup, mulberry jam, mulberry clafouti, put them in fruit salad, and, of course, made mulberry cobbler.
This brings back memories. Thank you for sharing!