Helena’s Rabbit Dies
May 26th 2008 21:00
Photo supplied by Angus McLellan. Used in accordance with the terms of Wikimedia Commons’ GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.
A few years ago I used to work under a girl called Helena (name changed). Helena was very pretty and extremely girly. She loved clothes and designer handbags and often talked about the expensive designer clothes she had. She also had a very effervescent personality. And because she was a lot younger than me, and yet was my supervisor, I felt resentful about being told what to do, especially from someone I considered flaky and inexperienced.
Now that I’ve gotten to know Helena better, I realise there’s more to her than meets the eye and I feel guilty about my previous unkind thoughts. Behind the girly-ness is a kind, trustworthy soul who I can still rely on to get a good reference. We also disliked our manager intensely and we supported each other when times were tough.
But let’s go back to the early days when I had a negative opinion of Helena. One afternoon I was busy working away when Helena started crying in front of a colleague. Because the colleague sat right next to me, it was hard not to eavesdrop. It turned out Helena’s rabbit had become ill and she made the painful decision to have it put to sleep. Having lost pets of my own, I really felt for her and could imagine the pain and guilt she must have felt, no matter how much she thought she had done the right thing. Seeing this new side to Helena made her more human to me and I told myself she couldn’t be that bad if she could mourn over the loss of her pet.
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