I have a little problem and need to know how I should answer a/the question when it arises in an interview. I left my last job after nine months. I was doing a great job. I was hired from a temp agency with glowing reviews and given a $2,000 annual raise when I was hired on full-time. My problem started when I "went up against" a fellow employee. I was the administrative assistant to "the boss" and all his personal information was kept on my computer (budget, calendar, etc). My fellow employee went into my locked office and was caught using my computer one Saturday when I logged on to my office computer from home. I could see the mouse moving and documents being opened. When I asked on a open document "who’s on my computer" the fellow employee answered, "it’s me, I couldn’t find something you were supposed to do on Friday for the boss and didn’t want you to get in trouble, I got your back". I then told her where the document was left for the boss (the same as always) and her reply was "oh, ok". I didn’t do anything at the time and on Sunday typed out a nice email stating "thanks for the help, but in the future please respect my privacy, my office, computer and the information I’ve been entrusted with. I got a reply how she was 1.) passing my (locked with a 1" panel window) office door and saw movement on the monitor and knew I was working from home and went in to turn off the monitor (we both were entrusted with master keys) 2.) couldn’t find a document and she was covering for me 3.) if I had filed the document in the proper file on the server she would never had to enter my office. Three excuses in the same email and a nasty "no matter how you feel about me, I will continue to catch your back for the good of the company".

I never replied, but on Monday morning there was another email from her stating she was taking the week off and left a list of six line items she wanted completed by 5:00PM that same day. I sent a diplomatic email stating that if she knew she was going to take a vacation she should have completed the tasks before she left, as she knew of the events 3 months in advance. I stated also that I would work on her task list if my schedule permitted. I completed what she wanted done in less than an hour. Because I stated she knew of the events 3 months in advance and should have taken care of the tasks, along with cc: our boss at this point because she was getting out of hand, I received yet another email stating "I have spoke to the boss and he has agreed to a three person meeting in his office on Monday morning". She went on "because of you I have to cut my vacation short and take care of matters you refuse to do. Blah, blah, blah you are not a team players, etc.

Now remember I had already done her request and emailed it to her. Something didn’t smell right (can you smell it too) and I got HR involved (a committee of two assembled by the boss). I soon found out that I was the fourth person in this position in the last two years. This was not the first complaint HR had received on my fellow employee and they felt things where getting worse with the fellow employee.

Monday rolls around and it’s meeting day. Boss doesn’t speak to me at all and HR notes it. Two hours before the meeting begins I’m told that boss and fellow employee have a relationship out side of the office ####! The meeting last all of ten minutes. My days of being tactful were over. I had cleared his calendar many times with little notice so he could take care of "pressing" matters! I’m so stupid. It never occurred to me something was up when one party came into the office and the other would show up approximately five minutes later, that they always seemed to be out at the same time or would be the only two left in a office of eight employees way past working hours (past 8:00PM in the evening and weekends) Odd sure, but both are married and have children. Bottom line, the meeting had started and I was clearly being bullied. The HR representative also noted this and stated that the meeting should proceed on a professional level. No such luck! I couldn’t help it, it just came out "I know what this meeting is really about, everyone in this meeting knows what the meeting is really about and 50% of the congregation knows what this meeting is all about. The boss (the man who’s life I ran for nine months) looked me dead in the eyes with a look that you get before someone slaps the crap out of you and states through gritted teeth, "YOU ARE WALKING A THIN LINE". Newly divorced from an abuser and three years of counseling screamed at me "It’s time to get out". The HR representative stated, let’s all just take a deep breath and finish the meeting. The boss, still sitting, in a voice/tone I have never heard come from him "get her out of here, I don’t want her on the property". The HR representative and I quickly exited, on the way back to my office to collect my belongs and leave, we both just kept asking each other "WHAT JUST HAPPENED". Why didn’t the boss ask, "What do you (people in the meeting and everyone else) think this meeting is really about? Did he just assume I was talking about their relationship? I just wanted to state that the office resented the fellow employee because she is constantly out of the office, never follows up with contacts and the other employees are constantly covering for her or just plain doing her job. Anyway now I’m looking for a job. The question is going to arise in an interview "Why did you leave your last job"? I can’t say "Well, basically the pastor (yes, pastor) of the 2,000 member church where I was employed is sleeping with the operations manager and I somehow, as his assistant, got caught in the middle". It sounds vindictive. "I believed my fellow employee was checking up on her lover, ah, the pastor via his on-line calendar on my computer" sounds unbelievable. "I threatened my bosses "good thing" he has going on at the local church and the congregation knows nothing about it" I’m a troublemaker. "My boss and I didn’t see eye to eye" sounds like I’m not a team player. I have an excellent reference from the HR committee anytime I need it, that’s not the problem. How can I survive this question in an interview and come out in a positive light? HELP! I thought this was the perfect, stressless job. I worked in the financial district in Boston with a cut throat analysis for years and NEVER faced anything like this before!