FLASHBACK #9: The New Resource called 'Thing'

As we headed towards Spring in 2002, my department at work sought an additional resource. They result: a young, chinese girl who had just finished working for another one of the firm's subsidiaries in Tampere. When we first met, she was gracious and very humble. Her English was excellent and the four of us in the team enjoyed a good working relationship.

Over the weeks, 'Thing' became problematic, demanding solutions to every problem that came up instead of searching for solutions herself. A devout Christian, she bonded very well with the other young girl in our team who was a regular Churchgoer. This 'alliance' blinded the younger girl and it wasn't until two male summer workers joined our team that Thing was seen for what she really was.

She was Chinese and had been sent to Finland to finish her studies. She never returned to China and, when asked why not, she didn't have an answer; she had no boyfriend or partner to keep her in Finland. She had found god, it seemed, but not much else. When I had negotiated with the company to include the provision of Finnish language lessons in my contract, Thing jumped on the bandwagon, demanding the same treatment. When I got support for my Marketing studies, she demanded the same treatment. Whenever I had booked time off work, she deliberately wanted the same days off just to be difficult - this was a young girl who refused to add the words 'flexibility' and 'compromise' to her vocabulary.

It was non-stop for the whole year and a half we worked together and when I left the project in August 2003, it continued, although she had a new target - my Scottish colleague. He would regularly see me at the offices in Helsinki and tell me of the latest incidents, of which there were many. The truth was: Thing was a troublemaker, desperately lonely and constantly trying to create drama to make up for her sad existence thousands of miles from her homeland.

I remember requesting a meeting with the Project Manager to discuss our working relationship; the boss, 'Thing' and I gathered around a round table and we were both told that, as adults, we would need to sort out our own relationship problems. During the meeting, Thing turned on the waterworks and, later that day, in one of the corridors, she smiled at me evily - she was one manipulative bitch and, for the remainder of my time in the Project, I discussed only work issues with her.