Post by Emma Danielson on Nov 3, 2012 3:04:14 GMT -6
Open on the therapist’s office, empty. This time, Emma’s the first one in, and she looks around for the doctor. Not seeing him, she sighs, walking over and sitting on the couch. After a few seconds, she impatiently gets up again, pacing back and forth in the room. Emma begins walking around the room, inspecting everything idly: Dr. Halperin’s degree, some of the assorted tchotchkes and oddities he’s collected, and his desk, with its typically well-arranged contents. A letter atop a stack of papers catches Emma’s eye, specifically the addressee. She picks it up, reading quietly to herself.
Dear Mrs. Conway,
I’ve been working with Ms. Danielson for several weeks now, and each week I find myself more and more surprised by her behavior. It’s not that she doesn’t want to improve herself. On the contrary, I find her to be a very motivated, intelligent and driven young woman. What I’m noticing is a systematic pattern of self-deprecation. She refuses to believe that her accomplishments and accolades are worthy of praise, and she backs this opinion up with anecdotes about harassment she’s received from some of her coworkers, most prominently a systematic campaign of harassment by a Ms. Sydney Knight.
I would argue that the increasing severity of her alcohol dependency, along with her general trend towards antisocial behavior, stems from the creation of a hostile workplace environment. If, as you said when you and your husband approached me, you truly recommended Ms. Danielson to me for the sake of the improvement of her physical and mental well-being, I believe we need to address the root cause of her issues, rather than simply, as she so eloquently put it during our last session, “putzing around and wasting all of my [expletive] time with this [expletive] wishy-washy ‘how does that make you feeeeel?’ [expletive].”
Mrs. Conway, I am fully aware of the nature of the line of work both you and Ms. Danielson are part of. I have worked with professional wrestlers in the past, and they’ve been some of the most creative people I’ve ever met. I also understand the role “trash talking” plays in the promotion of a matchup. However, the behavior I’ve seen from Ms. Danielson isn’t consistent with the behavior of other professional wrestlers I’ve worked with who had problems with their fellow wrestlers. I would most directly liken it to the reactions of an individual who was the ongoing victim of severe bullying, especially in their school years. The fact that I’m observing these symptoms in a fully-grown adult woman, as a result of the treatment of her coworkers, is simply disturbing.
I would like to continue working with Emma, as I feel we are making progress, no matter how slow it might seem on the surface. But I would also strongly recommend, as a medical professional, that you and your husband begin working with the other members of the locker room to dispel the culture that allowed these conditions to arise in the first place. Seeing a beautiful and strong young woman’s self-esteem destroyed for the sake of a punchline is deplorable. If corrective action is not undertaken soon, I truly worry what continued exposure to such a toxic environment will do for Ms. Danielson’s psyche. She’s a very brave woman, but I’m amazed she’s held out under the circumstances as long as she has. Please, I strongly urge you to take these words into consideration.
Thank you for your time,
Dr. David Halperin, Psy.D.[/color]
Emma sets the letter back down, walking back to the couch and sitting down quietly, stunned at the letter’s content. For a mild man like Dr. Halperin, the language contained throughout (notwithstanding her own censored outburst) was the equivalent of going on a profane tirade. And he had done so on her behalf. She runs a hand through her hair, exhaling and sighing. The door swings open, and Dr. Halperin walks in, all smiles. He walks over and shakes Emma’s hand before walking towards his desk.
”Sorry I’m late, traffic was just dreadful. Hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long, I know how you like to wrap things up quickly here.”
Emma smirks to herself softly, nodding to him as Halperin sits down.
”S’arright, Doc. Traffic happens. Just good you got here safe. I’m ready when you are.”
Dr. Halperin smiles brightly at her, pulling out his notepad and pen. He shifts slightly in his seat, nodding to Emma to begin talking. She does so, and he begins to take notes as we fade out.
”I love this job sometimes. I really do. I mean, where else would your coworkers get paid to pick apart your personal flaws and mock you for the entire world? Truly, this sort of unique experience is what makes professional wrestling so delightful. But then again, what should I expect from two catty women such as yourselves caught fighting over the same man? Fact is, I couldn’t care less about either of you or what you think of me. But the fact that your opinions are worth less than a bottle of snake oil doesn’t change the fact that hearing you bitch about me is supremely irritating. Let’s start with you, Mercy.”
“How ya doin’ there, Mercedes? Seem pretty confident about your reading of me. What with, y’know, you talking about how I’m leaving my aspirations at the door and how I must have been drunk to do what I did. You seem to have a pretty good read on me. I mean, clearly that’s why I agreed to work with Ayla and Alysson, to try to get that change they wanted. It’s totally because I’m drunk and ambitionless, right? Right? You think it’s so easy. You think you can just take me apart and put me under a ***damn microscope, like all I am is one or two character traits. You don’t know a damn thing about me, Mercedes. You don’t even care to do your homework.”
“I agreed to help them because they’re my friends. Alysson Gardner was and is my friend. Ayla St. James is my friend. And friends help each other out. They don’t go chasing after each other’s significant others like a dog in heat who desperately needs to get some. And as for your other assertion…I’m not in rehab. I tried rehab once. It didn’t cure me, because I don’t have a damn thing to be cured of. I had a drinking problem. Now I just like to drink. Your partner and the man whose pants you’re so desperate to get into forced me into this BS therapy because…well, I don’t know. You’d have to ask her. If you’re on speaking terms anymore, that is. You know what this match was going to be? It was her putting out a hit on you. I was going to break you for her. Well, now I’ll just break both of you. For me.”
“Speaking of lying backstabbers, hiya Kathy! It’s real nice how you decided to bring up our last match. Y’know, the one where you clamped yourself to my best friend’s leg. I’m real impressed that Simon could beat a one-legged man. Y’know, I would have been reviewing tapes with him. And maybe I should have been…no, you’ve got me there. That was the wrong thing to do. I can admit when I’m at fault. I’m focused now, though. I’m more focused than I’ve been in a long while. See, as far as I’m concerned, you’re emblematic of everything that’s going wrong with my life. Your husband fired my friend, you’ve cost my best friend matches, your smirking arrogance thinking you can use me like a sledgehammer when people step out of line…I won’t let you use me, Kathy.”
“I’m not your hitwoman. I’m not some beating stick you get out to knock people back in line when they displease you. I’m perfectly ready to beat the ever-loving crap out of Vargas, don’t get me wrong. But you’re on my hitlist too. For everything you’ve said and done, for what you are…I’ll give you and Mercedes something you can bond over again. When you’re both nursing your injuries, whether Ayla lays into you or not, I’ll leave you bruised, battered, and broken. Kathy, you’ll learn a valuable lesson here…you get to learn what a mistake it is to provoke someone like me.”
“As much as the effort’s been made to turn me into a walking joke, you might want to take a page out of your husband’s book here. Because even after everything that I’ve done and everything that happens to me, he still respects me. Why? Because he knows what I’m capable of. He knows that even if you try to cut me down to size, much as you’re doing now, all it takes is one…shot. One blow, one move, one moment, and I can be right back in the ballgame. I just need to take my chance. I need to capture my moment. I…need to seize my Opportunity.”[/i]
Dear Mrs. Conway,
I’ve been working with Ms. Danielson for several weeks now, and each week I find myself more and more surprised by her behavior. It’s not that she doesn’t want to improve herself. On the contrary, I find her to be a very motivated, intelligent and driven young woman. What I’m noticing is a systematic pattern of self-deprecation. She refuses to believe that her accomplishments and accolades are worthy of praise, and she backs this opinion up with anecdotes about harassment she’s received from some of her coworkers, most prominently a systematic campaign of harassment by a Ms. Sydney Knight.
I would argue that the increasing severity of her alcohol dependency, along with her general trend towards antisocial behavior, stems from the creation of a hostile workplace environment. If, as you said when you and your husband approached me, you truly recommended Ms. Danielson to me for the sake of the improvement of her physical and mental well-being, I believe we need to address the root cause of her issues, rather than simply, as she so eloquently put it during our last session, “putzing around and wasting all of my [expletive] time with this [expletive] wishy-washy ‘how does that make you feeeeel?’ [expletive].”
Mrs. Conway, I am fully aware of the nature of the line of work both you and Ms. Danielson are part of. I have worked with professional wrestlers in the past, and they’ve been some of the most creative people I’ve ever met. I also understand the role “trash talking” plays in the promotion of a matchup. However, the behavior I’ve seen from Ms. Danielson isn’t consistent with the behavior of other professional wrestlers I’ve worked with who had problems with their fellow wrestlers. I would most directly liken it to the reactions of an individual who was the ongoing victim of severe bullying, especially in their school years. The fact that I’m observing these symptoms in a fully-grown adult woman, as a result of the treatment of her coworkers, is simply disturbing.
I would like to continue working with Emma, as I feel we are making progress, no matter how slow it might seem on the surface. But I would also strongly recommend, as a medical professional, that you and your husband begin working with the other members of the locker room to dispel the culture that allowed these conditions to arise in the first place. Seeing a beautiful and strong young woman’s self-esteem destroyed for the sake of a punchline is deplorable. If corrective action is not undertaken soon, I truly worry what continued exposure to such a toxic environment will do for Ms. Danielson’s psyche. She’s a very brave woman, but I’m amazed she’s held out under the circumstances as long as she has. Please, I strongly urge you to take these words into consideration.
Thank you for your time,
Dr. David Halperin, Psy.D.[/color]
Emma sets the letter back down, walking back to the couch and sitting down quietly, stunned at the letter’s content. For a mild man like Dr. Halperin, the language contained throughout (notwithstanding her own censored outburst) was the equivalent of going on a profane tirade. And he had done so on her behalf. She runs a hand through her hair, exhaling and sighing. The door swings open, and Dr. Halperin walks in, all smiles. He walks over and shakes Emma’s hand before walking towards his desk.
”Sorry I’m late, traffic was just dreadful. Hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long, I know how you like to wrap things up quickly here.”
Emma smirks to herself softly, nodding to him as Halperin sits down.
”S’arright, Doc. Traffic happens. Just good you got here safe. I’m ready when you are.”
Dr. Halperin smiles brightly at her, pulling out his notepad and pen. He shifts slightly in his seat, nodding to Emma to begin talking. She does so, and he begins to take notes as we fade out.
”I love this job sometimes. I really do. I mean, where else would your coworkers get paid to pick apart your personal flaws and mock you for the entire world? Truly, this sort of unique experience is what makes professional wrestling so delightful. But then again, what should I expect from two catty women such as yourselves caught fighting over the same man? Fact is, I couldn’t care less about either of you or what you think of me. But the fact that your opinions are worth less than a bottle of snake oil doesn’t change the fact that hearing you bitch about me is supremely irritating. Let’s start with you, Mercy.”
“How ya doin’ there, Mercedes? Seem pretty confident about your reading of me. What with, y’know, you talking about how I’m leaving my aspirations at the door and how I must have been drunk to do what I did. You seem to have a pretty good read on me. I mean, clearly that’s why I agreed to work with Ayla and Alysson, to try to get that change they wanted. It’s totally because I’m drunk and ambitionless, right? Right? You think it’s so easy. You think you can just take me apart and put me under a ***damn microscope, like all I am is one or two character traits. You don’t know a damn thing about me, Mercedes. You don’t even care to do your homework.”
“I agreed to help them because they’re my friends. Alysson Gardner was and is my friend. Ayla St. James is my friend. And friends help each other out. They don’t go chasing after each other’s significant others like a dog in heat who desperately needs to get some. And as for your other assertion…I’m not in rehab. I tried rehab once. It didn’t cure me, because I don’t have a damn thing to be cured of. I had a drinking problem. Now I just like to drink. Your partner and the man whose pants you’re so desperate to get into forced me into this BS therapy because…well, I don’t know. You’d have to ask her. If you’re on speaking terms anymore, that is. You know what this match was going to be? It was her putting out a hit on you. I was going to break you for her. Well, now I’ll just break both of you. For me.”
“Speaking of lying backstabbers, hiya Kathy! It’s real nice how you decided to bring up our last match. Y’know, the one where you clamped yourself to my best friend’s leg. I’m real impressed that Simon could beat a one-legged man. Y’know, I would have been reviewing tapes with him. And maybe I should have been…no, you’ve got me there. That was the wrong thing to do. I can admit when I’m at fault. I’m focused now, though. I’m more focused than I’ve been in a long while. See, as far as I’m concerned, you’re emblematic of everything that’s going wrong with my life. Your husband fired my friend, you’ve cost my best friend matches, your smirking arrogance thinking you can use me like a sledgehammer when people step out of line…I won’t let you use me, Kathy.”
“I’m not your hitwoman. I’m not some beating stick you get out to knock people back in line when they displease you. I’m perfectly ready to beat the ever-loving crap out of Vargas, don’t get me wrong. But you’re on my hitlist too. For everything you’ve said and done, for what you are…I’ll give you and Mercedes something you can bond over again. When you’re both nursing your injuries, whether Ayla lays into you or not, I’ll leave you bruised, battered, and broken. Kathy, you’ll learn a valuable lesson here…you get to learn what a mistake it is to provoke someone like me.”
“As much as the effort’s been made to turn me into a walking joke, you might want to take a page out of your husband’s book here. Because even after everything that I’ve done and everything that happens to me, he still respects me. Why? Because he knows what I’m capable of. He knows that even if you try to cut me down to size, much as you’re doing now, all it takes is one…shot. One blow, one move, one moment, and I can be right back in the ballgame. I just need to take my chance. I need to capture my moment. I…need to seize my Opportunity.”[/i]