I was fuming. All of us in the office had mortgages, Lou had a little boy to consider and Sarah had a car to pay off but Tracey was happy to put our jobs on the line when it was all her fault to start with.
We all went home for the weekend following Bob's talk and spent the whole two days wondering if we were going to be called to a disciplinary hearing.
On Monday, me, Sarah and Lou were called to Rachels office. Rachel was the head of HR. She gave us a big lecture about our behaviour and said she was disgusted in what had been written and in what we had done. She was aware of Tracey's misgivings and said she would be having a word with her too. She then said we faced disciplinary hearings. At that point I told her that if that was the case she could have my notice. No way was I going to lose my job for that bitch Tracey. I'd rather walk with my head held high. Rachel backed down then and said that luckily for us Bob had realised we had all been suffering and decided to let us off with a warning. In future though he would be sitting in on our meetings.
Tracey and Leah were both spoken to about their conduct and I hope about the fact that they had invaded everyone's privacy by reading the emails in the first place.
From then on we all made a concerted yet strained effort to get along. The only person that things didn't change for was Lou.
Alongside everything else that was going on, Lou had been to see Charles boss about the fact that Leah wouldn't train her nor give her any work to do. Some days she would be sat doing nothing and then she would be told off for it! We could all see how distressing it was for her. Occasionally Tracey would pass her something but it never took her more than an hour to do. In the end I told her to do my delivery notes and to take them on from me. At least they were coming in daily.
Lou complained and pleaded and begged to be given something to do. Taking over from Dee had gone out the window when they employed someone from accounts. Hazel was lovely and it wasn't her fault that she had been given the job so we did our best to make her welcome. In fact Lou was the first to make an effort with her. She was now the youngest and we all got along with her much to Tracey's horror.
On several occasions Lou came to me in tears saying she'd had enough and was just going to leave. I talked her around saying it wouldn't be long before Tracey was on maternity and I would be taking over with my first job being to give Lou a stable role in the office. Lou agreed to try and hang on.
Unfortunately she didn't get the chance. Several days later she was handed a letter.