The story has taken a completely unexpected turn and I hasten to update all of you.
For the last fortnight, things have been rather quiet at my niece’s place after the blow up and my counseling. The topic was indeed being discussed at her end as well as with me and she seems to have decided to grin and bear it.
The climax came on last Saturday when there was a company get together for the on going festival. As usual, the boss’s wife was riding rough shod and my dear spirited niece snapped. She decided then and there that she had had enough and let the old lady have an ear full. She started off by saying that the lady was full of **** and held forth on why my niece felt so. After the initial shock, the nephew in law offered his excuses and escorted the girl back home and since then and till earlier this afternoon, they have been giving each other the silent treatment. A totally ruined long week end! I had lent my shoulders for the young lass to let some steam off and was hoping that things would settle down one way or the other.
Just before lunch today, after the long week end, my nephew in law was summoned to the boss’s office and went in fully expecting to be ticked off or may be even sacked. Instead, what transpired is completely out of my experience and I am yet to recover from the amazement.
After some hemming and hawing, the boss apparently told my NIL (That is an interesting acronym for him! ) that the boss fully understood the outburst and only wished that it had happened earlier. He had been unable to manage his wife’s behaviour but was quite aware of how unpleasant she was. He claimed to have been helpless and uncertain how to go about correcting her! My niece’s outburst and the break up of the party shortly thereafter, provided him with an opportunity to talk to his wife about the whole matter in a way that he claimed he would never have been able to earlier. He fully appreciated that my niece was a professional of standing and not just window dressing and suggested that my NIL stop bringing her to company parties if she was uncomfortable attending them. (Perhaps, ‘NIL’ should be for the boss!)
With a lot of mutual hemming and hawing the matter has been treated as closed and my NIL is on cloud nine for the outcome. No sooner he got back to his room, he called up my niece to tell her and said that they will talk about it later in the evening. My niece immediately called me to inform me of the outcome and I cautioned her not to gloat but to apologize for the outburst, get things back on even keel and take it from there.
After this unusual end, I am left wondering about the boss’s wife. Must be a formidable personality if the husband could not communicate with her! It takes all kinds to make the world I guess.