Well, its been one month of working for the Feds -- and I'm not so certain its any better than the civilian sector!

My supervisor (GS-13) has warned me of whom not to trust; whereas, several folk have informed me not to trust him. I see value in all the warnings.

This past Tuesday, he accused me of moving something on his desk. He did not address this with me, he was in the adjoining GS-11s office cursing every fould word possible.

Seems two of my coworkers are married to each other, yet work in different divisions/buildings. I am renting a partially furnished garage apartment from them. The husband's ex-wife works there, too. Geesh.

I’ve had several people tell me that my supervisor needs to retire and that he is a nosy know-it-all who will interfere and manipulate.

This past Thursday I spoke with the ex-wife briefly. It seems that she is a member of one of the Churches I had planned to visit (while Church shopping in my new community). That evening the husband (my landlord) warned me of her tactics.

Yesterday, Friday, I had a training session with her and while waiting for a software repair, we chatted and I discovered that she bought a town home in one of the communities in which I am interested. Also, she told me that her boyfriend lived in another town home community in which I’m interested. It was a nice conversation.

That evening, last night, the ex-husband warned me and told me abut her tactics and trust issues. She is vindictive and slanderous. I rather agree with him and from my legal experience – I can see what a spiteful person she can be. My pets continue to live with my mother about 1.2 hours away and I drive home on the weekends. I left and did as I planned that being to drive by the town home community (where the ex-wife’s boyfriend lives) and then by a couple “cottages” in which my realtor had referred me.

Well, while driving through the town home community, who did I see along with her boyfriend – the ex-wife. Yep, and I just waived and continued driving around through the various cul-de-sacs looking around for sale signs. She did not wave back and cursed at me and walked away. Which is fine b/c I did not expect to see her, either?

Now, I’m worried that I may be slandered at work and gossiped about unnecessarily. She seems to have a trend for libel and slander. Seems that some federal employees have too much time on their hands and not enough to do, thus they gossip about others.

Also, I am informed and believe that this ex-wife person and my supervisor have falsely accused others and have been threatened with lawsuits.

I don’t want to be a part of that.

Gosh what do I do when I return to work on Monday? I imagine the slurs will be flying.

If questioned, I will simply and politely state that: Oh yeah, she told me about those town homes and my realtor suggested that I drive by and view along with the cottages on my way out of town and call her if I’d like to make any viewing appointments.

And just leave it at that.

I don't understand the ex-wife cursing you, Mustang, but all you were doing was minding your own business, as I see it.

You do need to find a place to live, and there's no reason you wouldn't be checking out the townhomes, etc.

They don't need to know more than the minimum.

I'm sorry you are finding yourself in the midst of all of this, but keep your counsel and your head high. Choose a DIFFERENT church and make friends away from the office.

Mustang,
Prayers and blessings that all goes well. Please remember you're not alone in these type situations. All of us put up with untruths being directed at them. It's heartbreaking. But what can
you do. There'll always be bad mixed in with good. And as Anne
said, keep your head high and think good thoughts.

Mustang, Anne is right. You now have to learn to make friends who are not related to work at all.

the other employees who have been kind to alert you about supervisor. Keep a friendly distance but be socialable.

And at work, offer to be on a cross-organizational work commmittee/project related to your job so you know people elsewhere in the organization during work time, to give you fresher perspective. It will be something extra for your resume also. Govn't agencies are stronger in that type of multidisciplinary team work. Very different from law firms, which dominated by strong lawyers often and everyone else has a small voice.