STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Wow, that's a really crappy situation to be in.  Hopefully something else will come along for you before he even starts.  But if that's not the case, it doesn't mean all hope is lost.  Try to remember that all that happened 2-3 years ago and since then, you've grown and hopefully he has too.  Also, when you two worked together, were you equals?  Maybe he had been trying to move up or trying to get ahead or whatever and he saw you as a threat?  Maybe now that he's your boss, he no longer sees you as "competition" and can get over himself.  Although if that is the case, then he sounds like he has a bit of an ego and still might not be pleasant to work with.

Anyway, regardless, try to give him a fair second chance and do what you can to start off with a clean slate.  You have the perfect opportunity to be the bigger person here, if for no other reason than to feel proud of yourself for handling things maturely.  The good thing is that this time around, you know who you're dealing with and so you can be prepared if he turns into an ass again.  Hopefully you won't have to deal with that though. 

scarlett wrote:

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I can totally imagine the feelings of dread you must be going through. I agree with NCShopper that this is a good opportunity to start with a clean slate and try to be the more mature person, but I'd also keep looking for new jobs in the meantime just in case. Is there any kind of human resources department? I'm wondering if it would be worth trying to get moved to a different department or something.

What did he do last time to cause that fight? If you don't want to go into it I understand. Maybe he's changed and will be a better person to work with this time around.

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There isn't an HR department to speak of and unfortunately there's no other department to move to.

Basically last time we worked together, he was helping me out on a case, me being still kind of new at the agency. It was my case and I did all the work but he was helping me by sitting in on conferences, witness interviews, giving advice, etc. He ended up calling the other parties involved on his own, without my knowledge or permission, rewriting the orders I'd already written (a type of contract, for lack of a better explanation), and attempting to take over the case. He told me to leave the room when we were working with another coworker on the case, he tried to send out an order with my name on it that he'd written and I hadn't approved, etc. We ended up in the huge fight because I finally stood up to him and told me he couldn't do x, y, and z without my say so and to not talk down to me, blah, blah, blah. Needless to say, he didn't take me growing my own set of balls too well. My fault lies in letting him take over so far before I stepped up and stood my ground. His fault lies in trying to take over and being so offended when I stood up to him that he physically threatened me (not trying to be dramatic but if I were a guy and we were in a bar, I have no doubt he would have hit me).

So that's what happened. We didn't say one word to each other after that confrontation for the rest of the time he was at work. Luckily he left about a week later (he was only helping me because he had nothing left to do in the last week before he left for a new job).

NCShopper - I think you may be right. I think I should just try to put it behind me and at least give myself the chance to be the bigger person. I guess I'm just severely disappointed that I saw an opportunity for my job to become this career type place and now I know it's never going to happen. I just hope I can find another job. I really hope I don't get stuck in a situation where work becomes this miserable place, although currently that's a little bit how I feel. Ugh. I guess I could always go work at Target or something. I couldn't pay my rent but I could get a good discount on toilet paper.