Psychopaths and me

I have just been reading an excellent article on Corporate Psychopaths.

I never thought I should meet a psychopath in my life but I did.  It was a deadly encounter for me and one from which I have never recovered. My psychopath has had, I have been told, a stay in prison for unsocial behavior and now this person is still proudly preaching to the community in a series of lectures as if nothing had happened.

Psychopaths are very difficult to spot. They are only 1% of the population but they have no empathy. They are greedy  are out to destroy anything in their path. In fact they will do anything to achieve their goals and feel no remorse after. This is why they are so dangerous.

My psychopath stole my opera and my reputation. I have no heistation in saying she made mince meat of me. In three weeks my career was destroyed. The bullying, the intrique and the organized conspiracy was masterful and successful. The company got what they wanted my work, my production and my kudos. The production made a huge profit which set them up for everything going, grants the lot. As they said at the time the production was a triumph.

Justice delayed is justice denied and it took me five years to achieve it by which time my day was past. Even the judge who told me I should settle was misled. It was like a novel. The conspirators case had relied on a so called meeting where they lied separately on oath  that at that meeting I had been read the riot act and if I did not do exactly as I was told I would be removed. There was no such meeting but after five years how could I prove it?

When confronted with this information just before a meeting with them that the judge had instructed me to attend I could not remember where I had been that day five years ago but the company settled that morning. That night I remembered that that day I had no time for meetings. I was in sight all day rehearsing in front of about 150 people and left at 10.30 pm being driven home by a judge's sister.

Only years later did I find out that lying on oath is a criminal offense. The justice system takes a very dim view of this. I still have all the affidavits in my possession and  so does the court to prove my case. I never found out why I was dismissed. I had done nothing to deserve such a punishment. They wanted my work and they stole it. I lost everything at the time. I felt devastated.

The psychopath won everything, a well paid job, a recognized successful opera company to run, a fortune to get it started and I was socially shunned. My name did not even appear on the programme. It was replaced with the name of the director who took over and who trumpeted for years that his production was the first in the new civic theatre until I stopped him. I was airbrushed out of history! I am not the first but today that is no longer possible thanks to blogs.

Like all psychopaths the run came to an end and the person I believe ended up in prison.  I suppose I should feel triumph but I do not. The damage done to me and Auckland's artists who I fostered over 14 years cannot be repaired. The company is still there under another name but it has not been the innovative venture fostering native talent that I had seen in my vision but at least the painted scenery has gone.

I have a new career by the accident of timing. A better and lasting one that I can enjoy. Producing live opera for another ten years would have killed me so maybe I can say thank you to my psychopath.