Eventually, Claire changed too. Not voluntarily, but out of necessity. After the incident with the annual strategic initiative, her promotion application was blocked by HR. A Senior Architect on the Technical Review Board was friends with our director, heard about what happened, and cut her during the interview.
The architect's exact words were, "What can someone who hasn't written a single line of core code contribute as a Senior Engineer?"
She returned to the office and threw a massive tantrum, smashing her thermos, and the shards scattered under my desk. I watched her. She looked at me. The air was silent for a few seconds. Then, she crouched down and picked up the shards, piece by piece. Once finished, she muttered, "Sorry."
I didn't respond. But from that day on, she stopped talkin
