I had an interaction with an employee yesterday that with some time, and space, I can now recognize was abusive. I left the conversation feeling very disoriented. Every issue I responded to, they would interject something tangential or tell me unrelated information about how other employees think I’m a nightmare. I couldn’t pin one topic down to be resolved. They told me that they’re the only one who truly cares about the success of my business, that they’ve been protecting me for years from other employees that seek to hurt me. That I was intentionally trying to hurt them but not letting them just magnanimously “fix” everything. When the call ended I was absolutely bewildered. People are strange. My wasband RARELY engaged in manipulation, sure he was picky and critical and but not in a mind fuck kind of way. One time though, we had an argument that left me confused similarly to this. A day later while I was still trying to judge if my entire perception of the world around me was as false as he’d led me to believe…he sent me an email with links to articles about gaslighting. No context, no body text just links.