No-bitch Zone

Working on pots in the Guild studio is an escape for me. My refuge. Where I go to seek solace. I get behind a wheel with a big hunk of clay, and anything is possible. At least I thought so.

But during the spring term, a former co-worker who attends the Monday-morning class started showing up for lab days (Wednesdays and Saturdays). At first, everything was fine. But then she started redirecting me.

"It would be easier if you smoothed out your glaze over by the sink," she'd say.

"You're not supposed to put stain on the bottom of your pot," she would scold. When I told her that my instructor said it was OK, she said hers told her it wasn't, and hers had been a potter for a very, very, very long time. Besides, she used to hire my instructor to teach classes, she said, suggesting that she knew better than I that he was not on par with her instructor. She argued that although my instructor had advised that it was OK, every potter is different, which would suggest that there's no wrong way to finish a pot, but I inferred from her statement that my instructor was wrong because her instructor took a different approach. I ignored her and spoke with my instructor the following Monday, who showed me how I could get around the concerns.

Another time, I was looking at another potter's bowl. My former co-worker asked, "Is that your pot?" as if I should not have anything to do with another potter's ware.

And so it continues with this individual.

The final straw was last Wednesday. After parking her car, she approached me to say that she was going to park between my car and the car next to mine but that there wasn't enough room for hers to fit. She was criticizing me for not leaving enough room for her car, yet I'd arrived first and parked next to a wide utility vehicle. That vehicle left, and two students — a couple who share a ride — arrived and parked where it was, though it didn't require as much space. The following Saturday, the couple commented about how this individual constantly rides my ass. The wife said my former co-worker is also quite rude in the glaze room, bumping into her without apologizing, and acting as though she's the only one in there.

So I have decided that I would say something to her the next time she got in my face. Here's my speech:

"What makes you think it's OK to instruct me? Redirect me? Criticize everything I do? Tell me my instructor is wrong or isn't as good as yours? Blame me for things I have absolutely nothing to do with, like not leaving you enough room to park your vehicle? I come here to relax and enjoy the company and camaraderie of others who share a common interest in ceramic arts. You're ruining this for me, and I do not give you permission to do that. If you don't have anything kind or constructive to say, please just shut the hell up."