Daria's Rantings - Magica de Spell

*I am posting this fourteenth ranting as my alter-ego the misanthropic Daria Morgendorffer

It’s International Women’s Day today. How ironic that I should be ranting about a particular woman similar to Felicity Huffman’s Headmaster character (Leslie Graham) in American Crime (AC) season 2 series.

Unlike Leslie Graham who was quite an eye candy, this woman looks more like Disney's foulest female fowl, Magica de Spell. It must be that A-line skirt, high heels (to boost her short height) and hair that came straight from the 1960s. I couldn't care less about physical appearances. To me, if you are ugly inside, even your physical beauty can’t mask that ugliness. But if you have a good character, that inner beauty shines through making you beautiful on the outside too.

Anyway, I was unfortunate to have worked with Magica de Spell. I was away from office for some time. Before I was scheduled to return, I heard we had a new female boss. Just like Leslie, she was once a headmaster. People at the office were excited saying that she had extensive experience blah, blah, blah. On my first day back at the office, one of my colleagues, cautioned me. Apparently, at one of the meetings, Magica lamented among other things, “Oh, that Scholar is coming back.” She told me to be weary of Magica as Magica was not what she seemed to portray on the outside.

Magica seemed nice, competent and outwardly caring. Similar to Leslie, all smiles, efficient, professional and by the book. Hmm… I thought, that colleague had misjudged Magica. Then, I noticed hints of favouritisms (sometimes discreetly, sometimes outright blatant). I felt that there was something about Magica but I couldn’t finger out. The religious and charitable Magica seemed to bring the company to greater heights, just like Leslie with the Leyland School. Magica seemed supportive when I voiced to her that I wanted to transfer to another agency. She said she wouldn’t stop me and wanted the best for me. Yet, she never made any efforts to make sure that I get the promotion I deserved. She told me before I left the company, “Oh, it would be hard for you to stay on as you don’t have a degree in film unlike ‘God’.” ‘God’ was the nickname for this arrogant colleague who could do no wrong – he even got away with his office scandals just because he gained some fame from one of his films. What the hell! I wanted to tell Magica that the legendary film-maker Quentin Tarantino is a high school dropout and doesn’t even have a degree in film. The bottom-line was Magica wanted to get rid of me. Again like Leslie, she did it in a way that seemed fair and legitimate.

My perception of Magica was proven correct. She refused to give me my employment testimonial (HR said it must be given within 3 months of my resignation) for more than a year! Of course, the persistent me hounded her every month (she wouldn't even reply to my emails). She finally (and grudgingly) gave me one after I complained to her boss. I remember, I had emailed her, “You couldn’t be that busy that you couldn’t write a testimonial for someone who had been with the company for nearly a decade!”. She curtly replied, “You don’t know what I am busy with.”

After watching AC season 2 (the story touches on issues such as social class, homophobia, cyber bullying and racism), I drew this comparison between Magica and Leslie: Both are highly manipulative characters, masked behind efficiency and perceived professionalism. The last episode of AC is yet to be broadcast so I don’t know the fate of Leslie (in the previous episode, she manipulated the Board of Directors to dissolve itself though it was her who they wanted to fire and whom the lawyer told to resign), though I hope she will get her just punishment. But what will become of Magica? Well, as long as her colleagues remain afraid or ‘in awe’ of her, she will triumph. Maybe I should do what Hidayah did – she took ‘revenge’ on the 2 educators who discriminated her by writing about them in her ‘Mina meets Cambridge’ book. Classy! 

Magica de Spell, don't forget, Karma has no deadline, bitch.