When someone is going through a divorce, you never know how they will handle it.

When the man in this story took a phone call from a rude woman who turned out to be his boss’s soon-to-be ex-wife, he tried to be polite. When she really wouldn’t give up with her insane demands, however, he put her in her place and shut her up for good.

Of course, she continued to try to cause problems for him long into the future, but in the end she lost out on the divorce.

I feel bad for this guy having to deal with this type of call while at work. Read through the full story here and see what you think.

Boss and his wife were going through a divorce, she wanted me to order him to do her bidding.

I was in the Air Force, and had been recently promoted, and then transferred to a small electronics maintenance shop in California.

This guy is having a lot of trouble.

The shop boss (a scatterbrained and somewhat spineless guy) thought that I was going to be the new boss until we figured out that he outranked me by “time in grade” – we were the same rank, but he held his rank a year earlier than did I. So he was the boss.

He was also going through a very messy divorce. He caught his wife cheating on him and was heartbroken and bewildered, but his civilian wife had become extremely vicious and was trying to get him in trouble.

What a horrible situation.

Her boyfriend was a military cop (MP), and she tried using that against my boss until the military caught on and put a stop to it.

So, I had only been there for a couple of days, and was alone in the shop doing paperwork when the shop phone rang.

Let’s see what this call is about.

“Bla Squadron, Staff Sergeant Calladus, this line may be unsecured, how can I help you?”

“Oh, you’re the new NCOIC (shop boss for the civilian folks). Jim (Staff Sergeant Bewildered) told me you are going to be in charge! I need you to make him do something for me.”

“Sorry, no, Staff Sergeant Bewildered is still the shop boss. He outranks…”

Oh boy, this is drama he doesn’t need.

“No, he doesn’t. Why are you covering for him?”

“We just figured it out yesterday ma’am, he out..”

“NO! YOU are his boss,” she yelled. “And YOU need to tell him to let me the heck into our house!”

There is no need to talk to someone like this.

“I’m sorry ma’am, but he’s my boss, and I won’t get involved in his private life.”

“You’re a jerk and you’re lying for …” CLICK.

I’d hung up the phone.

Sorry, lady. He is not talking to you.

The phone rang.

“Bla Squadron, Staff Sergeant Calladus, this line may be unsecured, how…”

“YOU jerk, WHY THE HECK..” CLICK

How many times will she call?

I hung up the phone again.

The phone rang.

“Bla Squadron, Staff Sergeant… ”

“GOD DARN YOU JERK…” CLICK.

His level of politeness is impressive.

I had hung up the phone again.

There was a noticeable pause.

The phone rang.

“Bla Squadron, Staff Sergeant Calladus, this line may be unsecured, how can I help you?”

Well said, sir.

Her very quiet, and somewhat contrite voice said, “Why do you keep hanging up on me?”

“Ma’am this is a military phone line for military business. I’m not required to listen to an abusive civilian who has nothing to do with my job. So any cursing will immediately end this phone call. Speaking to me is your privilege, not your right.”

No need to let her try to dictate the conversation.

She started to say something, but I just bulldozed over her.

Ma’am, I don’t know you and you don’t know me, but you’ve accused me of being a liar to protect your husband from you. Frankly, I don’t care one way or the other. What is true is that he DOES outrank me by a year in grade, and will remain the shop boss unless something changes.”

He really isn’t messing around.

“You are not in my chain of command, ma’am, so even if I did outrank your husband, I would not order him to do anything for you because that would be unlawful and unethical.”

“I don’t care about what is going on between the two of you, and since I’m not anyone’s friend here I won’t lift a finger to help either of you solve your personal problems. As long as his personal life doesn’t get in the way of his Air Force duties, or break the laws of the UCMJ, then I. Just. Don’t. Care.”

I bet she was shocked.

“Now get off my phone. I have work to do.”

And I hung up again.

Some people get vindictive during a divorce.

She spent the next year trying to mess up his life, and almost succeeded, but a judge saw through the crap and awarded him full custody of their children, with supervised visits only by her. He wasn’t a great leader, but he was adequate. And she was such an awful woman!

And she never said more than a sentence or two to me for the rest of my time at that assignment.

It is funny to think that this lady could demand that this guy do anything. She sounds awful.

Check out what the people in the comments had to say about it.

She is just wasting everyone’s time.

It all worked out well.

He remained professional, but he sure shut her up in a hurry. I can’t imagine calling into someone’s job, whether it is the military or not. It just is not something that should be done.

It is always fun to read about things like this, though. Especially when it has a great ending like this.