Letting Go

I saw an old boss of mine yesterday. He was the single most irritating boss I've ever experienced. Short of physical abuse or direct verbal berating, I'm not sure how this work experience could have been worse.

It's been years since I worked for him and I thought I had distanced myself and healed from the experience, but a lot of my old feelings surfaced again. I think it must have been from the shock of seeing him when I didn't expect to. Oh well.

The question this all brings up is how should I have dealt with the interaction? Here's the setup: I drove up to a local restaurant. He was sitting at a table facing my parking space. I saw him and I'm sure he saw me. As I was leaving my car to go in and get something to eat, he said hello (when I wasn't looking). I have no idea if he was addressing me, although (bring self-centered) I think he probably was. Since I was already turned away, I didn't bother looking back or acknowledging him.

I don't think I did the wrong thing. Lord knows I don't want to invite him back into my life or keep me from enjoying my normal activities, but I have to wonder if I'll ever be over the awful experience of working for such a toxic person.

I have been working on a post about tapes that play over and over in your head. Hopefully I'll push that live soon. He's definitely in at least one of those tapes, but I think it's fairly well worn out and put away... at least until I see him again.