This is exactly how I've always felt about 'jobs'. To be an employee has a lot of unspoken built in sub content. It's a real anxiety game in some places. A dear friend got a job at a pet store chain into a trainer person. They stole from her so badly
Not to rain on your victory lap, but this was a bare minimum move, to prevent herself from being reassigned from the case. She needs to make sure she remains on the case to keep meddling with it, so she has to feign impartiality by ruling against him on a detail that couldn't be twisted in his favor without risking the case being handed to a real judge.
