Up & Out - Ariella Papa [61]
“No, it isn’t.” I push my chair back and fish fifty dollars out of my purse. “Thanks for dinner and good luck with everything.”
“Rebecca, it doesn’t have to be like this. I don’t see why we can’t have fun together.”
I shake my head. “It’s still early, Seamus, you can catch that drink uptown with someone else.”
When I get home, Tommy is sitting on the edge of the couch playing World Cup Soccer. “How was your night?”
“Fine,” I say, and shut my door.
And, speaking of shut doors…on Friday at 4:00 p.m. the phone rings. I’m reading an e-mail from Kathy’s pregnant, domineering sister about a shower. I check the caller display. It’s one of the guys from HR that I barely know. I pick it up.
“Rebecca, it’s Matt.” Hackett is calling me from Human Resources? And I know immediately when they call me down what is happening. I’ve known it was going to happen. You could say I was expecting it, but I realize now that there is no way I could have imagined how it would feel.
13
Guess I’m Doing Fine
I have an hour to clean out my office and put everything into the box provided. I send out a really quick e-mail with a new e-mail address and that I will no longer be at this number. Then my e-mail is turned off. It’s a good thing I have been cleaning out files for the past few days. There is a knock on my closed door. I think about not opening it (they may be coming to rush me out), but when I do, it’s Janice.
“What happened?” She sees my face.
“Come in.” She looks at the box and turns back to me.
“No!”
“It’s really not a surprise.”
“When?”
“Five minutes ago.”
“They waited until now, when a lot of people have left on their summer hours. Those fuckers! Are you okay?”
“Um, yeah. I’m a little in shock. I have an hour to clear out.”
“You’re kidding. An hour? Like you’re some kind of criminal? What did they say?”
“The word that Dwarf used was terminated. Hackett tried to soften it by saying ‘let go,’ but she insisted on saying ‘terminated.’ Twice.”
“That fucking bitch. I am going to make her life miserable.”
“Well,” I say, throwing a few of Esme’s press clippings into a box. “Be careful.”
“Let them fire us. Let them fucking fire us all. That’ll be great press. Do you need to be alone or can I go get John?”
“No, get him. I’m just going to be packing up for the next half hour until they send the guards.”
“You think they’ll send guards?”
“Who knows?”
Janice leaves and comes back with John. He stares at me and shakes his head.
“Did you punch her? You could probably get away with it. Temporary insanity.”
“No, I didn’t say a word. I didn’t want her to be happier than she already was.”
“I didn’t tell Jen,” Janice says. “Should I? She knows that something is up.”
“Go ahead. It can’t hurt now.”
John starts helping me get my posters off the walls. The phone rings. It’s Don. One of his PAs saw me carrying a box into my office.
“What’s going on?”
“I have an hour to get out. I’ve been let go—” I correct myself “—terminated.”
He lets out a sigh. Up until this very minute I thought Don and I were only colleagues but now I realize that we are friends, and I’m glad because at this very minute I appreciate having someone who has been through this advise me.
“Okay, I won’t even waste your time telling you how fucked up it is. There are nights at bars for that. First thing is, did you get severance?”
“Yes. They gave me an offer and I have till Friday to sign it.”
“Good. Are you happy with it? You don’t have to tell me what it is, but I know a lawyer or two.”
“Of course you do.” I laugh. “I don’t mind telling you. Two months. Is that good or bad?”
“It’s fair. And what was the cause of it? I mean, we know what the real cause was, but what did they say on the papers?” John lets Janice and Jen in. I wave at Jen, who looks like she is about to cry.
“Performance. I guess the whole Jack Jones meeting. Or something.”
“Jesus. Okay, we are about