“Not personal? I’m told I’m in line for a promotion just a couple months ago and now this?”
“Things are fluid here,” Frank says. “Our most recent assessment of a variety of factors landed this way.”
“So, you’re not firing me because my husband had words with Shara yesterday? Words of concern only, and based on what he felt was warranted due to her unprofessional and potentially unethical reaction to news of my pregnancy?”
Celine shakes her head. “The reorganization is happening with many factors taken into consideration. But your severance package reflects your unique situation. You’re getting more than you would have gotten otherwise. If you take a look at your information package, you’ll see it’s quite generous. It’s just an unfortunate coincidence that our reorg takes place directly after you’ve informed your manager of your pregnancy, but as Frank said, it works monetarily in your favor.”
“I just find it funny that a few months ago I was given a raise and performance bonus, being told I was up for a promotion and now that I’ve been off work for a day because of morning sickness after a health scare that put my pregnancy in jeopardy I’m suddenly being downsized. Oh, and that this comes directly after Shara argued with my husband.”
I’m sure Killian fanned flames but I’m so angry right now I don’t care about that. Because regardless of that, this is wrong and I refuse to just take this lying down.
“Violet, with all due respect,” Shara says, voice dripping with condescension, “Your head hasn’t been in the game for weeks. Longer. You’ve changed. Your performance even before your husband informed me of your pregnancy while dropping threats by the way … the past several weeks has been lacking. Sorely. Requesting extra time off when you’re out of vacation and personal days. Working remotely more than anyone has in the company in the past year – with you doing it repeatedly in the last few months. And I’ve even had concerned calls from suppliers you’ve been off kilter lately. There was also a costly error that was just brought to my attention. That alone would’ve put you on the chopping block.”
“What are you talking about?” I ask. And I’m seething, because she’s encouraged me to work from home. She and I have had multiple conversations about the fact that telecommuting needs to become the norm for our office instead of the exception.
“You placed a rush purchase order last month for an expensive sku. Instead of a hundred and fifty-eight, you ordered eight hundred and fifty-one. We won’t sell them all before they’re discontinued, so to return them, we’ll have to pay a restocking fee. And those items are costly. I haven’t got the math here, but it’s a substantial loss to the company.”
“I have no memory of a P.O. that large. Which vendor? What product?”
“Well, it happened.”
“Which vendor?” I repeat.
“KIT,” Shara says, face going red.
She doesn’t like that I’m directly challenging her.
“No one said anything to me about that. If they had, I’m sure I could’ve negotiated the restocking fee away. KIT Peripherals is a longstanding vendor and we’re one of their largest clients. I could’ve tried.”
“You weren’t here. You were off sick. Or with a personal emergency of which you didn’t explain. I can’t even recall why you were off that day; it’s been happening so often.”
I give my head a shake about to talk about how the only way that order error happened is if it was a sales error instead of purchasing because our system with KIT is automated, but Frank pipes up.
“Semantics. No point arguing those, Shara. A decision was made based on many factors and we’ve got an information package here with the details of your generous severance package. Once you sign it, we can issue your final pay.” He taps the file folder that’s in front of me with his Montblanc pen. He then stands up. This is his way of moving the meeting along, ending it.
“I think I’ll have an employment lawyer look at it before I sign,” I say.
Shara looks at me with surprise. Maybe she does think I’m still a little weak, that she can just push. Maybe I’m not feeling so meek today.
Maybe I’m sick and fucking tired of people assuming I’ll react a certain way when they abuse me.
“Seeking legal advice is certainly your prerogative,” Celine pipes up, ”and in light of that, we should stop here and say nothing further until you’ve had a chance to review the contents of that package and seek whatever counsel you choose.”
“We’ve enjoyed having you as part of the team,” Frank says, “Thanks for your years of service.” He reaches out for my hand.
I automatically take it out of reflex, I guess, but I’m thrown.
“Best of luck with your pregnancy. Hopefully having less to feel stressed out about will help,” Shara says with saccharine sweetness before she snaps the notebook she brought with her shut and waltzes out.