“How’d it go when you got home?”
Her boss sighed. “Not good. Not good at all. He said more swear words in two hours than I’ve heard from him in all the years we’ve been together. Apparently, when he’s angry the truth comes out, and he thinks very little of my management skills. He even moved out of the bedroom, and changed the lock on the one he moved into. Have I told you he threw the pen set he kept on his desk in the trash? Along with my picture? Really, why is he taking it so hard?”
Jen looked at her boss with sad eyes. “I warned you. You should have left him some dignity. The way you did it was really cold, boss.”
“I had to do it that way! I was sending a message to everyone. No one is bulletproof if you’re not performing to standard. How did the rank and file take it?”
“Truth?”
“Always.”
“Well, Bev, it’s divided. Most of the men and some of the women think you’re a screaming bitch. A few admire you, but it’s very few. A surprising number are updating their resumes, saying that a company that fires people with no warning whatsoever is not a company they want to work for. Two more of your salesmen say they’ve seen the writing on the wall. One already has an interview lined up, and I suspect that in two-week’s time, he’ll be gone. The other is thinking about relocating to be closer to his aging parents, and this is the incentive he says he needs.”
Beverly couldn’t believe her words. This wasn’t what she had in mind at all. She thought that if she showed them regardless of whom it was, she meant business when it came to the company, everyone would work harder. She had no intention of sparking an exodus. This could be very bad. Very, very bad. She knew that in a couple of years she would be in line for a board seat, maybe eventually Chairman. This might slow those plans down considerably.
Jen brought her back to reality. “What are you going to do about your husband?”
She waved her hands dismissively, still thinking about her job. “Give him a little time and space, I guess. He really does love me, he’ll come around.”
Jen had an idea it was going to take more than that, but held her silence. She had been loyal to Beverly all these years, but if things got bad, if people started leaving, she needed an exit plan. She had her own family to worry about…
*****
Dave spent the next three weeks being spectacularly unproductive. He stopped going to the gym, stopped eating right and was drunk more than he was sober. He did nothing around the house, leaving a mess wherever he felt like. Bev tried being supportive at first, enduring his cutting remarks, until finally sinking into silence. He did note that she spent a lot more time at work. Evidently, she felt more comfortable there, where she was Queen.
He then went through a phase of not bathing. After three days Bev finally had enough. “For God’s sake, Dave, man up! You stink and you’ve got a pretty good start on a pot belly. You might like living like a pig, but I don’t. I’m sorry, all right? I could have handled it better, but as you said, I can’t unring the bell.”
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