AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yes. I’ve noticed that you’ve been clocking out early during the last several weddings, and this is a trend that concerns me.”
“It … concerns you?”
“Yes. And frankly, it can’t continue.”
Paige leaned back in her chair and gazed at Linda for a long moment. “Well, I’m sorry, but it’s going to continue, because leaving at midnight isn’t leaving ‘early’,” she said. “I stay until all the food is served, the cake is cut, and there’s nothing left but drinking and dancing. My staff is more than capable of overseeing that and then cleaning up—which is their job, as you know. Plus, on the days we have receptions, I arrive at 2 p.m. to oversee set-up, and stay until midnight, which is a ten-hour day.” She tilted her head and asked blandly, “When was the last time you worked a ten-hour day, Linda? Hell, when was the last time you worked a six-hour day, that didn’t include an hour for lunch? Go ahead, take as much time as you need to think about it.”
Linda’s lips tightened. “I have to say, I really don’t appreciate your attitude this morning—”
“It’s mid-afternoon, actually, so it would be more accurate to say you don’t appreciate my attitude ‘this afternoon’.”
Linda’s expression morphed into a mixture of extreme annoyance and uncertainty; it was clear she didn’t know how to deal with her employee right at the moment, and Paige took advantage of that, because suddenly it felt like she had a pair of brass balls.
“Was that the only problem you wanted to discuss? My supposedly clocking out ‘early’ on Saturdays? Or, was there something else, like the fact I work fifty-five hours a week on average and get paid for forty? Because that actually is a problem worth talking about.”
Linda gave her a steely-eyed glare.
“That’s what I thought,” Paige continued. “So, I don’t want to hear about how it’s not okay that I leave ‘early’ on Saturday nights. I might even start to leave ‘early’ during the week, too, since I now have a husband and a child I’d like to see more often than just on Sunday.”
“Since when do you have a child?”
“Since I got married. David has a son.”
“That doesn’t make him your child.”
Paige raised her eyebrows in disbelief at such an ignorant, shitty thing to say. “Yes, it does. End of discussion.”
“I seriously don’t like your tone—”
“I don’t like yours, either,” Paige countered, rather rudely. Then, like a spigot had been cranked all the way on, the words just kept coming. “And you know what else I don’t like? I don’t like that you rarely come in before 10 a.m. and always leave in time to beat rush-hour traffic. I don’t like you getting the best parking spot and I don’t care if it’s because you own this place. You don’t act like you own it, and I really don’t like that.” She looked Linda over with a critical eye. “And I also don’t like your ugly, overpriced blouse.”
Linda’s cheeks were flushed with anger, likely from the dig at what she was wearing. “That’s enough. You’ve given me no choice but to document this conversation, along with your unacceptable attitude, in your personnel file—”
“Go ahead, Linda. Document away. To be honest, I don’t care what you do, because I had to get up today at the ass-crack of dawn to be here by 6 a.m., which meant having to forgo really good, morning sex. That aggravated not only me, but my husband, too.”
For a moment, Paige thought about all the sacrifices she’d made over the past several years for her job and how they’d bettered Linda’s life, at the expense of Paige’s. And suddenly, she was remembering the conversation she’d had with David months ago, about her job interfering with her life, and what she would choose if a decision needed to be made between her job and her life.
She’d told him she would choose her life … so that’s what she was going to do. Right now. “You know what? I’m done.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I’m done working for you,” Paige clarified, as if speaking to a child. “I quit.”
Linda blinked at her in shock. “What?”
“Oh, I think you heard me. But just in case you really didn’t, let me repeat myself: I. Quit.”
“You can’t quit.”
“Yes, I can, actually. Consider this my two weeks’ notice.”
Linda’s face actually blanched at that.
Paige decided to make Linda’s day even worse. “And I mean two weeks at forty hours per week, not fifty or sixty, which means you’ll have to make up the difference, starting today. I got here at 6 a.m., so I think I’ll be leaving at 3 p.m., which is in about—” she quickly checked the clock on the wall, “—one hour. So you’ll have to take care of the dinner function tonight for the Chamber of Commerce. And you should know they like to talk a lot and linger long after dinner’s over.” At Linda’s look of dismay, Paige told her, “It’ll be good practice for you, which, God knows, you really need, especially with wedding receptions scheduled every Saturday night for the next six months.”
Linda made a choking sound. “Paige, I’m begging you. Please—”
“Take your begging and your ‘please’ and shove them up your lazy, entitled ass. You’re lucky I’m giving you two weeks’ notice, and not just walking out the door right now.” She shook her head in disgust. “You know, if you hadn’t given me so much shit about the time I took off for my honeymoon, I might be giving you more than two weeks’ notice, but you did give me shit, so I’m not. Actions have consequences, Linda, and sometimes the peasants rise up.” Paige’s expression turned flat. “Oh, and you know what else? Last year, when I asked for a raise because I fucking deserved it? You should’ve given it to me.”
