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Do I have a sign on my back?
Is there something on my forehead?
Omigod, am I wearing my skirt inside out?
I check off my rampant thoughts as I think them, and nothing seems amiss of normal.
Is it all in my head?
I pour myself a cup of coffee, the smokey cinnamon aroma steams off the lip of my cup as I inhale a satisfied breath with a smile before heading back to my desk. Walking the same path back to my office and feeling self-conscious, with my eyes set forward.
I pull out my mirror from my desk drawer and do a quick once over and again, nothing is out of place.
A knock at the entryway of my office pulls me from my thoughts.
“Hi, um, Peyton,” Dana, my boss’s assistant pauses. “Mr. Frederick would like to speak with you.”
I stand smoothing out my skirt and follow behind her with a notepad in my hand as she leads the way, looking nervously over her shoulder, then offering me a forced smile.
Mr. Frederick motions to sit in front of his desk but doesn’t speak to me right away. His fingers fly across his keyboard and then he clicks on his mouse before sitting back in his chair and looking me over.
“So, Peyton, how was your weekend?” he asks.
He’s never asked about personal time away from work, so why, after three years of working here is he starting now?
“Um, well, sir, it was fun, I guess.” I reply uneasily.
“You must know that I’m not one to dive into people’s personal lives, but when it affects business, then I really have no choice, do you understand that?” he asks.
I slowly nod, unsure of the direction that this conversation is going.
“It’s been brought to my attention that there are some interesting images of you on social media. Now, I would never fault someone for having a life outside of work and to each their own what is done on someone’s free time. But, two of our largest clients have made some inappropriate comments about you and the type of employees that we have here. Since we cater to families here at Perfect Planning, I want to make sure our employees’ image is not, well negative.”
“I’m not entirely sure what you’re saying, sir?” My mind tries to wrap around what he’s telling me. I haven’t posted any pictures, but I haven’t been on social media since being back from Vegas.
“You went to Las Vegas last weekend, right?” He folds his hands in front of him on his oak desk awaiting my answer. I can tell in this moment that he’s not mad, but more annoyed with having to have this conversation.
I slowly nod my head, unsure just what images he could be talking about. I haven’t been on any social media since returning, so anything could be up there.
He turns one of his monitors, so I can see.
There is my Facebook page, with images that I appear to be tagged in. I’m dancing on top of a table, wearing a very short dress, holding a bottle of vodka. My face is slightly flushed, and I’m smiling. Quinn is in the background of the photo and so is the guy that I woke up next to talking to one of his friends. Hanna must have taken this picture.
Instantly, I’m embarrassed as I cradle my head in my hands.
I cannot believe this.
“Sir, my friend posted this.” I say awkwardly feeling my skin blush from embarrassment.
“I can tell, since you’re the prime subject of the image.” He deadpans with a hint of comedy.
“I’ll make sure that it’s removed from my profile right away, I’m so sorry that this is interfering in any way.” I say quickly to appease him.
“I’m not asking you to change your lifestyle. I’m also sorry that we had to have this conversation. But can I please ask that you make your profile private. I don’t know why our clients were looking at your page, but then again, I also do not understand much of what people are doing or are into these days. But we do deal with children and families and I know that you speak with a lot of them at some point.”
“Yes sir. I will do that right away. I’m sorry for any lack of distrust or comfortability this situation may have caused.”
“You’re not in any trouble, so please don’t feel as such. But I just want to keep up the image of our company as a positive one, especially right now. We’re all allowed to let loose, but let’s just keep that in our private lives, shall we?”
