Baited, Hooked and Landed.
Part 1, The Accusation
"John, get your sorry ass in here", screamed my boss, Joe Henderson.
"Coming sir", I replied in a shaken voice. "What the fuck have I done now", I
thought to my self as I scrambled into his office.
"Leave the fucking door open", he screamed as I jumped back from my attempt to
close the officer door, hoping to save a little of my dignity. "Everyone out
there already knows what a useless piece of shit you are, so closing the door
ain't gonna help ya". he sneered.
"Oh, oh, I am in big trouble", raced through my mind as my face turned a deep
red from this public assault on my person. "He is gonna fire me this time, shit
and I really liked this job. But what did I do wrong, I don't remember
anything, shit".
He was sitting behind his desk, an unforgiving anger spread across face. All I
could think of was, "John you are dead meat". I went to sit in the hard wooden
chair, reserved for employees that displeased him. It was centered and about
four feet from the front of his desk. He used the chair to intimidate, and it
worked.
"Don't you dare sit down, you chicken shit, mother fucking asshole", he yelled.
I sprang back up and stood there, my knees and the rest of my body shaking like
a leaf on a tree in a storm, waiting for the hammer to fall.
"Read this you little prick", he growled as he handed me a sheet of paper that
looked like a standard business letter.
I took the letter from him with a shaking hand and began to read. The heading
indicated that it was from, J. Houston Black, an ignorant son of a bitch that
considers poor working slobs like me to be nothing more than slaves that should
obey his every whim. However, J. Houston's company was a major client of our
firm and we, the slaves, had to put up with his bullshit.
The content of the letter hit like a ton of bricks:
Hi Joe;
We seem to have a problem with your office manager, John. I tried to reach you
by phone to speak personally with you, however you were out of the office and I
am on my way to the airport. Must be in France tonight and will be away for two
weeks.
I must tell you that John is a rude, inconsiderate guttersnipe. He talks down
to his betters, and seems to think he runs Henderson Distributors. He has
always been very abusive with my staff, but this mornings incident was the final
straw. He told Henry my Chief Clerk that, "his nose was stuffed so far up
the boss's ass that he hadn't seen the light of day for years". Now I ask you
Joe is this any way for an office manager to treat a valued customer?
Of course Henry was very offended by this unwarranted remark and reported it
straight to me, as he does all things that happen in my office. Henry as you
know is a hard worker, the best I have ever had, and I think it is unforgivable
that he be treated in this manner.
I am sure appropriate action to will be taken to rectify this situation. Will
call you upon my return.
Best regards,
J. Houston Black
Black Industries.
I was stunned. Not one word of that accusation was true. But how in hell was I
going to convince my boss? True I had made a few mistakes since taking this job
six months ago, but they all related to small errors in the orders. I have
never been verbally abusive to any of the customers, particularly Henry. So
what the hell was going on.
"Well, shithead", the boss growled, "what have you got to say for yourself"?
"Look, Mr. Henderson, I don't like to call anyone a liar, but there is not one
word of truth in any of this. I have never abused Henry, nor did I say that to
him this morning". "I don't understand what is going on here". I stammered.
"So you deny it". he almost screamed, spittle spraying across his desk.
"Yes sir, it is just not true", I weakly defended myself.
He got up, the anger still spread across finely chiseled features. Came around
the desk and stood directly in front of me. His big right hand came up and
grabbed my tie. He pulled my face closer and screamed, "bullshit".
I was not expecting the gob of spit that shot out from between those firm,
puckish lips, traveled the 2 inches that separated us and hit me square between
the eyes. I could feel the spittle dripping down my nose, across my lips and
then down my chin. I was too terrified to make the move to wipe it off.
Still holding me by the tie he dragged me over towards the door. He grabbed the
door with his other big fist and slammed it shut. The tie had closed up and was
cutting off my windpipe and I was having difficulty getting a breath. He then
headed back towards the chair dragging me along behind. I started to raise my
hands to try and loosen his grip on the tie. I needed air and was on the verge
of panic. His left hand rose like lightning and slapped me hard across the face,
at the same time he released the tie and I went flying across the room and hit
the wall.
I was stunned and began to slide down the wall gasping, filling my lungs with
air. It must have been a few minutes until I regained my senses. When I
finally looked up he was seated back in his chair behind the desk. He was
totally calm now, a very serene look on his face.
"Are you ok John?", he asked in a very gentle voice, all the anger seemed to
have abated.
"Yes sir", I replied still shaken by the enormity of the violence.
"Good, come on over and sit down".
I got up on shaky legs and kind of wobbled over to the wooden chair and sat
down. Still trying to get my breathing back into some sort of normal rhythm.
"Do you like working here, John?", he asked.
"Yes sir, very much.", I replied, but suddenly was beginning to have some
doubts.
"Do you want me to fire you John?", he asked in all seriousness.
"No sir." was all I could manage to stammer.
"Well let me fill you in on the facts of life.", he began, still in that calm,
serious voice.
"I have here a letter of complaint from J. Houston. I know you deny it, but you
can be very sure that Henry will attest to this being true, and if I know JH and
Henry, there will be corroborating witnesses to Henry's complaint. So you can
plead innocence from now to dooms day but it will do you no good. The complaint
is solid or it would never have been lodged. Now do you still proclaim your
innocence?"
What in the hell was I going to do? I was innocent. It was all a pack of lies,
but why? I could see that the boss was waiting impatiently for an answer, so I
decided to go for the truth. After all they say that Truth will out. Ha, who
ever came up with that little gem was full of shit.
"Sir", I said in my humblest tone, "the complaint is a complete lie". I could
see his cheeks start to flush slightly again as he spoke,
"I am seriously considering firing you right now. I have the grounds and could
throw you out of here with nothing."
He paused and continued to look at me. I know I was squirming. Not only did I
like my job, I liked the money. Joe Henderson may have been a bit of a tyrant,
but he paid very well, very well indeed. I really did not want to lose this
job.
"John you may think I am an asshole, and that may even be true at times, but I
am also a very fair and compassionate man. JH can be a real prick when he wants
to, but his business is also very important to this company. So I must take
action that will appease the man. As well I am going to give you a chance to
keep your job." he said.
I guess my sigh of relief was audible, because he stopped and looked at me with
daggers in his eyes again.
"If you want to keep this job, you must be taught a lesson that will not be
easily forgotten. This lesson will involve embarrassment and humiliation and it
will be recorded as proof for JH. You must agree to obey every command you are
given, without hesitation or question, for the rest of the day. If you succeed
you may keep your job, and I will see to it that JH never pulls a stunt like
this again. Do you think you are man enough to handle it, John?", this
statement was delivered in a tone that said either agree or get up, get out and
don't come back.
There are moments when I wish I had just left. But at 25, being young and
relatively care free, I quickly answered, "Yes sir", without really thinking
about what I was doing, and so my fate and future were sealed at that moment.
