Chapter 7

“Mister Addison, I have a report of a violation of the employee handbook. I understand that you and Miz Monroe are dating.”

“We are now. I was going to talk to Jack and request a waiver pursuant to the handbook with Miss Monroe with me.”

Jack turned white. Mister Fielding looked at me. “Those waivers are never granted. Only once was it done and it was a career-ending event for all three parties involved.”

I was shocked. “Why would that be? The handbook doesn’t suggest any issue in granting such a waiver.”

“No, but senior management doesn’t like them so there are none granted. That leaves us with the problem.”

I asked, “Where is Miss Monroe?”

“She is with HR being terminated. Since you haven’t signed for your handbook, we can let you off with a warning.”

I responded. “Don’t. I would expect to be treated in the same manner as Miss Monroe.”

Jack said, “We wanted to keep one of you.”

I just said, “That won’t be me.”

At that moment, my phone rang. It was a tearful Beth. “Gerald, I was just terminated.”

“I am also, Beth. Leave the premises and wait at the first restaurant toward your house.” I thumbed the off button.

Mister Fielding looked at Jack and said, “Escort him to HR. Jack, this is not working out well.” I was already standing. Jack stood and led me out of the office.

As we walked down the hall, he said, “I didn’t anticipate this reaction, Gerald. We really didn’t want to lose both of you.”

“Jack, first of all, giving me a chance and not Beth was both sexist and short-sighted. She might have stayed. There was no likelihood I ever would have. Until this weekend, we were not dating though the probability of romance was developing. Sooner or later, even without this event, I would learn of the company’s sexist, uncaring attitude that does not fit the handbook and quit. I would not work for a company that has no morals or bad morals.”

We entered HR and Jack simply said, Terminate him like Miz Monroe.” The papers were filled out and I left with a copy. I pulled out in my truck and quickly found Beth’s car parked at a Denny’s. I went inside to find her sitting drinking coffee while she waited for me.

I joined her and took her hand kissing it. She looked up and said, “Gerald, what will we do?”

“First, we’ll pray. Then, we’ll have breakfast. We’ll make plans over the meal.”

We did pray in turns. We then looked over our menus and made our selections. When the meals were served, Beth asked to bless our food and our time. We started eating.

Beth asked, “What do we do now, Gerald? Do we look together or just coordinate our efforts?”

“I think we can look together though my need for an income will be serious in a month.”

Beth said, “You are prepared! Is that part of being a Christian?”

“Not necessarily. Mom and Dad taught me to under-spend and over-save. They’ve always put money away for rainy days. I guess that’s why I do it. Dad always taught me to tithe ten percent and save ten percent. They live on the eighty percent left.”

“Wow! That takes discipline. Do they do it on the gross or the net after taxes.”

I smiled. “I’ve heard Dad answer that question. He said that, until you tithe on the net, it doesn’t matter and, once you do, it won’t matter either because your heart will tell you what to do.”

She smiled. “I can understand that. I know the answer now.”

“Back to our job situation, what should we do?”

“I think we need to approach it on a two-front basis. First, we should apply for unemployment and get our cases consolidated. The policy as it is applied is wrong and sexist. Second, we need to go to the school’s placement office and file a complaint there so other students will be aware of their methods. Last, we need to get some work done to look at other companies. That part we can do both together and separately. I don’t think trying to get hired by the same company is a good idea unless you want us to stop dating.”

“Gerald! I’m not going to stop doing what we just started! I want us to stay together though we won’t see each other at work every day.”

After a few minutes, she asked, “Gerald, your mother doesn’t work, does she?” I nodded in agreement. “Fine, let’s go to your house. I have some exercise clothes in the back of my car. Actually, I also have a small case packed to stay at your house any time I get asked.” She grinned. “I’ve been more available than you have thought for a while. However, I’m coming to see that Christianity implies some delayed gratification in some areas. I’ve got a lot to learn but I’m learning.”

We finished our meals and paid. Beth said, “Let’s head for your house.” I nodded and handed her into her car. I led us to my house. She parked behind me out of the way.

Mom was weeding when we drove up. She said, “What are you two doing here this time of day?”

I said, “Mom, we were terminated. The company handbook shows that relationships may be waived but the practice is that they aren’t. Our employment was terminated and we were sent away. What’s worse, Beth was simply terminated while I was offered a choice to stay with a reprimand.”

Mom frowned. “That’s not clever in this day and age. Sexist thinking is not really thinking.”

I didn’t think so either. Knowing what they were like, I wouldn’t have stayed long.”

Beth nodded. Mom asked her, “You picked up on Gerald’s attitude?”

“Yes, ma’am. He was taught to do right and not weigh the costs. You have to do what you should do, not what’s easy or even what you might want to do.”

Mom nodded. Beth continued, “I’m learning many parts of my new life.” She smiled serenely. “I became a Christian yesterday evening with Gerald’s help.”

She continued to smile though maybe it was a little wider. “I didn’t get a choice at our jobs but it wouldn’t have mattered. Staying without Gerald or giving up my conscience were not options.” She giggled. “Of course, our work was password protected pursuant to that same handbook. They didn’t ask for my password.”