Chapter 42: Wayne is No More and We’re On the Bus.

Kay still continues:

The venomousness of his words and tone shocked me and brought me to a sudden stop. The room went dead quiet. Wayne realized Ryan and Linc weren't looking at him and turned to see what they were looking at; he saw Lyndsi and me standing there on the opposite side of the room. The look on his face went from anger to shocked hatred. Lyndsi put her hand on my arm and I turned to look at her. The shocked look on her face matched what had to be on mine. It was at this point Guy Portman came into the room.

Lyndsi gave a quick shake of her head and then, with a formal tone to her voice said, "Mister Portman, I know you are here to gather the interns for the tour of air bases but that's going to have to wait. I cannot allow any of them to leave just now."

Mister Portman didn't know what was going on and his look reflected that but he quickly responded to Lyndsi, "Mizz Shaker, is there something wrong? Am I going to have to cancel this tour?"

"Yes, there is something wrong but I cannot discuss it with you. I do not know if you will have to cancel the tour or not, that will be up to Mister Peoples. Please stay here with the interns and do not allow them to leave the room or to speak with each other. I will be bringing Mister Peoples back as soon as I can get him free of his normal responsibilities. If he is already in the Monday morning senior staff meeting, I will have to interrupt that meeting." She left the room.

Mister Portman looked around and then at us. He said, "I don't know what's going on here but you will all please do as Mizz Shaker said, you will stay here, in this room and you will not speak, please. Each of you go to a corner of the room and have a seat. I don't know how long this is going to take."

We looked at each other, and then moved to the corners; I pulled the nearest chair over to me and sat down facing into the room. Ryan and Linc each looked down and studied the floor after I made eye contact with them. When I looked at Wayne he was staring at me, the hatred coming from him was palpable and I didn't understand why or what I did to cause it. I couldn't hold the eye contact and looked away.

It was about fifteen minutes later when Marcus and Lyndsi came into the room. Guy moved to leave the room when Marcus spoke, "Mister Portman I would like you to stay, please. I need you to be a witness to what transpires here as an outside party, not part of the Human Resources Department."

"Of course, Mister Peoples." He then stepped back and stood against the wall.

I noticed that despite the heat I felt coming from Wayne, there was a definite chill in the room. I also noted that everyone was speaking very formally and properly. We had been addressing everyone, other than senior management types, by their first names once we'd been introduced to them. Now, I wouldn't dare, not since Lyndsi addressed Guy as Mister Portman.

Lyndsi sat down at the conference table and set a digital recorder in the middle of it. "Is it recording?" Marcus asked. Lyndsi nodded her head. Marcus raised his voice and spoke again, clearly addressing the four of us interns, "In the first three days you were here, you received training on company policies about harassment and impartiality. I know you did because I have the signed acknowledgement sheets, which we keep in your files. Now, I understand there were some heated words said earlier this morning. Would one of you care to repeat what was said to me?"

We all looked at him but no one said anything.

"Okay, we'll go around the room and you can each tell me what you know. Mizz Sandersen, we'll start with you. What can you tell me about this morning? Please speak up so the recorder catches what you say."

I swallowed. "When I came in the room with Mizz Shaker, Ryan, Linc and Wayne were on the other side of the room talking. I didn't hear anything Ryan or Linc said but I heard Wayne speak. He said something was unfair and he was not going to be cheated."

"Did he say what was unfair?"

"Yes sir, but I'd rather not say what it was."

"All right, I'll let that stand for now. I may come back to you and insist on hearing more. Mister Edwards, what can you tell me?"

Ryan looked uncomfortable. "Uh, like Kay said, the three of us were talking about some things. The conversation stopped right after Kay and Mizz Shaker came into the room."

"Are you going to tell me what the 'some things' were?"

"Uh, we were talking about the intern program and what we were looking forward to doing in it."

"Why was that conversation heated?"

"It wasn't, at least most of it wasn't."

"Are you going to tell me what the heated part consisted of?"

"Uh, I'd rather not."

"Okay, another one who wants to stand mute. I may talk with you later as well. Mr. Palmer, it's your turn."

"I really don't have anything to contribute beyond what Ryan said."

"And another one who doesn't want to give me the details of whatever transpired this morning. If I have to I will come back to you, too. You all need to understand, I WILL get to the bottom of whatever happened, because the company will not let stand what Mizz Shaker reported to me, we can't. Mister Benton, you and I both know this has to do with something you said and Mizz Shaker heard. Please tell me what is going on."

Wayne sat there, still glaring and clearly upset. He unexpectedly stood up and started speaking. "I know this company runs two intern programs, we all do. You run this summer program and when it's over you run another program for the school year. The intern in that program comes from the summer program and is always hired at graduation. Normally it's a competition but it isn't this year; she's sleeping with your I.T. guy and that's the only reason she's here in the first place. She doesn't belong here. IT'S NOT FAIR AND WE'RE BEING CHEATED!"

Marcus proved he had years of experience dealing with idiots. He turned and looked at each of us in turn and said, "Your thoughts and feelings are absolutely none of my business nor are they the corporation's business, but what I've heard is a concern to me. I think this can be most easily resolved by asking a few personal questions, if you don't mind. Mister Edwards, are you sleeping with our I.T. guy?"

Ryan looked embarrassed but said, "No, sir."

"Mister Palmer, are you sleeping with our I.T. guy?"

Linc said, "No, sir, I'm not." Then he got a smirk on his face and continued, "None of your I.T. gals, either."

Marcus glanced over at me before turning back to Wayne. "Both Mister Edwards and Mister Palmer will be seriously considered for permanent positions here after they graduate. Neither of them is sleeping with any of our I.T. people to get a position. As such, your theory that an intern must sleep with one of our I.T. people to get hired is disproven without embarrassing Mizz Sandersen any further."

I said, "Thank you, sir." It bothered me that he didn't mention me as being 'seriously considered', but I didn't think it smart to make an issue of it, now.

He pinned Wayne with a stare and continued, "Mister Benton, if you were more concerned with following instructions and doing your job, less concerned with who's sleeping with whom, perhaps we would be considering you, as well."

Marcus wasn't done. "After what I've already heard this morning I don't need to interview anyone any further. When I came in here, I reminded you all of the company policies regarding harassment and impartiality. I am going to summarize them for you. Harassment is any undue, unnecessary, uncalled for or unwanted attention paid to someone, anyone, whether they are present at the time or not. The company can be held liable if the company, allowed harassment to continue once its occurrence was learned of. HARASSMENT WILL NOT BE TOLERATED!

"Impartiality is the conveying of rights, benefits, awards, advancements, discipline or punishments without regard of an employee's origin, position, race, creed, color, or any other discernable differentiation. Advancement is based upon merit and merit only. IMPARTIALITY WILL BE STRICTLY ADHERED TO!" He looked at each of us around the room while he was saying all this to ensure we were paying attention to what he was saying. As if we'd be paying attention to anything else!

"Mister Benton, when we are through here, you will please join me in the H.R. offices. I am terminating your internship here, now, with prejudice. That means you will not be considered for a position with this company or any of its subsidiaries, ever. Please hand me your access badge, now. You are not to leave this room without an escort. Mister Portman, do you have any questions you want to ask or statement to make?"

"No, Mister Peoples, I have nothing to say or add."

"Thank you Mister Portman. Mizz Shaker, please terminate the recording."

She did and then said, "I've turned off the recorder, Mister Peoples."

"Thank you, please have the recording transcribed immediately and filed in Mister Benton's file, then place that file on my desk. Please also provide a copy to the legal department. Mister Portman, I realize it's later than was planned but I expect you can leave in fifteen minutes and still get to where you need to be today." He addressed us again, "I'm giving the three of you ten minutes to absorb and adjust to what has transpired this morning, then I expect you to get on the bus, ready to go on this air-field inspection trip. Does anyone have a problem with that?"

Linc, Ryan and I looked at each other, then we turned back to Marcus. Together we said, "No, sir."

Guy left the room. I think he was getting the bus ready to leave.

"Mizz Shaker, please escort Mister Benton to our offices and stay with him until I get there. Have someone get that transcription done as soon as possible. I need it done before I conduct an exit interview with him."

"Yes, sir, the transcription shouldn't take more than half an hour. I'm going to put someone on it immediately and have them working on it until its completion." She stood up. "Mister Benton, please come with me."

Wayne looked pale and shocked, like someone had punched him in the gut. I didn't know when he had sat down but he stood up looking sick and left the room with Lyndsi. That left me, Linc and Ryan alone in the conference room with Marcus. The tension in his body visibly left him and then he said, "Okay guys, relax. What's happened here today was unusual, at best. Oh, and by the way, the formality we were using was only because of the situation Wayne put us in. Kay, I'm sorry about what happened. None of it was your fault, don't worry about it."

"I'm worried about where it puts me here."

Marcus sat down and we all came up to the table. "You've got nothing to worry about. I did what had to be done because it was the right thing to do and to protect the company."

"I wouldn't have done anything."

"I'm sure of that, Kay, but that has little to do with what happened. I did what I did for the company. You have all been here two full weeks and the company was already forming its collective opinion of you guys. I'm going to have to add 'loyal to your cohorts' to that opinion. I'm not going to say one of you has some advantage over the others because at this point it doesn't matter; there are still eleven weeks left in this program. I will tell you that Wayne impressed us but in a very negative manner. I already have complaints about him in the files."

Linc looked a little nervous but spoke up, "Mister Peoples, I hope my little joke about I.T. gals wasn't too far out of line."

"Was it out of line? Considering the gravity of what took place here this morning, maybe, but not too far. Don't worry." He smiled. "I already knew Wayne was going to be a problem, I didn't expect it this soon though. This will actually work out to the company's benefit. Besides getting rid of a bad apple before we had too much invested in him, it's an example and a teaching moment for the whole company. Everyone will know about this morning's events. Do you guys have any questions you want to ask?"

The three of us looked at each other before Ryan spoke, "Does this change anything for us? I was thinking of our schedules for a start and will the company hold this against any of us? Really, it comes down to, how are we affected?"

"It doesn't change anything for you. We just pull Wayne out of the rotation schedule. This won't be noted in your files at all because although you were involved you weren't principals. Bottom line here is, even though none of you would fully answer my questions, nothing will be held against any of you. You are NOT affected once we step out of this room. You need to concentrate on the practical education we're making available to you. Okay?"

The three of us said, "Thank you, sir."

"Now, it's already been twenty minutes, get your butts out of here and onto the bus. I'm sure Guy is wondering where the heck you all are and what's holding things up. If you've got questions, write them down and get them to me Friday when you get back. If you think they're important enough, call me, I'll take your calls. Now, git!"

We got up and took our luggage with us, out of the conference room and on our way to the bus. Five minutes later Guy was pulling out of the parking lot. We were on our way but now there were only three of us. No one was saying anything, not even Guy. I think we were all in some kind of shock. After sitting, staring out the window and not seeing anything, I decided to call Rob. I pulled out my cell phone and called. The phone rang three times before it was answered.

"Hi, gorgeous, how's it going, are you on the road?"

"Yeah, we're on the road, we left about fifteen, twenty minutes ago."

"I thought you were leaving first thing, what held you up?"

"That's why I'm calling."

"Kay, you're sounding strange, is something wrong?"

"Wayne was fired this morning."

"Really, did something happen?"

"Yeah, when I got in this morning, Lyndsi Shaker and I walked into the conference room together just as Wayne was making some nasty comments about me and my sleeping with you."

"WHAT?!?"

"He was saying the only reason I was with the company at all was because I was sleeping with you and I had the internship for the next year locked up for the same reason."

"Oh, my gosh, what'd you do?"

"I stood there with my mouth hanging open, so did Lyndsi and then she snapped into action. All of a sudden she went very formal and had Guy Portman watch over us while she went to get Marcus. Guy had us sit in the corners of the room and wouldn't allow us to talk. Lyndsi came back with Marcus and he was even more formal. He read us the riot act, talked about harassment and impartiality, questioned each of us about what happened and fired Wayne."

"He fired Wayne in front of all of you?"

"He had Lyndsi recording the whole thing; he fired him and told him he would never work for the company or any of its subsidiaries ever again. He took his access badge right then and had Lyndsi escort Wayne back to the H.R. offices. After he did that he relaxed; he sat down with us to check if we had any questions about what happened and to reassure us that it wouldn't have any effect on us. I gotta' tell you, Rob, I know I didn't do anything wrong but it still scared me. I'm pretty sure it scared Linc and Ryan, too. We're sitting here separately and we're not talking."

"Don't let it shake you. You have good news; it won't have any effect on you. Concentrate on the good news and get your focus back on what you're supposed to be doing."

"I'm trying, that's why I called you. I needed to talk to someone and you're my someone. Rob, I didn't complain or anything, I didn't start this. I wouldn't even tell Marcus what Wayne said when he questioned me. Lyndsi put this all in motion. She must have told Marcus what Wayne said and when she did Marcus came in here and ripped us all up. I take that back, he was stern with us but the only person he ripped up was Wayne. When he left with Lyndsi, Wayne was pale and looked sick. I don't think he realized what he did to himself, until then."

"Is this going to change your schedule?"

"That was one of the questions we asked. Marcus said it wouldn't, all they would do is pull Wayne out of rotation and off the schedule."

"That's a relief. We've already put out the date for our wedding."

"Rob, what's this going to do to him in school?"

"I don't know but the school is a separate entity from the company. I don't think the school will even publically acknowledge he had a problem with the company. I'm not sure they can do or say anything legally. All I can say is, it remains to be seen. If he's in class when you go back for the next semester, you'd better stay clear of him."

"Great, now I've got two people I've got to watch for and stay clear of; as if Todd wasn't enough now I have Wayne to watch out for, too."

"We'll deal with it when class starts up again."

"Okay. I just needed to talk to someone about this morning."

"Are you okay? You're not going to let this derail you, are you?"

I took a deep breath and I'm sure Rob heard me when I did. "I'm okay, or I will by the time I get off the bus. You're right, of course, I can't let this derail me and I won't. I want the internship. Something Marcus said concerns me, though. He said Ryan and Linc will be considered for positions when they graduate, he didn't say my name."

"Do you think it means they won't consider you?"

"I don't know what to think but it's bothering me."

"What do you want to do?"

"I was thinking of talking with Marcus about it. I don't know if it would help me or hurt me."

"What are you expecting him to do? Do you think he'll tell you if you won't be considered?"

"I'm afraid it might be that."

"I doubt it, Kay. If that was the case don't you think he would have told you already? It doesn't sound like he was shy in telling Wayne he was done. If it'll make you feel better I could call and ask but I really think if that's done it should be you."

"I'll do it, the question is when. He told us to write down our questions and hold them until Friday. He also said if we really wanted to we could call him."

"Are you that concerned about it?"

"I think I can wait until Friday but I'll ask him in person. I won't do it with a written question I send to his office, it's too sensitive."

"I think that's the best way to do it. Let him know you want to talk with him but let him pick the time."

"Okay, that's what I'll do. I'm okay, now. I'm going to get back in the game. I'll call you later."

"I love you, sweetie. I'll talk to you later."

"I love you, too. Bye." I closed my phone and put it away. I sat there putting myself back together, figuratively. The first thing I had to do was, come to terms with Wayne and his outburst. It explained a lot from the past week. He'd been thinking and dwelling on what he thought was an unfairness to him. It was eating at him, for someone who had his background and outlook on life, it had to be killing him.