Morning all. I hope you had a fabulous weekend. I am ready to jump into the Monday morning prompt and get this day started so I am just going to get going. Fifteen minutes on the timer if you are writing along.
I don’t think this is quite the start of the story. I think the start might be when the promotion first is posted. the she could see she already does the work but would lose some of the tasks she doesn’t enjoy and think it a win win. Then we can spiral through to the following events. I like the premise and the potential crash and burn But as usual with a lot of these prompts story ideas get condensed. I would definitely take the time to write out the promotion debacle for this story.
Monday, November 9th: It was such a relief.
It was such a relief. Jane didn’t realize it would be. She knew her stress level was ramping up. She knew her annoyance was high. She didn’t realize there would be relief.
“I suppose I should have,” she thought as she kicked off her shoes. She knew that she out to be worried. Typically, one didn’t lose a job and then feel no panic. She suspected that would come later.
“And I am in a good place,” she reminded herself as she allowed herself to sit down on the couch. Her work skirt would be concertinaed around her waist, and she knew her blouse would be wrinkled. It was why she always changed when she first got home. While she had plenty of work outfits to cycle through there was always the chance she would need to be called back after she left.
“Not today,” she said allowing herself to slump, even momentarily on the couch. She would not be called into the office tonight. ‘Or ever again.’
Through the relief there was a flash of anger. She worked hard, did a good job and put in far more hours than she should have. She knew she was undervalued and under appreciated. She didn’t think much of it until the promotion came up. On paper it looked like a good fit. She was already doing half of the jobs anyway, she just didn’t get credit for them. She applied.
She was told she wasn’t qualified. Then they hired someone fresh out of school with no job experience for the position. Her starting salary was much less than Jane’s even before she would be given the raise for the promotion. Janes assumed they hired her because she could be hired at the lower rate. Jane shrugged it off and got back to work.
Then, her supervisor stopped by and informed Jane it was her responsibility to train the person who they hired.
Jane remembered sitting there stunned at the sheer audacity of it. When she could speak she said just one word.
“No.”
Her supervisor, Madaline was stunned.
Over the next few weeks Jane was accused of not being a team player, of refusing to do her job. Of, well pretty much everything they could think of to make her sound like a bad employee. Jane documented everything and when finally a meeting was called with HR, Jane held firm on her stance. She would not train the new hire they put into place. She explained they told her she was not qualified for the position and therefore couldn’t train him.
They tried to talk their way out of it and then they tried threatening her. Jane had already made her peace with losing the job. She had done the math. She presented her evidence and informed them that they could come to an equitable severance package, the one outlined in the paperwork in fact, or she could get the lawyers involved.
They held a short meeting and decided to go with what was in the official paperwork. Jane walked out with everything she was owed. And now she was sitting ion her couch. Letting her work skirt wrinkle.
Jane leaned back. Despite the long and often unpredictable hours she put in to the office, she had been working her own small business sideline for years. It started out as just one small project a friend paid her to work on and over time grew. Jane liked her regular job enough, despite the stress to stay so she paid her tazes on the side job and put the rest in savings. A few weeks before everything blew up at the office, she realized she was actually making more from the side job than she was from her regular one. Still she liked the benefits, so she stayed.
‘Until today,’ Jane said. The reminder of the bank account eased the panic and she allowed the full weight of the relief to wash through her.
