“I’m sorry you feel that me asking you to do the job you are paid to do is too much. Anyone else feel that way?”
I looked around and waited for someone to chime in. A woman stepped around the corner of her cubicle. “We are doing our best,” she said. “This is just a really stressful time for everyone. Arthur was just catching his breath before he helps me on one of the larger accounts.”
I nodded. “I see. Arthur, have you caught your breath?”
He smirked. “Nope.”
I was not going to let him talk to me like that. “That’s unfortunate, Arthur. I don’t think you’re cut out for work here. Go ahead and pack your things and you’ve got the rest of your day to catch your breath. You won’t need to worry about coming in tomorrow or ever again for that matter. Good luck finding some other schmuck to pay you to stand around and catch your breath.”
“You’re firing me?” he said as his face paled.
“Yes. Have a nice day.” I turned and started to walk away.
“You can’t fire me!”
“I can and I did,” I said without stopping. “Clear your desk and leave or security will escort you out.”
I went back to my office and closed the door. I had a feeling I wouldn’t have to wait long for Saige to come to me.
I had barely got my email pulled up when my door was thrown open. “Come in, Saige,” I said without looking up.
“What in the world is wrong with you?”
“Shut the door please.”
“No!”
I turned to look at her. “Shut the door before I fire you for insubordination. You will not disrespect me in front of those people.”
She kicked the door shut. “Those people. You mean our employees? Do you mean the staff that keeps the lights on in this place by busting their asses day in and day out?”
“I mean the people that are paid to do a job. I’ve checked the average wage of a CPA in the city. The people here are paid more than fair wages. No one is being worked like a dog. They are at a job. They come to work to do just that. I don’t know why this is such a hard concept to understand.”
She put her hands on her hips. “What happened? Why did you fire him?”
“Because he was being cocky and disrespectful.”
She gave me a look. “If that was a fireable offense, you’d be hard to find a job for.”
“That’s why I own the company,” I shot back.
“You didn’t like the attitude so you fired him,” she said. “That sounds legit. Good plan. Every time someone looks at me funny, I’ll fire them.”
“It was more than attitude. He’s the one that has been stirring everyone up over this breakroom stuff. I’ve heard him on countless occasions. I will not tolerate that kind of crap. He was leaning against the wall and acting like I was bothering him.”
“I could have talked to him,” she said. “I thought we were going to run this place together.”
“I am trying to help you run this place,” I said.
“Help me? Really? The only thing you’ve done is pissed off my employees. You’ve made their lives miserable. Now you just fired one of my best people. We have got to discuss these things. You can’t just fire people!”
She turned around and walked out, making sure to slam the door behind her.
“Fuck me.”
How could the day get any worse? I hated Mondays. It was like the weekend was spent trying to find ways to make my life shit. Every damn day, I was beginning to regret my decision to buy the stupid tax firm. It was causing me more headaches than I needed. It wasn’t making the money I expected. It was just a fucking mess.
I slapped my hand on the desk. I needed to get some fresh air before I fired the whole damn staff. I snatched my phone and walked out of my office. I strolled through the little maze the cubicles created. I knew they were all looking at me with hatred and maybe a little fear. I passed Arthur tossing shit in a box. I didn’t give him the time of day.
I went outside and looked up and down the street until I found a coffee shop. I really needed a drink, but it was a little early, and I knew my day was nowhere near done. I got myself a stout coffee and slowly walked back to the office.
I found myself in quite the predicament. Saige could not continually undermine me. We were going to have to have a stern conversation that wasn’t going to go well. Add in the sex and I was really going to step in it. I didn’t think she was the litigious type but I had to be careful. I wasn’t going to get myself caught up in a lawsuit.
I would try and be diplomatic, but Saige tended to run hot. I would try and get her out of the office before we got into it. I didn’t want her staff to see her raging at me. If she did, they would never respect me. I sipped my coffee and stepped onto the elevator.
“Here goes nothing,” I breathed.
Chapter 23
Saige
I had to take a few minutes to get my own rage under control. I knew the staff was all looking to me to see what I would do. I was torn. I was just as outraged as my staff, but I was also supposed to be management. I was supposed to be leading the team with Nash. What was happening was not a joint command. We were very divided. I disagreed with him on every turn, and it wasn’t getting any better.
Clearly, our little field trip didn’t do any good. I was going to have to try another approach. I just didn’t know what that approach was going to be. For now, I needed to deal with my people. I straightened my blouse and opened my office door.
I walked to Arthur’s desk and found him badmouthing me and Nash. “Arthur,” I said with surprise when I heard him call me a bitch.
“I’m going,” he growled.
I looked at the woman he was complaining to. “Can you excuse us?”
“They’re thin walls,” Arthur snapped. “Just because they can’t see us, they can hear us. They all heard what happened. Thanks for that.”
“I didn’t do it, Arthur,” I said and did my best to stay calm. “Do you want to tell me your side?”
“It doesn’t matter, does it? You let him fire me.”
“I didn’t let him do anything. I was on a call in my office. I’m asking you what happened?”
Arthur stood up and glared at me. “I was taking a break.”
“You were on a break?”
“No, I was taking a few minutes to grab a drink of lukewarm water since we aren’t allowed to have bottled water anymore.”
“You are welcome to bring your own bottles of water,” I corrected.
He scoffed. “There you go. Be a good little soldier for your new boss.”
“You were standing around and he saw you,” I said. “Is that what happened?”
“I wasn’t the only one.”
“Okay, then explain to me how you are the one that got fired.”
“I’m not going to stand around and let him disrespect me,” he said. “He is a smug asshole, and I don’t care if he owns the entire state. I work here and I do my best to make every client happy. You know how hard I work. Spending five minutes talking and drinking water does not affect my job performance.”