2.
That night, at home, Carl Wilson spent over an hour writing about what happened at work. His tears, the phone call, a couple of catty conversations with fellow clerks bitching about Kris getting to hire her old friend. "They all had heard what Mike said two days before," Carl wrote, "and shook their heads now the word was official. How could Laura have not seen through it? When they asked me, I thought of my ex-wife's words. Yet said nothing, not about what I knew, not about how good Cerise must have been in the interview."
At work, things went pretty smoothly again after that day. No more tears. It had helped to write his feelings down while they ---- and the memories of events ---- were still fresh. He felt he was getting the rejection anger out of his system. Ever since he was a child, and discovered the power that comes from reading and writing, Carl has always found it better to set down on paper, instead of deny, the things that hurt him. Therapeutic. Nevertheless, he still repressed a great deal of his disappointment, as he was to find out through coming months; it would come back to haunt him. The good and bad angels perched on his shoulders were going to have their work cut out for them.
In the course of the next weeks, before Cerise Chimera began her work with the Purchasing department, Carl's typist colleagues made a few more sympathetic remarks, to him and the two others who had been passed over. They tried again to get him to talk about Cerise. The word had gotten around that his ex-wife knew her. At first he kept his lip buttoned and didn't tell anyone what Pat had said on the phone. Then decided there was one person who should know what was about to hit the fan. His supervisor, senior clerk Sandra Graves.
Sandra had been working at two jobs since the prior contract aide had left. In addition to her regular duties directing the clerical staff in the preparation of bids, quotes, and contracts, she had been asked to fill in as temporary contract aide, watching over the awarding and performance of the City's major construction contracts for streets, bridges, parks, and buildings.
It was mainly out of courtesy to her (Carl thought) that management of the department had held the contract position open until after the admin-aide exam process was completed. They hoped (he supposed) that she would rank high enough on the exam to be considered. Unfortunately, she missed the cut-off score by only one category. Which really was a shame, both for her and for the department.
As it was, by the time Cerise finally came on board, Sandra would have administered construction contracts for almost two months, and learned the job pretty well. She, in fact, would train Cerise. That was what bothered Carl. He could not shake the feeling Cerise wasn't going to work out at the job, and he worried that management would blame Sandra for her training.
Sandra Graves was a decent supervisor. Carl knew this by experience as well as word of mouth. In his time with the City of San Miguel, he had worked in three different departments, and gotten on reasonably well with his supervisors, in spite of his stubborn streak and rebellious nature. He had also heard horror stories about other offices in the City - most recently from his ex-wife - and had come to believe that many supervisors, especially senior clerks, were expected to be mostly stick and very little carrot. In this light he found Sandra to be downright decent. Strict when she had to be, but gracious, too. So he worried about her having to train a person he'd heard was not fully competent.
One week before Cerise was to start, Carl finally decided to warn Sandra about what he'd learned. "I don't want her getting hit by the shit that could fly when Cerise interfaces with the fan," he wrote in his journal. "That splattering might be just enough to make Sandra pull up her stakes and transfer to another job in the City. Then who would I get for a new boss?"
The devil you know is definitely better than the devil you don't, he decided. In Sandra's office, with the door closed, Carl told her that "friends of mine in the City Attorney's office" said Cerise Chimera was only moderately competent at performing administrative work, that she was an excellent communicator and gave great interview, but was not very good with details or follow-up, and that when word came down she was leaving, all the criminal clerks "danced on the tables."
Sandra Graves smiled. "That's similar to what I've heard, Carl."
"Ah. Perhaps we know some of the same people?"
"No, my information came from the office where she worked before she became principal clerk in the criminal division. Never mind where that was. But their report is pretty much the same kind of stuff as yours. She's very personable, and excellent at dealing with people, but missing a few cards from the deck when technical and analytical work needs to be done."
"Hmm."
"You realize that none of what we are saying here must ever leave this office."
He nodded, and thought - Mustn't tell her I will be writing this at home tonight.
"And, Carl?"
"Yes?" He began to worry. She was frowning. There was something else.
"Kristin is still complaining about your talking at work. I have tried to justify to her that your occasional witticisms are good for morale on the floor, but... well, I think upper management is trying to make the clerical staff more... businesslike, and although Kris won't admit it, she's getting leaned on, and so she leans on me."
"Laura?"
Sandra only smiled. Then shook her head. "I really don't know. Like I said, Kris won't say." Then she frowned again, "But she is pressuring me to add a behavioral performance plan to your next evaluation. About restraining talking." She sighed. Glanced nervously at Carl.
The clerk-typist hazarded a guess, "You shouldn't be telling me that she wants you to do this, right?"
"Technically, no. It should only be discussed in the context of an official evaluation. But... well, the chief thing is to warn you about the talking. The way I see it, I have the discretion of deciding how to do that. If I choose to tell you that Kristin warned me, then that is how I will do it. But I would appreciate your not telling her."
"But... both she and Laura sign my performance evaluations after you and I go over them and sign them."
"Yes, that's right. And if you talk with her after then, it would be all right, but for now...."
"Just between you and me?"
"Uh-huh."