Having Fun with Mr. Wrong

by Celia T. Franklin

  Oh, God. All she wanted was to be alone.

  She had loan applications to process and clients to call. The only way to avoid thinking of her problems was to put her nose to the grind and sell, sell, sell. She’d cranked out close to sixty applications during the past month alone—a record for this time of year.

  Sandy would have to wait. Margo couldn’t deal with anything else right now.

  She punched the Do Not Disturb indicator on her phone. And she forwarded her direct line to voicemail. Then she made sure her e-mail was set to send her usual “unavailable” auto-reply message. She lost herself in work for the next few hours.

  The only problem was her office walls were paper-thin. She could hear Sandy outside the door. Every day at three, she’d eat that dratted granola bar. Margo glanced at her desk clock. Sure enough, it was three on the dot. Margo cringed as she heard the crinkling of the wrapper right through her walls and then the incessant crunching. She couldn’t concentrate on anything else. What had gotten into her?

  She wasn’t usually so easily irritated. An interruption, a loud cough, someone clearing his throat. Everything seemed to bother her. Maybe Timothy’s leaving caused her to lose her mind.

  The thing was she’d promised her boss she’d meet with Sandy first thing every morning to go over the day’s work. But she hadn’t today because of the meeting.

  It seemed like a half hour passed until Sandy’s annoying munching stopped. Then there was a tentative knock on the door. Oh no. She’d escaped Sandy’s questions most of the day. Damn. She owed her the time and would have to give it to her.

  “Come in,” Margo said.

  Sandy entered, carrying a stack of files overstuffed with paper.

  Before Sandy even spoke, Margo stood and braced her hands on her hips. “I don’t have time for this now. Is this an emergency?” The words came out before she could stop herself.

  Sandy cringed but unloaded the files in her arms with a distinctive thud on Margo’s circular conference table. “Sorry to bother you, Margo. But if you want these files submitted to the processing center tonight, I need a few minutes of your time.”

  The beginnings of a migraine thumped behind Margo’s eyes. She rubbed her temples. She had several major deals to finalize today and more phone appointments tonight. The interruption was damned inconvenient. “Can it wait until our normal morning meeting tomorrow?”

  Sandy froze and a willful determination stretched across her face. “No. I’m sorry, Margo. These files must make the interoffice pickup at six. I’m willing to stay past five to get it done. However, I’ll need you to answer a few questions.”

  She took a seat and squared her shoulders. The poor girl’s hands trembled.

  Margo stood over the table and glanced at the file names. “Did we not go over these same files Friday?” It would figure. The girl couldn’t retain a single thing they went over. Whenever she’d ask Sandy about anything they covered before, she’d needed to look it up in her notes. Fine. But when it came to the latest Hollywood development, Sandy was all over it.

  “Some of them are new. The files we already discussed had pricing changes.” Sandy hesitated a moment and separated the stack into two piles. “You’re bringing in so many files now, and I think that’s great, but we don’t want to be sloppy. I want to do a good job for you.”

  Margo took the files that Sandy put to the left, recognizing them as applications she’d completed over the weekend. She pushed them to the side and sat down. “Okay, let’s go over these first. They’re all subject to the midday pricing change because interest rates went down. What are your questions?”

  “How do I float them down?”

  “You don’t do anything, I’ve price-protected their rates in the system. All you have to do is put the new-rate paperwork in the pricing section of the file and discard the old pricing documents.”

  Sandy pointed to the float-down form. “But we were told in a recent meeting that the assistant had to fill out this form for the new rate and attach the new and old pricing sheets.”

  “Okay, so you do that, then. You know better than I do. What else about these files?”

  “This is the first time I’ve had to complete these forms. I’d like to go through them with you, at least one or two.”

  Was she kidding? Margo had already showed her how to complete the forms. Plus, Sandy had attended several days of training for the very same thing. Maybe if she spent more time paying attention to work-related duties, she’d do her job a little better. She talked the part but didn’t practice it. Perhaps if she’d stopped obsessing about cleaning the countertops in the breakroom or filling in for the plumber when the men’s room toilet went out again, she might just get it.

  Margo was about ready to lose her patience but tried to be nice. “Sandy, you’ve been here over two years. You should know the routine. The administrators changed the forms, but you’re filling in the same basic information as the old forms, just in a different format. Complete them as best as you can. If it’s wrong, the processor will fix it. The important thing is that the rate is correctly locked in the system, and I do that.”

  “Fine. You’re responsible for pricing. I get that, but I’m your assistant and I want to help you out.” Sandy cast her eyes down, paused, and formed a tight-lipped smile. “Often, I get the feeling you are talking down to me. That you treat me like I’m stupid.” Her eyes turned glassy, and her chin quivered.

  Oh, no. Now Sandy might complain to management. Shit. Then Dan would be all over her case. Grrr. “Sandy, I’m sorry if you think I’m being condescending. I don’t mean to sound that way. I have a tremendous amount of calls coming in, and I’m missing loan opportunities right now as we speak. I’m under a lot of pressure. I just need you to do your job, and I’ll do mine. Okay?”

  She had to admit, though, Sandy had a point about making sure the files were compiled correctly. “All right. Sit down. Let’s go through these. Quickly.”

  Margo went through each of the seven files with Sandy, and, by the time they got to the fourth one, Sandy had the new forms down pat.

  Now, maybe she could get some work done.

  “Wait.” Sandy pulled the other pile of files closer. God, she had more questions.

  She insisted on going over a variety of topics. Their meeting took another half hour, but they went through all of Sandy’s concerns. And Margo be damned if Sandy didn’t stay late to get all the files submitted before the mailbag went out.

  Why didn’t she appreciate Sandy more?

  ****

  The next week, Dan phoned Margo’s office. “I need you in my office. We have to talk.”

  “I’ll be right in.”

  What could be so important that he’d call her in out of the blue? And he sounded upset. She could count on one hand how many times she’d been to his office for a talk.

  Margo knocked on the open door.

  “Come in. Please, close the door behind you and have a seat.” Dan tapped a pen on his desktop.

  She settled in a chair opposite her boss. The tufted leather stuck to her thighs, affixing her to the seat. Her heart pounded so hard in her chest she thought he might hear it.

  “Margo, we value the service you’ve given D.C. Mutual for the past fifteen years. But, as I warned you, you needed to go a little easier on the staff before they turned against you.”

  Oh, no. Here it came. She was in trouble.

  “Look, Dan, I don’t know what you expect from me. I’ve been holding a daily morning meeting with Sandy, as you suggested. And I’ve even spent time outside of our morning meetings to help her.”

  “Right, except last Monday after our meeting, I understand Sandy needed your time concerning pricing and new forms, and you were reluctant to give it to her.”

  That little bitch. After all the time Margo had spent with her, she’d still gone behind Margo’s back to complain.

  “Dan, we went over the forms. Several of them, in fact. I don’t understand why she’
s complaining to you.”

  “She isn’t the only one complaining, believe me. But I’ll get to that later. Let’s deal with the Sandy issue first. I told you before that I didn’t want to have a personnel issue on my hands.”

  “We have one now?”

  “Sandy reported you to HR. She said you speak down to her and reprimand her in front of staff and customers.” He cleared his throat and stared into dead space for a painful few moments. “Then there is the matter of altering a real estate contract.”

  “What?” Margo jumped up and screamed, “Let me see it.” She regained her composure and sat back down. “I’ve never altered a real estate contract. That’s the job of the Realtors. Why would Sandy accuse me of this?”

  “Apparently the contract was altered to remove a disclosure concerning the value on the Miller file.” Dan pulled out paperwork from a file on his desk that read “confidential” and rifled through it.

  “That file was closed months ago.”

  He leaned forward and folded his hands. His no-nonsense demeanor commanded her to pay close attention. “I’m not trying to put you on the defensive. You know I have to respond to every concern reported to HR. No matter how long you’ve worked here or how valuable you are to me. And, despite all of this, you are still very valuable.” He turned the contract around to her. “Here’s the original contract. It refers to an addendum that says the sales price includes the furnishings. We know we can’t finance furnishings and would have to reduce the price accordingly.” He pointed to another contract. “Here’s the final contract with no reference to an addendum or furnishings, and it has the original price.”

  Margo leaned over his desk and scanned both documents. “Clearly the first contract is not fully executed. Therefore, it’s null and void. I don’t see the issue. The customer is only financing fifty percent of the value, anyhow.”

  “That’s right. You knew you didn’t have an issue, so you probably didn’t bother to compare the two. However, Sandy’s job is to do so. If this file were audited, we would be written up. The appraisal value would have been wrong.”

  “Okay, she should have brought it up to me, then.”

  “She claimed to have tried, but you wouldn’t give her any time.” He closed the file. “She probably filed the complaint before we established your daily meeting time. I’m not sure. I don’t want to deal with this any more than you do. But we have to. Now I’m glad you’re meeting with Sandy regularly and giving her the extra time when she needs it. She, in fact, told me you’ve been more helpful lately.”

  “What do we do about the Miller case? And her complaints?”

  He leaned back in his chair and rubbed the back of his head. “I’ll take care of HR. Don’t worry. This is the first real complaint they’ve received on you. However, remember what I said about employee morale?”

  “Yes.” She braced herself for whatever else was next.

  “It seems that you’ve been fairly standoffish to everyone in the branch. You beeline away from others in the office and hole yourself up behind a closed door all day. I know you brown-bag your lunch. That’s fine. But I’ve also been told you’ve got your own refrigerator for your office, as well as a microwave and hot plate.”

  Lord, these people didn’t give up. Since she’d been so busy, she’d been eating lunch at her desk. Lately, she couldn’t stand the psst, pssst, pssst sounds she’d hear from their gossip talk in the lunchroom. Really, the only solution was to keep her lunch in her office in order to avoid going in the breakroom. Dan should appreciate her dedication to her job, not pick on her about being unsocial. “I didn’t know that would be a problem. If I go to the lunchroom, I get dragged into meaningless conversations, which are mostly gossip anyway. I don’t have time for that, not if you want me to be your top producer. Surely you realize how unproductive such senseless conversations are?”

  Dan shook his head. “On another matter—I know you’ll think this sounds petty—however, our fire codes don’t allow us to put a hot plate in office cubicles or private offices.” He shrugged. “What could I do? I have to tell you this. It’s the same thing with space heaters. Remember that cold winter a couple of years ago when we—”

  “You’re telling me to get rid of my hot plate and the microwave? The feedback sounds pretty underhanded, if you ask me. Instead of focusing on new business, they spend their time being petty and starting trouble. What the hell? And you’re going to go along with them?”

  “It doesn’t matter. If you give the impression that you’re not a team player, then the players will try to squeeze you out. Any way they can. I warned you about it. And this is the way they’ve chosen. I’m also hearing that you’ve been emotionally erratic and snappish with everyone—more than usual. Everything all right at home?”

  “What I do before or after work isn’t anybody’s concern.” She was not going to talk about her split with Timmy. Not here. Not now.

  “You don’t work in a vacuum, Margo. There are other people around, and they need to be taken care of as well.”

  Margo broke down. Dammit if the tears didn’t begin to well.

  Dan looked concerned. “Margo, surely you can’t be this upset. We’ll—”

  “Dan, I don’t want this to be public knowledge. Not yet. Timothy and I are…separated.” It was the first time she’d allowed her emotions to surface. A stubborn tear inched down her cheek. “I’m dealing with it as best as I can. I simply don’t want to be around people right now. The only way I’ve been able to cope is by burying myself in my work.”

  Dan’s eyebrows shot up, concern etched all over his face. “Ah, gee, Margo, I’m sorry to hear that. Are you trying to work it out?”

  “I’d love to. Unfortunately, it’s too late.” Saying the words out loud forced her to accept the reality that her marriage was over. For good. He wouldn’t agree to counseling. Hell, he’d fallen in love with someone else.

  “I don’t want to pry, Margo. But if you ever need someone to talk to—”

  “Actually, if you can keep people off my back right now, I’d appreciate it. Other than Sandy, of course. I’ll continue with our meetings. But, as far as other loan officers, they should concentrate on their business, not mine.”

  Dan nodded. “Of course, I understand. I’ll handle this end of things. You don’t worry about that. Whatever I can do to help, please let me know.”

  “Thanks. There’s nothing you can do.”

  “Margo, don’t forget we have an employee assistance program that’s covered by your insurance plan. If you need to talk to someone, a professional counselor…”

  “No, I don’t need a shrink.” She didn’t mean to be so curt. But, hell, why would she go to a psychologist? She did everything she could to keep a good marriage. Timmy had cheated, not her. She didn’t have the problem.

  “Whatever happened with mentoring Jonathan?” Dan asked.

  The mentoring stopped after a couple of lunches. She didn’t have time to teach him; that was Dan’s job. For a few days after the meeting, he’d come to her office, dragging and then clicking those god-awful crutches. It unnerved her. “We had lunch after the sales meeting. I went over quite a few things with him. After that, we had lunch a second time. But then he’d stop by daily. I…can’t deal with it right now, so I gently let him off by telling him I didn’t have the time.” She lifted her hands. “I’m sorry, I did my best.”

  Dan took a deep breath. “Don’t worry about it, Margo. I only brought it up because I thought it might be therapeutic for you. I’ll have him go on a few sales calls with Steven.”

  Steve was the second-most-experienced loan officer for the branch.

  Margo absolutely did not want Dan to treat her differently now that he knew about Timmy. Yet she knew that’d be impossible now the news was out.

  Dan stood and leaned back on his heels. “All right, continue to do the good work with Sandy. I think she’ll come around if you continue working with her. I’ll handle the rest. You take care of yo
urself, okay?”

  “I will.” Margo stood. “This job is all I have now, so I’ll be sure to make things right with Sandy and me. Let me know if you need me for anything else.”

  She left Dan’s office and headed back to her own. That was when she heard it. The same annoying noise she heard every night at five. Only louder this time.

  Each night, the receptionist got the Federal Express and UPS packages ready for pickup. She would assemble the documents and then place them in the envelopes or boxes. From across the office, Margo would hear the loud riiiip of the packaging tape. Repeatedly, she’d hear the riiiiip and then the alarming snap as the tape was cut. And then the constant banging of the stapler while the receptionist stapled the endless paperwork.

  Margo practically ran to her office to get away from the noise.

  ****

  The holidays passed like a blur to Margo. She went to a few office parties but oftentimes returned to her office after cutting out of the parties to work on her files. She wrote every loan application she could get her hands on, and by year-end, she’d outperformed everyone at the Manhattan branches.

  She was finally the number-one producer. After craving the position for years, being close a lot of times, finally making it to a solid number-one spot in both total dollars and units meant very little. Unbelievable! Despite the years of obsessing about reaching the coveted spot, now that she’d achieved it, it was anticlimactic.

  She continued to keep her divorce a secret from Sandy and the other coworkers. A week after New Year’s Eve, she received a Federal Express package at her office from some lawyer’s office. Oh no. The envelope had to contain the dreaded divorce papers. She took the envelope into her office and closed the door behind her. Heart pounding, she ripped the package open. The gall of the son of a bitch. Serving her divorce papers here at work. As if it was just another minor matter of business. Cold bastard. Well, she wasn’t going to break down.