Larry worked at an office where the boss was an asshole. His boss was vulgar, disrespectful, incompetent, and was constantly cheating workers of their rightful wages and benefits. He was a jerk to everybody, but he was especially cruel to Larry, even though Larry was one of his better workers. Perhaps it was because he hadn’t been born in the U.S., perhaps it was his very competence and intelligence that made the boss look like a moron slacker by comparison. You see, the boss didn’t get his position by working hard or by making great decisions, he got it because he was the owners’ son. Life is like that.
It’s not that the boss — we’ll call him Devon — was cruel to everybody. He was surrounded by a group of buddies (all of them male) who always agreed with Devon and who also treated everyone else as inferior. Especially Larry.
When Devon had been made boss a few years back, Larry welcomed the chance to have a fresh start with a new boss. He had worked hard for the old boss for years and never felt he got any recognition or a fair cut from the company’s successes which he had contributed to. But as The Who once said, “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.” Or as the saying goes, “Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it. Devon was even worse than the last boss.
But Larry was convinced that his hard work and smarts would attract the boss’s attention. It did, but not in the way he wanted. Devon singled Larry out, always belittling him around Larry’s coworkers and to his cronies.
One day, Larry decided he had had enough. After learning that Devon’s buddies got a huge bonus while he hadn’t received a raise since Devon became boss, Larry was going to give Devon a piece of his mind. And seeing the state of mind Larry was in and Devon’s unwillingness to hear other people’s point of view, he knew it might just devolve into an old-fashioned ass-whooping. It might not be the smartest career move, thought Larry, but boy would it feel good.
Beverly, who sat at her desk in the HR department that was between where Larry’s cubicle and the boss’s office were, saw Larry walk by and she saw the anger in his expression and how the muscles of his body were bunched up and ready for action.
“Larry,” Beverly called out, attempting to defuse a potentially dangerous situation. “Can I help you with something?”
As angry as Larry was, Beverly had always been kind to him, and he did not wish to be rude to her, even though he was prepared for a confrontation. “I’m on my way to talk to Devon,” he said, his desire for action being rerouted into a plea for understanding. His emotions getting the best of him, he began to state his litany of complaints that he was about to use as weapons against his unjust boss. “I can’t afford to get my daughter braces. I haven’t had even a cost of living raise since he became the boss. He refuses to take any blame for any of the idiot decisions he makes but he’s always willing to take credit for the successes of everyone else. He’s cruel to everyone who doesn’t kiss his ass, you can’t take him on his word for anything, he never follows office protocol, and his mere presence here has been driving off customers who have been loyal to us for years.”
It felt good to get all this off his chest, felt good to have someone he could open up to. He began to feel his rage subside because Beverly nodded in sympathy with every accusation he made. Finally when he was done, she wrote some final notes in a notebook and looked him in the eye with a great amount of compassion.
“I understand your problem, Larry. You’re not the first person to express these concerns. I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. I’ll speak to the people higher up in the chain of command and we’ll come up with a solution. Just don’t do anything drastic in the meantime, Larry. You’re a good worker and we’d hate to lose you.
“Yeah, but I really want to give him a piece of my mind,” said Larry, his heartrate still racing.
“I know,” said Beverly, a soothing sincerity in her voice. “I’m sure that would feel good in the short term, but remember your wife and your lovely young daughter, Jessica. Just sit tight and let’s see what we can come up with.”
“Okay,” said Larry. And he walked back to his cubicle and went back to work. It wasn’t like him to confront anybody like that in the first place, the situation had just gotten so bad he didn’t know what else to do. He felt better knowing that somebody in the company was on his side and was going to do something about it.
So in the ensuing days he tolerated the boss’s bullying, knowing that change was coming. The system was going to correct this big problem that was hurting the whole company. Larry just kept his head low, did his work, and took the abuse. Secretly, in his mind, he uttered the thought: “Your day is coming, Devon, just you wait.”
But weeks passed and nothing happened. In fact, Devon was on his case more than ever before, as if he had somehow learned about his conversation with Beverly. His frustration grew once more until at last he decided to pay Beverly a visit to see where things stood.
“Oh, hi, Larry,” said Beverly. Larry looked into her eyes and somehow he could no longer see the compassion there, although her words were still soothing.
“I came to check to see what was happening. It’s been a couple of weeks and Devon has really been bearing down on me.”
“Yes,” said Beverly, “well I sent a letter to the head of HR at corporate, but she hasn’t gotten back to me yet.”
Larry was clearly upset but Beverly wasn’t about to acknowledge it. “I’ll follow up with you and let you know,” said Beverly. And Larry, trying to express just the right mixture of disappointment, anger, and faith, said he understood and went back to his cubicle.
More weeks passed and with them came more excuses from Beverly. For all her expressions of concern, it felt to Larry as if she wished he would just go away. Although Devon was the reason for all of Larry’s anger, he couldn’t help noticing that his anger was focusing more and more on Beverly. Although she was outwardly kind and caring to him and Devon was overtly being an asshole, it was Beverly who had put herself in the middle. Back at his cubicle, Larry found his thoughts of punching Devon in the face turning more to thoughts of throttling Beverly. Both gave him a feeling of justice achieved.
Larry continued to check in with Beverly over the following weeks and months, each time with less enthusiasm and less ability to disguise his impatience. Months eventually turned into years. And while Larry had long since lost any hope he had had in the system, he continued to play by the rules that were in the employee handbook as written by corporate which he had early in his career been forced to sign. Until at last one day he walked into Beverly’s office with no expectations at all but merely out of habit. So it was with great surprise that she greeted him with a broad grin and a tone of victory in her voice.
“Great news, Larry. Corporate got back to us and they have decided to act. They’re removing Devon from his position and are shuffling him off to some other place in the business.
Larry’s entire being lightened with this news. All his doubts in the system had been unwarranted. The system worked and Beverly had his best interest at heart after all.
“And the best news, Larry, is that they’re making me the new head of operations here. Effective as of now, you can come to me with all your problems.”
“Well, a few years back, Jessica needed braces but we couldn’t afford them. Her teeth have gotten worse as a result. Is there any way the company could provide some kind of dental insurance?”
“I’ll tell you what, Larry. Thing’s have become difficult lately, what with the economy being the way it is and with me having to fix all the problems Devon was unable to take care of. Why don’t you just remind me of this in a few months and we’ll see what we can do?”
And so it went, for several more years. Until at last Beverly was transferred to another branch and was replaced by Devon’s brother, Darryl. Larry grinds his teeth in his sleep at night, dreaming of throttling Beverly and regretting his lost opportunity of punching Devon in the face.
A few months before Larry’s retirement at the age of 71, he saw a picture of Devon and Beverly hugging it out at a corporate retreat in the Bahamas.
