Winifred blows out a breath and sat back in her chair. My boss is rude and inconsiderate! Lord, how can I help her understand?
“Winifred, can you come in here?” Winifred stands up and sighs. She gathers her notepad and a pen and walks around her desk. She clears the frown from her face.
“Yes, ma’am?” She comes to a halt a few feet into the room. Iris is typing into her computer. She glances up at Winifred.
“You can come closer. I don’t bite.” Iris grimaced at her. Winifred believes Iris thinks she is smiling. But she isn’t. She can’t remember the last time she smiled. Winifred walks to the desk and pauses.
Iris looks at her notepad and pen. “Good, have a seat.” Winifred sat in a chair in front of the desk. Iris moves away from the computer screen. “We need to work on a more comprehensive social media employee guideline. Too many employees are posting and mentioning the company. I think it’s too negative.”
“Let’s get started on a list of things to type up. I’ve already sent you a document with the basic wording and outline, but I wanted to discuss how it is laid out.” Winifred stops taking notes, realizing everything she’s written down is redundant. Iris pushes a notepad toward Winifred. “What do you think of this?” Winifred takes the notepad from the desk and sees the outline of a page that has three columns. “We’ll have a short paragraph at the top, the three columns below, and each column will be about one major social media site. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Those will make the best examples and we can name other social media sites in the paragraphs below the columns, probably on the second page.” Iris stops talking and Winifred looks up. “What do you think?”
“It seems very organized. It will make it easy to understand the main message of the page. What is the main message?” Winifred waits for a sarcastic remark. She wasn’t disappointed.
“Don’t post opinions or statements that reflect badly on the company.” Iris scoffs. “Of course.” Iris shakes her head. “Tear off that sheet and create a document for this. We’ll want to email everyone in the company by tomorrow. I want this in effect as soon as possible.”
Winifred thinks about her dinner date with her husband. She looks at the time. It’s nearly four o’clock. She sighs. “This should take me over an hour. Is it okay if I get it to you in the morning?”
Iris looks Winifred straight in the eyes. Winifred stands her ground. She will not work overtime again tonight. Iris looks at her desk. “Yes, that’s fine. Thank you, Winifred.” Winifred relaxes her shoulders and walks back to her desk. She sets down the paper and sits in her chair.
Preston Daniel Johnson walks by her desk and into Iris’s office. Winifred opens her document program. She finds Iris’s email and opens the attachment. It is written in clear, concise language. No one in the company is allowed to mention the company on social media in any derogatory manner. Each employee is responsible for anything pertaining to them and need to take down any postings within 48 hours. It is clean writing, no emotion, just rules to follow. Winifred shrugs.
“No, Preston. No, thank you. I must decline. I need to work tonight.” Winifred hears Iris turn down yet another invitation from Preston. He is a vice president of the company but Iris doesn’t like him. Winifred keeps her eyes on her monitor as the creepy man walks past. Once he turns the corner into the hallway, Winifred glances toward Iris. She watches as Iris pumps waterless hand cleaner into her hand and rubs her hands together. She stands and looks out the window, then shakes her head. Sighing, she returns to her desk, catching Winifred watching her.
Winifred quickly looks back at the monitor.
At ten minutes past five, Winifred gathers her purse and jacket. She shuts down her computer and stands up. Stretching, she catches Preston watching her. Abruptly she walks into Iris’s office to get out of his line of sight. “I’m leaving for the night, Iris.” Winifred watches as Iris continues to type for a moment.
“Thank you for letting me know, Winifred.” She looks up. “I do appreciate your work, Winifred. You are a capable worker.” Iris pauses and moves her pen on her desk back to her pen holder. “I know you don’t always agree with how I handle things. It’s my job to make sure the image of this company maintains a certain level of positivity. It’s not my job to be nice to people.” Iris sits back in her seat. “Well, thanks anyway. Good night.” Iris returns her attention to her monitor.
Winifred pauses for a moment. I’ll just keep praying. She turns and walks out.
