My entire weekend was spent thinking about the attractive, young black teenaged woman. I had never met anyone quite like her.
Many thoughts ran through my mind, but the one thought I was having the most was how I would go about terminating her employment.
I was frightened by the aggression she had exhibited towards me, and I was terribly unhappy about how the rest of my staff was behaving.
If the seven white women working for me at the time were telling the truth, then Alexis Barron was taking advantage of this situation.
If my staff was accurate in their descriptions of the events, then she was simply not doing her job. She was also making the others feel quite uncomfortable around her.
But, when Monday came I did nothing.
As a matter of fact, I did nothing for that entire week, or the next week after that. I could see the young black woman coming into our office and doing nothing more than making a lot of personal phone calls, or checking her emails.
Alexis continued taking longer lunches and ignoring everyone, including me.
There wasn't a day that went by that I didn't think about firing Alexis. I knew that I had to. But, I was still afraid to do anything about it.
Perhaps, I was still nervous about the way she yelled at me, and held my face so roughly two weeks before. I just knew that I wasn't ready to confront her about that either. Not yet.
After three full weeks, Alexis had done nothing more than collect a few checks. At least, this is how it seemed.
Her presence was causing what can best be described as a morale problem in the office. The other 7 white women in the company were noticeably withdrawn, and they stopped coming to me with any other complaints about Alexis.
Then, as that next week began I received a call from my family in Norway. My grandmother wasn't doing very well. She had been quite ill this past year, and now it seemed as if she was beginning to take a turn for the worse.
I knew that I needed to go back there to be with my family during this time. But, I was still very worried about my failing business.
I decided to book a flight to Oslo and stop by the office before heading to the airport. I needed to explain my sudden departure to my staff and, perhaps, finally tie up those loose ends that had been bothering me since Alexis began working for us.
Yes, in my mind I had decided that this would be it. Finally, I would have that little talk with Alexis Barron and then terminate her. I would put Beth in charge during my absence and hope for the best, and then I would spend time with my family.
I packed my bags and arrived at my office just past 10 o'clock in the morning. My international flight had a 3 p.m. departure, and I didn't have much time to spend there. I was feeling a bit rushed that day.
My first stop was at Alexis' desk.
"I need to speak to you right away." I said.
Her nylon-stockinged feet were propped up onto the corner of her cubicle desk and crossed at the ankles. Lazily, she sat there and looked up towards me.
"About what?" she asked.
"Please, Alexis. I don't have time for this. Please. I have to leave the country." I said.
I walked away and went back to my office to collect a few things, like phone numbers and a few reports to read on my flight. I was sitting at my desk and straightening out a few things out when Alexis finally walked into my office, five minutes later.
As I was gathering my things and thinking about how quick this termination had to be, the black teenager approached and simply placed a large manila envelope on the desktop before me.
"What's this?" I asked.
"Just open it." Alexis directed.
I looked towards Alexis as she boldly and arrogantly took a seat on the very edge of my desk. I didn't know what to expect.
When I opened the envelope, I was astonished!
In the envelope, there was a check for 150,000 dollars made out to our company and a signed contract for a monthly purchase of the same amount!
"Oh, my god! Alexis?" I stammered.
"How did you?..." I questioned.
She didn't care to answer. Nor, did she care to explain any of the details.
"Don't worry about it." She answered.
"It needs your signature to make it official. Just sign it." she directed, handing me a pen.
I had very little time. I quickly began looking over the long contract and reading the fine print, but I was doing so half-heartedly.
"What's all this?" I asked, referring to parts of the contract near the end.
"Basically, it just says that I am the sales rep on this deal. That's all." Alexis said.
"Well, yes. Of course you are, Alexis." I returned.
"I can't believe you were able to bring in such a sale, and so quickly. I'm really proud of ..." I said.
Alexis interupted.
"Don't! I don't need any of that condescending shit from you!" she firmly said.
"You better get going or you're gonna miss your flight." she continued.
I think that I was just so pleased we actually brought in a new sale, and from a new customer too, that I could hardly think of what to do next?
"Yes, you're right. I do have to leave. But, there's so much to do now. I mean ... we have to call the manufacturers and the lab for new testing and ..." I began explaining to Alexis, excitedly.
"Don't worry about all that now." Alexis said.
"I'll have that all taken care of." she added.
As I gathered my things and was getting ready to have a brief meeting with the rest of my staff before I left, I kept thinking that this one sale could actually save my company.
"I'll have Beth help you getting the rest of this deal done." I told Alexis.
"That's fine." she answered.
"Just go." she said.
We walked out of my office and I called for the others to gather around. I announced that I had to leave for awhile and tend to family matters outside the country. But, I also told them about the new sale that Alexis brought in. I showed them the check and asked them to help to get all the particulars completed while I was gone.
"Beth, you're in charge until I return." I announced.
"Yes, Ms. Burroughs. Sure, okay." she replied.
I left the office feeling better than when I had arrived. Of course, I was excited about my company finally getting a sale. We had all worked so hard, and now it was this young black woman that had accomplished more in less than a month than the rest of us had accomplished in the past two years?!
"How can I fire her now?" I asked myself.
As I was on the plane, I continued thinking about this new found business. Yet, my elation seemed to stop when I began remembering the reason I wanted to speak to Alexis in the first place.
I was also thinking about how this black teenager had been been so disruptive to the others. I thought about how she had been disrespecting me, and how she had physically touched my face in the same manner that a big bully would.
Only, she wasn't very big at all. Alexis was, quite literally, less than half my size and less than half my age.
It was all extremely humiliating for me.
I wondered if getting a sale, as she did, made her exempt from all her rude comments and actions?
"I can't just let her get away with that, can I?" I asked myself over and over again.
My time in Oslo was filled with worry.
First, it was for my grandmother. But, she was doing so much better a few days after I arrived. My worries were more focused upon my business now. My concerns were growing.
After the third day, I made a call to the office to see how things were going. Meghan answered the phone. And, I couldn't believe the noise I was hearing in the background?!
Suddenly, there seemed to be a business-like energy in background of the office. I heard a lot of phone calls coming in and others speaking. From my phone across the ocean, it sounded almost crowded there.
"Meghan? What's going on over there?" I asked.
Meghan seemed quite rushed. She said there were a number of calls holding for Miss Barron, and that she didn't have time to talk.
"M-Miss Barron?" I asked. "Who's that?" I initially questioned.
I suppose that I wasn't really thinking about it like that, not at the time.
"I'm sorry, Gretchen. I really need to go." Meghan pouted.
And, then she hung up the phone.
I was quite taken back by what I had just heard. I didn't know what to think about any of this anymore.
Honestly, I wasn't even sure what was going on?
On one hand, I felt this was going to be a good thing and help save my company. Of course, this would save all our jobs for awhile. On the other hand, I couldn't just let this young woman treat us in the manner she was.
"How could I?" I asked myself.
During the next six days, my calls to the office were met with the same results. Nobody would stay on the phone with me for more than a minute. I was placed on hold almost immediately and everyone in the office that I tried contacting was rushed to get off the phone.
I left messages to call me back, but not one of my calls were returned. Not even the calls that I left to my staff's personal cell phones after business hours. And, when I called Alexis' desk all I got was a recorded message.
"You have reached the offices of Miss Alexis Barron. Please state your business and leave a message at the beep." the recorded voicemail stated.
"What was all this?" I asked myself, again.
I must have left a dozen messages for Alexis and none of them were returned.
After 10 days is Oslo, I thought it would be best to get back to my business. It was 4 days before I had planned to return. Besides, my grandmother was doing fine now and I desperately needed to find out how things were going with our new account.
My flight arrived at 11:20 a.m. on a Friday. By the time I got through customs and made it to my office building it was past 3 o'clock in the afternoon.
As I walked in, I was completely shocked by the changes in the office and to my staff.
The first thing I noticed was that the light music coming from the ceiling speakers had changed. It was now a soft, but upbeat R&B sound rather than the plain light instrumentals of the past. And, everyone seemed hard at work taking calls and working on reports from their computers.
Everyone was dressed the same.
They were dressed professionally, yet with a more youthful appearance now.
All of these older white women had low cut white blouses that revealed their cleavage. They each wore a black linen skirt and what appeared to be 5 inch tall high heeled pumps, which were white in color with an ankle strap. And, they were all wearing a red colored cat's collar around their necks.
Even more shocking for me was the fact they all wore heavier makeup than they ever had before, with a robust red color of lipstick and heavier eye liner.
The change in their appearance, alone, was quite startling to see.
They were all so busy that they didn't even say hello to me. They simply motioned a weak greeting to me with their hands and kept their eyes down, and focused upon their tasks.
