Just after I graduated high school, my dad told me I had to get a job, until I started school in the Fall, and had to remain employed, or move out. At this same time, my stepmom decided she wanted to open a hair salon with my dad's money and offered to employ me to do all the odd jobs that needed doing around the place - sweeping hair, laundry, mopping floors, cleaning the bathroom, maintaining all of the equipment, and even covering for the receptionist when she went on her breaks. It was a lot to do, and it kept me very busy. But I enjoyed it a lot, as I got to talk with some very nice older ladies, and the beauticians my stepmom had hired were very friendly, too.
As I avoided the more aggressive, cougar-type customers, I worked on seeing how close I could get to one of the pretty hairdressers closer to my age. My stepmother, however, had other plans for me.
I have to say that my dad must have had a thing for the bimbo look, because that's just what he married. My stepmom is a bottle-blonde, who stands about 5'4", has a 36-24-36 hourglass figure, and huge EE knockers. Her hair and makeup was always top-notch, but over done for my taste, which accented her tanning bed skin and golden contacts for her eyes. I'm more attracted to slim, petite girls, but damn! Was there a contest for hottest bimbo no one told me about?
I'll admit that it took me into the second week of working, to get into the new routine, so that I wasn't having to stay late, in order to get everything done. What started as a written copy of my duties, posted on her office door, became a list of things she didn't want me to do, as well as a list of guidelines for me to follow. By the time she was done, it was pretty extensive and quite ridiculous. But it didn't stop there. By the end of week 3, she'd decided I should not only have an official copy of the duties and guidelines, she would write it up as a contract for me to sign, for full compliance. She gave it to me at the end of that Friday, telling me to read it carefully and sign it.
I let out a short laugh and, without thinking asked, "What if I don't want to sign it?" In reply, she narrowed her eyes at me and said, "Your 18 now. I'm your boss, as well as your stepmom. Not only do I own you here at work, I own you at home, too. If i have to fire you, I'll also make sure your dad kicks you out of the house! So sign the f-ing contract."
Shaken, I replied, "I'll get it back to you Monday. Is that okay?"
To that, she rolled her eyes at me, told me, "Fine. Whatever," and went back into her office.
Embarrassment and rage caused me to avoid her at home that weekend. But I was also studying the contract. It contained petty things: I had to clock in the exact minute of my shift. I couldn't be even one minute late coming back from lunch. I couldn't use my phone at all, even on my lunch break. I couldn't take a day off. I couldn't call in sick. And more. Plus, any breach of contract, or job not done to her satisfaction, docked my pay. I couldn't help thinking that prisoners in a Russian gulag got better treatment than this!
So, watching TV in my room, wrapped up in worry about this contract thing, I noticed a commercial about a web service that proof-reads submitted work for spelling, grammar, and punctuation mistakes, as well as checks word choice and stuff like that. Pretty cool, if you're a writer, but not my thing. but it gave me an idea. I reasoned that, if people don't like to re-read their own writing, resulting in all those mistakes, a person that wrote a contract wouldn't want to re-read it when given it back, as they were the author, so already knew what was in it. Hmmm... Would stepmom be inclined to read the contract again? She wrote it. Why would she want to re-read it? And more importantly, would she notice if I changed a few things around?
Time for revenge.
Step 1: I took the time to re-write the entire document, making sure the font and formatting were the same, and made my changes. I altered the language that nullified most of the extreme restrictions and gave me back my sick days, making the contract a reasonable document I would be okay signing. I was really happy with it. But I kept coming back to her threat to get me kicked out, and I couldn't just leave it there.
I craftily added a few extra lines, signed it, and was ready for phase two on Monday morning. In order to win, I couldn't just leave it on her desk. She had to sign it and give me a xerox copy.
As soon as she'd hung up her coat, I walked into her office and presented her with my new baby, opened to the second page. "Here's the contract. I signed it. Would you mind signing it, too, so we can be done with this?" I said, trying to sound defeated and annoyed.
As soon as she'd signed it, she started to put it away, so I quickly asked her to make me a copy. She gave me an exasperated look, but copied it using the machine in the corner of her office. Step 2 complete.
