Marge was surprised when the phone rang as she was clearing the breakfast dishes. It was Gus Schreiber, Jamie’s manager at Acme.
Puzzled as to why he was calling, she immediately said, “Oh, Mr. Schreiber, you have been so nice to Jamie. He loves working for you. I don’t know what he would do if he didn’t have his job at the Acme.”
There was an uncomfortable silence. Then Schreiber said, “Mrs. Chapman, that’s why I’m calling you. At Acme customers are our top priority. A number of them have come to me and expressed their concern about Jamie working in our store under the present circumstances. I hope you’ll understand what I mean.”
“No, I don’t understand. Please explain to me what you mean.”
“Mrs. Chapman, after what happened to Kerry Dowling, when Jamie is in the store, people are understandably nervous.”
“Tell them they should worry about your other employee, that blabbermouth Tony Carter,” Marge said fiercely. “You know damn well Jamie has always been a wonderful employee. That hasn’t changed in the two years he’s been with you. Now you want to fire him for no good reason. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
“Mrs. Chapman, there are a lot of grocery stores around here where people can shop. I have to listen to the concerns of our customers.”
“Even if it means being completely unfair to a very loyal employee. As soon as I get off the phone, I’m going to cut my Acme card in half. And let me tell you right now, Jamie has a very good lawyer, and he’s going to hear about this conversation!” She slammed down the phone.
Marge could hear Jamie’s footsteps as he descended the stairs. He came down dressed for work. “Mom, I’m going now. I’ll see you later.”
“Hold on, Jamie. I have to talk to you. Sit down. Please.”
“Mom, I don’t want to be late. I punch in at work.”
Marge scrambled to find the right words. “Jamie, sometimes businesses like Acme don’t have enough customers. When that happens, they have to tell some of the workers that they can’t keep working there.”
“Does that mean they’re going to fire some of my friends?”
“Yes, it does Jamie. Not just some of your friends. You can’t work there anymore either.”
“I can’t work there? But Mr. Schreiber said I’m one of his best workers.”
“I know he did, and he’s very sorry,” Marge said with a grimace.
Jamie turned around and started toward the stairs. When he neared the top, Marge heard him burst into tears.