The next day didn’t start out any better. I arrived at the office at nine on the dot and was surprised to find the door open. Since I had already completed the letter yesterday, I wasn’t quite sure what was on the agenda today. The secretary, who today was dressed in a purple sweater, black skirt and black stockings, was sitting at her desk. I was not actually convinced she was sitting at all. She was more like wedged between the wall and her green desk. How was this woman breathing? She looked like she was doing work, so I sauntered over to my desk, sipping coffee. Avi arrived near 10:00 a.m., made a beeline for his office, and closed the door. I had nothing to do but sit and stare at my computer, so I decided that I would start writing a movie script. I was ten pages into it by lunch time. I would have gotten more done, but there was constant buzzing between Avi’s office and his secretary’s desk. I spent a considerable amount of time trying to eavesdrop.
By the end of the day, I had completed thirty pages of my screenplay. At 5:00, on the nose, I headed home and wondered to myself what had just happened.
The next three days were exactly the same. Nothing changed, until Friday afternoon, when Avi had me make some photocopies. At five, I left. By 7:30 I was in my room talking to my friend, Jon.
“I can’t believe your wedding is coming up. You’re the first to get married. It’s sick,” Jon was getting married at the end of the week.
“I know. Sara is going nuts. We have the wedding this week and then we close on the house Tuesday,” Jon was moving to the suburbs to be close to Sara’s family.
“I’m living with my parents and you’re getting a house with your wife! I can’t believe I just said wife,” I was jealous.
Jon had been working since we had graduated from college together. I guess I didn’t really think that things would ever change. I thought that we would tackle each new life stage together, but that wasn’t the case. He went right into a big accounting firm, moved into the city and met a wife, who happened to have gone to college with us. All of this occurred, in what seemed like a day, but it was really a span of three years ,while I was locked away in law school.
“Well, I like the city, but Sara’s mom is out there and so is her brother. She’s very family oriented.” Jon sounded dejected, “It should be a good move.”
Then my call waiting sounded, “Jon, hold on a second I have someone on the other line.” I clicked over to the other call.
“Hi,” there was a pause until the person recognized my voice. “This is Ann, from Mr. Chyman’s office.”
“Hi, what’s up?”
“I’m afraid we have decided to let you go. Things just aren’t working out. So we’ll have your check sent to you.”
“What’s not working out?” I was shocked.
“Well, you don’t seem to be working out,” was the best she could come up with.
Come on, lady. Lie, for God’s sake.
“So, you’re telling me, I’m not working out. You don’t find it odd that there is no work to do at your office and the lawyer that you work for doesn’t know how to practice law? He didn’t even know how to look up anything in his own books.”
“David, I don’t have to discuss this with you. Your check will be in the mail,” then she hung up.
I clicked back over to Jon.
“Who was that?” he asked.
“It was the place where I worked. I just got fired on call waiting. I have to go.”
That was the truth. I actually got canned while lying on my broken bed talking to my friend. And what about my screenplay? How the fuck was I going to get that back? All that hard work down the fucking drain. This was now becoming a sad pattern for me. Job number two had ended in a dismissal by a lawyer, who may or may not have had a license to practice. Wait, it wasn’t even the lawyer himself who fired me. It was his secretary, which was even more humiliating.
“I knew it wouldn’t last,” the poster on my wall was getting lippy again.
“Fuck you,” I was yelling at the wall.
I had to get a grip here.
Mental note: Rip down the goddamn music posters. They are not good for your sanity.