On Monday morning, as I headed to the office, I got a series of texts from Jace.
Yo can you call me?
Call me when u can
Call me
Did he understand that I had to work? Not all of us got paid to be in a post-apocalyptic coma.
When I got to my desk, there was a note on my computer from Ofer. The note said: Rachel, come see me immediately.
I stepped into Ofer’s office, and he motioned that I should sit down. Then he got up, slammed his door shut, and began pacing around my chair.
“I just want to know,” he said. “How little respect do you have for me?”
“I don’t have little respect for you,” I said.
“And how little respect do you have for what I’ve built? This family. Our office culture.”
“I’m not sure what you’re getting at,” I said.
I was afraid I knew exactly what he was getting at.
“Don’t fuck with me, Rachel!” he yelled. “Do you know how lucky you are? You could be working at Management180, where the only company values are packaging deals and agent reciprocity! You could be in a mailroom somewhere!”
A little fleck of spit flew from his mouth onto my hand. I wiped it on the sofa.
“Jace told me what happened,” he said.
My stomach dropped. I knew then that I was fucked.
“You are terminated immediately, in breach of contract,” said Ofer.
“But—”
“It’s an ethics violation, no severance. You’ve completely disappointed me.”
“Wait,” I said. “You don’t even want to hear my side of the story?”
The truth was, I didn’t really have a side of the story. I had fucked Jace, and it was a breach of contract. I wondered what Jace’s contract stipulated. He was probably allowed to fuck all of us. Of course, he wasn’t going to get in any trouble.
“You have half an hour to get your things and go.”
I felt humiliated. Tears filled my eyes. I stood up to leave.
“I really believed in your vision,” said Ofer.
Then I almost laughed. What vision was it, exactly, that he had believed in? I hadn’t even had a vision!
I wanted to say, Way to uphold a hegemonic power structure within the matrix of fame privilege and the feminization of poverty, Ofer.
Instead, I said, “I’m sorry.”