week. Maybe things would settle down, and they could start off on a new foot come the following week.
Why did that feel like putting off the inevitable?
Wednesday morning, after going over purchase requisitions and another slew of résumés in which she found little to spark her interest, she decided to take the bull by the horns.
Punching in Ronson’s extension, Josie felt her heart rate rise. Which was ridiculous. She wasn’t scared of the damn man.
“What?”
She’d called him enough to know he always answered with his name, letting his caller know immediately that they had the right number. She also knew her extension would have shown on his caller ID. So he was being rude on purpose, to her specifically.
She badly wanted to slam him down. “I need to see you in my office.”
“You mean Ernie’s office.”
“I mean my office.”
“I’m busy.”
It took two deep breaths to calm down. “Ronson, get in my office, now.”
He hung up, didn’t slam the receiver, simply disconnected without a word. She had no clue if he’d show. Or what she’d do if he didn’t. At what point was she supposed to write him up for insubordination? Where the hell was the supervisor handbook?
It took him five minutes to make a ten-second walk.
“Close the door,” she told him.
He did, then stood there, arms folded over his chest, a smirk creasing his lips.
And she’d had it. “What is your beef? I got the job, get over it or quit.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you.” He punctuated his remark with an ugly sneer.
She hated being seated while he was standing, as if that gave him the advantage over her. Standing up, though, was like admitting she was down in the first place. So she remained butt-in-chair and let him have it. “I don’t really give a shit. You do good work, to a point, but your attitude sucks. You want me to write you up, I’ll write you up. It’s up to you. Just start acting like a human being again.”
“Teach you all that in manager training school?” He’d hit a nerve, and his smug smile said he knew it.
Why the hell was he being such a dick? He hadn’t been this way before. “And you know,” she told him, “you can cut the whole gossip mill, too. Everyone knows I didn’t sleep with Connor to get this job.” Yes, she’d verified that rumor had been floating around. It wasn’t her mother’s imagination.
“That wasn’t me. I didn’t spread rumors. I just told the truth about your lack of experience.”
“Creating dissension is—”
“Speaking the truth ,” he cut her off. “Everyone knows I can do this job better. I’ve got more experience on much larger projects. I’ve been a lead for a lot longer. I should have had it. I deserved it.” His eyes blazed, yet at the same time it sounded oddly as if he were repeating something someone else had told him over and over. “ You got it because you’re family.”
It didn’t matter who had been giving the pep talk about how great he was. She deserved the job, too. “I got it because you’re late on projects and come in over budget, and if you do that with your own jobs, you’ve got the potential to overlook it with all the jobs.”
“Listen, you bitch, you don’t know a thing about—”
This time she stood. “What did you just call me?”
He seemed to realize he’d gone too far. His eye twitched at the corner. He opened his mouth, slapped it shut. Finally, he narrowed his eyes and his lip curled. “Don’t like it, fire me. See if I fucking care. Because I’ll bring a reverse discrimination suit so fast your head will spin.”
Just as he hadn’t slammed the phone down, he didn’t slam the door as he left. He hadn’t even yelled.
This really wasn’t like him. He’d never been such an asshole. He was actually a pretty nice guy for the most part. So. What to do? Write him up for calling her a bitch? If she let him get away with it . . .
Aw hell. She wouldn’t let it be said that she ran to HR at the
Why did that feel like putting off the inevitable?
Wednesday morning, after going over purchase requisitions and another slew of résumés in which she found little to spark her interest, she decided to take the bull by the horns.
Punching in Ronson’s extension, Josie felt her heart rate rise. Which was ridiculous. She wasn’t scared of the damn man.
“What?”
She’d called him enough to know he always answered with his name, letting his caller know immediately that they had the right number. She also knew her extension would have shown on his caller ID. So he was being rude on purpose, to her specifically.
She badly wanted to slam him down. “I need to see you in my office.”
“You mean Ernie’s office.”
“I mean my office.”
“I’m busy.”
It took two deep breaths to calm down. “Ronson, get in my office, now.”
He hung up, didn’t slam the receiver, simply disconnected without a word. She had no clue if he’d show. Or what she’d do if he didn’t. At what point was she supposed to write him up for insubordination? Where the hell was the supervisor handbook?
It took him five minutes to make a ten-second walk.
“Close the door,” she told him.
He did, then stood there, arms folded over his chest, a smirk creasing his lips.
And she’d had it. “What is your beef? I got the job, get over it or quit.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you.” He punctuated his remark with an ugly sneer.
She hated being seated while he was standing, as if that gave him the advantage over her. Standing up, though, was like admitting she was down in the first place. So she remained butt-in-chair and let him have it. “I don’t really give a shit. You do good work, to a point, but your attitude sucks. You want me to write you up, I’ll write you up. It’s up to you. Just start acting like a human being again.”
“Teach you all that in manager training school?” He’d hit a nerve, and his smug smile said he knew it.
Why the hell was he being such a dick? He hadn’t been this way before. “And you know,” she told him, “you can cut the whole gossip mill, too. Everyone knows I didn’t sleep with Connor to get this job.” Yes, she’d verified that rumor had been floating around. It wasn’t her mother’s imagination.
“That wasn’t me. I didn’t spread rumors. I just told the truth about your lack of experience.”
“Creating dissension is—”
“Speaking the truth ,” he cut her off. “Everyone knows I can do this job better. I’ve got more experience on much larger projects. I’ve been a lead for a lot longer. I should have had it. I deserved it.” His eyes blazed, yet at the same time it sounded oddly as if he were repeating something someone else had told him over and over. “ You got it because you’re family.”
It didn’t matter who had been giving the pep talk about how great he was. She deserved the job, too. “I got it because you’re late on projects and come in over budget, and if you do that with your own jobs, you’ve got the potential to overlook it with all the jobs.”
“Listen, you bitch, you don’t know a thing about—”
This time she stood. “What did you just call me?”
He seemed to realize he’d gone too far. His eye twitched at the corner. He opened his mouth, slapped it shut. Finally, he narrowed his eyes and his lip curled. “Don’t like it, fire me. See if I fucking care. Because I’ll bring a reverse discrimination suit so fast your head will spin.”
Just as he hadn’t slammed the phone down, he didn’t slam the door as he left. He hadn’t even yelled.
This really wasn’t like him. He’d never been such an asshole. He was actually a pretty nice guy for the most part. So. What to do? Write him up for calling her a bitch? If she let him get away with it . . .
Aw hell. She wouldn’t let it be said that she ran to HR at the
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