PARKER
Istared down at the paperwork in front of me, reports filed by David, Tom, and a few other editors from different departments. Today we would discuss the writers in David’s department—national and international news. It was Monday morning, more than one week since the night I spent at Haley’s house, and we’d been able to keep it professional at work. Neither one of us brought it up, and we hadn’t even had time, anyway.
The EPA story had broken wide open and the entire week last week had been spent in interviews with police officials and government spokespeople. Haley seemed stressed and fatigued, and even when I brought her coffee on Wednesday morning, she barely looked up from her research to thank me. I gave her space to work, but I was getting antsy to hear her thoughts on things between us now that they’d changed. As I passed by her desk this morning on the way to my office, she didn’t even look up.
Tom walked in and sat down across from me, and I looked up at him, ready to hear what he had to say. His gray slacks didn’t match the tweed jacket at all, but he never cared about that sort of thing. Tom was a man in his own world, with a mission all hisown. Even his wind-blown hair hadn’t been tamed and stuck up at odd angles.
“Good morning,” he muttered. I noticed he did not have his coffee, and then I noticed a light brown spot on the top of his left pants leg.
“Bad morning?”
“You could say that.” He scowled. “Let’s just say the sidewalk out front is a hazard.” I opened my mouth to speak but his hand shot up. “Don’t worry, I’ve got Michael on it already.”
“Well, good, then.” I handed him a copy of my notes regarding the employee reviews David had done of his department just as David entered. “Welcome, David, we are just getting started.”
David sat next to Tom and took a copy of my notes as well. They looked through my remarks on each of our writers and editors. I didn’t have many negative things to say, though I was a bit perturbed that Jack Williams seemed to have been performing at less-than-optimal levels following his girlfriend’s termination. Haley’s review had been the easiest. I found no flaws in her performance and praised her highly on every account.
Tom sat looking at my comments about Haley with a scowl on his face. “It’s not like you to be so positive, Parker. You need to be careful you’re not letting your drive for success blind you to the shortcomings of your staff.”
Confused, I thought about whether I let my urgency to make the paper climb the ratings color my perception of Haley’s efforts. If anything, it would have been my personal opinion of her, though I didn’t think that had played a role in my analysis of her behavior.
“Can you point out where my comments might be wrong?” I asked, willing to hear any correction, but Tom only grunted andturned the page. When he landed on the notes I had for Jack, he raised his gaze to David, who nodded knowingly.
“What will we do about Williams, sir? It seems he just isn’t as committed in the past few weeks.” Tom shook his head as he read the review.
“Well, David marked a few concerning things on the sheet—late on stories, not properly self-editing, leaving work early. David, do you care to elaborate?” I closed the report on my desk, knowing what I’d written, and focused on David, who was Jack’s direct superior.
“Well, sir, it’s just what it says. He leaves work early about twice a week saying he’s meeting a source. That’s allowable if it’s actually happening, but he has been doing stories that aren’t really the type to need sources—the expansion of I70 to three lanes nationwide, the minor earthquake off the coast of Japan. And what’s worse is that I set deadlines, and he misses them by at least a day. Last week, he turned in his draft. It looked rushed and sloppy, editing errors, and it was two days late.”
I nodded at him, confirming what I already knew. “Sounds like he’s just pissed about the reprimand. I say we give him a stern warning and escalate him to level one. If he isn’t willing to take his job seriously despite his frustration, then perhaps this isn’t the right job for him anymore.”
“Well, it’s worse, sir.” David sighed heavily. “He’s spoken to a number of people in the newsroom about the potential for filing a wrongful termination suit on behalf of Gretchen along with her defamation suit. How should I proceed in light of these facts?”
I was beyond frustrated at the lack of backbone in my management. I’d never known David to be a coward, but perhaps he was being too protective of the brand or even the paper’s reputation.
“Well, we ignore them. If they bring the suit, we’ll deal with it then. If he’s not doing his job, we have full legal recourse toterminate him too. Jack is an excellent journalist and he’s done great work for us. If he left on his own right now, I’d write him a letter of recommendation. What I won’t do is tolerate employees who take advantage of the salary without employing the effort we expect. You’ve heard my thoughts about what to do, so now do it.”
I felt my collar tightening as my blood pressure went up. Starting my day out angry wasn’t what I had hoped for, but sometimes, dealing with people wasn’t easy. I stared out over the news floor in the direction of Jack’s cubicle but didn’t see him there. I had the nerve to call the man into my office and let him have it with both barrels myself, but my phone rang, distracting me.
The number on the caller ID screen wasn’t familiar, so I answered it, asking the guys to hold on one minute. Holding my phone to my ear, I said, “Hello, Parker Danvers speaking.”
“Mr. Danvers, this is Caroline Humphrey at Baxter Insurance. I’m calling in regard to the claim you filed last week. Do you have a moment?”
I held my finger up to indicate I’d need a moment, then stood and strolled to the office door, stepping into the hallway. “Sure, Ms. Humphrey, I have a moment. What do you need?”
“Well, sir, we have not been able to obtain the information from Ms. Spencer’s agency regarding the year, make, and model of her car. And we also need to know where the car was towed to in order to send our adjuster to determine what level of fixes need done. Now if you could give me a number for Ms. Spencer, I could?—”
“That won’t be necessary, Ms. Humphrey. I have Ms. Spencer here right now. Let me collect that information you need and I will call you right back.”
“That sounds great. You have my number?”
“Yes, I do. Thank you.” I hung up and strolled directly to Haley’s desk, which was empty. I glanced around the newsroom but I didn’t see her, so I stepped into Maria Gonzalez’s cubicle and tapped on the wall. “Hey, Maria. Have you seen Haley?”
She continued typing, ignorant of the fact that I was here waiting for her to answer. I cleared my throat, but she still did not turn around.
When I tapped on her shoulder, she jumped, startled by my physical contact. She turned around abruptly, and I saw why she had not responded to me. Wires dangled across her chest from the earbuds in her ears. She smiled and pulled them out, draping them across her keyboard. “What’s up, Mr. Danvers?”
“Have you seen Haley? I have something important to discuss with her.” I slid my phone into my pocket and glanced around again. Still no sign of her.
