Eustacia's boss makes her job intolerable. When she quits, she finds out who her friends are.

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Like a physical blow, Andrew Amundsen's harsh words pummeled Eustacia Fleming and made her feel sick. She had been the office manager at Amundsen Insurance for ten years. Loyal, trustworthy, friendly, competent: those were words that Andrew had used to describe Eustacia on her last evaluation. Why he made the staff endure annual evaluations was beyond Eustacia's ken, but each year she was pleased with what Mr. A. said about her. Except for one thing: somewhere Andrew Amundsen had picked up and cuddled the idea that every evaluation should involve at least one criticism.

"Eustacia, you're such a fine employee. Just do try to make the coffee a tad stronger."

That one wasn't so bad. Then there was this: "How about shorter hemlines? You have great legs."

That made her squirm. Wasn't it illegal for a boss to talk like that? But she liked her work. She liked the other people who worked in the office: Ben, Lucy, Trevor, Amos, Olivia. They all worked for Andrew Amundsen, and they all wanted to keep their jobs. There was no point, Eustacia had decided after the leggy remark, in forming an employees' union or even telling the others what Andrew had said.

So after ten years of persistent and rewarding work, Eustacia was more or less used to the yearly evaluations, the 90% positive remarks and the 10% mildly critical or even sexist ones. Then it happened.

Mr. A. began that cold day in January with a scowl. "Eustacia, where is the Beauregard file?"

"The what?"

"Oh, their name isn't really Beauregard. That's what I call them, since they're from the South. Alabama. Someplace like that. I think the name is Prescott."

"Oh. Yes. Prescott. I'll get it." It took her no more than two minutes to find the file, but somehow that was too many minutes for Andrew Amundsen.

"What took you so long, Eustacia?"

"I don't know. I thought it took me just a minute."

"No. No, a lot more than a minute."

"Oh. Sorry."

And that was the beginning. Day after day, Andrew Amundsen found fault with Eustacia. She didn't know what was happening. When he yelled at her, her co-workers would say, "Oh, he's been yelling at all of us. Don't worry about it."

But she did worry. All of her working life she had prided herself on being diligent. She was always prompt, industrious, pleasant, everything an employer would want. Yet, somehow, she was failing, and she was falling into some dark pit which held no means of escape.

Day after day Eustacia found herself yelled at, scolded, and scowled at. She began to dread going to work.

Then one day in February, after an entire month of sarcasm, scolding, yelling, and sneers, Eustacia had had enough.

"Mr. Amundsen," she began.

"Oh do call me Andrew, Eustacia. We've worked together for ten years, at least."

Yes, we have. Sorry. I think of you as Mr. Amundsen. You're my boss, after all."

He started tapping his fingers on his desk and waited, scowling a bit.

"I, I just can't work under these conditions. You've been yelling at me for a month. I suppose I should wait until you fire me, so I can collect unemployment. But I can't wait any longer."

"I wasn't planning to fire you."

Her voice started to sound shaky. "Maybe not. But you seem to want me out of here."

He was silent.

"I quit, Mr. Amundsen."

Eustacia suddenly realized what she had done. She also noticed that the office had gone silent. Her coworkers, it seemed, had heard everything.

She began to empty out her desk of her personal belongings: a small manicure set, some breath mints, a box of cookies. There wasn't much to collect; everything else belonged to Mr. Amundsen.

The rest of the staff busied themselves while Eustacia got ready to leave. They all seemed to be chatting vigorously on their phones. Ben, Lucy, Trevor, Amos, Olivia were all speaking what Eustacia liked to call Insurance Speak. Then she noticed that they all seemed to be constantly talking. Were there people at the other end of their conversations? Somehow she doubted it. She gave them a wave as she picked up her purse and the rest of her personal effects and exited the door.

It was the mid-afternoon and here she was, back in her house. Her husband was at work, her sons in college. Only the dog was there to welcome her, and Ruffy seemed surprised that she was home so early. She started to talk to him, then fell asleep on the couch, exhausted from the stress of the last month, Then the phone rang. Eustacia woke up, saw that it was 5:15 on the mantel clock, and reached for the phone.

"Hello."

"Hi, Eustacia. It's Olivia. Listen, I'm so sorry that you were fired."

"I wasn't fired. I quit."

"Oh, Andrew said you were fired."

"Let's say I was forced out."

"What do you mean?"

"For some reason, Mr. Amundsen was mad at me for a month."

"Yeah, but he gets mad at all of us. You didn't have to quit."

"I just couldn't take it anymore. I was getting to the point where I didn't want to get out of bed n the morning and face him."

"Oh. Well. Listen. I want to take you to lunch. Can we do that?"

"Oh sure, that would be nice."

"Great! I'll call you," and then Olivia was gone.

She thought about making dinner but didn't feel like doing anything. Her husband Phil would be coming back later on, since he had a meeting of the Ashleyville Boosters after work. And when he did come home, she was going to suggest takeout or even a late dinner at a local restaurant. She needed something for a pick-me-up. Then the phone rang again.

"Hello?"

"Eustacia, it's Amos. So sorry about what happened today. I can't believe he fired you."

"Well, he didn't fire me, Amos. Not exactly. But he made my life miserable for a whole month, and I just couldn't take it any longer. Maybe that's what he was aiming for, so I wouldn't get unemployment."

"That's terrible. Listen, Trevor and Ben and I want to take you out to lunch sometime. We thought the three of us would do it together, so our wives wouldn't get suspicious."

Eustacia gave a little laugh. "A CYA move. I get it. Sure, that would be nice."

"OK. Great. I'll call you."

And then he was gone.

Eustacia walked into the kitchen where an old-fashioned large calendar hung on the wall. She would be having two lunch dates with her former co-workers. That was something at least to look forward to.

The phone rang again.

"Hello."

"Hello, Eustacia. It's Lucy. Just talked to Olivia. Is it OK if I join you two for lunch?"

"Oh sure. That would be fine."

And then she was gone. Eustacia went back to the living room, sat on the sofa, and fell asleep again.

Phil woke her up. "What's up? Did you eat anything?"

And then she started to cry as she told him the afternoon's events.

"Well, I'm not surprised after what you went through this month. No one should treat an employee the way he treated you."

"I had three calls, from Olivia and then Amos and then Lucy. They want to take me to lunch. Well, Amos and the other two men in the office want to take me to lunch, so as not to arouse suspicion." She gave Phil a little smile. "When Lucy called she asked if she could join me and Olivia. I said yes."

"So when are you going to lunch?"

"I don't know. We didn't set any dates."

"Hmm. Well, let's you and I have a date right now. Let's go get something to eat and have a glass of wine to celebrate."

"There's nothing to celebrate."

"How about celebrating your release from an oppressive environment? How about celebrating new possibilities? Let's go."

The next day Eustacia waited for a call from one of her former co-workers. And the next. And the next. Why had they offered to take her to lunch, and then why hadn't they called to set some dates?

Days drifted by as Eustacia began looking for work, checking the newspaper, going online, signing up for this and that. Yet no one from Amundsen Insurance called her. It wasn't her job to call them, so she didn't. Finally she called her sister Eugenia and itemized, once again and with more tears, what had happened to her. "Gene, why don't these people call me? They said they wanted to take me to lunch. What's going on?"

"Stace, I'm trying to put myself in their shoes, so to speak. I think that what's going on is that they're all worried about their own jobs. They're worried that the same thing will happen to them. Maybe they're worried that if you go to lunch, the boss will come strolling in and see you all together and fire them on the spot."

Eustacia laughed. "Well, at least they'd get unemployment. Do you really think that's it?"

"Absolutely. But I also think that to them you're now part of the past. So you have lunch and maybe they give you a present or something, but it's like a formality, an obligation. I think you'll just have to accept the fact that no one is going to call you. Did you consider them your friends?"

"Well, yes, not best friends, but still friends. I guess. Maybe just acquaintances." Eustacia sighed as Eugenia continued.

"Listen. I've observed over the years that when the going gets tough, that's when you find out who your friends really are. By the way, I'm your friend."

"You're my sister."

"True. But not all sisters are good friends. We are, and don't forget it."

"OK." Eustacia was crying.

"And another thing: remember what Mom always said when life got difficult?"

"Yes. 'Be strong!' It's not easy to be strong."

"But you'll try, right?"

"Oh yes, I'll try. I'll do more than try. I will be strong. It's either that or totally fall apart. Yes, strong it is."

And Eustacia stopped crying.

By Anita G. Gorman

From: United States

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