* * * *
“Neal Harris,” Ted said looking at me, “and Mike,” he said looking at the other new employee, “it will be a fight to the death. One of you will live, and the other will die.” My new boss was explaining the expectations for our trial employment period of one month.
As we came in the first day, Mike and I had sat without talking. He was my age, but I’d never seen him at college. He must have gone somewhere else for his degree.
Now that Mike and I had been introduced, I wondered if we should shake hands. Even in a boxing match the contestants tapped gloves.
I glanced at Mike. He made no motion to extend his hand, but he sat still. He turned his face partly and I saw that he had a confident smile. He was relishing the competition. However, I could feel my face turn flush as I became increasingly self-conscious. My palms were getting sweaty and if we shook hands at that moment then that would give me away. My face probably had already done so.
“You will each have one difficult client to deal with this month,” Ted said as he finally started speaking again. He didn’t say much and he paused in between his thoughts. He looked to be in his 60s and might have trouble putting ideas together. When I’d interviewed, his assistant Opal had done most of the talking.
“Also,” continued Ted,” you’ll be inputting old case records into new computer systems. That might take most of your work time. Are you up to the challenge?”
“Praise God for this chance,” said Mike.
“Yes,” I said as Ted looked at me. My voice cracked. I didn’t sound convincing.
I should have praised God too. The insurance and risk reduction company was owned by the National Assemblic Church. I had put on my application that I was a member of the denomination.
However, I wasn’t very active. In college, I almost never went to church. Before that I had gone with my family, but I hadn’t been a strong believer. I was a typical child who grew up in the church, so always just assumed that I believed.
Maybe it wasn’t wise for me to take a job at the church if I wasn’t a firm believer. Yet, the economy was poor and I had few other options.
“Let’s get your formwork done,” said Ted. “Bobbie can help you.”
“Praise God,” I said. Mike looked at me as if I’d stolen his line.
I remembered times that I didn’t feel like I was a believer. For example, as a child I’d been told by parents, Sunday school teachers, and others that I wasn’t considerate, or didn’t show belief or was shallow. I resolved each time to put on an act. I renewed my vow to do the same now.
I needed time to deal with my issues. While doing that, I shouldn’t be punished for taking my time. I didn’t realize then and there that the process would take years.
We all rose and walked out of Ted’s office to the lobby of the small building. That is where Bobbie had her desk.
Just then, Opal arrived. She came in the front and was dripping wet. She was in her late 50’s, and tall.
“Sorry,” Opal said. “It was raining and traffic was bad on the freeway.” I’d gotten an apartment near our mid-town office so the rain hadn’t slowed me.
“Shall we start?” she asked Ted.
“They’re doing the formwork,” Ted replied.
“Did you tell them about being trainees?” she asked. She seemed to want to be the one to break the news to us. It appeared that she ran the place despite being Ted’s assistant.
“Yes,” said Ted. Opal looked disappointed.
“Did you tell about the clients?”
“No,” he replied.
“Okay,” Opal said. “We can do that later.
“Bobbie, give them their paperwork while I dry off.” Opal walked into Ted’s office which they shared. He followed her.
“You couldn’t wait five minutes?” Opal said to Ted. According to my watch it was more like a quarter after the hour.
“They needed to get to work,” Ted replied gruffly.
“Here you go,” said Bobbie as she handed us the forms. She had sat patiently as her bosses dominated the conversation.
Bobbie was a young woman. It appeared that I was probably a few years older than her. She couldn’t have been employed there long.
“Thank you,” both Mike and I said.
“Honey,” said Mike, “have you been to business school?”
“I had classes at one,” replied Bobbie. She wasn’t offended or flattered by Mike using a pet name for her. However, I rolled my eyes.
“…so you know how to type?” Mike asked.
“Yes, pretty well.”
“They’re going to have us enter records but I’m afraid I’m not good at typing. Can you help me out?” he asked.
“I’m not sure,” she said.
“You wouldn’t want a guy to lose his job?” Mike asked.
“No,” she said, “but I don’t know.”
Mike showed her a sad face and puppy dog eyes. Bobbie watched his expression and she became wide-eyed.
“Okay,” she said with resignation.
I wished that she’d said “no.” Ted had told us that one of us would be fired in a month. Mike’s inability to type should’ve been in my favor. However, entering records sounded like a temporary task while they had more manpower. Maybe it didn’t matter that much.
Bobbie and Mike were still staring at each other. She raised her hand to point.
“You can sit in your shared office to fill these out,” she said.
Mike grinned and went to our office. I politely smiled at Bobbie then followed him.
The small office had one desk and some file cabinets. Two chairs were opposite each other around the desk. Mike sat on the side with the good chair and access to the drawers. I sat on the folding chair. We had computer monitors between us.
I found an open corner on the desk to place my papers. The first form was for tax withholding.
“Pretty, don’t ya think?” asked Mike. He smiled and looked through the door.
I was sure that he meant Bobbie. She could definitely hear us through the open door. I shrugged. I was more concerned with keeping my job.
“She’s nice,” I said softly.
“Probably not too smart since she’s a tech school dropout,” he said with a lowered voice. I shrugged again. Grades weren’t the only reason people dropped out. With the economy so poor, maybe she’d jumped at the chance of a job.
At least Mike was being pleasant to me for now. We hadn’t dropped our gloves and started the bout.
The next form was a non-disclosure agreement. Mike was just signing the forms without reading.
The way that I interpreted it, I was prevented from telling the public anything about my clients. That seemed reasonable, but it also implied I couldn’t expose illegal activities.
Innocently, I believed that it would never be an issue. I would be working with churches. I didn’t realize how close I was to hearing about a range of illicit activities, including murder.
After a moment, I decided that no contract is valid when it overrides the law. Therefore, if I ever did see something sketchy, I could report it.
Opal came to the door. I turned in my chair to face her.
“Who is ready to hear about their case?” she asked.
“I am,” said Mike. “I’ve finished the paperwork.” He smiled at her as he picked up a pen and pad of paper. I shook my head when Opal looked at me. It was the first hour and he was already ahead. Then I turned back towards the papers. Hopefully, Mike would mess up because he didn’t know about the privacy clause. At the bottom of the stack of forms was the employee manual. I started reading it as I heard laughter coming from Opal and Mike.
“You can give the forms to me,” Bobbie said. She was at the door.
“Thanks,” I said as I gathered them.
“I can show you how to enter the files into the computer,” she said.
“I thought you could put
mine in for me,” I said. I made a sad puppy dog face at her. She laughed, and then I did too.
“It’s not that hard,” she said.
“I’d appreciate you showing me,” I said. She pulled up a chair. We booted up the terminal.
“It’s all one system, they say, so if you make any changes here, it affects what we all see,” she said. I nodded.
She showed me what to do. It was simple.
“Would anyone be able to see that you and I are the ones entering it, and not Mike?” I asked.
“I don’t know enough to say,” she replied.
“How much of this do we have to do?” I asked.
“Those piles of boxes everywhere are the active files. If we finish all of that, then the office suite next door is full of the inactive ones.”
I sighed. We went through the files for a few minutes.
“Thank you,” I said. She went back to her desk. I could hear her typing.
After a while, Mike returned. He didn’t say anything, so I didn’t ask him about his risk management case. A few minutes later, Opal came and got me. Ted, Opal, and I sat in his office. Ted was silent.
“St. Nicholas,” Opal prompted Ted.
“Ah, yes. Neal, we…I want you to go to St. Nicholas.” He paused. I nodded. I believe I’d been past that church once or twice. It was in the suburbs and very big.
“The Rec Center,” prompted Opal.
“They want to make a gym,” said Ted.
“That’s nice,” I said. Ted paused again.
“…the financials,” said Opal.
“I know, I know,” Ted said with a raised voice.
“They can’t get their records in order. You need to figure out why,” said Ted.
“It seems to be a successful church,” I said. Many other assemblies were decreasing in size, but St. Nicholas was the exception. It had grown significantly in the time that I’d lived in the area.
“Yes,” said Opal, “I can’t imagine that much is wrong there. They just need help making the case that they can afford the expansion so we can underwrite the policy.”
“Who should I contact there?” I asked. Ted and Opal exchanged glances. She pointed up.
“The top person,” Ted said, “the financial leader.” I nodded. He probably meant the financial secretary because that was a common position in churches.
What did I know about financial services? I’d had classes in them, and I could run a loan amortization plan, but I didn’t have the faintest idea what I was doing. It felt like I was acting in a play. Everyone sat still.
“Is there anything else I should know?” I asked.
“Do I have to spell everything out,” scorned Ted.
“This is just a little case,” said Opal. “Don’t do anything that gives the SRSIG a bad name,” said Opal. I got up and went back to my office with my tail between my legs.
They were going to provide little help. It was all up to me, and that showed that my competition with Mike was survival of the fittest. I didn’t see how I’d be the winner.
I kept busy in my office until lunch. Mike had left at about 11AM to visit his client. At noon, I heard Bobbie start eating at her desk. I was planning to do the same. It’d be silly to ignore each other silently a few feet away, so I got up and asked to join her. She agreed.
“You shouldn’t let Mike take advantage of you,” I said. “Why do you have to do his work?”
“It’s easier than telling him no,” she said. “If I speak up, he’ll just make me feel bad with his sad face.”
“Then, don’t look at him,” I said.
“No, that’s rude,” she said. “I’ve seen this before from others. He’ll drag it out, and in the end, I’ll end up doing his job anyway.”
“…so you can’t tell him ‘no.’”
“Not if he keeps pushing.” I nodded to show that I understood. I saw her rationale, but didn’t know why she accepted it. I paused as I chewed.
“Tell me about yourself,” I said. She talked about her pets, where she graduated high school, and her mom.
“It sounds like you live at home,” I said.
“I do,” Bobbie replied.
“Is it to save money?” I asked. She probably wasn’t paid much.
“Not really,” she said. “I’m not ready for the responsibility of living on my own. I like to have my mom around so she can tell me what to do.”
I nodded again, ruling out dating Bobbie. It would be like seeing a high school girl. I couldn’t shake that image. I didn’t have many rules about who I’d date, but young girls were out of the question.
To be friendly, I told Bobbie a little about myself. It wasn’t personal, just historical.
After lunch, I went back to my desk. I wondered if I should be trying to contact my client, but it was only my first day. That would be too much at once for me, so I spent the afternoon entering records.
At the end of the day, I was relieved to be able to leave for home. My play-acting was done for a while.