‘And who sent that?’ Roxanne indicated the paper Brian had in front of him.
Obviously discomforted by her forthright response, Brian ran a finger along his shirt collar. 'That’s irrelevant.’
‘But I should know who my accuser is. Otherwise you shouldn't be hauling my ass in here.’
'I'm ascertaining the facts.’
Several sentences were on the tip of Roxanne's tongue. One of which was to tell her boss to go stick his job where the sun didn’t shine. But unfortunately she liked her job. She also felt sorry for him because one day his wife would find out. If I ever catch my Tom sharing his dick with another woman… she refocussed on Brian. He was jabbering nonsense about company policy. It was plain as the bright green spots on his tie, the list he was referring to was written by his secretary. Correction, she's his Personal Assistant, she told herself. Neither Rita nor she minded Miss Idle-Snooty-Pant's new title, because their reliable source in the wages department had told them it hadn't come with any monetary benefits. ‘Only words,’ she murmured.
‘What?’
‘Sticks and stones. Brian, I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and say you don’t believe anything on that, but if it’s going to go into my personal file, then I’m entitled to another meeting, and I want my union rep there too.’
He cleared his throat. ‘We don’t need to take matters that far.’
‘How far? What do you mean? That accuses me of coming late to work, talking too much, eating smelly foreign food, drinking too many beverages and a shed load of other nonsense. I’m surprised nothing’s been fabricated about my actual work. So…I have to ask, is this, like a first verbal warning?’
‘No! It’s just a quiet little chat…’
‘Because you agree with those accusations?’
‘I didn’t say that.’
Standing up and automatically smoothing at the fabric of her denim skirt, she said, ‘I usually like our chats, Brian. As there’s some things on that aimed at Rita, she’d better see it. I don’t want to be fabricating things that aren’t true, like that list written by someone not many feet from where we are in here. 'May I have that?' At his obvious hesitation, she held her hand out and said encouragingly, ‘I promise to put it through the shredder after. Okay?’
‘Very well.’
She looked directly at him and smiled. ‘If I recall correctly, and you know my memory is excellent, when we were smelling out the office by eating the samosas, those Indian triangle pastries that my neighbour made specially for you, remember? You were there too. And you loved them.’
Brian sighed heavily. ‘Go on, get out of here. Close the door behind you.’
Deciding to let him have the last word, she left his office. Although she was disappointed to find his PA not at her desk, because she wanted to glare at her, she was pleased to have the chance to have a nosey. As well as the main working area, there was an irritating orderliness to the whole room. A quick glance to check Brian wasn’t about to emerge, she took a quick look at the contents of the metal correspondence trays. In the IN one, she recognised two of the letters that Rita had been asked to type up. Whisking them out, Roxanne tapped lightly on Brian’s door and entered briskly. ‘Sorry Brian, I forgot to give you these letters you wanted Rita typing up.’ Turning on her heel she left just as quickly and returned to her own office.
Rita looked up and gave a shake of her head. ‘Oh dear. What have you been up to? You look like the cat who got the cream.’
‘Not me,’ Roxanne denied, hoping she looked innocent. ‘Here. Take a look at this and tell me if we should do anything about it.’ She didn’t have to wait long.
Rita flushed with anger. ‘MISP! Oh, we’ll definitely be doing something!’
6th story in the R&R Agony Aunt series. Copyright Robyn Cain, June 2024
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