Dilemmas

“What are your options?” Zoey was looking at me across from the table in a small breakfast bistro near her house. We were both skipping work; her reason to skip was more legitimate than mine, though. Her photo shoot was cancelled and I was avoiding Kevin after our disastrous meeting.

I sighed and laid my head on the table dramatically, “throw myself out my office’s window?”

Zoey gave me a “let’s be serious” look and I perked up grudgingly.

“Well, I could try to find a new job. I could try to get Kevin transferred or fired. I could put up with it. Or I could crawl into my bed and never come out.” I said taking a bite of my croissant.

“What would be a reason Kevin would get fired?”

“The paper allows dating between co-workers as long as there is no PDA at work, but if he had a sexual harassment claim on his employee file, the board might choose to not hire him as editor-in-chief permanently once George’s paperwork goes through. But that would require Kevin to hit on a female employee repeatedly or some degree further than that and I’m not sure he’s going to take it that far. Especially since Hannah knows he’s been cheating on her and she’s bound to be checking up on him throughout the day.”

“Do you like your job, Faith?”

I was thrown off by the question. I liked working at the paper but the last year was starting to get to me. A change of environment might be good for me, but I’d need to give more thought into the idea. I brushed off her question with a rebuttal.

“If I quit, he’ll win. A person who treats people the way Kevin does shouldn’t win so easily. I have to at least try to bear the situation, right?”

“I guess-“

“And maybe George will change his mind….maybe I can get him to change his mind!” I was grasping at the smallest hint of hope.

“Faith, do NOT talk to George about changing his mind, the man has enough going on in his life, right now. Remember? His wife is dying of cancer!”

I sighed but realized she was right. We moved on to Anna and how she’s been doing work-wise since her miscarriage.

“She’s doing well at work, you know Anna, she doesn’t let anything affect her work. But….her and Theo are still having problems. They haven’t had sex since.”

My heart broke for Anna, the marriage counseling must not have been going well and I made a mental note to schedule some alone time with her. Eventually we said our goodbyes and I went home to look for some HR jobs listed online…you know, for a rainy day.