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Frankie
Frankie regarded her boss with a wide-eyed stare and a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach. “Are you serious? You're not even giving me two weeks' notice? You want me to leave right now?”
Who fired people on a Monday afternoon, right after the lunch break?
Scumbags like Vernon. That's who.
He nodded. “I've found that it's best to make a clean cut and not drag things out. I will pay you for the next two weeks, of course.” He gave her one of the fake smiles he usually reserved for customers. “Consider it a paid vacation.”
The finality in his tone didn't leave room for argument.
“Can I at least know the reason for my termination?”
Frankie had a feeling it had to do with the 'niece' he'd brought to the office the other day and paraded around like a prize horse, introducing her to everyone. What was her name?
Was it Ashley?
Frankie couldn't remember and didn't care.
The thing was, no one's niece looked like that or clung to her uncle's arm like a panda to a tree branch.
Did Vernon need to set his mistress up with a job?
The guy was so cheap that he couldn't even be a proper sugar daddy.
Vernon sighed dramatically. “Where should I start?” He braced his elbows on the desk and steepled his fingers. “Let's see. You are often late, you make typos in the emails I dictate to you, and you don't bother to run them through a spellchecker. Do you know how embarrassing that is for me? People assume that I wrote those emails myself.”
Frankie squirmed in the uncomfortable chair. Everything he'd said was true, but it didn't happen as often as he'd made it sound. Everyone was late once in a while, and everyone misspelled a word here and there, and the spellchecker didn't catch every mistake.
His 'niece' wouldn't do any better, that was for sure.
Well, at least Vernon hadn't told her that she had a big mouth and an attitude. That was the reason Frankie had been fired from her previous job.
The problem was that if he fired her for a cause, she wouldn't get unemployment benefits, especially if he exaggerated her supposed misconduct, which the scumbag would certainly do.
“What if I promise to do better?” She was fighting tears. The money in her bank account wouldn't cover next month's rent. “Can you give me another chance?”
“It's not conducive to a good office environment to have a disgruntled employee spreading discord.” Vernon leaned forward, giving her a surprisingly earnest look. “You are not happy here, Francesca, and you let everyone know that. You might be happier somewhere else.”
So, that was supposed to be the reason for her sudden and totally unprovoked termination?
But, no one working for Vernon was happy. He and his partners expected each of their employees to do the work of two or three people, and on top of that, the pay sucked. Still, the others might have been better at keeping their discontent to themselves, while Frankie had a big mouth and no filter.
She might have blabbed to the wrong person.
Was it the barista at the coffee shop across the street?
Or maybe someone had overheard her talking shit on her lunch break about Vernon and his sleazy partners?
At least he was going to pay her for the next two weeks. That might be enough time to find another job with less stress and better pay.
Heck, she could probably make more money taking care of kids and cleaning houses, and she might even enjoy that, but Frankie had a college degree for Pete's sake. Her parents would be mortified if she didn't use it after all the effort and sacrifice they had made so she could get the education they never had.
Besides, Frankie liked dressing elegantly and working in an office.
That said, the office attire at the dream job Mia had promised her was probably super casual. Beta testers for the Perfect Match Virtual Fantasy Studios couldn't wear anything form-fitting while performing their duties, and they had to take their shoes off.
Mia had promised her the job months ago, but nothing had come out of it so far. Supposedly, the machines weren't ready because of production delays, but Frankie had a feeling that Mia might have promised something that she couldn't deliver.
