Peter was staring at Melody, his friend and the Director of Human Resources. He was trying to remember how much he enjoyed working with her, but right now he was stupefied. For months there had been rumors that two of his team members were having an extramarital affair and it was tearing his team apart. It might not have been so bad but the wife of the male side of the amorous alliance was active in the community and was well known to many on the team. Sides had been taken. Guilt had been assumed. Names had been called…ugly names.
He was at his wit’s end and Melody had just told him there was not a damned thing he could do. She hated it as much as he did, but without a specific policy or an illegal act their hands were tied. Melody had an idea; “if they’re fooling around surely their performance has slipped.”
Dead end. “That’s the hell of it” Peter almost laughed despite himself, “both of them are knocking it out of the park. I don’t assign them to the same projects but anything I assign to either one of them…well, it’s like there are two brains working on it. The problem is everyone else is in the toilet”.
Peter had brought in an Organizational Development specialist and they’d held a day long meeting where everything was supposed to get aired out. It was a nice try: they wound up talking about everything but the alleged affair, that is until Anna glared at Stacey and said something about the elephant in the room. Stacey glared back until one of her allies addressed Anna saying “look to your own house missy”. With that Anna had burst into tears and Stacey declared she had work to do and left.
“You’re just gonna have to find a way to lead through this Peter, it’s none of the company’s business”. Before Peter could reply there was shouting in the hall and the unauthorized entry alarm sounded. He and Melody bolted from his office and were nearly knocked over by two security guards going one way and Stacey hauling ass in the opposite direction. When they finally looked at the open area that served as their team workspace they had to rub their eyes, because standing on a desk was a disheveled looking woman in a housecoat waving a tire iron at anyone that came near. Stacey was long gone and some of the team members were huddled in a corner clearly frightened. Peter panicked as he remembered the two High School interns, fearing for their safety. When he finally spotted them they were seated next to each other enjoying the show.
One of the security guards finally shouted to the woman “What is it you want ma’am?” The woman froze for an instant, wild eyed, as if it were the most stupid question ever asked. “I want the bitch that’s fucking my husband!!!”.
Peter looked at Melody ” Is it our business now?” Melody nodded slowly as security dragged the poor woman, screaming, from the building.
© Glenn R Keller 2021, All Rights Reserved
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