Work Ethics in the Real World

This story is the product of a diseased and febrile mind. As such, it is fiction. Having said that; All my stories are true, even the ones I make up.

Copyright 2007 L_D_Darrow

I wish to thank hammer17 for taking the time to edit my offering. All mistakes are mine solely, whether planned or not.

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I was really starting to hate my boss. Up till now I thought I had hated bosses before. I was wrong. Every time she made a mistake, it turned out to be one of us that was to blame. She seldom confronted us directly for our mistakes, she just reported it to the out of state owner without worrying us with it.

Last year the owner came down from upstate, and fired a man for making too many mistakes. There was no way to prove that he wasn't at fault at all. The only thing he did, was to tell Lisa, our boss, that she was wrong. The owner was in and gone before we realized, the guy was packing his box up.

There was two really sad things about our boss, besides her infallibility. She was a redhead, early 30s a scattering of freckles, and cute as hell. That was one thing, the other was she was a chain smoker, and her hands trembled.

We were a machine shop, specializing in military support hardware. When I hired on it was a 65 year old man that ran the place. The rumor mill warned me away from Lisa, she was a secretary then. The boss and her were an 'item'. I wasn't interested, I can't stand cigarette smoke.

One Thursday afternoon he dropped dead in the isle. Our snitch saw him and ran for the office. Lisa came out and screamed. All of them just milled around him before someone decided to call 911. I was way in the back and missed the whole thing.

The Sheriff interview all of us, if he had been given immediate help he might have survived. No one seemed to know how long he lay there. We were told to come back Monday, the owner would be down to see about keeping the place going.

Need I mention she learned her methods from her boss now dead? She was all tears the day he died. Monday rolled around and the owner announced she was the boss now. She was all smiles, and firmly in control. Or out of control. Depends on how you looked at it.

A couple of weeks ago, headed for work, I was getting on the interstate. Her 4-wheel drive super-charged toy passed me on the entrance ramp, really stupid because most people are watching out the left side of their vehicle, she passed me on the right. I don't think she knew it was me, but I started leaving earlier or using a slightly different route.

The next week one of the guys saw her getting a ticket on the side of the road by a female cop. She was late that day and in a really foul mood all day. The snitch heard the guy describing a somewhat embellished story of the sighting, making a comment how she was batting her eyes and opening the top of her blouse before the female cop. And it didn't work, the female cop must have been straight.

He was gone the next day when I got in. Fired for making sexual harassing statements in front of her. Now, I know she wasn't there. But it was too late. A couple of weeks later, a Thursday after work. I decided I had pushed it far enough. I borrowed my neighbors truck, I was going to pull my tool box and have a three day weekend before looking for my next place to get screwed.

Her vehicle was on the entrance ramp, the hood was up, and a trail of smoke or steam could be seen. I wasn't about to stop. It wasn't my problem. She wouldn't recognize me in this truck anyway.

The guys helped me load up, and strap down. Now I was just waiting for her to show up with our paychecks. It was also noted that one of the last guys hired, by her, was late too. I looked out and his van wasn't in the lot. I finally told the shop supervisor, to have her mail the check to me I even gave him the change for the stamp.

I saw the news on the Sunday night report. My previous boss was reported missing, her vehicle was found abandoned on the entrance ramp. No sign of her.

Monday morning a Sheriff woke me up to question me about her disappearance. I did not say anything about seeing her on the ramp. I hadn't told anyone at work either. I just told him about packing my toolbox and waiting for her so I could get my paycheck. Then coming home. I did mention the guy with the van not being to work. I was sure he got the same story from the others.

It took the police several days to connect the missing guy with the report from a person driving by her vehicle, seeing a van. They got a search warrant and found her tied to a bed, she had been thoroughly used. Although dehydrated she was alive. Our pay checks including hers, had been cashed and him and several others were traced to the border, but not beyond.

So should I have stopped? There were other guys at work that used the same ramp. I was at work ahead of them. They never mentioned seeing her. If she had been a decent person there was no doubt I would have stopped.

I just couldn't help but feel a sense of justice to it all. It took several months to get my final pay. Then she had shorted me 2 over time hours.

I happened to see my previous shop supervisor, he was in looking for work, the next week we were working next to each other, he told me Lisa had come back to work. But the owner's wife had been through the books and now Lisa was facing a 15 year sentence for embezzling. The owner had closed the place and the following week all the machines were gone.

He asked how things were here, I told him to watch the owner come out of the bathroom. He didn't see anything until the afternoon, the owner hadn't wiped all the white power from his nose. We both went looking for an other place of work that afternoon.