[1:1] Lavender Valley

It had been a brutal month and a half. 

It all began when most of your stuff was destroyed when a pipe burst flooded the run-down basement apartment you were renting. It got worse when the slimeball landlord refused to replace any of your stuff claiming he wasn’t at fault.. Which was just what your insurance company wanted to hear so they could weasel out of covering any damages. You learned that renters insurance doesn’t cover flooding. You were suddenly faced with one of two options; let it go or spend what little money you had to fight it in court.

To make matters worse, it wasn't technically a legal apartment you were renting. Which became news to you when the sheriff evicted you and claimed you had been “squatting”. 

For a month you searched for a new place to rent but everything was too expensive or too far away from your job. Couch surfing was becoming a pain in the ass. Literally. There’s only so many nights you can sleep on an air mattress or a couch before you before the aching catches up with you. Besides, you hated being an imposition. You needed to find your own place but everything was so goddamn expensive. 

It was all too much, the stress was getting to you. You know you were making mistakes. You know you were irritable but nothing was easing the stress. 

Then last Friday, just before you could slip out of work your boss, Mr. Harmon intercepted you and dragged you into his office. He explained that your numbers were down, you were taking too-long of lunch and using company computers for “personal endeavors” which is allowed but “still frowned upon”. There was an HR complaint when you snapped at Geoffrey for eating your lunch, again, out of the fridge.

You explained what was going on. It was nice to have somewhere there to get it off your chest. Even though…

Mr. Harmon was never a super personable guy. He was a detached kind of middle manager who would do his rounds making the same small talk every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Calling his employees champ and sport and ace as he asked, “did you see the game”. Whether or not there was one. It was like he was grown in some corporate lab to be the most bland corporate automaton he could be but you never expected what came next.

He didn’t care. 

He ‘mmm hmmm’ed you as you listed your problems. His timing was off. He was beginning that compassionate grunt a half second too early, tripping over where he thought the end of your sentence was. Then the moment there was a break, he looked up from the stack of forms he busied himself with as you unloaded and launched into a lecture he had locked and loaded.

It began with how the whole “family” was counting on you. That you were part of a team and somewhere toward the end it turned into a lecture about  when you come to work you need to leave your problems at the door. He expressed some regret in having to have this conversation but told you you could avoid being written up and facing disciplinary actions if you get your numbers up by the end of next week. 

He punctuated his lecture with a dispassionate, “I know you can do this, Champ. You just need to get your priorities straight. Good talk, I gotta go take the wife out for dinner so…” He stood up and gestured for you to get out of his office. Conversation was over. 

You were stunned by the callousness and in that moment you had to make a choice…

1. Tell your boss exactly what you think of him (Gain a new Trait: Hot Head)

2. Take it on the chin and live to fight another day. (Gain a new Trait: Even Tempered)

3. Quit right then and there.