Gerald adjusted his belt and leaned back in the office chair.
He appeared to have some foul taste in his mouth
that he couldn't smack out.
"Yeah, it went pretty quick," he said, sucking on his teeth.
"Here's what you're making. Here's what you're going to make.
See ya."
He was ruining the chair.
His wide ass was ruining my favorite chair.
"Did you have yours already?"
I shook my head no.
"Well it goes pretty quick."
I focused on the bulge of his tongue
running the perimeter of his mashed potato mouth.
He leaned even further back and put his hands behind his head.
"It's a socialist regime here anyways, you know?
It's like, we all make the same so who gives a shit, right?"
I wished he'd stop stretching my goddamned chair.
"I think I'm going to draft a letter at the first of the year.
I'm going to formally request we be given what we need
to do this job. And we'll all sign it."
"I'm not signing anything," I said.
He got a smug look on his face and attempted to cross
his body pillow legs.
"I figured," he said, nodding and smiling that smug smile.
"It's alright. Now I know where you stand."
He got up and left without another word.
I inspected the chair
and tightened the screws
so that the seat didn't have so much give.
I printed off the emails that hadn't been printed.
I took out the trash
and made copies of the forms we were running low on.
About an hour into my shift,
I got a call from my boss saying I'd be getting my review soon.
My shift was uneventful
and he was waiting for me at the end of it.
He must have talked for a half hour
using coded language
and indirect boss-talk.
"Now, I can't promise you anything.
I won't promise you anything.
But..."
He made a motion
like he was trying to shake a spherical object.
His fingers were spread and hooked
and he just kept doing it,
widening his eyes and hoping I understood.
I nodded and he seemed pleased with his nonverbal wizardry.
Gerald didn't talk to me the next day.
Or the day after.
As a matter of fact, the other guys stopped talking to me, too.
I wondered if they could tell that it didn't go quickly.
I wondered if they thought I was some sort of scab.
Waves of uncomfortable silence followed
so I turned onto my back
relaxed
and rose up.