Читать книгу The Bachelor Party - Ron Hummer - Страница 4

June 8, 2011

Bruce Hartley stared at his apartment one last time, wiping the sweat from his face. All his furniture was packed in the U-haul truck along with his possessions. He pressed his lips together, shaking his head.

11 years, he told himself. I gave Meadow Research 11 years of my life. I was the best salesperson in the company. I brought in more business than anyone in that company.

Yes, he set records, winning as many as 12 accounts in one day, closing deals that were worth over $100,000 for a year. In the end, it didn’t matter though.

For the last two years of his job, he, along with everyone in the company, was given a quota. 10 sales a month. If he didn’t get 10 sales in a month, he would have to get 40 in four months. If he didn’t get it, then he was history.

Over the years, with the economy tanking, sales were down for the company. The end of the year was the worst. It didn’t matter how many phone calls he made. It didn’t matter how many days he stayed late at the office. Even if he went on vacation for a week, the quota would remain intact.

Of course, while everyone was on a quota, other salespeople were given special treatment due to favoritism. They were given more territory than the others. In the meantime, his territory had diminished.

There were months where Bruce would exceed his quota many times. Yes, he thought to himself, he would have 18 accounts a month, an all time high. There were other months throughout the year when he was averaging 16 sales a month.

By September he had his first bad month in the last two years. 7 sales. Even though he would have 12 sales in October, he would have 10 sales in November and 8 in December. He would be fired for having 37 sales.

Bruce had plenty of job opportunities in his industry. Even though he was more than qualified for those jobs, they were off limits. In fact, he couldn’t even get an interview with any of the companies. The salaries were even higher - as much as $20,000 a year.

In all cases, he would receive the same typical response from the company.

Our attorney has advised us not to interview you due to your non-compete agreement.

Instead, Bruce was sending our resumes for jobs that he was unqualified for. Interviews were few and far between, usually starting out by saying that we have other applicants that have better qualifications than you do. If he even had a shot at those jobs, he would have to take a salary cut of at least $15,000.

Three months before he was fired, Bruce had applied for a sales position through a search firm. Once he spoke with the woman, he was told that their clients have very strict guidelines and that even though he had a great record and would be very good at doing that job, the company wanted someone who had industry related experience even though he dealt with the same types of clients.

Bruce had asked if there were other people besides him that were on non-compete agreements. She said yes, there were. Many of them were eliminated from this job because of it but there were three other applicants who had industry related experience. She also said that they deal with a lot of people who are on non-compete agreements in a variety of industries and this happens all the time.

On January 2, he was called into his directors office and was told that we was terminated because he did not make his quota. In addition, he was told that he would have to comply with his non-compete agreement in order to get a severance package of $5,000. As his employment lawyer pointed out, even if he used that towards his legal fees, his company could sue him for that money separately.

He knew the day was coming once he was on probation after the first month. He knew that he was never going to recover from the month of September. He knew that there were jobs in his industry but he could not get an interview for them. All he could do was sit there, helpless, as if he was trapped in a cage, waiting for the last four months for the inevitable day to come because he knew there was nothing he could do to change that.

“I guess it’s time,” Jessica said.

“Yeah,” Bruce replied. He stared at Jessica as she ran her hand through her short dark hair that fell above her ears. Her dark eyes were red, her body covered in sweat that showed through her red blouse. She sniffled, rubbing her stomach, which protruded over her belt and blue jeans.

“I guess you’re not going to change your mind” - here, she sniffled - “and move in with me,” she said.

“No. I just want to get out of here.”

“This isn’t right. None of it is right.”

“I know.”

She leaned against her cousin’s motorcycle, shaking her head.

“Really something, isn’t it. I’ve been unemployed for over a year and I have to leave my apartment so I won’t be evicted. I have to move in with my brother in Chicago. Yet I could have been working but my company prevented me from taking a job in my industry due to my non-compete agreement.”

“I know.”

“All I could do was sit there and wait to be fired. And then my company would not give me permission to be interviewed by other companies in my industry. And there was nothing that I could do about this.”

Jessica shook her head.

“It’s not like I have $10,000 to fight them, especially since my lawyer said that I could lose because I signed the agreement. And everyone didn’t sign the agreement.”

“Yeah, that’s for sure,” Jack Roscoe said over Bruce’s shoulder.

Bruce shook his head. “Thanks for your help.”

“No problem. I wish there was more that I could do.”

Bruce stared at Jack Roscoe, noting his short brown buzz cut hair, his brown eyes, the seven inch scar on his forehead over his left eye. He had the body of a wrestler, his bulk filling out a Stevie Ray Vaughn Tee-shirt.

“Well, not sure where I’m going from here.”

“Yeah,” Jack said. “What happened to you and Jessica wasn’t right. You may have helped a lot of people though.”

Bruce stroked his jaw with his thumb and forefinger.

“We did all we could,” Jessica said. “Not that it means anything for us.”

“Yep, we lost,” Bruce said.

“Bruce, we should get going,” another voice shouted. It was low, deep.

“My brother calls,” He said. He put out his hand and Jack shook it. Then Jessica hugged Bruce. “Keep in touch,” Jessica said.

“Yeah, I’ll keep my Facebook page open.”

Jack shook his head. “Facebook. Something else to stay away from.”

“Get used to computers and the social media,” Jessica said

“Not a chance,” Jack replied.

“Take care of yourself, Jack.”

“You too. And remember one thing, Bruce. There is an old saying. What goes around comes around.”

Bruce bit his lower lip. “I don’t think that that’s going to happen this time,” he said to Jack.

“You never know. I have a feeling that our day will come. And when it does, then there will be payback for this.”

“I hope you’re right,” Bruce said.