Taste of Reality (32 page)

He was trying to intimidate me, but it wasn’t working. I knew there was a time when black people had to cower to men like Tom, but this wasn’t the 1800s or the 1960s. So it wasn’t as if I had this great fear of being hanged or hosed down in the street.

Which is why I didn’t even bother responding.

“And even if you did have any so-called evidence, which we know you don’t, we still have legitimate reasons why we hired or promoted certain employees or why we gave certain raises to certain people,” Tom continued.

“What do you mean I don’t have any evidence?”

This was the highlight of the show. It was what I’d been waiting for.

“We know that you’re just bluffing, Anise,” Tom said. “I mean, did you actually think we would fall for something like that when we know for a fact that you only have access to the manufacturing side of the system?”

“So in other words, I don’t have anything? Is that what you’re saying?” I asked.

“That’s what we know,” Tom said in a louder tone than what he’d used before. I’d pressed the wrong buttons, and he was becoming belligerent.

But I didn’t bother responding. Instead I opened the folder I’d brought with me and passed them each their
own
individual salary histories that dated back to the day they started with the company.

“Where did you get these?” Tom raised his voice even higher.

“That’s the least of your worries,” I answered.

“This is confidential information,” Tom declared.

“And it will stay confidential if you provide me with a separation package that makes me happy.”

“This is bullshit,” Jim yelled.

I leaned back in my chair and stared at him. “You know, Jim, I wonder if Tom and Lyle would be interested in knowing about that little soiree you had going on in the training room on Tuesday. What do you think?”

He turned candy apple red, and I knew from that moment he wouldn’t be voicing any other opinions so readily.

“If you’ve used an unauthorized ID or password to get this information, you’ll be fired on the spot,” Tom announced.

“Fire me if you want, but that won’t stop me from going public with the information I have. So don’t be surprised if you open the
Mitchell Post
in a few days and see your names plastered all over it.”

“What is it that you want from us?” Lyle asked, speaking for the first time since the meeting began. But I wasn’t surprised. He didn’t like black people, but it was obvious that he never wanted to be an obvious villain.

“I want damages equal to the pain and suffering I’ve experienced the entire time I’ve worked here.”

“Which is?”

“Three hundred and fifty thousand dollars tax free.”

“That’s absolutely insane,” Tom insisted. “Even if we had a reason to pay you a settlement of some sort, which we don’t, how would we go about paying you money that would leave you with no tax obligation?”

“The same way you break the law with everything else around here but end up making it look legitimate.”

“We might be willing to offer you something so we can end this problem you’ve created, but it won’t be six figures,” Tom added.

“No, I don’t think you understand. My request isn’t negotiable. After printing out everyone’s salary history, I’ve already found fifteen cases of racial discrimination in terms of pay and ten that are related to gender. You have consistently paid minorities less than white employees who are less qualified but doing the same job. You’ve done the same thing with women by consistently paying men much higher salaries when the women are just as qualified and in some cases, have more credentials. So you can either pay me the money I’m asking for now or the seven figures a judge will force you to pay me when we get to court.”

“I don’t think we have anything further to discuss,” Tom said.

“No, I don’t think we do either,” I said, standing up. “But when the trial begins, don’t say you weren’t warned.”

I left the room without a care in the world, because I knew I had them. Jim had told me so with that petrified look on his face. There was no doubt he would convince them to do the right thing, because he couldn’t take the chance that I might expose his perverted ways or the sexual favors he was securing from Lorna, not to mention what he was probably doing with other women in the company.

I smiled openly as I strolled back to my office.

My coworkers stared at me like I was crazy.

What they didn’t know was that I was only smiling to keep from crying.

What they didn’t know was how degraded I felt as an African-American woman having to go head-to-head with three white men who cared nothing about me as a person.

E
XACTLY WHAT LITTLE SOIREE
was she talking about Jim?” Tom asked when Anise left the room. “It’s nothing. I was in the training room with Lorna the other night having a conversation, and Anise assumed something else was going on,” Jim tried to convince him, but he knew Tom thought it might be true, or he wouldn’t be asking for more details.

“So all you did was talk? And nothing happened that we’re going to have to hear about somewhere down the road?” Tom wanted confirmation.

“Anise is just exaggerating the same way she did in this letter she wrote, but I will say she’s crazy enough to make people believe it,” Jim said.
We’ve got to get that black bitch out of here no matter what it costs.

“Well, as much as I hate saying this, her letter does make me a little nervous, and it troubles me even more to know that she has access to the entire HR system,” Lyle continued.

“But what right does she have telling us how to run this company?” Tom asked.

“I don’t think it’s about that,” Lyle explained. “This is about how her accusations will look in a court of law. Right or wrong, no judge is going to simply overlook the fact that she has superior performance reviews, has two degrees and more than enough HR experience. Yet we gave the position to someone who is white and much less qualified, and then we paid them more. And what I’m concerned about the most is that she’s found information regarding other employees that could lead to a class action lawsuit.”

“I still don’t think she has anything,” Tom said. “Some disgruntled asshole inside this company may have given her pay information for the three of us, but I really don’t think she has anyone else’s. If she did, she would have brought them with her. No, what I think she’s trying to do is bully us, and if we let her get away with it, we’ll have every Joe Schmo in the company waltzing in here demanding thousands whenever they feel like it.”

“You know, Frank could be our culprit,” Jim suggested. “Because you know they’ve been seeing each other.”

“That’s another son of a bitch we’ve got to get rid of,” Tom said.

“This is a tough one, but I think we have to offer her something, because right now the important thing is to get her out of here before she stirs up trouble with other employees,” Lyle said, getting back to the matter at hand.

I agree, and I’ve got to make them realize how important it is for us to pay her that money, because the last thing I need is to have some sex-related rumor floating around about Lorna and me. Next thing you know, that black bitch will try convincing Lorna to have that damn baby. And then she’ll be placing all the blame on me for not getting that fuckin’ promotion.

“Look,” Jim said to Lyle, “I cringe just from looking at Anise,
but at this point I agree with you, because it’s probably in our best interest if we give her a little hush money, along with her walking papers all at the same time.”

“I just don’t see it,” Tom said. “And, Jim, I’m surprised that you’re throwing in the towel so easily, because you’ve never liked this woman from day one.”

“That’s true, but I do think it would be better for everyone involved if we get rid of her. She’s a troublemaker just like every other black person I know, and we need to get this taken care of. The sooner the better,” Jim said.
I hope they’re not going to try and give her less than what she’s asking, because that uppity black bitch will never go for it. Lyle and Tom have no idea that I really don’t want to give her one red cent, but I know if she doesn’t get exactly what she wants, she’ll try to crucify me.

“Well, I think we need to think this through, because three hundred and fifty thousand dollars is a shitload of money. And we can’t even be sure she has everything she says she does,” Tom said.

“What we can do is ask her to bring us the originals of anything she’s printed as well as any copies she’s made,” Jim proposed.

“Maybe. But still we’re talking about making a large transaction that’ll have to be executed under the table. Which means we’ll have to handle every aspect of this with extreme care,” Lyle said.

“I still don’t agree, but if that’s what both of you think we should do, then so be it,” Tom said. “But we will
not
under any circumstances pay her what she’s demanding. Maybe a hundred thousand, but I’m thinking it should even be less than that.”

“Look, Tom,” Jim said carefully, “I think she’s full of shit the same as you do, but we have to consider the amount of bad publicity we’ll get if she goes to the newspaper. She’s already threatened to, and I believe she’d actually do it. It angers me that these affirmative
action laws have made it possible for somebody like her to make such a threat, but this is the reality.”

Tom didn’t say anything else.

I can see he doesn’t get what I’m trying to say, but I’ve got to keep encouraging him to do the right thing before next week. I’ve got to make Tom see that we can’t afford not to pay her, and that if she goes public, he’ll take the biggest fall as CEO of this company.

“What I think we need to do is take all of tomorrow and the weekend to think about our options and then try to arrive at some decision by Monday morning,” Lyle said.

“Fine,” Tom said. “But I still say we shouldn’t give her a thing until we see what proof she has. No one is more worried about the laws than I am, but I just don’t believe she has anything that could hurt us.”

If only she hadn’t seen Lorna and me in that conference room, I could force Lorna to talk some sense into that bitch. But now Lorna claims Anise won’t speak to her. Which means I’ve got to figure out a way to make Tom give her what she’s asking for, and then I’ve got to make sure Lorna has that abortion I gave her the money for. Because I’m not about to let two stupid women ruin everything I’ve worked so hard for, unless it’s over my dead body.

“Mom, you would have been so proud of me for standing up to them the way I did,” I said.

Mom and I were sitting on her screened porch on the west side of town eating sub sandwiches and chips that I’d picked up after work. They weren’t as good as the ribs we had yesterday, but they were filling.

“I’m proud just because you decided it was time to call them on what they were doing.”

“That Tom was so cocky, though, and if anyone tries to play hardball, it will be him.”

“The way you’ve spoken about Jim, I would have expected him to be the problem.”

“He would have been if I hadn’t caught him and Lorna in that training room.”

Mom laughed. “I’ve been thinking about that ever since you told me. It would be wrong for any man to sexually harass a woman, but somehow you just wouldn’t expect that a vice president at a company would stoop so low.”

“I know. But if you want to know the truth, I think something’s wrong with him. He hates blacks in the worst way, but I’ve come to realize that he hates women just as much. And that means he hates me for two reasons.”

“Well, I hope you get your money soon so you can get out of there and move on with your life.”

“I do too, Mom, because even though I enjoyed seeing them squirm in that conference room today, I still feel so humiliated. I feel like I’m always going to have to deal with the same thing, no matter what company I work for. I’m always going to have to prove that I’m not just some whiny black woman who doesn’t know her place or another black person screaming discrimination for no legitimate reason. And I’m so tired of that.”

“I know you are, sweetheart, but hopefully this will all be over soon.”

“I don’t know, maybe it would be better if I commuted to Chicago to work. I’ve never wanted to do that before now, because it would take so many extra hours from my day, but maybe it’s something to think about.”

“Do you think you’d be treated more fairly than you have been around here?”

“I don’t know. It’s just so hard to say one way or the other. But there are more companies there.”

“Maybe what you need to do is think about starting your own business.”

“Actually, I’ve never really given that much thought, but maybe you’re right. Maybe that’s what I should do with the settlement package if they give it to me.”

“I think you would do real well, and that way, you’d have money to pay your bills and funding to get your business up and running.”

“You know, Mom, that’s really something to consider. Because whether I want to admit it or not, I don’t think I will ever find any real success if I don’t go out on my own. Starting a business will take a lot of research and marketing, but I think it’s worth trying.”

“I
know
it is. We didn’t have a whole lot of options when I graduated from high school back in the sixties, so the only logical choice was to go work in a factory. But at least you had the opportunity to get a good education, and now you have the option of doing something on your own. You’ll still have to prove yourself twice over, but at least you’d be doing it for yourself.”

“That’s true. And I think what I’ll do is take some time to clear my mind. Then I want to start thinking about the type of business I should start.”

“A break will be good for you, because it won’t be easy dealing with a divorce, being in a new relationship and then having to find a new place to live.”

“Especially since David isn’t being fair about anything. I haven’t heard from him since we had that big blowup when he came to the house, but I can tell that things are going to get worse before it’s all over. He is so angry with me, and I don’t understand how he could be, because he’s the one who decided he wanted someone else.”