Flirting with the HR Girl

Chapter 57

"You jerk," Jennifer said to Todd as she heard the HR door open and turned to see Austin standing in the doorway. She could tell by the expression on his face that everything was out. She hadn't bothered wondering whether or not he would be able to lie when confronted in person. She could tell now by looking at him that he couldn't. He gave her a pained guilty look.

"That is all, Austin," Cynthia said briskly. He stopped in front of Jennifer looking apologetic, but Cynthia continued, "Please return to your department."

Jennifer watched him go, not sure what she expected him to do. Stay and defend her? But what was there to defend? She turned back to her boss's stony HR expression. A shiver went down Jennifer's spine and she knew that she was totally screwed. She could hear Todd snickering as she stood caught in the hall unable to move.

"Please come in and shut the door, Jennifer." Cynthia's voice pushed her into action.

Jennifer stumbled across the hall away from Todd's over-the-top chuckling. She shut the door behind her, sighing heavily as she heard it click. She didn't want to look at Cynthia. She felt like their entire morning of working together was slipping away. Like a guilty child called to the principal's office, she finally sat down in the chair across from her boss. For a brief moment, it crossed Jennifer's mind that Austin may have been telling Cynthia about Selena. But she could tell from the look on Cynthia's face, that wasn't it.

"Do you know why Austin was in here?" Cynthia asked her pen at the ready over a fresh pad of paper.

"Yes," Jennifer said deciding that the truth was her best chance of recovering from this now.

"What would you like to tell me about the situation?"

"Cynthia, I can explain," Jennifer started, knowing that she sounded guilty but really wanted her boss to understand. "It's something that just started to happen recently. I was already up for the manager position, and I knew if I got transferred to another store it would be okay. I'm really sorry."

"You began dating a manager even though you knew it was against company policy?" Cynthia said looking up from her pad.

"Well, I didn't really begin dating him; we went out with Todd and Selena a couple of times," Jennifer said trying to think of a way to be truthful without telling more than she should.

"So, you didn't go on any dates?" Cynthia asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well," Jennifer said and knew that Austin had probably told the whole truth. "We went on one date but then I said that we couldn't do that anymore until I got the promotion."

"You said yes to a date even though you knew it was against the policy we had just rolled out?" Cynthia asked this time setting her pen down.

"Yes, but," Jennifer tried to think of something that would make her sound less guilty. "We started out as friends. I just thought we could keep it casual until I got the new job."

"And what if you hadn't gotten the job?" her boss asked, her hard expression still guarding her emotions.

"Then I would have asked for a transfer," Jennifer said not sure if it was true.

"So, you would have gone to a different store for him?" Cynthia asked, taking notes again. "It's that serious?"

"Yes, no, I don't know," Jennifer said giving up and putting her head in her hands. "I know I made a mistake, but I thought that just this once it would be okay."

"Jennifer, you know we can't follow policies only when it's convenient," Cynthia said and something in her voice caused Jennifer to look up. It was worse than the anger that she expected to see there. It was disappointment. "It is because of managers and associates thinking that they can follow a policy whenever they feel like it, that we're in the situation we're in today."

"I know," Jennifer said overwhelming guilt taking over. "I've just never met anyone like him."

"It seems like you have a lot of maturing to do," Cynthia said sounding sympathetic. "And not ready to be an HR manager."

"No, that's not true." Jennifer felt tears well up in her eyes. She willed herself not to cry. She couldn't be the girl who cried at work. She had tried so hard to never be that. But the tears didn't care and ran down her cheeks anyway. "I can do the HR manager job. I've been doing it when you're not here. I just made one bad decision. Please dock my pay or take away my PTO. Or write me up. But please don't take away my chance to be an HR manager."

"I'm sorry, Jennifer, but I can't in good conscience put you up to be an HR manager when I know you have blatantly broken company policy," Cynthia said looking sympathetic but unwilling to be moved. "I don't know if you'll ever be ready."

"Please, I just made one mistake," Jennifer said without thinking before she burst into full-on sobs.

"You're going to need to show you can learn from it before you're ready to be an HR manager." Cynthia came around the desk and sat in the chair next to Jennifer. "We all need to learn and grow before we are ready to step into the next role in our lives. Jennifer, you have shown me that although you take your job very seriously, you were willing to put it all at risk just for a chance at romance. I'm disappointed in you."

"I know," Jennifer said trying to pull herself together and stop the tears from flowing. She knew they were not helping her case. "Sorry for crying."

"Never be sorry for showing emotion," Cynthia said putting her hand on her assistant's knee. "You should be sorry for breaking company policy and lying to me about it. That is something worth being sorry about."

Cynthia stood up and went back behind her desk. "You will need to contact the store manager and my director to let them know that you're withdrawing your name from consideration for HR manager at this time."

"Yes, ma'am," Jennifer said hanging her head again and feeling ashamed.

"Thank you, that is all I need from you now, Jennifer," Cynthia said dismissing her.

Jennifer jumped up, grabbed her purse, and fled the office. She wanted to get away from Cynthia. Away from Todd. Away from the store. She quickly wove her way through the clothes avoiding the racks that threatened to catch onto her clothing and slow her down. She saw Austin waiting for her by the escalators.