Employee of the Year

Chapter 18 - Identity Theft

            “Roland was your partner in that case, wasn’t he?” Weisbein said. He knew the answer to that question.

            “Something like that,” I said in a low voice.

            “Sure he was. You guys were blood brothers, right?” Harvey laughed.

            “Man, not you guys, too! I expect this kind of crap from the cops, but you, too? After everything I did for you?”

            “I’m sorry,” Chang said.

            “No, seriously,” Weisbein continued. “We know that you faced great danger in that case. I mean, you two were just call center guys. I couldn’t believe how well you held up through the identity theft thing.”

            “Especially you, Temo,” Harvey said. “You saved Roland’s life. We know that.”

            “Imagine those stupid cops down in Torrance,” Weisbein said, grinning and shaking his head once again in disgust. “They don’t really think that you murdered Roland for that reward after you risked your neck to save him?”

            “Why don’t you talk to police then?” I said impatiently. “In one of the sessions, I asked them to check with you guys. I told them you’d vouch for how I saved Roland’s life. Why don’t you tell them once and for all that I would never do something like that? Tell them they can cross me off their list for good.”

            Weisbein stopped smiling. So did his partner. It seemed like I must have pissed them off.

            “We’re here to talk about what you can do for us,” Weisbein said. “Then after that maybe we’ll talk about what we can do for you.”

            “Tell me what you want,” I said.

            “Tell us your story again, Temo. That same story you told us when we had you in here in February. Tell us how you solved the identity theft problem with Passion Financial credit cards. Including the part where you saved Roland’s life. Refresh our memory. Then maybe we’ll be in a better position to vouch for you.”

            So once again I did my best to remember a chapter in my struggle to win Employee of the Year. The problems with the credit card fraud cropped up in the month of February, right after the Super Bowl.

I remember that Monday because I was in great spirits. I was riding high from my first place finish in January. I took the top spot in collections that month off a single call to Jesse Stark. It was a victory for me and made my boss look good as well.

Teresa had just completed her first full month running the call center since Lenny got fired. She was smart, she was effective, and her performance was so good that Lenny had become a distant memory in the minds of the executives. She even received a compliment from Marcus in his monthly e-mail communications to the staff, something Lenny had never earned in all his years.

Everybody got the sense that Teresa was a star, rising fast and spectacularly within Passion Financial. So it was a complete shock when I came into her office and found her on the phone, sobbing desperately. She was yelling angrily through her tears at the person on the other end of the line.

“That’s all you have to say?” she shouted. “After all the money I paid you, you’re saying there’s nothing to be done? You’re saying he can’t change?”

She paused as she listened to the response, wiping her eyes.

“Well, you’re wrong, doctor. My son will recover. He’s not going to be like this for ever. He’s going to learn to communicate. He’s going to learn to love. I don’t care how much you think you know about this condition.”