Day 7 - I Put Points on the Board, So It's Not a Complete Rout

          Bill came to my office this morning. He stood in the doorway for a while without saying anything. This is not like Bill. He’s one of those brusque types who starts talking before he’s even through the door with complete disregard for whatever else you might be doing or to whomever else you may already be talking.

          “I talked to Threasher about the medical insurance,” he said at last. “We can’t just leave you on the insurance and pay the group premiums because of the way our contract is structured.”

          “I’ve got to have it,” I say.

          “I know,” He said. “Threasher told me how high the COBRA premiums are. I was shocked. What he wants to do instead is just cut you a check for four months of premium, and let you deal with COBRA.”

          I agreed, and he started to leave. I wondered if he was ever going to mention the fact that my replacement isn’t coming. It’s like he was afraid he’d give me some kind of advantage, like saying it out loud would make it worse. I decided to help him get past this impasse by ripping the scab off.

          “I understand that my replacement took another job,” I said.

          Bill stopped and turned around in the doorway. He stepped back into my office and closed the door, but he left his hand on the doorknob.

          “Fritz is making an offer to another candidate,” he said. “We should know something in a day or two.”

          “I’ll have the closing finished before he can start,” I said. “I’ll have to stay on another month and walk him through the next closing.”

          “Yeah. We’ll probably have to redo the severance agreement with new dates. We’ll just have to see how soon he can start.”

           


          I couldn’t resist. “As long as we’re redoing the severance agreement…?”  

          Bill flinched a little at this. I know I would have if I was him.

          “Yeah?”

          “Besides the medical I think maybe I should press for eight months salary and a new car. What do you think?”

          He turned, opened the door, and walked out of the office without looking back. There’s no telling what was on his mind although I’d like to think that I got under his skin a little bit. Whatever it was, he wasn’t giving me the satisfaction of a reaction. I didn’t even get to tell him what kind of car I wanted. I guess the black Aston Martin DBS I have as wallpaper on my computer frightened him.