It was bound to happen, right? This town is just too small for me not to run into the folks who fired me at The Company. I had hoped, however, that no innocent bystanders would get hurt when it did happen. My hope was in vain.
My in-laws were coming to town and we agreed to meet for dinner the evening of their arrival. We settled on a delicious Chinese restaurant that was central to Hubby’s, my, and sis-in-law’s work.
We were seated and had ordered. We’d finished saying our “hellos” and were settling into conversation when a party of 5 was escorted past our table and seated two tables away against the wall. That party of 5 consisted of the man who fired me / co-owner of The Company, his teenage daughter and presumably one of her friends, and the female co-owner of The Company with her boyfriend.
I whispered to my companions, “And over there, is the man who fired me.” “What, What?” they exclaimed. My mother in-law was too focussed on her potstickers to be torn away (they were really really good potstickers). My sister-in-law is an expert in female subterfuge, so with a wink and a nod she coyly fake-sneezed, thus having to turn her head in the direction of the little fellow and his party of clearly evil friends and offspring. “In the orange sweatshirt?” She asked. I nodded yes. She narrowed her eyes and unleashed a catty barrage of middle fingers and nasty eye-rolls hidden from the party of 5, but directed toward them for my entertainment.
In the meantime, Hubby was quietly tapping my shoulder. I turned to him and he pointed to his shirt. Alas…he was wearing one of The Company’s T-shirts, the “ugly logo 3000″ model. I shrieked a hysterical burst of laughter and covered my mouth. He quickly put on his jacket. (I always give Hubby my company swag. I just can’t stand to wear the hypocritical, “we’re so cool we give you T-shirts (but forget raises or bonuses or just plain being nice to you) – and it’s free advertising for us” clothing. As long as it is an XL cotton T-shirt Hubby doesn’t care. A funny side note is one of the ex-employees of The Company would throw out all the company logo crap we’d get. A brain injured neighbor of hers always went through his neighbors’ garbage on garbage collection day. After about three years of this, she noticed that his wardrobe pretty much consisted of The Company’s T-shirts. Another one of my co-workers used the T-shirts in his shop as grease rags. …and The Company continues to think this is a perk that the employees love… Anyhoo…I digress.)
My father-in-law is a religion professor and one of the most kind, loyal, and intelligent people I have in my life. Like many academics I’ve known, he is also often a few steps behind the conversation. He raised his head from his cup of tea and said “What What! That table over there?” Yes, I nodded. “Well,” he snorted, “I’ll be sending them bad thoughts throughout the whole dinner.”
Our conversation turned to other things and we thoroughly enjoyed the meal. We paid the check and left, just as The Company folks were digging into their entrees. As we briskly walked to our cars, my father-in-law informed me that he had sent them the evil eye, gypsy curses, and bad thoughts the whole time until they left. “Until they left?” I quizzically replied, “But, they are still there.” “Oh no!” he exclaimed. “Weren’t they the table right next to us?” “Nope, that was some nice family out for dinner,” sister-in-law chimed in. The whole family was stunned. What had he done? He’d put gypsy curses on an innocent family?!!!!
Well, I’d like to say that everyone learned a lesson that night about pettiness, unprofessionalism, and arrogance. Unfortunately, I don’t think any lessons were learned since the co-owners of The Company are unaware that by firing me they put a gypsy curse on an innocent family. Considering the things I’ve heard about their behavior since my firing – they’ve continued to put innocent families at risk for misplaced curses.
A word to the wise, when you are out on the town, carry a lucky charm or evil-eye ward. There have been a lot of lay-offs in this town over the last few years and you never know when the well-intentioned curses of a supportive father-in-law will mistakenly land on you.