The Tale of David Patrick Gardner

No Blacks Allowed (unofficially)

"You had good reason to fire her. I mean, she didn't do anything, and besides, her blowjobs were terrible," said chief of staff Stephen Thompson before erupting into a hearty laugh at his own 'joke'.

Ron Vaughn looked up from the stack of papers he was reading and gave a reaffirming grin to his right hand man. "Cut the shit. We both know she signed her death warrant when she paraded around here with that thug she calls a boyfriend, unacceptable. What was she thinking?"

The council member's office was a rotating door of interns, assistants, analysts, and secretaries. Most of them sucked it up and dealt with the abuse and lack of purpose for however long it took for Ron to recommend them for an elevated position within the net of contacts he'd built up over the decades. He had placed people in the state legislature, with the county executive, in political positions all over Washington State, and supported countless former employees as they ran for their own public office under the guidance of their ego-maniacal former boss. However, if you didn't play ball, or even if you unknowingly didn't align with the council member's antiquated positions on race and society, then your career could be cut short without notice.

In the case of Laura, a recent college grad who had been hired as an 'analyst', a more accurate description would've been personal assistant, the great offense was introducing her boyfriend around the office after he took her out to lunch one workday afternoon. This would've been a positive for the young woman's career, the council member enjoyed meeting the family and friends of his employees as it gave him more information for manipulation but, Laura's boyfriend was African American, and race mixing enraged Ron.

Of course, he couldn't let these views be known publicly, especially not in the ultra progressive stronghold of Seattle. He had to dog whistle to those he felt would be sympathetic to his racist ideas before stating what he truly believed, and even then he knew it was best to tread softly. Ron shook the young man's hand, but as soon as he left Laura was called into the boss's office for a conference. Ron immediately laid into her about a, 'laissez-faire attitude'. He told her that she would need to be more of a self-starter, that her lack of productive activity and extended lunch outings were unacceptable. The truth was that no one in that office did any meaningful work. She had tried to engage with her coworkers and think up ideas for how they could use their time effectively when she had first started working there, but it quickly became clear that neither the boss nor her workmates were interested in pursuing any of these projects. The status-quo was to arrive on time and leave on time. Ron would call the office throughout the day to make sure his staff were at their desks, and he would scream and yell if someone happened to be in the restroom or getting a coffee when he was beckoning them to the phone. Laura simply did what she saw all the others doing.

A week after bringing in her boyfriend, and her frightening meeting with Ron, she was fired. She burst into tears and left in a huff when Stephen delivered the news. Due to design Ron was out of the office when the firing took place, and when Stephen filled the boss in on how it all went down and how upset she had been, Ron called her behavior, 'totally unprofessional and proof that he had done the right thing in letting her go.'