Daphne

(16) Skeletons in the Closet

A year later and Daphne arrived at Leo's again, this time through the front door, accompanied by an older couple, a gentleman and a woman. Terri welcomed her old friend and Daphne introduced everyone.

Daphne's guests were Sam and Nancy Flynn. Sam Flynn was the CEO of a company that Daphne had applied to work for, but the queasy bureaucrats at Human Resources spiked her application because of some dirty, vicious rumors about her past that had suddenly surfaced and spread like wildfire throughout the company over the local net. Worse, since the rumors had a tiny grain of half-truth at their core, she could not honestly flatly deny them. Sure, a few of the rumors seemed to be gross distortions of actual events, the rest were undeniably false. Her only honest responses all started with "That's not exactly true..." or "Let me explain..."– which, when repeated over and over and over, sure made her look like she was just trying to spin her sordid past into something less disreputable. H.R. came to the 'where there's smoke...' conclusion.

She decided to bypass H.R. and contact the company's CEO – Mr. Flynn – to whom she appealed directly. He'd seen the emails and read the rumors about her, and while he couldn't quite put his finger on it, something seemed... well, odd. Impressed by her determination, he accepted her call and agreed to a personal meeting. Meeting the center of the maelstrom piqued his interest as well and would be icing on the cake. That was three days ago.

The meeting was two days ago. Sam wasn't exactly sure what to expect and was relieved when his office door opened and a conservatively dressed young woman entered. She wore a dark gray business suit. The skirt's hem was just below the knee. A snow white blouse and a very thin red tie (a ribbon?) tied in a bow at her neck.

He was struck immediately by her beauty which was enhanced by her smile. He could read nervousness in her eyes, which, under the circumstances was perfectly understandable. Interviews are difficult enough, but this particular one had thorny issues associated with it. He offered her a seat and a glass of water. She accepted both, and they proceeded to go over her resume. She was obviously well qualified. The first problem was the two-year hiatus between graduating and the day's meeting.

"You know what the economy's been like" she started. "People simply aren't valued anymore. You couldn't get hired with a Bachelor's because they could get a Master's for the same wage, and Masters weren't hired because PhDs were so cheap. Everywhere I turned the investment I made in my education only seemed to qualify me for grunt work for peanuts. It wasn't fair." Daphne paused and the CEO nodded, acknowledging his agreement of her assessment of the situation. "So I decided to wait the storm out; these things cycle. And now that the clouds are starting to break, I'm throwing my hat back in the ring."

He looked at her inquisitively, "You waited for two years? Without a job? How did you manage that? How did you live? What about your student loans?"

"First, I don't have any student loans – I worked my way through school. Second, I've got investments and enough money that I don't have to work if I don't want to."

"If you don't have to work, what are you doing here?"

She leaned forward. "Trying to not go crazy, to tell the truth. Sitting at home watching the grass grow is really boring. I guess just hanging-out in a perpetual 'Spring-Break' vacation isn't in my genes. I've got to do something... But I can afford to be a little selective..."

Sam leaned back in his chair, quietly examining the interviewee. "Selective?"

"I think you know what I mean. It's a free market. You're being selective in choosing someone to work for you, and I'm being selective too; I want a real job. Sure, I don't have much experience, so I'll take a starting position, of course – but that doesn't mean that I have to accept the first offer and agree to do mindless grunt work for slave's wages either! Honestly, the only reason we're talking right now is because the position here was the first one I've seen for a long time that looked interesting at a company that looked interesting. And I'm willing to fight to get it!"