text: “Hold on, Karla.” The woman stood back as her colleagues filed out of the status meeting. “Sit,” Roger said. “Goodbye, Jamie!” He waved at the smiling face on the television that vanished at the click of a button. Karla sat quietly. Roger wiped up a few water rings on the table and joined her at its head. “This isn’t working out.” Karla felt her mouth fall open, but no reply was forthcoming. “I’ve given this a lot of thought. I really think you and the company should part ways. This will be your last day.” “You’re not going to offer me any chance to improve?” she asked. “This is totally out of the blue. You only had glowing things to say in my performance review!” Roger straightened the tray of succulents. “That was ten months ago. If I had to do your next review today, things would be much different. You’ve picked up some bad... habits.” Karla pushed back her chair and stood up, wagging a finger in her boss’ face. “WHAT IS IT? WHY ARE YOU MAD AT ME ALL OF A SUDDEN? I BROUGHT IN MORE BUSINESS THIS QUARTER THAN ANYONE, AND YOU’VE GOT A PROBLEM WITH ME AND NOT THAT LOUDMOUTH, DYLAN?” “Please sit down,” Roger said, unphased, “or I’ll call security, and this conversation will be over.” Karla slumped into her chair. “Thank you. That outburst is only the most recent example of your anger management issues.” She awkwardly fought to roll her chair closer to Roger. “YOU WANT TO SEE ANGER?” “No. Anger is not a professional behavior. You are one of our best salespeople, but your attitude is devastating to morale.” Karla raised another accusatory finger. “Karla....” Roger adjusted his tone to that of lion tamer. “Let me finish. In the meeting just now, you said disparaging things about four of your teammates. Jerome was hurt so deeply, he had to excuse himself.” “So, why didn’t YOU call me out?” Karla asked, seething. “Help me learn right then instead of keeping me after class like a kid who stole someone’s crayons?” “My preference is to hold coaching conversations in private.” “Coaching? You’re FIRING me!” “Coaches kick players off teams all the time. Before we go any further, I’m willing to give you a second chance, but I need to know two things. First, are you willing to get help?” “Yeah, sure. Whatever.” Roger shook his head. “That’s less than encouraging, Karla. Second, I’d like to know where things went wrong. Why the sudden change? We have resources available to help our employees overcome all sorts of obstacles, be it addiction resources, mental health counseling, or general therapy.” Karla’s eyes wandered to her wrist. She was twisting a bracelet obsessively. “You really want to know?” “Yes,” Roger said. Her attention turned to the table. “It’s because SNITCHES LIKE JAMIE KEEP LURKING ON CONFERENCE CALLS, SO THEY CAN GET ALL THE GOSSIP. NEXT THING YOU KNOW, SHE’S SHOOTING OUT THE NEWS OF THE DAY TO A LISTSERV THAT’S GOT TWO HUNDRED SUBSCRIBERS!” Karla picked up the half-dead succulents and hurled them across the room, missing the television but hitting the camera. She leaned toward the microphone on the table. “YEAH, JAMIE! I KNOW ABOUT YOUR LITTLE SECRET. HALEY FORWARDED WHAT YOU SAID ABOUT ME. WE ALL KNOW YOU’RE ‘JILLYJILLY.’ THE PHONE NEVER BLOOPED.