What She Was Worth
You're Hired!
Evan invited Tanya to work for him. She grabbed the offer gratefully. She really did need a job.
Since her accident she had been virtually a shut-in. She couldn't walk yet and with no transportation, no way to travel save by friend as she couldn't afford Taxis.
Evan's offer came at the exact perfect moment and was blessed. She grabbed the job instantly.
As a professional, as someone who had worked for decades, who had been a colleague of Evan, she knew what she was worth. She expected her salary to fall in a particular range.
Not as high as it had been, of course, but comfortable.
Evan offered her 50% less than the low end of the range. He offered her what he would a file clerk.
Tanya could not speak. Meeting his eyes she realised he was aware she was desperate. He knew it and would use it.
Slowly she nodded acceptance. Arrangements were made.
The Process
Each day the driver would pick her up at home, take her to work, then return her in the evening. This was part of the 'package'.
Free transportation. Even if she had to pay that driver the going rate and added it to her salary, she was still paid on par with a clerk, not a professional.
Tanya, hurt and humiliated decided to do a single task per day.
She created a protocol.
As she arrived at the office, she would connect to the Internet, check her mail, play Scrabble, write articles for various on line publishing sites.
In a by the way manner, Tanya would open a word processing program and begin her single task.
She’d take a morning break, sit outside, smoke a cigarette and relax. She’d sit outside until she felt perfectly at peace, then return to her desk.
She'd dabble with the job she was paid to do, make a few more plays in her Scrabble game, check a number of web sites, answer incoming mail, then take her lunch break.
The Usual Day
Some days she would bring lunch from home. Some days Evan bought her lunch,
so she'd leave her lunch in the fridge for tomorrow.
She would eat her lunch, return to her desk and Cyberspace. Tanya would make a few personal phone calls and just before taking her afternoon break would again dabble with her document.
Then she would join the terrace, relaxing her mind. In wonderful humour.
Perfectly at peace, she would return to her desk and finish the work.
By three thirty she had completed her task but would spend about thirty minutes
tweaking it. She would change a font, reword a line, and then, get it ready to be
printed, her eyes alert for the driver.
If the driver was late she'd go to the bathroom or go to the terrance and wait.
Often she would have the Driver stop at the supermarket or some commercial venue before taking her home. This saved her time, money and effort.
She considered the driver part of her 'perq' part of the salary she wasn't receiving.
Tanya assumed that Evan felt paying her 50% less than she was worth was a great bargain.
Tanya felt doing 50% less than she was capable of made the scales balance.
