Portia

“Portia, you are needed in a consultation. It’s in the boardroom. Why are you still sitting here and entertaining Facebook? You should be working”, Palesa says to me. 

This woman thinks I live on Facebook, yaz. I’m not on Facebook as often as she says I am. I just happen to be on Facebook every time she creeps up on me. It is as if she waits for me to log on then she comes out and says that I am on Facebook. At the warehouse, I never had the time to go on Facebook like I do here. At the offices my friend, it’s just gossip and attitude overloaded. There is no real work here. 

“I didn’t know about the meeting. It’s not in my calendar”, I tell her. 
“Portia, what is the one instruction that I told you to follow, no matter what?” Palesa asks me. 
“To follow Lydia all the time, every time and everywhere she goes”, I say.
“Exactly. Lydia is in that meeting right now. Why did you not follow her there?” She asks me. 
“Palesa, if I’m not invited to a meeting, I don’t see why I should go”, I say. 
“Portia, nobody knows who you are around here. Nobody. You must remember ukuthi around here, you are merely a factory worker who has been seconded to try out for a more suitable role because you knew it all angisho wena laphaya at the warehouse? Do you think we need you here just to tell us how our strategies impact the warehouse? You are one of the stakeholders that could have attended one workshop and we would be able to fill in a report and put together an implementation strategy. But we brought you here because HR begged us to see if we could find a consultancy role for you around here because they don’t want you at the warehouse anymore. I don’t even know what to do with you because you don’t have the necessary skills to be in my team. So I would appreciate it if you could at least follow simple instructions. If I go back to HR and tell them ukuthi na la uhlulekile, you won’t be working in this financial by the end of this financial year.” Palesa says this so ruthlessly. 

I had no idea that things happened this way. I am so shattered and I cannot even hide it. I cannot afford to lose my job, I really can’t. 

“Boardroom Portia, and stop scrolling through Facebook on my time. Please”, she says. 

I close my laptop and make my way to the boardroom. As I walks in, everyone looks at me. Lydia is presenting and Mr Ramaru is looking at her in a way that he is supposed to be looking at his wife. These two are sleeping together. Their chemistry is out of the ordinary. However, I do think that Mr Ramaru actually loves Lydia. 

There is no available chair for me to sit. 

“Is this the time to stroll into a meeting that started two hours ago wena Portia?” Mrs Ramaru says to me, disturbing Lydia who is presenting. 
Mr Msomi stands up and offers me his chair. He steps out and gets himself another chair. He is such a nice man. He also looks like the unhappily married type. 

I just sit down and look at Lydia, non-verbally permitting her to proceed with her presentation. 
She carries on with her presentation and attention is back to her again. She finishes up her presentation then opens the floor for questions. 

Lydia manages the questions very well, especially the ones that come from Mrs Ramaru that are designed to break her down. 

Now that Mrs Ramaru looks petty as hell for trying to take on and breakdown a very competent and knowledgeable intern, she takes on Mr Blake. Mr Blake is Palesa’s boss. Mrs Ramaru is trying to basically understand why Lydia is more knowledgeable than he is. As far as Mrs Ramaru is concerned, Lydia shouldn’t be sitting in these kinds of meetings, never mind presenting in them. I suppose she’s right. We just won’t see it because we know that she doesn’t want Lydia in these kinds of meetings because she wants her husband’s eyes off Lydia. 

On the other hand, times are changing. Position does not translate to knowledge and skill. Each position desires different skills in this day and age. A manager such as Blake requires strategic and leadership skills, perhaps a bit of operational knowledge. It is the people like Lydia who then should be the operational experts. There is nothing wrong with Lydia coordinating this entire project. It is not above her pay grade. 

At lunch time today, I have a meeting with my trade union representatives. I need to talk to them about what Palesa said to me this morning. I am not okay. 

The meeting is adjourned. Mrs Ramaru is the first person to walk out of the office. 
“Lydia, please stay behind for two minutes”, Mr Ramaru says. 

The room is filled with confused gestures because everyone is aware of the rumour, but no one is prepared to confront it. Mr Ramaru could be wanting to discuss something that is business-related, but people are already assuming that they are about to have sex on the table. Everyone has left except for me. They both look at me as if asking me what I am still doing here. 

“Portia?” Lydia. 
“Palesa said I must follow you all time, every time to everywhere”, I tell her. 
“Portia, please wait for me outside the boardroom. Ngiyeza“, Lydia says. 
I nod my head, take my notebook and leave the boardroom. I close the door, but I sit on the couch placed right outside the boardroom. I can hear them talk. 
I look like I’m sitting here waiting for Lydia. In a way, I’ve chased the nosy bunch away from listening to what is happening in the boardroom. Everyone was loitering around to listen to what I am about to listen to. But me being here now, they move away because I will tell Lydia who the rumour-starters are. 

Mr Ramaru: “I’m sorry about this morning, baby. Pearl was out of line and I will talk to her.” 
Lydia: “Tom, I don’t blame you for what happened. And for the record, I’m not scared of Pearl. I’m going to ask you to stay out of this one. It is about to get messy.” 

She calls him Tom? Well, I guess when someone calls you babe, you are excused from calling them Mr Ramaru.  

Mr Ramaru: “No Lydia, don’t do that. Pearl’s bark is bigger than her bite. You know she talks a lot of shit. You shouldn’t let it get to you”. 
Lydia: “Pearl is a bully, Thomas. I refuse to be bullied by her. I told you to manage her. I told you to keep her far away from me. I told you that I have the resources to take her on. I am nothing like the women she has clearly bullied in the past and got away with.” 

I wonder what Mrs Ramaru did yaz. 

Mr Ramaru: “Baby, do you trust me?” 

I don’t trust men who cheat on their wives. Those who cheat right in front of their wives, have no shame and do not bother to hide their infidelity… let’s just say, Lydia should be smart about this situation. Mrs Ramaru is out of her blood. Mr Ramaru says Mrs Ramaru’s bark is bigger than her bite, but he clearly doesn’t know what a hurt and embarrassed woman is capable of doing. 

Lydia: “Tom, when it comes to this situation, you failed me”. 

Thando walks towards the boardroom. 

“Are they still in there?” Thando asks me. 
I nod my head. 
“This is not good”, Thando says. She seems scared. 

Mrs Ramaru walks towards the boardroom. I stand up immediately. I don’t even know why, but this is not going to end well. This is the kind of action that us warehouse employees miss out on? Yho! The entire office space is now on their feet too. Mrs Ramaru realises what’s going on.
She clicks her tongue and walks into the boardroom. 

“We booked this boardroom for a very important conference call. Please excuse us”, Mrs Ramaru says. The door is wide open. 

Lydia just takes a deep breath, packs her laptop bag and begins to walk out of the boardroom. Then she stops in her tracks, turns around and looks at Mrs Ramaru. 
Yhu ha ah! Lydia just walk out. But also, Lydia I am proud of you. 

“Pearl, if you want to fire me or address a particular PROFESSIONAL issue that you may have with me, I suggest you follow the correct channels. If you ever pull the stunt that you pulled this morning again, you will be hearing from my lawyers”, Lydia says. 

Mrs Ramaru is fuming! FUMING! 

“I hope I have made myself clear”, Lydia says then walks out of the boardroom. I follow her to our desk. We bump into Palesa on our way to our desk and she does not say anything to us. She just keeps walking. She is probably in the meeting that Mr and Mrs Ramaru are about to virtually host. 

…

It is lunch time and I meet with my union rep. I asked Lydia to organise a boardroom for me because I don’t know how to book a boardroom. She did so then showed me how to do it. Lydia is just drained today. I can understand why. She has a lot on her plate.

“So Portia, what exactly was said to you when you were moved to this team?” Skhalo asks me. 
“That I’ve been appointed to consult on behalf of the warehouse on a project that has been launched to implement a turnaround strategy for the company’s operations.” I tell him. 
“And what else?” Skhalo. 
“Only”, me. 
“Then Portia you need to keep diary entries of these things. Go to Palesa and ask Palesa to put on email what is expected of you in this role. Tell Palesa that you want an explicit job description, key performance indicators and role expectations and goals. She has to put it on email. Talk to her first then record the conversation on email and send it to her. If she never responds to you, then she has no leg to stand on to fire you or say you are not performing because you have nothing to perform against. In your email, be sure to note and record everything that was said to you when you were told to move up into this office”, Skhalo tells me. 
I nod my head. 
“Send the email to me before you send it out. I will proof-read it for you, okay?” Skhalo offers. 
“Thank you Skhalo”, I say.
He prepares to stand up then I say, “Before you go…” 
He sits down.
“A friend of mine is dating someone who is in senior management. What can they do to her?” I ask. 
“Well, HR has a policy that speaks to romantic relationships in the organization. They have stated that one cannot be in a romantic relationship with one’s direct report. For me, that goes out the window because Ramaru has his wife reporting into him. We have fought with HR multiple times to revisit that policy because clearly, it is not consistently applied. They sent me an email detailing what the purpose of the policy is: the romantic relationship should not impact the conducting of business. That’s the jist of it. So this friend of yours… if the man she is in a romantic relationship with is not her direct manager and their relationship is not interfering with their work, I’ll happily represent her if anyone in this company decides to take her to task for it”, Skhalo says.
I nod my head and say, “thank you, Skhalo”.

I get back to my desk and find Lydia and Palesa doing something on Lydia’s laptop. Palesa is sitting in my chair. 

“And then? Ubuyaphi?” Palesa asks me. 
Should I say lunch or should I say from a meeting? 
“Lunch”, I say.
“Kwaze kwamnandi. You even have time to take lunch. Some of us even forgot that lunch exists”, Palesa says. 

I should have gone with meeting. Also, lunch is a labour law right. People who choose to not exercise their right to an hour of lunch during working hours like to make it seem as if those of us who do simply don’t have enough to do. How is it my problem that she sits here all day and not eat? That’s not on me. 

“Palesa, may I have a minute of your time?” I say.
“Do I look like I’m playing with my fingers to you? Just because you have time for lunch, it doesn’t mean I have time for your random chats”, Palesa says. 

Why is this woman such a bitch? 

Lydia looks at me. 
“Lydia, will you email this to me? I am presenting to Blake and Pearl in ten minutes”, Palesa tells Lydia. 
“Sure thing”, Lydia. 

Palesa stands up and makes her way to her office. I follow her then she slams the door in my face. Bitch! Absolute bitch!

…

Lydia told me that I can go home at 4pm today. She would be working late because of something she has to prepare for Palesa and Blake. 

I was on the 4:30 bus and it was much quieter than the 5:30 bus. Today, I was able to fetch my child and cook for my family. I need to find a way to keep this job. I would rather deal with attitude and gossip and be at home for my family everyday than be working the hours I was working at the warehouse. 

“Nkosikazi, it is so nice to see you so happy and at home taking care of us. I like this new job of yours”, my husband says. 
“I’m the happy one. My bosses have their strange ways but shame, the working hours are better.” I tell him. 
“Does this mean we can go to the Eastern Cape in December as planned?” He asks me. 
“I’m sure we can. People at the offices go on the December break phela. But I’ll confirm with Palesa tomorrow and let you know.” I say. 
He smiles and nods his head. 

I get a call from Miles. His type definitely does not just disappear. 
“Hi Miles”, I answer his call. 
“Hello Portia. We need help in the inbound area please. I spoke to Palesa and she said tomorrow, you can definitely come work in the warehouse and help us. You will go back to your office next week Monday. You will also be working on Saturday, please. I will see you tomorrow at seven a.m. Have a good night”, he says then hangs up. 

I literally feel like screaming.