Jessica admired her new pedicure. She hadn’t slept for a week. Her life had taken a dramatic turn. Ten million dollars! She would never have to work again! She had been dreaming all week about what she was going to do with all that money. After her lawyer took forty percent, and taxes, she had about five million left. Her attorney advised that she open an account in the Cayman Islands so she had already booked the best room in the casino. And best of all, Nick was finally leaving his wife to move in with her. “Oh, what a great life we will have,” she thought, as she poured another Margarita.

Perry Johnson, Esq., lit a fine cigar and poured a glass of the best Cognac and sat back in his leather tufted chair and admired the fine art on his office wall. “You rang the bell!” exclaimed his partner, “This puts us on the map. I think you may be up for trial lawyer of the year.” “Yes,” said Perry as the pleasant buzz from the Cognac coursed through his body, “I think we need to increase our advertising budget. We’ll get a good write up in Lawyer’s Weekly, and we can start doing more seminars at the Trial Attorney’s association. That will up the referrals.” He took another puff and browsed through the magazine off his credenza entitled, European Villas.

Jack slumped in the chair in his den, set down the verdict and took his reading glasses off. Jack hadn’t slept for a week. His hair had turned from gray to white and the bags under his eyes were pronounced. He drifted back to the day 40 years ago when his father taught him to drive a truck. Jack had worked long days for years to build the business up. He always had believed that trucking, being a service business, depended on having good hard working people and treating them right. He was on a first name basis with all his drivers and employees and often spent his afternoons milling around and chatting with them. He was careful to praise them publicly whenever the opportunity presented itself. When he had to correct one, he always did it privately and in a way to preserve their dignity. He thought his employees looked at him as a grandfatherly figure, and most of them did and respected him. They looked forward to his visits and beamed whenever they were the target of his praise.

He remembered that day in 2008 when the stock market crashed, freight volumes dropped by 25 percent followed by a ten percent decrease in rates. He had done something he had never had to do in his life; lay offs. Jack hated it, but did what he had to do. He remembered the sleepless nights and the looks on their faces. He remembered the tears and hugs. He had paid as much severance pay as the company could afford, even though his attorneys advised that they could collect unemployment and he didn’t have to. He had hated this, but had he not shrunk his company, he would’ve gone broke and everyone would have lost their jobs. It was like cutting off your arm to save your body.
He had lain off a lot of good hard working people. He thought of the days of debating who it should be. He thought about the single working mothers and their children struggling even with a job. He thought about many calls he made trying to help the people get other jobs. Most of the people he laid off went away quietly, except for Jessica and Nick. They had a tantrum, cursed him and refused to accept any severance or sign any releases. The shouts, tears and the look on their faces haunted him. He had hoped to bring most of them back when the economy recovered. He had never experienced such a bad recession or such loss of money in the business. The economy was better but not great. But after surviving the recession, he thought he could handle anything; at least until last week.

Ten million dollars! “For what?” he asked himself for the hundredth time. She wasn’t hurt, but a lot of good hard working people will be, he worried as he poured another glass of bourbon. Things said at trial swirled over and over in his mind. “I can’t believe how Jessica lied,” he thought. “I tried to help Jessica. I talked to her many times about her personal financial problems. I loaned her money when she needed it. I played with her children at the company picnic. I paid her tuition to get her associates degree. I had no idea she and Nick were having an affair. I just can’t believe she testified that I knew that Nick was harassing her. She stated under oath that I told her that as a woman she would know how to handle him. Nick backed her up. Nick had testified that he did continue to bother her after his wife learned of their affair and they broke up. They brought in a psychiatrist to testify that she had chronic depression and anxiety as a result of being laid off. Her lawyer said that her layoff was retaliation for her harassment complaints. Her lost wages and medical bills totaled $80,000. He told the jury that I had to be punished with punitive damages to set an example, to deter me from discriminating against employees and to deter others. He called me a rich, heartless chauvinist. He remembered the harsh glares of the jury. Even though they lied, they certainly did deter me. He had good relationships with his employees and had never purchased employer’s liability insurance.

As he took another drink, he thought about the 500 employees that depended on him. He thought about his two children who worked in the family business and had never worked anywhere else. He thought about his wife and grandchildren. He thought about the discussion last week with his accountants and bankers. He suddenly felt the full weight of his years and responsibilities as his shoulders sank into the chair. A tear ran down out of the corner of his eye. It was over, he thought as he rubbed his temples.

A month later, Jack slumped to the floor, as he was explaining the bad news to his staff. The ambulance raced to the office as the trucks made their way back to the terminal for the last time.

Jessica got off the plane from the Caymans alone. Her eyes were red from crying and her head hurt. “I can’t believe Nick, wanted half the money!” she thought, “He said that he had given up a lot by leaving his family that he helped her at trial and he should have his fair share.”

A lady sat in Perry Johnson, Esq.’s office crying. She had just been laid off.

Copyright 2011, Tom Kretsinger, Jr.