little thing, for instance?”
“Well”—I thought for a minute—“I took one two-week vacation in eight years, and I lost my job because of it.”
“There must be more to it than that,” David responded, shocked.
“No, not really. It was kind of a perfect storm of horrific timing. I’d worked fifty hours a week for this company for almost twenty years. The last six of them I’d earned my MBA at night, and I was completely exhausted. On top of that, my sister had an awful time with cancer and she’d been hospitalized several times. I took a few days off and went home to be with the family a couple of times when that happened. After she died, and I finished my MBA, I decided I needed to take my first two-week vacation in years. I had plenty of vacation time accrued, but my timing sucked.” David’s eyes never moved from my face as I continued.
“My company had hired a new outside director a couple of levels above me, and he began his job while I was out. This new director had a sidekick he liked to work with, and the only way he could bring the sidekick into the company was by getting rid of an existing manager. Someone told me, months later, that the new director said of me when he started, ‘If we can do without her for two weeks, we can probably do without her entirely.’ So in the next round of lay-offs, they let me go. After almost twenty years.”
“Oh, hon.” David reached for my hand. “Jeez, I had no idea. Did you fight it? Did anybody stand up for you?”
“It happened in a ‘right to work’ state, so my lawyer said the company could get rid of anybody anytime. ‘They can fire you if they didn’t like your earrings this morning,’ is the way he put it. Rumors of additional lay-offs scared everyone, so none of my coworkers wanted to make waves about me. I can understand it. Everybody was terrified of losing their job. I hated the whole situation, but I could understand it. Anyway”—I shook my head to clear it—“I just mentioned that example to show how you can do the littlest thing, like take an approved, much-needed vacation, and bring your whole world crashing down. So maybe it makes sense that, once in a while, the Universe compensates by dropping a gift in your lap for no reason.”
David continued holding my hand, stroking it with his thumb. “You’re something else, Roz. On the surface you’re all busy and happy and nutty and underneath . . . wow.”
“Ahhhhh, everybody’s like this. ‘Tears of a Clown,’ especially when I’ve had a couple of glasses of wine. It’s really good wine, by the way,” I said, emptying my glass.
My comment started David talking about his overtime tasks at the winery, and eventually our dinners came. Just delicious. It had been years since I’d eaten such excellent spinach pie. We passed on dessert, and when our decaf arrived, David launched into his surprise.
“You’ll never guess what I bought today,” he said.
“Your new grape vines?”
“Nope. Two tickets for Anything Goes on the Thursday night of our Manhattan weekend. Friday was sold out.”
“Oh, my gosh, David. How wonderful! I’ve read such good reviews of that show, and I’ve always wanted to see it!” I jumped out of my seat, ran over to David’s side of the booth, threw my arms around him, and gave him an enthusiastic kiss, much to the amusement of our fellow diners.
“And,” he continued, beaming, “I’ve made us some reservations for a nice dinner beforehand, at the Algonquin Hotel.”
My arms dropped slowly to my side. “The Algonquin? What made you think of the Algonquin?”
“Is that a problem? I thought you mentioned it from your Christmas trip to your sister’s. Didn’t you like it? That restaurant is very close to the Broadway theaters and it’s one of those historic hotels you’re always talking about.”
“The Algonquin is fine,” I said slowly. “It’s lovely. You just surprised me, that’s all. How thoughtful of you, David.” I
“Well”—I thought for a minute—“I took one two-week vacation in eight years, and I lost my job because of it.”
“There must be more to it than that,” David responded, shocked.
“No, not really. It was kind of a perfect storm of horrific timing. I’d worked fifty hours a week for this company for almost twenty years. The last six of them I’d earned my MBA at night, and I was completely exhausted. On top of that, my sister had an awful time with cancer and she’d been hospitalized several times. I took a few days off and went home to be with the family a couple of times when that happened. After she died, and I finished my MBA, I decided I needed to take my first two-week vacation in years. I had plenty of vacation time accrued, but my timing sucked.” David’s eyes never moved from my face as I continued.
“My company had hired a new outside director a couple of levels above me, and he began his job while I was out. This new director had a sidekick he liked to work with, and the only way he could bring the sidekick into the company was by getting rid of an existing manager. Someone told me, months later, that the new director said of me when he started, ‘If we can do without her for two weeks, we can probably do without her entirely.’ So in the next round of lay-offs, they let me go. After almost twenty years.”
“Oh, hon.” David reached for my hand. “Jeez, I had no idea. Did you fight it? Did anybody stand up for you?”
“It happened in a ‘right to work’ state, so my lawyer said the company could get rid of anybody anytime. ‘They can fire you if they didn’t like your earrings this morning,’ is the way he put it. Rumors of additional lay-offs scared everyone, so none of my coworkers wanted to make waves about me. I can understand it. Everybody was terrified of losing their job. I hated the whole situation, but I could understand it. Anyway”—I shook my head to clear it—“I just mentioned that example to show how you can do the littlest thing, like take an approved, much-needed vacation, and bring your whole world crashing down. So maybe it makes sense that, once in a while, the Universe compensates by dropping a gift in your lap for no reason.”
David continued holding my hand, stroking it with his thumb. “You’re something else, Roz. On the surface you’re all busy and happy and nutty and underneath . . . wow.”
“Ahhhhh, everybody’s like this. ‘Tears of a Clown,’ especially when I’ve had a couple of glasses of wine. It’s really good wine, by the way,” I said, emptying my glass.
My comment started David talking about his overtime tasks at the winery, and eventually our dinners came. Just delicious. It had been years since I’d eaten such excellent spinach pie. We passed on dessert, and when our decaf arrived, David launched into his surprise.
“You’ll never guess what I bought today,” he said.
“Your new grape vines?”
“Nope. Two tickets for Anything Goes on the Thursday night of our Manhattan weekend. Friday was sold out.”
“Oh, my gosh, David. How wonderful! I’ve read such good reviews of that show, and I’ve always wanted to see it!” I jumped out of my seat, ran over to David’s side of the booth, threw my arms around him, and gave him an enthusiastic kiss, much to the amusement of our fellow diners.
“And,” he continued, beaming, “I’ve made us some reservations for a nice dinner beforehand, at the Algonquin Hotel.”
My arms dropped slowly to my side. “The Algonquin? What made you think of the Algonquin?”
“Is that a problem? I thought you mentioned it from your Christmas trip to your sister’s. Didn’t you like it? That restaurant is very close to the Broadway theaters and it’s one of those historic hotels you’re always talking about.”
“The Algonquin is fine,” I said slowly. “It’s lovely. You just surprised me, that’s all. How thoughtful of you, David.” I
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