No Cats Allowed

TWENTY-FOUR

Cassandra’s unpleasant behavior disconcerted me. I’d had no idea of the depth of her animosity toward me, nor did I understand the reason for it.

Lisa and Delbert exchanged an uneasy glance. Lisa said, “She’s bitter, Charlie. She’s been here for twenty years and, in her mind anyway, she keeps getting passed over for promotion. Apparently she applied for the director’s job when Peter was hired and obviously didn’t get it. Then, a few years ago, when Peter decided to appoint an associate director, he hired from outside. She never forgave him for that.”

“When the associate director left”—Delbert took up the thread—“the year after you came, I think it was, Charlie, she thought Peter would promote her then. But he decided not to fill the position because of budget issues. Of course, when Peter left so suddenly, she thought she’d be named the interim director.”

“She’s been nursing these grievances for years,” Lisa said. “I don’t think it’s really personal. She wouldn’t be happy with anybody in the position, because it’s not her who’s in it.” She shook her head. “The problem is, she can’t see that she isn’t being promoted because she doesn’t have the right people skills to be a manager at that level.”

“We’ve had problems with turnover in her department for years,” Delbert said. “Her staff doesn’t like her, and she’s rude to them all the time.”

“If she’s so unhappy here, why hasn’t she looked for another job?” I asked. “She might stand a better chance elsewhere.”

Delbert emitted a short bark of laughter. “She has looked, even gone for a few interviews, but nobody else will hire her. Can you imagine that she’s any more pleasant when she interviews than she is on a daily basis here?” He grimaced. “She just doesn’t get it.”

“Thank you for the background information,” I said. “I’m going to have to talk to her about her behavior, and it’s good to know the history. Now, on to other matters. I need to get up to speed on what’s going on in your departments. What I’d like is to have a meeting with each of you, separately, to go over your budgets, any personnel issues you might have, and discuss any concerns you and your staff have. I want to understand the workflow in your areas, too, so information on that will be helpful. This is the end of the week, and I’m not expecting you to pull everything together today. How about Wednesday?”

“That’s fine with me,” Lisa said. Delbert nodded.

“Excellent,” I said. “If you will, e-mail Melba and set up a time. I don’t know offhand what my schedule might be for Wednesday, but she will get it sorted out. Now, before we get back to work, is there anything you’d like to ask?”

“How detailed do you want the budget information to be?” Delbert asked. “I mean, I’ve got spreadsheets like you wouldn’t believe, thanks to Reilly, who wanted the same information presented seventeen different ways.” He snorted. “I think he did it just to be difficult.”

Lisa nodded. “I’ve never spent so much time on a budget in my life.”

Was Reilly being purposely difficult? I wondered. Or was he hoping to find discrepancies, evidence of financial malfeasance? I kept those thoughts to myself when I answered.

“I’d like to see your most recent figures, with expenses to date for the year, plus, let’s say, the last three years. Can you pull that together by Wednesday?”

Both Lisa and Delbert nodded.

“Thanks very much.” I rose. “I know that, with your help, we’ll get through the next few months in good fashion. I’ll be on the search committee for the new director, and I’m hopeful we’ll find someone outstanding.”

“That would be a nice change,” Delbert said. “See you later.” He loped off, and Lisa, after a quick smile, followed him out of the room.

I stared at the wall for a moment. I didn’t relish my next task, but I couldn’t put it off. I had to talk to Cassandra and let her know I was not going to tolerate her behavior. I had dealt with recalcitrant employees before, and though I didn’t like confrontations, I also wouldn’t shrink from one, especially in cases like this.

I picked up my briefcase and wended my way through the public areas to the staff-only section in the southeast corner of the building. The librarians’ offices formed a row against the outside wall. The wall of each office facing the common area was floor-to-ceiling glass, and that allowed the occupants to see the activity in the staff cubicles and work areas. I spotted Cassandra, phone to her ear, and I headed for her office. I smiled and greeted staff members as I passed.

I knocked on Cassandra’s closed door, then opened it without waiting for an invitation to enter. I was determined to have the upper hand and keep it. If this action put her off balance, all the better.

Cassandra glared when I walked in.

“I’ll have to call you back,” she said, then hung up the phone.

I stopped in front of her desk and stared down at her.

“Forrest Wyatt asked me to serve as interim director of this library,” I said. “I agreed to do it, and however long I hold this position, I expect complete cooperation from every single staff member in the library. I will not tolerate anything else, and I will not tolerate the kind of behavior you exhibited a few minutes ago. If there are any further incidents like that, then you and I will be sitting down with Penny Sisson in HR and deciding what action to take. I will be going through all the personnel files and examining performance appraisals, staff turnover, and budgets in minute detail. I will not tolerate any obstacles.”

Cassandra looked shell-shocked, and I had to wonder whether anyone had ever stood up to her bullying behavior. I doubted Peter had. He shrank from confrontation much more than I did and was inclined to let problems fester until they became worse. I wasn’t fond of confrontation, either, but in my management roles in Houston I’d had to be tough on occasion.

“I will be meeting with you on Wednesday to go over your budget, your staff, and any ongoing issues in your department that need attention. Please e-mail Melba to arrange a time. I don’t know yet what my schedule for that day will be, but I expect to see your appointment with me on it by the end of the day. Is that clear?”

Cassandra nodded, then opened her mouth to speak.

“I don’t believe there’s anything else I have to say at the moment, and I know you have work that needs attention, so I will let you get on with it. Have a good day.” With that, I turned and walked out of her office.

I realized I had forgotten to close her door behind me when I went in, and obviously some of the staff in nearby cubicles had overheard everything. I was aggravated with myself for the lapse, but also amused to see the miming of applause from several people as I walked by.

During the time it took for me to wend my way through the library and back to my office in the other building, I worked on cooling my temper down. I despised bullying in any form, and that’s what Cassandra was basically: a bully. She used her rudeness and blatant contempt for other people to bulldoze her way through things. When she didn’t get what she wanted, she had no idea why she didn’t get it. I had dealt with her kind before in the workplace, and they had all moved on. I could be unbelievably stubborn over some things, and this was one of them. She would not persist in this behavior. She would either learn to behave properly and professionally, or she could find a job elsewhere.

Back in the office, I found Melba filing and Diesel lolling on the carpet near her. “How’s it going?” I asked. There was no sign of Kanesha and her department. The campus policeman remained on duty near the front door, though.

Diesel chirped happily at the sight of me and got up to come rub against my legs. I scratched his head, and he meowed in pleasure.

“Not bad,” Melba said. “Fortunately the idiot got interrupted before he could dump all the files on the floor, only about a third of them.” She waved a hand to indicate the cleared floor. “I’ve got most of them sorted, and I’m filing them. I should be done by lunchtime.”

“Good,” I said. “I’m going to be working on the files in my office.”

“No need.” Melba smiled. “I started in there and got everything sorted and filed. I printed a copy of your schedule for today and next week, and it’s on your desk. The IT person has set things up so you can access all the files you need, and given you access to Peter’s and Reilly’s e-mail accounts.”

“I’ll be drowning in information,” I said wryly. “Speaking of which, I’d like to take a look at the personnel files we have on the department heads.” I told her about the meetings I wanted set up for next week.

“You’re in luck,” she said. “Those files were in the group that the idiot didn’t get to. I’ll pull them and bring them in to you in a minute. There’s fresh coffee, if you’d like some.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I could use some caffeine.” I set down my briefcase and was about to head to the kitchen for coffee when Melba stopped me.

“No, you go on and get to work. You’ve got a lot to do,” she said with a smile. “I’ll bring you some coffee.”

“That would be great. You really are the best.” I knew better than to argue with her. “Come on, Diesel, we’d better get to work.” I picked up the briefcase and, with the cat beside me, strode into my office.

Melba had indeed worked wonders while I was in the library staff meeting. The pile of papers I’d left on the desk was gone, filed expertly, and the bookshelves looked neat and more orderly than I’d left them. Diesel crawled under the desk and stretched out near my feet while I got comfortable at the computer and started looking through e-mail.

Melba came in a couple of minutes later with my coffee, and I decided I should tell her about my meeting with Cassandra. She chuckled when I finished recounting the one-sided conversation.

“Good for you,” she said. “It’s about dang time somebody told that witch off. Peter never would do anything about her.” She sniffed. “She should have been fired years ago, but nobody would stand up to her.”

“I don’t know whether it will do any good,” I said after a sip of coffee. “I told her I expected to see an appointment with her on my calendar by the end of the day. Let me know if she doesn’t comply. I’m not going to let up on her.”

“Will do,” Melba said. “I’ll be back in a minute with those files.”

I decided I had better e-mail Penny Sisson about the confrontation with Cassandra. Better to have it documented, because I wouldn’t put it past Cassandra to file a complaint with HR against me. I also wanted staff turnover information from HR, and I would compare that to what the department heads gave me.

I spent about ten minutes composing my message to Penny, during which time Melba came in and deposited three files on my desk. I nodded my thanks and kept working on the e-mail. I read it through a couple of times, tweaked it a little, and finally sent it.

A glance at the printed schedule Melba provided made me happy. No meetings the rest of the day today. On Monday morning, however, I was scheduled to meet with the president and the deans of the various schools for two hours. After that, I had a meeting with the vice president in charge of finance, no doubt to discuss the budget and the efforts to get it back on track. The rest of the afternoon was clear. There were a few meetings the rest of the week, but Wednesday was blank. No problem about meeting with the department heads in one-on-ones then.

In light of my Monday schedule I decided I had better spend the rest of the morning reviewing the budget. Dealing with budgets had never been anything I enjoyed, but they were a necessary evil.

By the time the lunch hour rolled around, I had a headache and blurry vision. Diesel had remained mostly quiet while I worked. Occasionally he went to Melba’s office but he spent a fair amount of time asleep under the desk by my feet.

When I told him we were going home for lunch, he perked up and meowed. “I agree,” I said. I left my briefcase. I had no plans to make this a working lunch.

I stopped to tell Melba we were headed out.

“I’ll be going in a few minutes myself,” she said. “I’ll make sure the offices are locked. See you in about an hour.”

Diesel and I headed down the hall to the back of the building. Though the skies outside remained gray and the wind had picked up a bit, there was no rain yet. Diesel ambled toward the car ahead of me, and I glanced at it and stopped as if stuck to the pavement.

The windshield was shattered.