Chapter 28 Bardy #2
“Tay?” Jan prompts. Bardy sees that Jonathan is looking much more focused, has a pad out, and is making notes. Bardy does the same. Team Tay.
Tay begins, a little croaky, but she is no longer shaking, “I would like to ask Jonathan, did I ask you to give the team extra Excel training?”
“Yes, but it’s not as easy—”
“Did I ask you to explain to the team about my absences due to attending college? Training that is required by law.”
Jonathan risks it. “No, I think you might be misremembering that.”
Tay throws Bardy a helpless look.
“Go on, Tay,” he says quietly.
She takes a breath. “Are my college and work records good?”
Jonathan looks more confident, “Well, as to that, you have been doing well, but of course, there are the incidents with a colleague which you have now admitted to, which led to this disciplinary hearing.”
Tay’s voice rises with her level of frustration, “But that’s because she called me—”
There is a knock on the door. They all turn. A young woman stands in the doorway. “Yes, Angie?” Jan asks crossly.
“I’m sorry, but this woman has—”
Pia peeps past Angie. She looks tiny, dwarfed by the younger woman. “I am so sorry to interrupt. Normally, I wouldn’t dream of doing this.” As she steps forward, she looks both hesitant and embarrassed. “It’s just I am here for Tay. I have something she might need.”
She sounds like a mom who has forgotten to give a child their sports uniform.
“Can’t it wait?” Jan asks, clearly irritated. She glances at her phone.
Nettle green deepening as if in shadow.
Jonathan just stares at Pia, slack-jawed.
So does Bardy, but for completely different reasons.
What is she up to?
“It is just that Tay did mention that she can present evidence in this . . . uh . . . meeting. Have I got that right?”
“Yes,” Jan says briefly.
“And I thought she might need this.” She has a sheet of paper in her hand.
“Well, fine, give it to her, then,” Jan snaps.
Pia limps into the room, wincing in pain.
“Pia! Are you okay?” Bardy is on his feet. So is Jonathan. As Pia clutches at the tabletop for support, Jonathan pulls out a chair for her.
“Thank you so much. Do you mind?” she asks Jan.
“What?” Jan is thrown.
“Would it be alright if I sat down?
“Of course,” Jan says to the woman who is grimacing in pain.
Pia sinks into the seat and looks earnestly at Jan and Jonathan.
“I do know that this is very unorthodox. This is a very important meeting. Tay did ask if I could come too. I think she really wanted me here for moral support. She’s very young, you know.
But Bardy did explain it could only be one of us. ”
Now they look like Tay’s anxious parents.
“But since I’m here now, might I stay? Or I will go if you really think that’s best.” Pia tries to rise.
“Well, I think we’re nearly finished,” Jonathan concedes. And Pia beams at him, sinking back into her chair. Bardy suspects Jonathan sees this family reunion as the end of his questioning. Plus, Jonathan is still staring at Pia in open admiration.
Did he look like that?
“Well, alright, but please can we get back to the subject we are discussing?” Jan insists. She nods at Angie, who closes the door.
“Jonathan, please take down this lady’s full name for the minutes.”
Jonathan sits and looks at Pia, head tilted inquiringly.
“I am Pia . . .” Then comes a surname that is guttural and completely incomprehensible. She smiles blandly at Jonathan. “Normal spelling,” she says helpfully.
Jonathan looks like a confused sheep.
Jan has clearly had enough. “Tay, please continue with your questions. Jonathan, make sure you get all of this down. If you can.”
Tay has now stopped staring at Pia and is reading what Pia handed her. Bardy pushes his notes closer to Pia so she can catch up on what has happened so far.
Tay then reads her next question. “Jonathan, did I ask you whether it was okay for Karen to take over my relationship management of Mrs. Willis?”
As she asks this, Pia is quickly scanning Bardy’s notes.
“You may have mentioned it, but you are the newest member of an experienced team, and as such I would hope that you would be grateful for any help that is offered.”
“But am I still her contact?” Tay asks, and Bardy thinks she looks tearful. Sounds almost pleading. He had hoped Pia’s appearance might have given her a boost.
Jonathan checks something on his laptop. “Yes, you are still her relationship manager,” he admits.
Tay starts to cry. Quietly at first and then with noisy sobs, covering her face in her hands. Bardy had no idea Mrs. Willis meant so much to her.
Pia strokes Tay’s back.
Jan looks again at her phone and then tries to pin a sympathetic expression to her face. “Perhaps we should leave it there for today . . .” she begins.
Pia nods sympathetically at her, still patting Tay. “Yes, perhaps we should. We could come back tomorrow and start all over again.”
From the look on Jan’s face, Bardy is sure she is horrified by this prospect and that she is mentally reviewing her diary and where else she needs to be. She clearly thought this meeting would last no more than half an hour.
Tay has stopped sobbing now, but still has her head low. She mumbles something, and Pia leans in to hear. Tentative but helpful, she says, “Tay suggests maybe if I were to read her questions for her, then we could get this all sorted out quickly?”
It is only then that it strikes Bardy that he has never seen Tay sob like this.
What was it Pia had written on that piece of paper?
Tay, head still down, pushes the questions over to Pia.
“Yes, well, thank you. Let’s try and wrap this up and not cause Tay any more distress,” Jan agrees.
Pia sits up straight in her chair. “Jonathan,” she begins, “if, as you have just confirmed, Taylor Drakos was the relationship manager for Mrs. Willis, why would you tell her she could not contact her?”
Jonathan looks confused. His brain is not catching up with the change happening in front of him.
“Well I thought . . . Karen . . . um . . . Mrs. Noble said . . .”
“Jonathan, we have established that Taylor Drakos is Mrs. Willis’s relationship manager. Can you explain why Mrs. Karen Noble appears to have taken over the account with no reference to anyone else in the company? She is neither Taylor Drakos’s line manager nor the designated relationship manager.”
“Well, she is really experienced—”
“So, for example, should Mrs. Noble decide to access, say, my details, or anyone else’s details on your CRM system, she would be able to do so, and contact them, and nobody would be any the wiser?”
“Well, that wouldn’t happen.”
Pia pauses. “But that is exactly what has happened.” She turns briefly to Bardy. “Please make sure you are making comprehensive notes of this, Mr. Shakespeare.”
He starts scribbling even more furiously. He says under his breath, “We’re very formal today.” There is the tiniest twitch by Pia’s mouth.
Oh, she’s enjoying this.
Jonathan’s large glasses are starting to slip down his nose.
Pia continues, “Mrs. Noble said Mrs. Willis wasn’t happy. Obviously, she made a record of that complaint against Taylor Drakos. This would be company policy as outlined in your published statutes. Could we see a record of that?”
“Well, it was just a conversation . . . she said she wasn’t happy.”
“But surely Mrs. Noble will have recorded such a serious complaint, and you would have noted the reporting of this to you? I am correct in believing that would be following company protocol?”
“Well, it wasn’t quite like that . . . it was . . . well, we tried to keep it informal. Not make a big deal of it.” Jonathan seems to find inspiration. “It was to help Tay . . .”
Bardy feels rather than sees Tay flinch.
“We often try to deal with things informally so that they don’t get blown out of proportion.”
“Ah, I see. Have you made a note of that point, Mr. Shakespeare?”
“Yes,” Bardy says. He almost adds, “M’lud.”
“Jonathan, when Taylor Drakos asked you to contact Mrs. Willis to confirm that she was indeed dissatisfied with the service she provided, did you do so?”
Jonathan shakes his head.
“Why was that?”
“Well, Karen, I mean Mrs. Noble said—”
“We seem to be hearing a lot of what Mrs. Noble says. One would almost imagine she was in charge here.” Pia looks directly at Jan and leaves that hanging for some moments.
Jan stares back, the question Who the hell are you? written like a neon sign above her head. She knows she has been outmaneuvered. She said Pia could stay. She agreed she could ask Tay’s questions.
Pia turns away, “Jonathan . . .”
He jumps.
“I would now like to take you back to the beginning of this complaint process. When someone makes a complaint, isn’t it company policy that the first recourse is for this to be dealt with informally so that things do not escalate? Mr. Shakespeare, could I ask you to read back over your notes?”
Bardy is on it: “. . . we often try to deal with things informally so that they don’t get blown out of proportion.”
Tay looks up briefly. “Yeah, he said that.” She nods at Jonathan, then ducks her head down again.
Jonathan is sweating now.
“Did you, in fact, try to resolve this informally?”
“It just wouldn’t have worked. Tay would only have sworn at her again.”
“Yet, today we have seen that Taylor Drakos is prepared to apologize for her language, despite”—Pia flashes a look of ice at Jan—“having the provocation of being bullied and left unprotected as a vulnerable young person by those whose responsibility it is to care for her.”
“You don’t know she was bullied.” Jonathan is getting desperate. Bardy is pleased to see that Jan is looking horrified. Deep nettle green now. Almost the color of ivy. He hopes she realizes much of this is her fault—however busy she has been, Tay deserved better.
“I just don’t think it would have worked,” Jonathan declares in desperation.
“So, the policy of informal conflict resolution as laid down by the company that you are employed by does apply to the other 5,043 employees around the UK and Ireland, but in your case, you can implement that policy at your discretion?”
“It’s not like that.”
“Isn’t it?”
“Did you find Taylor Drakos crying in the corridor, and did she tell you that Mrs. Noble had said to her that her mother was a piece of shit and that she might not know who her dad was, but anyone could see who her mother was?”
Bardy sees Pia place her hand on Tay’s back as she says this. He also watches Jan bow her head. So she should.
“She could have made it up, to get back at . . . Mrs. No—”
Pia doesn’t so much as cut across him as mow him down.
“Why would anyone willingly tell another human being such a personal and hurtful thing unless they were desperate and needing help?”
Jonathan looks anywhere except at Pia or Tay.
“Jonathan, do you ever use social media when assessing the suitability of a candidate?”
“What?” Jonathan looks totally confused by this change of direction. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”
“I will repeat the question. Is it company policy for HR to use social media? By which I mean information that is in the full public domain.”
“Well, no. I mean, yes. It’s quite a contentious area.” Jonathan seems to be regaining some confidence now that they are back in the heartland of HR. “It would only be used in exceptional circumstances.”
“Such as?”
“If there was real concern that someone was likely to damage the company’s reputation, or if it was extreme views or behavior.”
“Like bullying?”
“Well, I mean, I don’t know . . .”
“But isn’t bullying considered gross misconduct worthy of instant dismissal?”
“Uh . . . yes, I suppose.”
“It is.”
Bardy is shocked to hear Jan speak.
She adds, “May I ask what you are getting at?”
“You may,” Pia replies more pleasantly. She turns to Jan.
“A cursory search of Mrs. Noble’s social media revealed that she was dismissed from her previous post for bullying, five years ago.
She obviously will not have revealed that to you, but even a rudimentary interrogation of her past employment would have exposed it.
In addition, she was happy to post her views about her previous company online, and the thread of comments revealed the reason, and also her quite illuminating opinions of those who stood up to her. I shall be sending you a link.”
Jan looks confused. “How do you—”
“I already have your email addresses,” Pia assures her.
Finally, Jan asks Pia the question that Bardy knows has been drilling into her brain for the past fifteen minutes. “Who are you?”
At this point, Tay looks up. “She’s my friend.”
Pia grins and squeezes Tay’s hand briefly. “I sure am, lovely.”
Pia turns to Jan and Jonathan. “This is what we require. Firstly, a full investigation into Tay’s allegation of bullying against Mrs. Noble.
This must include anonymous testimony, thereby protecting other members of the team who Mrs. Noble may also be bullying.
Should the outcome be as we expect, it will be up to you to deal with Mrs. Noble as you see fit.
Tay, however, will require a written apology from the company and that this spurious complaint be removed from her record.
She will also reengage with Mrs. Willis as her rightful relationship manager.
HR will implement further Excel training for the team, and will communicate in a clear and open way what the law is regarding young people attending college and why the company supports this further education. ”
Jan just nods. Bardy thinks she doesn’t have any other option.
She has stopped looking at her phone. He has the first glimmer of hope that this woman will do right by Tay. Nettle green. Red ocher. Complementary colors.
Jonathan, on the other hand, looks like he would like someone to shoot him.
Pia goes to rise. She hands Jan and Jonathan each a card.
“You may not have heard of me, but you will certainly have heard of my firm. I am here today as Tay’s friend.
However, if I hear that as a result of today’s meeting, Tay is subjected to any emotional abuse or discrimination, then I will be back, not only as her friend, but as her lawyer.
“Shall we?” she says to Tay and Bardy.
As Pia heads to the door, her limp has completely disappeared.
A bloody miracle.