People Suck

Ye Olde Cotton Mill & Sweat Shop

Five years into working at Ye Olde Cotton Mill & Sweat Shop Edwina, one of my favorite employees came into my office and collapsed into the chair next to my desk. Chin down she looked at me with tear-filled eyes before totally breaking down.

"Eddy, what is it?" I asked genuinely concerned.

"I got to have my uterus out. I got tumors," she cried softly.

I took her hand. Edwina was already a grandmother, albeit a young one (she was 40) so I didn't think a hysterectomy would be that big a deal, but certainly tumors weren't good.

"What kind of tumors? Did they do a biopsy?"

Composing herself and squeezing my hand she whispered "It's the big C."

I was truly heartbroken for her. It was mid-November and we would soon be entering a slow period and the holidays were looming. It would be a tough time to be out of work, never mind being out of work with cancer.

"Do you want to go home?" I asked returning the hand squeeze.

"No, I got to keep my mind occupied," she replied, wiping her tears. "I'm just going to need time off now and again."

"Of course."

We stood, hugged, and she went back to work. I went to inform Jack and the plant owner that Edwina had cancer. Both were sympathetic, she'd worked for the company for 12 years and she was a very popular lady. Mr. Rick said that we would pay Edwina her while she was out recovering from her surgery, a very generous gesture.

Soon got around the plant about Edwina's condition. Charlotte and Judy organized a food drive so that Edwina wouldn't have to worry about Thanksgiving dinner. So much food was collected I'm pretty sure she could have fed half the county. Money was raised too, not a lot, but Cal the vice president matched the amount raised by the employees so in the end it was a decent sum.

Everyone felt pretty good about what we'd done as a team. We were a fairly small textile company, about 90 people on two shifts, but everyone pulled together for one of our own.

Just before Christmas Edwina had her surgery. Mr. Rick told her not to worry about hurrying back, the company would pay her while she was out. The important thing was that she get better.

The start of the new year is traditionally slow for textile companies, so Edwina's absence wasn't a big deal scheduling wise. In fact it was our usual policy to offer layoffs to our most senior personnel so that they could take about 4 weeks off (collecting unemployment). Some preferred to work so the offer was extended to less senior folks until we reached our staffing needs.

Mr. Rick decided that we would continue to pay Edwina during the slow period rather than put her out on unemployment since her wages were obviously more than a check from the state. I was proud to work for such a generous man.

February rolled around and we recalled everyone as planned, but Edwina said she still wasn't ready to come back. Perhaps we could lay her off a month? Mr. Rick said no, we would pay her another month if that's what she needed.

About that time Mandy, our Aflac rep came in to help me prepare for our annual employee insurance enrollment. We went down the list of employees and discussed who had what plan and what the rate increases would be. We came to Edwina and I noted she had a cancer policy.

"Well that came in handy," I said pointing to Edwina's name on the page. "I know cancer policies are usually a bad investment, but I'm glad she did it."

"Why?" asked Mandy.

"Because she has cancer," I replied, filling her in on the whole Thanksgiving dinner/paying her wages story.

Mandy frowned, pulled out another folder and read.

"She's never made a claim against it."

I was surprised and then again not surprised. I wasn't working with the most sophisticated people.

"She might have forgotten she has it, or she might not know how to proceed." I said.

"Do you have her number? We can call her together and get some money to her," Mandy offered.

I called Edwina's home and discovered she had gone to Georgia for the week. I left a message for her to call me as soon as she returned.

About four minutes later my phone rang; it was Edwina.

I put her on speaker phone and we began explaining how she was entitled to money from her cancer policy and all she had to do was give Mandy her bills and she would handle getting her reimbursed.

This was pretty much our expression.

"No, that's okay," Edwina said.

Mandy and I stared at each other.

"Eddy," Mandy said leaning into the microphone, "you've paid for this. It's okay to collect what's owed to you. It can really help with your expenses."

"Nooo," Edwina's distant voice replied "I don't want to do that just yet."

Our jaws dropped.

Edwina said she had to go, but thanks for trying to be helpful. She clicked off.

Mandy put her hand on my arm.

"She doesn't have cancer, Ian."

I was stunned. Then furious. Then stunned again. Mandy hugged me, gathered her papers and left saying she'd return the next day.

I walked into Mr Rick's office and closed the door. I explained to him what had just happened and the only conclusion that Mandy and I could draw.

"Can you find out if she had cancer or not?" he asked.

"No, HIPAA prevents me from knowing anything about her medical condition. But not filing against the cancer policy...she's stopping short of insurance fraud."

Mr. Rick pressed his finger tips together.

"Call her back to work," he said simply.

"She took our money!"

"We're not wrong for trying to do the right thing," he said calmly. "Call her back into work for Monday. If she refuses, terminate her." He moved some papers on his desk. "But she won't refuse."

Sure enough, he was right. Edwina returned to work on Monday.

Jack was beside himself and frankly so was I. He was able to exact a little revenge though; for the next year Edwina got the shittiest work in the plant. Jack reasoned that she's already been paid for it.

Oh, and the "big C" that she had? Cysts.

People suck.