I push open the door and walk toward the reception desk. The entire space looks like a completely different world from the creepy basement. It has the usual office setup, clean and bright. If you used the outside entrance, like I did during my interview, you’d never guess the morgue is right next door.
“I have a meeting, Dr Lorelie Boise,” I tell the woman behind the desk.
She checks something on her screen. “Right. Mr. Zachary is in a meeting at the moment. Why don’t you take a seat, and I’ll call you when he’s free.”
I nod and lower myself into a chair. My shift starts at noon, and it’s only eleven fifteen. Plenty of time to wait for a scheduled meeting.
Rubbing my arms, I shiver. It feels like the cold from the morgue is bleeding through the walls. The receptionist glances over and gives an apologetic smile.
“Sorry about the temperature,” she says. “No matter how much we turn the heat up, it’s still freezing down here.”
I shiver and pull my jacket tighter. “I believe it.”
She smiles and keeps typing. “We’re hoping to move to the new block on the east side soon. We’ll finally have windows.”
She glances at her screen. “You can head in now. Left door down the hallway.”
“Thanks,” I say as I stand. No one comes out of the office, so I guess his last meeting was over the phone or on Zoom.
I knock and push the door open. Zachary Mansini sits behind the desk. He handled my interview when I first applied and was the one who essentially hired me. Knowing him already makes this a little easier.
He stands, shakes my hand, and gestures for me to sit. I do. He clicks something on his screen, then leans back with his arms folded.
“Can you tell me what’s going on?”
I wet my lips, trying to organize my thoughts. “Look, I didn’t want to come here, but with the new schedule, he’s gone too far.First it was the policy. Then the ‘playing wife’ remarks. And now he’s scheduled me for a twelve-hour shift on Sunday. I know the reputation he’s trying to give me, but assigning me a permanent twelve-hour shift on the only day I have with my son is…” I shake my head, the anger rising again. “It’s not right.”
Zachary narrows his eyes slightly. “Playing wife?”
I nod. “Mr. Murphy thinks me asking Dr. Abbott to cover an hour so I could go to a personal commitment was me ‘playing wife.’ I was supposed to pay Dr. Murphy back by covering one of his shifts, but the new policy wouldn’t allow it. So now I’m the bad guy.”
He tilts his head. “What new policy?”
My mouth falls open. “The one that says we’re not allowed to leave mid-shift unless it’s an approved emergency. Approved by Mr. Murphy, specifically. He also denied my request to switch shifts.”
Mr. Mansini turns to his computer and pulls something up. After a moment he says, “There’s no such policy. Nothing like that was sent here for approval.”
I shrug. “He never sent a notification or an email. He just… announced it.”
Mr. Mansini’s jaw tightens. He looks me straight in the eye. “I’m going to look into this.”
Relief washes over me so fast my shoulders sag.
He stands. “Can I ask you to keep this between us for now?”
I nod.
He shakes my hand again. “Thank you for informing me.”
I turn to leave, then pause. “I might have told him I was coming to HR.”
He bites his lip and looks down for a moment. “Can I ask you to take the day off? Paid.”
“Okay,” I say. I’m not about to turn down a paid day off.
“Thank you,” he adds.
I nod and walk out.
