Joneses – 12.7 Job Description

Mary was getting dinner together when she heard a knock at the front door. To her surprise, her boss was standing on her porch. She had never known anyone’s boss to come to an employee’s house before and was immediately concerned about her employment in the mayor’s office. But, she was doing good work and knew there was no reason for alarm. Still, she couldn’t help the hesitant look that surely displayed across her face.

“Ernesto? What are you–I mean, do come in!”

She opened the door, and he stepped into the foyer.

“It’s exactly what I imagined,” he said with a smile. “It’s so you!”

“Why, thank you!”

She showed him to the sofa, and they sat.

“Ernesto…if you don’t mind skipping the pleasantries, I’m sure you can understand your sudden presence in my home is a bit alarming, right?”

He chuckled. “Yes, I do realize that, and I’m sorry for not calling first. I was in the park back there, and–well, you don’t care about any of that. I’ll get on with it…

“I don’t know if you’re gonna like this or not. I mean, it could be great for you or you could hate it. I hope you don’t hate it. That puts me back where I was before you came on!”

“Ernesto…”

He was never good at getting to the point. It was no wonder he needed help.

“Sorry. As you know, the mayor really does need a campaign team…”

Mary rolled her eyes and nodded.

“And as you’ve also realized, you spend more time helping the mayor with the campaign then you do the actual job you were hired for.”

“Mmm hmmmmm…”

“So, how about we make some semi-permanent changes to your role for now until things get back to normal?”

The way he talked made her blood pressure rise sometimes. He always had a way of getting to the point without actually saying what the point was. She waited to see if there was more before she pressed a bit harder.

“What does that mean, Ernesto?”

“Well…that means you’ll work on the campaign trail full time until the election is over, and then you can get back to the fundraising side.”

“That is quite a relief. I don’t enjoy being pulled away to do one thing but expected to do what I was pulled away from. So…the election isn’t anywhere near over. What will I call myself?”

“Uhhhhh…”

Clearly, he had no plan.

“Uhhhhh… You can call yourself…a…community organizer?”

“Hmmmmmmmmmmmm… I think I could get behind that!”