Page 40 of Fierce-Hyde

Oh boy, it was going to be one ofthosecalls.

“What’s going on, Mom?”

“I got in trouble at work,” her mother said.

She sighed. Not the first time this happened.

“What happened?”

“I posted something on social media that maybe I shouldn’t have. I vented about my day because I was annoyed.”

She ground her teeth. No matter how much she told people not to do that, they did it anyway.

That was how Lena got terminated.

She thought she was doing a great thing and posted a project she was working on with her students.

It would have been great if she hadn’t had some of her students in the picture without parental consent.

Those were the strict rules.

One of the kids was in a domestic violence shelter with their mother, trying to stay away from their father and in a new school.

It created a huge issue and got the picture taken down immediately.

Thankfully the teacher was aware of the situation and noticed the picture posted within twenty minutes since she was tagged.

Because someone reported Lena, they were forced to terminate her employment to avoid potentially horrendous consequences.

“You shouldn’t do that, Mom.”

“I know,” her mother said. “I didn’t give details. I only vented about an annoying day at work and being around people.”

“But you probably have your employer listed, right?”

Her mother sniffled some more and blew her nose. “I did. I removed that now, but it doesn’t matter. They gave me a written warning. They said I’m free to post what I want but not when it’s a poor reflection on the business and that the next time it happens I’ll be terminated.”

“Are you at work right now?” she asked.

“I’m sitting in my car. This happened yesterday and people know and it’s embarrassing on top of it. I hate being talked about.”

“Then you shouldn’t have done that,” she said sternly.

“I thought you’d be more supportive. If you’d been around more, I could have vented to you, but you’ve been busy and I wasn’t thinking.”

“Mom,” she said. “Don’t blame me for this. You’re an adult who has to take responsibility for your actions.”

“I know,” her mother whined. “Maybe it’s time I look for another job.”

“You’ve only been there six months,” she argued. “It won’t look good if you keep leaving your jobs so quickly.”

“But it will look worse if I get fired,” her mother said.

“Then don’t do anything to get fired,” she said. Why was it so hard to say these things? “Have you had any other problems there? With your work performance?”

“No,” her mother said. “I like my job and they seem happy with what I’m doing. They even told me so, but that doesn’t excuse me doing what I did.”

That was something at least.

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