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Chapter Eight
Two of Them
"Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening."
~ Psalm 104:23 ~
 he
day shift waited in a long line, each holding their time cards and eager to go home,
as their replacements arrived to work at Mullen-Overholt. These replacements were
the evening shift, which began at three and lasted till eleven at night.
Recently, one of the nursing assistants had quit, complaining of poverty level wages,
lack of affordable health insurance, and a heavy workload. Nevertheless, one employee
quit, and another was hired.
With a critical eye, Jerome examined the new nursing assistant from the top of his
neatly combed head to the toe of his polished white shoes, as if to find some hidden
flaw of the soul conspicuously tattooed across his new white uniform.
Julia Rogers, the nursing assistant for Room 3, watched from behind a stack of dingy
white towels. (Due to recent procedural changes implemented by the Co-Owner/Administrator
himself, all the clothing, towels, cloth diapers, etc., went into a common laundry
process, where everything was intermixed with soiled cloth diapers and bedding, to
come out in a dingy and smelly state. For this reason, the Director of Nursing, [DON],
implemented a procedural change of her own. She transferred the last of the residents
who were still using the cloth diapers to disposable adult diapers. Any money Jerome
had hoped to save by taking "shortcuts" with the laundry, was now spent
on more disposable diapers. Evelyn Saunders, the DON of Mullen-Overholt, always endeavored
to stay two steps ahead of her penny-pinching boss. Much of the time, when Jerome
made another change in the budget, he wound up spending more money in a less efficient
manner than before. No one envied Evelyn's job.)
"Absenteeism, is not, and will not, ever be tolerated," began Jerome in
his cold, detached voice. "When you call in sick, or come in late, someone else
has to fill in for a job you are getting paid for, Mr. Tucker," he declared
to the new nursing assistant. Jerome scowled when he saw Julia's pretty face peering
over the "clean" towels. Julia quickly moved her hands, as if to be hard
at work with something or other. "Smile at the visitors," continued Jerome,
"and remember to treat them courteously. This is a people business, Mr. Tucker.
Don't forget that. It's all about people," repeated Jerome, pounding his fist
on an imaginary platform before him. "Service is our top priority," he
concluded. During Jerome's speech, Mr. Tucker nodded and smiled in agreement to everything
Jerome said. To Mr. Tucker, Jerome sounded like someone who genuinely cared for his
residents. After Jerome walked away, Julia approached the new recruit. Mr. Tucker
was a white, middle-aged man, who wore thick glasses that magnified his eyes and
temples, giving an odd illusion of someone who was all eyeballs.
"My name's Julia," greeted the eavesdropper.
"I'm Louie Tucker," he replied, shaking Julia's outstretched hand.
"I see you've made it through orientation," smiled Julia, picking up an
armload of towels.
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