I took the job because it was just a few blocks from home. What a joy to walk to work, no taking a crowded bus, no sitting in traffic and being cut off by some inconsiderate driver.

The office was right on Broadway, near two sandwich shops and a drug store. What convenience! I’d be working in a two-story red brick building that had been given historic status. Its interior décor and furnishings of tans and browns created an official, yet relaxed atmosphere.

My desk was located next to a window and as I worked, I could watch the daily drift of pedestrians doing their shopping.  I thought this was going to be a really nice job. One that I would stay with for years to come. But no, on what seemed like a routine productive day at the office, something shattered the equilibrium.

The boss called us together and said:

“I hear that in some places of employment employees are using the company computers for personal use.” He turned to the left and right to view us, his dedicated staff.  “I don’t want anyone of my staff on the Internet. Do you all understand me?”

We looked back and forth at each other. It registered: No one is to be on the Internet.

The boss nodded his head, picked up his brief case and bid us farewell, he was on his way to an important meeting.

Quiet filled the room.  We looked at each other, “Does he really mean that?”  We shrugged and went back to work. We used the phone. We wrote things down on paper. We even used our own devices for work emails and photos. We tried to keep everything normal.  But we didn’t go on the Internet from the office computers.

We worked this way for days, for weeks, and then came the phone call.

“You what? Not there? How much work was done? None? This can’t be possible.” We heard panic in our boss’s voice.  He reached for his desktop computer to check on the work product for the month. “What? What the hell?” He slammed the phone down. He walked into the main room of the office. “Listen up! Please assure me that you have been working on the cases for our major client, please.”

We looked up from our desks and nodded our heads, sincerely assuring our superior that we had been diligently doing our jobs.

“Then why has none of the work been reported on the website?”

 A long silence filled the room. I felt it was my duty to speak up. I was the sort of employee who feels a sense of equality with the boss without seeming to be a threat. “I believe you told us a month ago not to use the Internet.”

The boss looked at me with an expression of incredulity. 

I didn’t mention that I had gone ahead and reported the work I had done on the client website.  I knew the boss did not mean a total avoidance of the Internet. He meant that we were not to use the desktop computers for personal use.  I had tried, from time to time, to impress upon my coworkers what the boss actually meant.  They told me that I was wrong.  They thought I was setting them up to get fired. They decided to take the boss for his word. They stayed off the Internet, never reporting the work they had done to the client through the client’s website, not even from their own devices.

Now we looked up at the man who had given us our paychecks. He tightened his fists and pounded the desk before him, “You morons have caused me to lose my biggest client! You’re all fired!”

That, unfortunately, and unfairly, included me.  I was sure the next job wouldn’t have such nice décor or be located so close to home. Maybe the boss would be a little smarter.