Flirting with the HR Girl

Chapter 27

The first half of the training was nothing new to Jennifer and shouldn't have been to anyone in the store. It was basic sexual harassment training: don't say gross stuff, don't do gross stuff, and don't make someone else do grow stuff to get something they want from you. It was surprisingly not as uncomfortable as Jennifer envisioned it to be with Cynthia keeping a coolly professional manner. Fortunately, there was no role-playing involved as there was in their sales training.

There was a brief break that wasn't as long as it should have been because of Todd's tardiness. Though the managers still had time to stretch their legs and go to the bathroom. Jennifer stayed put because she didn't feel like chatting with Selena about Austin or with Austin about Todd. The managers shuffled out, except for Todd, who came up to the front of the room to address Cynthia.

"You still haven't mentioned the new rules," Todd said.

"We simply haven't reached that portion of the training," Cynthia said, and Jennifer had no idea what they were talking about. "I don't anticipate it to be much of a problem in this store."

"Will see," Todd said with an oddly smug look on his face as he went out the door and preceded to be gone longer than any other manager, once again delaying the start of the training. Jennifer wanted to ask Cynthia what they were talking about, but Selena returned and beckoned for her to the back of the room.

"This training isn't so bad," Selena said quietly enough that perhaps Cynthia couldn't hear. "Although, I was hoping for a chance to practice my sexy roleplaying with Todd."

Jennifer shushed her but couldn't help chuckling. She was relieved that she couldn't sit near Selena because she knew her friend would definitely make her laugh out loud during the training.

At that moment, Austin walked back in and Selena shot him a huge grin while Jennifer gave him a shy nod and shuffled back up to the front of the room. Finally, Todd returned, and the training could resume.

"Thank you all for coming back in a timely fashion," Cynthia said with a pointed look at Todd. "We're on the last part of the training which has a new policy that I would like to go over with all of you. Please turn to the second to last page in your packet and look at section one."

Jennifer followed along with the rest of the managers, flipping to the last pages. It was a policy that wasn't in the packets when she originally made them. She hadn't noticed its addition since she'd been caught up in the drama of her date with Austin and finding just the right outfit. She looked down at the title of the new policy with dread.

"It's now the policy at all Peterson stores that no manager shall date or be involved in a relationship with someone who works in their store. Anyone who is currently in a relationship will have to put in for a transfer to another store or Peterson's warehouse," Cynthia explained to the dead-silent room.

Store relationships had always been a part of retail. There was flirting. There were dates. And there were marriages and plenty of children that came from people meeting at Peterson's. Any and all Peterson relationships having to be separated or terminated was a big freaking deal. Selena's hand immediately shot up.

"This can't apply to people who are married?" Selena asked quickly looking around the room.

"Marriage is looked upon differently and will be taken upon on a case-by-case basis," Cynthia explained carefully at the front of the room. "We understand that within some of the stores there are people who have been married for a long time and have already been working for us for a long time. What we're trying to prevent now, are relationships that are starting and can go sour or are one-sided. We would like to protect all employees. We want everyone to feel safe at work."

"So, wait, we can't date someone just because they work in this store?" Mallory, the womenswear manager, spoke up and surprised everyone.

"Look, I know this is going to be different and maybe a little bit difficult at first," Cynthia said sounding diplomatic. It was easy for her to not care about this new policy. She had been married to someone outside the store for years. She didn't have to worry about the hundreds of Peterson employees who were single and, also, wanted to eventually be married someday. "There is a whole mall out there for you to date instead of another Peterson's employee. And if you feel it is someone that you really must date, you can put in a transfer to another store."

"It's not always so easy to get a transfer to another store." Selena sounded almost hostile.

"We will do our best to accommodate employees who are serious about each other," Cynthia answered with a weak smile.

Jennifer's heart ached for what felt like the thousandth time in the past week. Her roller coaster of emotions was starting to wear on her, and she couldn't believe that this was an official policy. It was one thing to be getting involved with someone when it was simply frowned upon, but she could never break policy if she wanted to be an HR manager. No one could know about her relationship with Austin. She glanced at Selena who gave her a concerned look and she made sure not to look at Todd. What if Todd had already said something to Cynthia? Jennifer certainly didn't look at Austin. She simply stared down at her paper wondering what she was supposed to do now.

"Okay, people," Todd said taking control of the room as he loved to do. "I know this new policy may be difficult and extremely hard for some of you." Todd stared straight at Austin and Jennifer shrunk further back into her chair. "But we will make it work because at the Galleria Peterson's we are leaders in the region. This is the right thing to do and HR, of course, has our best interest at heart."

"Thank you, Todd," Cynthia said looking grateful at the store manager she'd been sparring with just the week before. "This policy is effective immediately. If you have any questions that are too personal to ask here, or if any of your employees have questions, please feel free to tell them to come to the HR office and see me privately."

Jennifer knew that was code for 'please come to me and snitch on anyone you think is breaking the policy'. Retail workers love to snitch on each other. It was akin to kids in school going 'um-um-um-um-um-um-um' when another kid got caught and had to go to the principal's office.

"Yes, Cynthia is here to help," Todd said this time looking directly at Jennifer. "Now, people, we need to get back out on that floor. We have Black Friday in less than a month and we do not look ready!" Todd clapped his hands and the managers jumped. As they filed out, Jennifer picked up the materials that she would be taking back to their office and not storing them in the training room for regular associates to see.