Jason smiled, as more of the pieces were fitting together in his head. Between that and what he’d seen and heard this morning, he was pretty sure he had a pretty good handle on the gist of the problem, and was sure he could help. “After showing the men up, they pretty much had to hire her, I take it?”
“Yep,” she said proudly.
“But how did those same men she showed up treat her when they became coworkers?”
“Like shit,” she answered without a thought.
Jason reached over and gently grabbed hold of her upper arms, standing in the process. Before she knew what was happening he turned her sideways and gave her three quick, but sharp smacks on her bottom. Just as quickly he sat back down. “I warned you about your language earlier today, Cheyenne.”
Without another word about it, he went on. “So your grandmother had problems working with her coworkers?” He looked over at her, waiting patiently for an answer. But when she looked up at him, she looked stunned. He calmly asked, “Do you want to talk about that first, Cheyenne? You look like you may have a question or two.”
“Uh, yeah,” she said. “What was that?”
“That was a few quick swats to your bottom to get your attention. Did it work?”
“Uh, yeah,” she repeated. “But that wasn’t—”
When she paused and acted rather helpless, at a loss for words, he suggested, “But it wasn’t as harsh as an all-out spanking over my knee?”
“Yeah,” she muttered. “Does that still count? I mean, am I done?”
Jason had to chuckle as he asked, “Are you done? That covers the language you’ve been warned about already today. If it continues you’ll find yourself over my knee for more than a few quick swats, but I guess to answer your question, yes, for now you’re done. Do you have any more questions about it, before we move on?”
“I guess one more, yes.”
“Okay, no problem. What’s your other question?”
“You don’t seem mad at me.”
“I’m not.”
“But you smacked my butt.”
“Because of your language.”
“But you’re not mad about it?”
“No. I’m disappointed, but I know that’s your typical language, and I realize people can’t change things like that with a snap of my fingers. I’m here to help you change, and that’s what I intend to do. I know that a sore butt will eventually help you stop using that kind of language. The only thing I don’t know is how often you have to have a sore butt before you change, or just how sore that butt has to be. But we’ll get there, I’m sure.”
“So you really aren’t mad?”
“Nope. Like I said, just a little disappointed. But as long as I see that you’re trying, I can be very patient. When I think you’re not trying much, that’s when it’s clear to me that your cute little bottom’s not hurting enough, and I need to step it up a little bit.”
“No, I can assure you it hurts plenty. You don’t need to step it up at all.”
He grinned, but shook his head. “The way you convince me of that is when I see results. If your language improves steadily, that’s what I’m looking for. If it remains a problem, it apparently isn’t having much effect.”
“Okay.”
“Are you ready to go back to talking about your grandmother now?”
“Yeah, I guess, but I don’t know why you’re so interested in her.”
“I’ll explain it in a minute, but I want to be sure I have this right. Your grandmother had to prove to her employer that she could do the job before they’d hire her, but then by doing so, it made working with her coworkers rather difficult. Am I right?”
“Yeah, I guess so,” she answered rather slowly. “So I assume you’re saying that has something to do with me and my coworkers. But what, and how do clients fit into the picture?”
“I always say you learn what you live. When you heard your grandmother talk about her coworkers, what kinds of things did you hear?”
Cheyenne looked at him, obviously thinking. She slowly nodded her head as she started to answer. “Okay, I’m starting to see your point. All I heard her say is how much trouble they gave her, and how difficult it was to work with them.”
“So was she pleasant to them?”
“Not that I ever heard about,” Cheyenne admitted. After a few moments deep in thought, she looked up at him. “And my difficulty working with clients? Where did that come from?”
“I have some thoughts, but I’d rather not say yet, until I feel more confident. I do see some similarities, though, between problems your grandmother had with her coworkers and problems you’re having with yours. Do you see them, too?”
“Maybe. What are you seeing?”
“Part of what I’m seeing I think may be a vicious cycle. You’ve been late to work so often that you have coworkers teasing you about it, which makes it a challenge for you to be kind to them. But you’re both feeding the other. You’re not inclined to go out of your way to be kind to them because of the ribbing they give you. However, they may feel that you were disrespectful to them when they were at work on time and you habitually showed up when it was convenient for you. See the cycle there?”
“But my being late had nothing to do with being disrespectful to them. It was usually because of traffic or something like that.”
“But if you wanted to be there on time, Cheyenne,” Jason calmly but firmly pointed out, “you could have left fifteen minutes earlier. Many of them probably experience the same thing. With no traffic, they may have a ten-minute drive to work. But if you add the traffic problems, they have to leave earlier to be there on time. And that’s what they do; they leave early enough to be there on time.”
By the look on her face Jason could tell Cheyenne hadn’t looked at the situation quite like this before. While he had her attention, he continued. “I have to say I can see how they could see that as being disrespectful, or you showing up when it’s more convenient for you. So looking at it that way, can you see now how it may have appeared that way to them?”
“I guess,” she answered.
Jason had gotten her to see the situation through their eyes, but he didn’t want to break her spirit, so he changed his direction again. “I’d like to talk a little bit about some of the things that happened this morning. Overall, I was happy, Cheyenne. There was definitely a difference between the Cheyenne I saw today versus the one I met two days ago. Good job!”
She looked up at him as if waiting for him to say but, and start naming all her shortfalls. She even encouraged him. “But?”
“But what? There are a couple things we’ll discuss, but the good today far outweighed the bad, and I wanted to make sure I told you that.”
She sounded unsure of herself as she said, “Thank you.”
“Just stating facts, Cheyenne. Now, though, like I said, there were a few things I want to touch on. One of them is your attitude toward Dan.”
“My attitude?”
“Yes. You were doing so well, being polite to everyone we met. You didn’t let Ted get under your skin, even though he was trying. You were polite to Jenna, and I was glad to see that, as well. But it seemed as if your whole attitude changed when you walked into Dan’s office.”
“Dan seemed different to me today, too,” Cheyenne admitted. “It was like he wasn’t on my—”
“Uh-uh, watch it.”
“Sorry,” she said. “It was like he was being a friend today, instead of getting on me. I’ve been trying to figure out why that was. Any ideas? Was it for show because you were there?”
“Cheyenne, he is your friend. Or would like to be.”
“Yeah, right.”
“I’m serious. Think about it. If he didn’t like you, see something good in you, would he hire me, or care about you being happy, or would he just fire you and hire someone else?”
“He said I could help his company a lot.”
“He believes that, and so do I,” he agreed. “But when
he called and we talked about my coming to help you, it wasn’t so much for his company as it was for you.”
“For me?”
“He was serious today when he told you his sister became much happier. He mentioned that several times when he called me. He said he can tell you’re not happy, and he’d like to change that. He says you deserve some happiness in your life, and he thinks you doing this program would have the same kind of effect on you that it had on his sister.”
“Really?”
Jason picked up one of her hands to get her to look at him. “There’s a smile on his face and in his voice every time he says you deserve to be happy.” Jason was very serious when he explained further. “He sees the same beautiful young lady that I see hiding inside you, Cheyenne, and he’d like to be your friend. I really do hope you’ll let both of us into your lives that far, allow us to be your friends, and we’ll help you. Dan’s been through this before with his sister. He knows it’ll be easier for you with friends who will help you, and he’s ready and willing to provide that help. But you have to let him. You have to let both of us help.”
Cheyenne was quiet while she did a lot of thinking. “But what’s in it for him?”
Jason sighed and said, “I just told you, Cheyenne. Dan is a good man. He doesn’t need to have an ulterior motive for wanting to help someone.”
She looked skeptical. “Really, you don’t think there’s an underlying reason? He doesn’t have a bet with someone, or something like that?”
“No. Not that I know of, and that wouldn’t be like him, so it would really surprise me. He just wants a happy you, and a happy you will be more productive to his business. But trust me, after seeing the difference in his sister, it’s mostly because he wants to see you as happy as she is. Dan is a happy person and he wants the people around him to be just as happy.”
“I’ll give that some thought.”
“Good. All I’m asking right now is for you think about these things we talk about. Keep an open mind about them. Can you do that for me?”
“I can do that much,” she agreed with a grin. “I probably can’t promise a lot more, but I can think about what you said and keep an open mind.”
“Thank you. Now, you need to change your attitude when you're talking with Dan. You need to show him respect. Hopefully, after our talk now, you can start seeing him more as a friend and your boss and show him the respect he deserves. Either way, I expect your attitude to improve when you're talking or working with him. Do you understand what I'm saying?”
“Yes, and I'll try now. And I will think about what you said about him.”
“Good. Now, unfortunately there is one other thing we need to talk about that I wasn’t very happy with this morning. I think you know what I’m talking about, don’t you?”
“Dixie can make me so mad at times.”
“Don’t let her.”
“How?”
“She knew you don’t like being called Shy. As long as she keeps getting a reaction from you she’ll keep calling you Shy.”
“Maybe I should keep calling her Dick.”
“Only if you want an extremely sore bottom. Like I said, two wrongs don’t make a right. She was not a good example for you to follow today, but instead of being the bigger person, you stooped to her level. I don’t want to see you doing that again. If you resist that temptation and treat her better than she treats you, your coworkers will notice that, Cheyenne. After awhile you will have earned their respect and they’ll be teasing her instead of you.”
“Yeah, right.”
“It’s true, I guarantee it. According to Dan, they already respect the work you do. They’re quick to point out your flaws and make it look like you’re impossible to work with because they feel their jobs are safer that way.”
“Their jobs? Their jobs aren’t in jeopardy.”
“According to Dan you’re the best artist here, and they all know that. They’ve seen the work you’re capable of doing. So if you suddenly got along well with the clients and they liked working with you, who do you think they’d all be asking for? And who do you think would then become the manager of the department?”
“Their jobs still wouldn’t be in jeopardy.”
“But their chances of moving up in the company would be.”
“I never thought of that.”
“Probably because you never thought of you having a chance of moving up, did you?”
“Well, no,” she admitted. “I always just hoped to keep my job.”
“But you do have that chance, Cheyenne. You have a good chance of moving up, if you can change. Moving up in your field requires two things: talent and the ability to work with people and know what exactly they’re looking for. The talent you either have or you don’t, but you can develop the ability to work with people. In your case, you have the talent, no doubt. All you have to do is work on your people skills, and your natural talent could take you to the top of your field, easily.”
“Do you really think I could learn to work with people?”
“I’m positive of it. I’ve watched every single lady I’ve worked with not only develop those people skills, but once they realized how much happier it made them, I watched every one of them thrive. And not one of them had the natural talent in their chosen field that you do. Your dream job is there, waiting for you.”
He looked over and could tell she was dreaming. Her thoughts were in the clouds, and there was a smile on her face. “So all we have to do is get you ready to step into that job. I’m really anxious to watch you spread your wings. As you start working with people, Dan will be giving you bigger and bigger jobs, knowing you won’t chase the clients off any longer. I’m serious when I say eventually I see you managing this department. But you have to earn it one job and one client at a time. Are you ready to start?”
Still smiling, she nodded enthusiastically. “Yes.”
“It won’t be easy, but I know you can do it. Are you still ready?”
Cheyenne squared her shoulders and in a more determined tone said, “Yes. Yes, I’m ready.”
“Good. But unfortunately, the first part of moving ahead is realizing what mistakes you’ve made and paying the price for those so you aren’t as apt to repeat the mistakes.”
The smile disappeared from her face, but her shoulders remained squared. “And that brings us back to Dixie,” she said in a resigned tone.
“Yes, it does. Why don’t you tell me what happened this morning, and what’s going to happen differently the next time a similar event occurs?”
“This morning when she called me Shy to upset me, I got revenge by calling her Dick. The next time she calls me Shy I’ll ignore it, which will hopefully irritate the hell—I mean, the heck out of her.”
Jason couldn’t hide a small smile this time, but he asked, “And is that the only reason you’ll ignore her? So that it will irritate her?”
“Honestly?”
“Unless you want a sore butt, yes, I want an honest answer from you, every time I ask a question.”
“Okay, that’s what I thought. Honestly, no, it won’t be the only reason, but it’ll be the main reason. It will also gradually earn me the respect of the other workers when they see me being the bigger person.”
“Very good,” he praised. Again as he watched her beam with pride, he knew she hadn’t gotten nearly enough praise in her life, but that would change.
“If you’re ready to work this program, and ready to change, are you going to accept the consequences of your behavior this morning with Dixie, or am I going to have to fight you the whole time again?”
“Wait. That makes it sound like you expect me to just voluntarily get over your knee and lay there without moving or making a sound while you annihilate my butt.”
Another grin escaped as he asked, “Annihilate your butt?”
“Well, I’m not sure, maybe you don’t quite annihilate it, but it sure feels like it.”
“It sounds like my spankings are m
aking an impression on you,” he said with a chuckle.
“You could say that. It hurts so bad afterwards that I can hardly sit down.”
“Then it shouldn’t take too long for you to associate the things you get spanked for with pain, which will make you question whether you really want to do it again.”
“But shouldn’t I get a break the first time something happens? I mean, the first time I do it, I don’t have any bad memory to remind me not to do it again.”
“And if I don’t cause a bad memory after you do it the first time, you still won’t have one the second time you do it, will you?”
She looked at him and frowned. “Do you always have to make sense? I mean, that gets old after a while.”
Jason couldn’t help but laugh at the little minx. “I don’t always,” he admitted, “but I do this time, so over you go.”
“Again, this is really starting to get old,” she said with a grin. But he noted that she didn’t fight him.
As he helped her settle in over his knee, he said, “To answer your concern, though, Cheyenne, when I asked if you were ready to accept this spanking, I didn’t mean I expect you to just lay there. You’re right, my spankings do hurt, and I know that. But if you spend the whole time over my knee trying to break free and escape, you’re not getting the full benefit of the spanking.”
“The full benefit of—what are you talking about?”
“If you’re ready to work with me, work this program, you need to accept that bad choices have consequences.”
“I already know that.”
“Good. Then you need to accept that you made a bad choice and now you need to pay the price for that bad choice. Then instead of focusing on getting away from the spanking, focus on why you’re getting it. Think about what you did to get yourself over my knee and what you can do differently the next time. That will help you associate the pain with what you did and you’ll think of the pain the next time, before you do it.”
Cheyenne and Jason (Last Chance Program Book 1) Page 7