Brenda Sampson promised her parents she would find an amazing job right after college, or she would have to start working in her family’s pottery shop. It had been over four years since Brenda and her family made the compromise, and so far she had had four jobs total each lasting less than three weeks and ending in screaming from the manager ensued by a harsh email stating that she had been fired and banned from the property.

The worst and final of her four jobs was at a printing press. Her manager at Gruesome & Company gave her the simple tasks of pulling down a lever so the large sheets of paper would cut. Bart Gruesome, as his name implied, was bitter and disgusted by every miniscule movement Brenda performed whether it was correct or a mistake. He peered through his office window every morning watching for Brenda to make the error, so he could reprimand her to prove to the other employees that he was the one in charge. 

Unfortunately Bart found his moment when a fat stray cat snuck into the offices. The cat moped around the rooms with its stubby legs and overweight bodice searching for the perfect place to stop for a nap. And, eventually, it did, right on top of the paper cutter.

Bart was livid.  At first he assumed the feline was Brenda’s pet and her sole purpose was to disrupt the work day by placing a cat directly on top of the machine that Brenda worked at. Once Bart understood that it would be dumb for Brenda to put the cat on the cutter, he accused Stewart. The security guard was always being scapegoated into leaving the back door open and letting in mice and homeless people. Stewart exclaimed that it was not his shift last night, but Harold. So Stewart was off the hook.  Bart said he would deal with Harold that night, but he still wanted the cat removed immediately. So sadly the job became Brenda’s and she was back on the chopping block.

Brenda tried to pick up the cat. But when her hands, sweaty from the recent accusation, touched the cat, it scratched and clawed its way out of her grasp. It ran past Mr.Gruesome. It bee lined for a stack of freshly cut papers and ran out the door. Everyone figured that the cat did not intentionally mean to destroy the papers. It probably just saw the door next to the papers and ran. But Bart Gruesome did not see it that way (He never did).

The loudest screech that Brenda had ever heard came next. Mr. Gruesome was practically on the floor sweeping up any undamaged papers. He looked like a blind man searching in a sandbox. His hands latched on to the stray papers flying away as his feet rummaged for the ones on the ground.

“Look at what you’ve done,” screamed Bart.

“I...I...it wasn’t my…”

“No! You’re right,” Bart said before Brenda could finish, “It’s my fault for hiring such a deplorable college student.”

Bart Gruesome did not say any more but his actions spoke more than words. He stood up from the bird nest of papers he created and ripped off Brenda’s I.D in one angry swish of his hand. He gestured towards the door and glared at Brenda until she started to move out the building.

Brenda never returned to the Gruesome & Company Factory. She never even walked on the Hill Street in fear that she would run into Bart Gruesome. But she did the next morning stroll straight through the door of Pat’s Pottery and became a third generation potter.