Janus is Leaving Again

So, I go to work yesterday morning and do what's expected of me. It's my job, right? When she gets there, Assistant Manager #1 came up to me, while I'm on my break, and said, "Where were you Friday." It wasn't a question, it was a demand.

"I wasn't scheduled," I said, not looking up from my book.

"But where were you?"

"Not at my apartment." I really didn't want to look up.

"Yeah, but why weren't you there?"

"At my apartment?" I looked up at her. "I had somewhere else to be."

"No, at the Christmas party."

"Christmas party? Didn't we do that in November at Round Table?"

"No. That was our Christmas meeting. Friday night was our Christmas party. We," she gestured around the back room as if all the other employees were behind her, backing her up on this, "decided that the party would be after Christmas so everyone," she pointed at me, "could be there," and jabbed her finger toward me on each of the last three words.

"Okay," I said. "It's too bad I wasn't told about this."

"Yes, you were."

"When, at the thing in Round Table?"

"Yeah."

"I can barely remember last week, do you really expect me to remember two months ago?"

"Well, I wrote it up on the board Wednesday. Why didn't you read it?"

"Dunno, guess I just didn't look."

"You should have been there. It was a store thing. Everyone was there, except for you." She started pointing again. "It's embarrassing when someone is missing. I was embarrassed. You should have been there."

"But I wasn't." I stood up. "I didn't know about it." I put my bookmark in and closed the book. "I doubt I would have gone anyway." I folded up the chair I was sitting in and put it back. "I was visiting my brothers and some friends." I pushed my way past her, my break had ended. "You're the one who gave me two days in a row off. Do you really expect someone with two days off in a row to stick around?"

"You should have been there," she bellowed as I turned the corner to the front. "Everyone else was there! You should have known!"