When Pregnancy Becomes an Excuse for Theft

This wasn't the first time Bethany Niles had bossed us around. I'd only been at the company for two months, and I'd already seen her use the pregnancy as an excuse for the most outrageous demands.

She'd made Greg Howell from accounting drive an extra 25 miles out of his way every day to chauffeur her to and from work, because she was afraid taking the bus might squish her precious baby boy.

She'd made Debra Riggins from procurement buy her a fresh bouquet every single morning, the kind still dripping with dew, claiming the scent of fresh flowers was good for fetal movement.

She'd even made Penny Trask, my cubicle neighbor who majored in foreign language, sing songs to her belly, insisting that language education needed to start in the womb.

It was just a pregnancy, but somehow Bethany had turned it into a superiority complex, ordering people around like it was her god-given right. And now she'd set her sights on our lunches.

Looking at that smug expression on her face, I wasn't about to play nice. "I genuinely don't get it. Are you doing this because you can't afford your own drumstick? If things are tight at home, you can always apply for an employee hardship fund through HR."

I knew it wasn't great to speculate about someone's finances like that, but I honestly couldn't think of any other reason she'd pull something like this.

The sincerity in my voice only made it worse. Bethany slammed her hands on the table and shot to her feet, the finger she jabbed toward my face trembling with rage. "What's that supposed to mean? You're calling me poor in a roundabout way, is that it?"

"Bethany, calm down! Think about the baby!" Debra jumped up immediately to steady her, shooting me frantic looks the entire time.

"Shelby, apologize! There's no way she can't afford a drumstick, come on!"

"Oh, I must've misunderstood. I'm really sorry, Bethany."

I actually felt a little embarrassed. I'd genuinely jumped to the wrong conclusion.

Bethany let out a cold scoff at my apology. "Smart move."

"Well, since you can afford it, you wouldn't mind paying me back for the drumstick, right? The cafeteria charges 3.50 dollars a serving." I held up my phone with the payment screen right in front of her face. If she wasn't broke, surely she wouldn't have a problem sending me the money.

Bethany's fork, already reaching toward my plate again, froze mid-air, and her face turned bright red in an instant. The next second, she flung her sauce-covered fork straight at my face.

"Fine! You want to play dumb with me, Shelby? You're just an intern. Just you wait. I'll make your life a living hell!"

With that threat hanging in the air, Bethany stormed out of the cafeteria.

Penny started wiping my face with a worried look. "Oh no. You're in for it now.

"But that was so satisfying! I've never seen anyone shut Bethany down before!"

I could hear in her voice that everyone had been holding back their frustrations with Bethany for a long time. I'd assumed they all went along with her demands willingly, but it was starting to look like that wasn't the case at all.

"So why does everyone just do whatever she says?"

"You started too late to know this, Shelby. The head of our department, Lawrence Niles? He's her uncle. People like us who don't have connections wouldn't dare cross her."