"Their son has nothing to do with the standard you've violated," Dana answered. "The conduct was unacceptable before anyone knew the family's background. If these had been visitors without influential relatives, we would still be required to investigate and respond. The failure to do so promptly is a matter management also has to address."
John looked to Arthur for support. In their years working together, Arthur had quietly accepted many of John's judgments about customers. He had allowed the senior associate to claim promising leads, dismissed complaints as misunderstandings, and congratulated him on closing difficult deals without always asking what made the deals difficult. Now Arthur could see that their relationship had permitted a kind of arrogance to flourish behind the cover of good revenue. He did not defend John.
"I'm placing you on immediate suspension from customer-facing work while the ownership group completes the final employment decision," Arthur said. "You'll leave your access badge here, and someone will escort you to collect your personal belongings. You are not to contact the Bennetts or Emily about this matter."
John stared at him. "You're really doing this? After everything I've sold for you?"
Arthur held his gaze. "Sales figures don't purchase an exemption from treating people decently."
The sentence sounded stronger than Arthur felt, but that did not make it less true. John was asked to surrender his badge. He did so slowly, placing it on the desk beside a stack of brochures he had once used to impress visitors. Then he stood and asked whether he could speak privately to Michael before leaving. Dana declined, explaining that communication should proceed through the formal process and that the family had requested no such meeting.
Outside the office, a few employees were pretending to work while waiting for news. John noticed their expressions and felt the familiar urge to present an account in which he remained the wronged party. He wanted to tell them that the Bennetts had overreacted and that Emily had engineered his downfall. But another part of him remembered the recording. He had not been misunderstood. He had said those words, and he had enjoyed saying them.
Claire Walsh was waiting near the reception counter when he passed. She had been interviewed briefly and admitted hearing the remarks, although she had not yet confessed that she laughed. John stopped beside her. "You could have backed me up," he said. "You were right there."
Claire looked at him. "I was right there," she repeated. Her eyes filled with an emotion he could not easily read. "That's the part I can't stop thinking about."
He walked away before she could say more. For most of the morning he had been focused on the possibility of losing his job, but Claire's answer remained with him as he reached the side exit. It suggested that he had not merely made an error in front of witnesses. He had behaved in a way those witnesses might remember as a test of their own character. He disliked that possibility so much that he tried to dismiss it immediately.