Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 61657 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61657 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
I took a deep breath.
“I know, but it was a weird revenge of sorts. I was really mixed-up myself, to be honest, because I never wanted my Marc Janow photo to trend. I never wanted to be Picto-famous or any of that. All I wanted was to be left alone, and that was taken out of my hands when Mr. White sold my photo.”
Sophie called up the ad campaign on her phone.
“Honestly, it’s an amazing shot,” she said, nodding with appreciation. “We love it. I love it because it shows your power as a woman.”
Eunice agreed. “Power as a female programmer too. That’s really rare.”
But I wanted to make them understand.
“I totally get it, and I’m happy it’s had this result, but honestly, I never intended it to blow up like this,” I explained. “My best friend Jill and I were goofing around on a sunny day, that’s all. But when Mr. White sold my image, I lost my privacy in one fell swoop.”
Both women nodded in agreement.
“Yeah, that’d be rough if you didn’t see it coming,” Sophie mused, slowly shutting off her phone.
“Now that you’ve phrased it like this,” Eunice agreed. “I don’t feel sorry for our fearless leader anymore. Maybe he had it coming. Karma can be a bitch, and you can’t be a player and never get burned. That’s just not how the world works.”
On the one hand, I appreciated their words because they were the words of female solidarity. But on the other, I wasn’t convinced because what I’d done was pretty heinous. There was a big difference between my Marc Janow sassy pose and nude orgy photos. Player or not, should the press vilify Theo for having sex with willing super models? Did he deserve the severe punishment Anonimo had doled out?
So I tried to change the subject.
“How is he as a boss?” I said curiously. “Nice? Mean? Easy to work for, or hard?”
Sophie sighed. “Both, if that makes sense. Theo is awesome because he works harder than anybody here. If you’re working fifteen hour days, then he’s working twenty. Plus, the man is dead serious about equal pay and equal work for men and women.”
Eunice nodded thoughtfully.
“Yeah, he’s a pretty decent guy, championing female coders and even pregnant coders, if you can believe it. Most men shy away from ‘women issues’ but not this guy. There are good benefits here, and six months of paid maternity leave although the company actually doesn’t have to offer anything by law.”
Man, that was eye-opening. Paid maternity leave is almost pure overhead for corporations because a woman gets full salary although she’s out. So I respected Pictogram’s female-friendly stance.
“Plus, Mr. White funnels a considerable amount of money into coding programs for underprivileged kids,” Sophie added helpfully. “A real do-gooder in some respects.”
Crossing my arms, I said thoughtfully, “So basically, aside from sleeping with an obscene amount of women, Theo White is an otherwise good guy.”
Eunice and Sophie shared a glance before speaking in unison.
“Kind of, yes.”
And my heart thrilled because these women wouldn’t lie. I was the It Girl famous for giving the middle finger to brogrammers, so they’d tell me if Theo was horrible. And yet, they were saying the opposite. My lover was fair and kind, even considerate to some extent.
Suddenly, I felt awful for exposing Theo like I had. Just because I’d been upset about my photo going viral and being snatched up by Marc Janow without my knowing didn’t mean he deserved to have his private affairs out in the open.
Shit. I’d acted just like the teenage boy who lives down the street, trolling for dirty photos with no idea of what he’s doing or the harm he’ll cause. I was no better than a child in some respects.
And now, with more information, it was clear the attack had been unwarranted. The news was skewering Theo, but in truth, the way he treated women off the clock was unrelated to how he treated women at work. People have personal lives and professional lives, and unfortunately, in this case the wires had gotten tangled.
Sophie laid the poster on my desk. “I know you hate this photo, but…” She paused with a beseeching smile. “Do you mind signing it?”
I laughed. “Of course not. Happy to,” I said with a quick scrawl of the pen.
Eunice smiled, pulling out the latest issue of Fashionista. Flipping through the pages, she stopped on the Marc Janow ad.
“Would you mind signing mine too, Mia? I know you have mixed feelings, but still, you’re such an icon.”
I looked down at my photo, and a smile tugging at the corners of my lips. Okay. It wasn’t awful. The more I saw the image, the more it grew on me.
And after Sophie, Eunice, and Mr. Dooey strode off, I signed up for an account on Pictogram. As an employee of the company, it was important to have a user account. After all, what better way to get to know the product inside out? I had to start from somewhere, and an account was square one.