Act 2, "The Dinner." Onnesha had just started at AlterNet. She was still getting a lay of the land. She was bright, ambitious, ready for her chance, and here it was. The staff was friendly. The boss, Don, was too sometimes.
Onnesha
Don was very mercurial, very, very moody. Sometimes it would be, like, compliments and praise; other times it would just-- he would be, like, furious about the pettiest thing.
Chana Joffe-Walt
But she generally escaped his anger. Onnesha learned early how to anticipate his moods, keep it professional. She kept her distance. A couple months in, the whole AlterNet staff got together for some meetings. Everyone came. Don flew a couple of people out from New York, including a consultant for AlterNet named Deanna.
Onnesha didn't know Deanna really. She seemed nice. After the meetings, they all went out to dinner, and Onnesha saw that Deanna was sitting next to Don, but made nothing of that. It was Onnesha's colleague, Laura, who noticed it first. Here's Laura.
Laura
During that dinner, I glanced over and noticed that she was cutting up the meat on Don's plate, like his steak or something, and I was just like what-- I was just like, what is happening? This is so strange to me.
Chana Joffe-Walt
Cutting his meat, like she was leaning over his plate?
Laura
Yeah. Yeah, they were sitting right next to each other in a tight-- you know, it was a big table, but a crowded restaurant. So they were sitting very close together, and she was just, like, leaning over, like it was her plate.
But I mean, it's not normal. It's just not normal. It's just like, why would he need that? Why would she need to do that? Why was he letting her do that? Did he ask her to do it? I don't know. I mean, there was something about it that was just very profoundly disturbing.
Onnesha
Oh, it was so weird. Oh, she's, like, cutting his meat for him.
Chana Joffe-Walt
Onnesha eventually noticed it, too, and she could not figure out what is up with this woman.
Onnesha
I just don't understand this dynamic. Like, the manual I had constructed on how to navigate and deal with Don, I was just like flipping through all the pages, I was like, nope, nope, nope, what, no. I have no guide for this, where to place this behavior.
Chana Joffe-Walt
Laura couldn't place it either.
Laura
There's really no rationalization. I could think of no possible reason for that to be a thing happening right at that moment that made sense beyond, they're sleeping together. But it still didn't make sense.
Chana Joffe-Walt
After that dinner, Laura and Onnesha left, and never mentioned it. They didn't talk to each other about it, or anyone else in the office.
Onnesha says it just didn't feel like fun office gossip. It felt like something she didn't want anything to do with. She didn't know anything about the woman sitting in that chair next to Don, but Onnesha had always known she did not want to be in that chair.
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