Anonymous
They called him Baby Face in college. And his face was young, sweet, innocent. Now, interviewing with a telecommunications company for his first job as a computer analyst, Kevin was afraid his youthful appearance might be a drawback.
At conference room. Three men sat on one side of the long table, a fourth chair empty, legal pads in front of each. They stared silently as he sat in the single chair opposite them. Wow, he thought, talk about intimidating!
Then the center man stood up and smiled. "Kevin, welcome. I hope you don't mind, but we all wanted to talk with you and it saves time this way." He introduced the others and said, "Charley will be in as soon as he's free."
Kevin thought the interview was going well despite the formidable arrangement. They were talking CD-ROMs when the door opened and an older man walked in - Charley.
As they shook hands, Charley's eyes suddenly bulged and his smile turned ugly. He jumped back and jabbed a finger in Kevin's face. "You!" he shouted. "You're the one! You're the one who raped that girl nine years ago! You went to prison!"
Kevin was dumbstruck. What is this, some kind of test to see how I react? He looked to the others, and their embarrassment told him it wasn't. But they just sat there and said nothing. Stay calm, he told himself, be logical.
"No, I'm sorry, it wasn't me. Nine years ago I was fifteen and in high school."
"You're lying! It's you!"
Now Kevin was getting upset. "No, it's not. What was his name, this rapist?"
"It was Peter, Peter something," Charley stammered, a little more reasonably. "I can't remember his last name."
Kevin felt that his instincts were paying off and he could return the situation to normal. "My name is Kevin," he said calmly. "It wasn't me." "That's a he!" The crazy man was shouting again, screaming.
"You're lying! About your name! Your age! Who you are! It's you! You raped that woman!"
Kevin looked to the other men, appealing to them, but they stayed sitting and silent.
It's no use, he thought. "Gentlemen, enough. I don't think I could work here. Thanks, but no thanks." And he walked out.
One of the managers who'd sat there through the entire incident called two weeks later and offered him a job - no mention at all of what had happened, just a job offer. He turned it down.
Kevin did get a job with another telecommunications company, and heard six months later that Charley went home for lunch one day and never came back. No one seemed to know what happened to him.
If you are denied a job because of false words spoken (slander) or written (libel), you have recourse; consider seeing an attorney.
