When you walked in, you were fully expecting to be kicked out on sight, horns and a pointy tail tend not to get the best response. You’ve heard a LOT about this CEO, and the fact that he wanted to interview you personally was terrifying. You actually get asked to interview for a job you like and now this?

suffice to say, you were shocked when he simply shook your hand and had a very normal interview, one you’ve had a thousand times in your career. It was surprising, not only because you expected a “going to hell” rant but because even normal people look at my horns and let pity color their face. This guy, the “So-religious-he’s-hitler” ceo that once fired someone because they were a satanist, treated you like a normal person, like there was nothing remarkable about you outside of your experience in the field of marketing.

At the end it hit you, he’s not going to ask. “Are there any questions you have?” Just a million, but I ask the one that’s bothering you the most? “Why are you being so nice to me?” The man just smiles at you, “Why wouldn’t I be?” He asked. you tap your horns with the spike on your tail. He shrugged, “so?” You just looked at him, dumbfounded, “it doesn’t bother you?” He just shrugged again, “but you’re- you’re” “A catholic nut-job?” He offered, you blush and nod. “This about the satanist, isn’t it?” you nod again. He just sighed.

”People will say what they say, but the truth is because we have policies in place to make people feel welcome, and her desk statue of a goat headed Jesus nailed to an upside-down star she bought in ’protest of our company’s actions, made enough people uncomfortable that I ended up with 3 HR reps coming to me separately asking me to do something as they kept getting flooded with complaints.” He explained, “this was told to everyone but it seemed the news conveniently forgot to add that part to their articles.” He shrugged again.

you motions to your horns, “but still…” he looks you dead in the eyes, “are you a satanist?” You shrug, “atheist.” He nodded, “then we shouldn’t have an issue,” you open your mouth but the CEO holds up a hand, “look, I get that this is an unpopular opinion but I do not make decisions based on looks, I base them on actions. If you take responsibility for yourself and put forth the work than I have no issue with you and will happily recommend you for promotion after promotion. That’s how my grandfather ran this place, how my dad ran it and how I run it.”

You nod, thoroughly cowed. You had not expected this. He sighed and smiled, the look in his eyes catching me off guard. “You’ve had a tough life, but remember that it’s part of a plan.” You sigh, ok so at least some of your expectations are met. Then he reaches over and offers his hand. You hesitantly take it, “I watched those videos, the ones of the crazies screaming at you when you went to those protests.” you stiffen at the mention of that era, you had been fired because people wouldn’t stop harassing your coworkers. It was frustrating beyond belief and had turned you off from religion completely.

“You know what I saw?” You look at his eyes, and see the eyes of a father, gleaming with pride. “I saw Jesus as he carried the cross, the apostles as they were hunted, the martyrs when they were killed for what they believed.” He released my head, “I saw divine bravery and courage as you held your head high, and atheist or not, God will always be with those who suffer injustice they way you did, the way you still do.” He nodded and stood, you stood as well, unable to speak. “With pride. With dignity.”

He held out his hand to shake, “if your still interested, I would be honored to have someone like you aboard.” You just nod, your view of the man radically changed. “Good, I hope to see good work from you, make us proud.” After that you were led to filling out the onboarding paperwork, and went home. You wondered how two very different people claim to worship the same god. You shake your head, maybe the difference between a true believer and a false one is which side works on their hypocrisy and which side denies the existence of hypocrisy. You turn over to sleep, you’ll leave philosophy to people who care. You’re just glad you have a job.