Note: There are mild spoilers for Season 7, but only if you are unaware of Ziva's fate after the end of Season 6.
*****
"All right, Jamie, that just about does it. We've gone over Legal, Cyber Crimes, Administration, Technology and most of the field agents. Are you understanding everything so far?"
Jamie nodded.
As secretary for the head of Human Resources Margie Bennett was in charge of handling payroll for the D.C. office of NCIS. For the most part it was a straightforward task and so far it had been easy to train her new backup, Jamie Carter.
So far.
"Before Director Vance assigned you to train with me he did warn you that this would take a while, right?"
"Yes, he did. He said it was going to be heavily time intensive - but that took just three hours. That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," Jamie said with a sigh of relief. Once she got the task down it would take her half the time.
Margie forced back a grin as she sat back in her chair and crossed her arms and legs, getting comfortable for the conversation ahead. Jamie sat across from her at a small table in the conference room next door to her office. Margie took over the room whenever she did payroll so that she could spread out the paperwork.
"You're really quick on the uptake. I'm sure Director Vance saw that and thought you would be good for this position. It'll be a relief when I'm on vacation next month knowing you'll be handling this."
Jamie sat up straighter, proud of being praised.
"Thank you! How long have you been handling payroll?"
"Oh, for about ten years now."
Jamie's eyebrows scrunched as she stared at Margie in confusion.
"Not that I'm not glad to have been chosen by Director Vance for this position - but why are you just now getting a backup?"
Margie could no longer hold back her grin and it burst forth - a mixture of amusement and cat-ate-the-canary. Jamie instantly felt apprehensive.
"You really are quick on the uptake!" Margie leaned forward a bit, eager to test her pupil. "Now, look at the departments and the people we've done payroll for and tell me if anything is missing?"
Jamie looked back over the extensive list of people and then went over in her mind what she knew of NCIS operations. It took her a minute, but she did figure it out.
"I don't see the paperwork for Dr. Mallard and his assistant or for Abby Scuito. And we haven't gone over the MCRT's paperwork either."
"Good. Now tell me what they all have in common?"
This time it took Jamie a good two minutes to work out a reply, but she stated it tentatively, not sure if she was correct. "They work long hours?"
Margie nodded. "Yes, usually much longer than just about anyone else around here. Now," she said, grabbing a stack of paper from her briefcase, "look at these and tell me if you notice anything wrong?"
Jamie flipped through the paper and had an immediate answer.
"Forty hours! They all put down on their timesheet that they worked forty hours this week," she said, looking up at Margie. "That's ridiculous!"
"Yes, it is. No matter how often Director Vance tells them to correctly record their hours they refuse to. They say that they get paid to work forty hours a week and that's what they'll put down."
"But-but," Jamie sputtered, "But they work from 7 a.m. to midnight - or later - half the time and over the weekends and most of them rarely take a holiday and rarely any vacation," she said, outraged.
She could have gone on but quiet laughter broke her train of thought.
"Sorry for laughing, but I've never seen anyone else has who's trained for this position react just like you have."
"So others have trained?" Margie nodded. "What happened to them?"
"For most of them I ended up telling Director Vance that I didn't think they could handle it. One other person has made it this far and she got scared off. You're the first to be handpicked by the Director and I can see he picked well."
Jamie bit back a grin that would've beamed from ear to ear.
Margie once again reached in to her briefcase and this time she pulled out a large bundle of paper. There was no order to it - scraps of paper of all sizes and shapes overflowed the bundle, some threatening to drop of.
"Wh-what is that?"
"This is essentially the timesheets for Abby Scuito, Dr. Mallard, Jimmy Palmer and the MCRT."
Jamie's eyes popped open wide. "I don't get it." She said as she looked from the mess of paper to the neat little stack of timesheets in front of her.
Margie set the bundle down on the table carefully.
"Tell me what you know about Abby, Ducky, Jimmy and the MCRT? Not the surface things, but tell me what you know about their personal lives?"
Jamie mulled over this odd question. She was a clerk - a glorified secretary, really - and rarely had the occasion to interact with those that dealt directly with casework. But there were several things that happened to be common knowledge about the crew.
"Dr. Mallard drives an old Morgan that he fixed up himself. Jimmy Palmer is a medical student and still lives with his mom. Abby Scuito particularly enjoys the types of concerts that make most people's ears bleed. Agent Gibbs is… scary. Agent David is a former Mossad assassin who - well I don't know anything about her personal life. She scares me too. Agent McGee is a published author and Agent DiNozzo is a player who… gets around."
Margie nodded. That was pretty much all anyone knew about the personal lives of said NCIS employees - at least those people who didn't take the time or have the opportunity to get to know the people behind the reputations. And there were things about their lives that almost no one got to know.
"Jamie, I'm about to tell you some things that you must never tell anyone else. Can you promise me that what is said here is never said again?"
Jamie nodded without hesitation. Margie noted with approval that she did not seem eager, only interested.
She launched in - telling one story at a time.
"Ducky lives in a rather large - but comfortable - home that his father bought years ago. His mother absolutely adores the house. When she first began to lose her memory the only place she was truly comfortable was in that house. It was the only place she could find her way around even as her mind became more and more confused. Ducky had to move her into a nursing home and the house really is too big for him, but it's where he remembers his parents being the happiest. The house is paid for, but the taxes on the property are not insignificant and upkeep of the home is not cheap.
"Jimmy Palmer is indeed a medical student that lives with his mom. He was inspired to become a doctor when his father got cancer. From the beginning until the end - a rather painful and drawn out time period - his father's doctors were wonderful. His family didn't have the best insurance though and after everything was said and done with they were financially wiped out. Jimmy received a couple scholarships but the bulk of the cost of school is coming from him with student loans. He truly wants to be a medical examiner and they don't get paid as well as surgeons or family physicians. He'll be snowed under by student loans for a long time after he's out of school.
"Abby has a family history of deafness. Her parents are deaf and so is her niece, but her niece is eligible for surgery that could correct it. Abby's brother and sister-in-law's insurance won't cover the surgery and they have two other children so it's taking awhile to save up. Abby contributes a third of her paycheck each week to a fund the family has set up.
"When Ziva David returned from Somalia she had nothing but the clothes on her back - considering all her possessions were blown up before she left for Israel. She has to build her life back up one pot and pan at a time. Last I heard she had finally saved up enough to get a frame for the mattress that it took her five weeks to save up for.
"Tony DiNozzo was raised in the lap of luxury by a father who could have cared less about him. When he decided to go into law enforcement instead of training to take over his father's company he was cut off entirely. He literally had it beat into him that others would think less of him if he did not present himself as a wealthy man. He shops in consignment shops and places like Goodwill and Salvation Army. Every once in awhile you can find expensive brands there for next to nothing.
"Tim McGee makes a lot of money from the sales of his books, but after one of his readers went insane and almost killed Abby he came close to quitting. He was talked into continuing - by Abby, of course - but now one hundred percent of his profits go to the fund that he set up in his alias' name. The fund helps victims of violent crimes - or their family members. Helps them get back on their feet without any additional financial worries."
Margie watched as Jamie took in all the new information. She could see her quick mind working to analyze what she had just been told.
"And Agent Gibbs?"
A bemused grin quirked at Margie's lips. "No one really knows - everyone's too scared of him."
Jamie giggled.
"How do you know all of this?"
"I was told by Craig, one of the night janitors. People are a little less cautious about private phone calls when they're in the building late at night and sometimes things are left out on desks that shouldn't be."
"Okay, but what does all of this have to do with doing payroll and that?" she asked, pointing to the mound of paper.
"For a long time no one realized that all of them were putting themselves down for only 40 hours a week until one night Jimmy Palmer left his check out on a table. Sam - another night janitor - saw it and realized that it couldn't be right because he always saw Jimmy coming back after classes to finish up paperwork and organize things and knew he was also working during the day and over the weekend. He brought it to my attention and I started digging into things. In the end we discovered that these seven people valued work over pay and never filed for overtime."
"And they refuse to do so?" Margie nodded. "Okay, but still, why that?" She again pointed to the scraps of paper.
"Do you know why Sam told me about Jimmy?" Jamie shook her head. "It's because Jimmy treats him like a coworker rather than someone who is less than he is just because he happens to push a mop. And not only Jimmy, but each and every one of these seven people - yes, even Gibbs - acknowledges the support staff and takes the time to talk to them.
"Which brings us to this," she said, gently patting the pile of paper. "Director Vance did his part in trying to get them to accurately record their hours, but he can't force them to do so and he can't watch them all the time to figure out when they're working or when they're not. So we were just going to leave it at that. But one Friday morning I came in to my office to find a pile much like this on my desk."
She handed several of the pieces of paper over to Jamie.
"I worked until 3 a.m. and Tim and Tony were still here when I left. Shelly. 12/29"
"Ziva left at 12:45 a.m. Craig. Dec. 28."
"27th - Ducky and Jimmy still here at 1 a.m. when I left. Sam."
"Gibbs came in at 4 a.m. Craig. Dec. 29."
"They let you know what hours are actually being worked," Jamie said, a bit of awe creeping into her voice.
"Yes. I went through all the notes that day and when I was done I had a more accurate picture of what hours they were working. I let Director Vance know and he told me to pay them accordingly. And ever since then I walk in on Fridays to find a pile like this on my desk."
"Don't they notice?"
Margie chuckled. "The Director had a brilliant idea. He sent an e-mail to them telling them that NCIS would be paying different rates on morning, afternoon and evening shifts. Even if they refused to account for overtime worked they would have to at least directly reflect if they were coming in early or staying late. Their timesheets always vary so I guess they don't think anything of it when the amount they're getting paid varies too."
Jamie laughed. "I like Director Vance more and more," she said before picking up a handful of paper scraps. Margie silently agreed as she grabbed a handful too and they began to sort the scraps into seven piles - one for each person. Then they would grab one of the piles and sort by day and from there they could piece together the actual hours worked.
"Agent Gibbs knows though, doesn't he?" Jamie asked as she added a hot pink scrap to the pile for Ducky.
"How'd you know that?" Margie asked, looking up.
"Agent Gibbs' timesheet says 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. - he doesn't vary his hours. I doubt Agent Gibbs of all people would not notice a change in his check."
Margie made a mental note to give Jamie a FLETC application - she was obviously being wasted on clerical work.
"Yeah, Gibbs knows."
"And he's okay with it?"
Margie laughed. "At first he was quite upset. But now, once a year the Gemcity Foundation gets a sizable donation from an anonymous benefactor."
Jamie grinned. She was so proud to be working for NCIS. At first when her parents had encouraged her to apply for the job listing she had hesitated - working for the government had never been in her plans. But she had applied and gotten the job and quickly found out that there was no better place to work simply because of the loyalty that permeated the organization.
Loyalty can come from a Director who wants to make sure his employees are properly compensated. Loyalty can be employees who prefer to just getting the job done over worrying about the clock. It can come from one coworker treating another with respect, no matter what each person's job description is. It can be finding out a secret about your coworker and never telling anyone else about it.
And sometimes loyalty adds up to tiny scraps of paper placed in a heaping pile on payroll day.
*****
At work I am the backup for payroll for my department. Being fairly low on the totem pole I've ended up doing payroll for the weeks of Christmas and New Years for the past four years. Each year I've been amazed by how many people have vacation time left over. And I always get a kick out of entering eight hour days for people who I know are working 10 to 12 hours a day.
I can't do anything for those who are full time - the software won't let me - but I can help out the part time people who themselves are working well beyond their reported 28.5 hours. I give them their holiday pay after managers mistakenly tell them they don't get holiday pay. I give them their vacation time when they don't think they have any left.
And that got me wondering… what's it like doing payroll for the MCRT crew and Ducky, Jimmy and Abby?
Now, I highly doubt that people over at NCIS have to tediously keep track of their hours worked… but it worked for my story!