An Arachnid's Rights

WP] One of your coworkers is a 2.2m, 100kg tarantula named Phil. Phil is... hard to look at, frankly. But Krystal has been trying to get him fired. Phil doesn't deserve that so you're taking him to HR to help file a discrimination complaint.

*****

Phil was... well there's no good way to put this is there?

Phil was unique, everyone knew, though few ever said anything.

That was the effect a tarantula the size of a car tends to have on people after all. Frankly Pauline thought that wasn't really fair, it was only a few years after a significant percentage of spiders gained sapience and grew to titanic sizes overnight, but ever since Phil joined the company in late 2023 he has proven to be far more polite, hard-working and friendly than the vast majority of her human coworkers.

This is why when she heard the news that Krystal, that bitch from HR was trying to get him fired Pauline was, to put it lightly, livid. Unfortunately, poor Phil was never too great with company politics and rather ironically for a creature that can shatter concrete walls wasn't the type of person who would fight something like this, but she simply couldn't stand to sit there, and let it happen, and so Pauline decided to help the overgrown spider learn his rights.

She found him sitting alone in the break room during the lunch break gazing sadly at a silk bag full of bugs. There was probably more than enough room to fit at least half a dozen more people despite Phil's gargantuan frame taking up a significant chunk of the room, but nobody really wanted to sit next to a spider, well that and the giant sack of bugs tended to ruin ones appetite which... fair enough.

Still, Pauline felt terribly sorry for the melancholy arachnid. She took a seat on the only couch in the room that didn't have one of Phil's legs on them, immediately causing Phil's hairs to bristle in surprise. Not entirely sure what to say or where to start the two of them just sat in awkward silence for a minute before she broke the silence with a slightly forced cough,

"Ahem... uh... hi there Phil... I know we don't really talk often but I heard about the thing with Krystal from HR, I am really sorry to hear that bud." she began, wincing slightly as she observed Phil perk up slightly at the start of her sentence before slumping once more as she finished,

Phil made a series of clicking noises before producing a small text-to-speech device from a web pouch dangling from his equivalent of a neck and typing a sentence with his pedipalps,

"What does it matter to you, Pauline? Face it, nobody really cares about me. I was better off hunting bugs, deer, and stray dogs in the woods." the robotic voice of the computer replied,

"It matters to me because you don't deserve it... you are a great guy Phil, you don't deserve to be treated like this and frankly, you shouldn't just put up with it like you are doing now!" Pauline exclaimed perhaps a little louder than she originally intended, words flowing more and more confidently as awkwardness bled away to renewed purpose, "It doesn't matter where you come from, the language you speak or even if you have two legs or eight, this is wrong and I really want to help you!"

Pauline extracted a few papers from her bag and placed them on the coffee table in front of Phil.

"And how do you think you are going to help me? While the sentiment is touching, I simply do not fit in. Everyone has made that very clear, nobody wants to work with one of my kind." the droning of the text-to-speech program responded.

"Right here is the paperwork for a discrimination and harassment complaint that you can file directly to senior management, I read up on the laws and company policy, there is a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination, and it doesn't say anything about spiders being an exception to any of these rules," Pauline stated with a smile.

"I read the report Krystal made to justify getting you fired, to put it simply it's a whole load of bullshit, everyone who has bothered to even acknowledge your existence has plenty of proof that this is just a bunch of thinly veiled racist garbage, and you deserve to have the higher-ups know about this!"

"What made you think this will work? Why do you think they would care about the word of a terrifying spider?" Phil asked,

"I can't say for certain what will happen but you won't be alone, trust me I know exactly what this bullshit is, I had to deal with this shit too, humans can and will be vicious to anyone even a little different you know, even to their own kind..." Pauline reminisced sadly, "Even if nobody else has the balls to stand for you know that I will at least, I am not entirely sure what will happen, but we have to at least try. Besides, if it doesn't work out I know a good ass lawyer that can give this company a good ass ripping for so brazenly ignoring their own policy! "

Phil seemed lost for thought for a moment before picking up the papers before him, producing a pen, and filling in his details. He carefully placed the paperwork in the same pouch from which he took out his text-to-speech device and turned to look at Pauline with gratitude,

"Thank you, Pauline, this means a lot to me." the text to speech droned in a shockingly emotional monotone

With a wan smile, Pauline simply said, "Trust me, it's the least I could do."

*****

THE END.