“There’s another all-staff meeting,” I heard someone say in the mail room. “Why can’t they just tell us what is so important without wasting all our time?”
I stood up and leaned forward to see if I could tell who was speaking. Without actually going into the other room, there was no way I could figure it out. Today my plan was to be super positive and not let anyone move me from that position. Let everyone else spend their energy on being negative. I was ready for change.
Alison walked through my space and stopped at the door before going upstairs. For some reason, she was wearing knee- high leather boots and jeans. Not that I minded, but it was a sharp departure from pantsuits and dressy skirts. I pointed and smiled. She spun slowly and curtsied. “Do you like what you see?”
I wanted to tell her she could be covered in tar and feathers and I would still think she was beautiful; however, we were at work. I wrinkled my nose and shook my head, to which she stomped her foot.
“Why so casual?”
“I’ve got a couple of meetings with vendors today and need to be comfortable.”
“You do indeed look relaxed,” I said, soaking in the sight. “Won’t Ms. Cedar say something to you?”
“I won’t even see her today.”
“There’s an all-staff meeting today. Everyone is going to see you.” I laughed when the realization hit her face. “How is it you don’t know and I do?”
“Did they post something in the kitchen again?”
I shrugged. “Not sure. I know it’s going to be real important though.”
She moved closer and leaned in, asking, “What aren’t you telling me?”
“Ms. Cedar told me there were going to be some big changes announced today,” I said quietly. “Not sure what they are though.”
She straightened up and pouted. “I was planning to be out most of the day.”
“If you have planned meetings I’m sure she’ll understand.”
“I guess so,” she said, looking upset.
“What aren’t you telling me?” I said mockingly.
She pulled out the chair next to me and sat down roughly. “I was planning to take it easy today.”
“You’ll have to give me a little more information than that if you hope for me to understand,” I said, sitting back, folding my arms. “Go ahead.”
“The meetings are simply an excuse to get out of the office.” She looked at me over the top of her glasses, which made me stare dreamily at her. “Are you even listening?”
“I heard you.” I crossed my legs and shuffled in my chair. “Are you asking me to help you skip out of work?”
“No, I’ll leave after the all-staff meeting. That’s no problem.”
“Then what?”
“I really don’t have a lot of work to do right now, and I didn’t want to just sit around the office.”
“I’m not familiar with that issue in my position,” I said, pointing at my in bin.
“It’s the time of the year when everyone is slow before the spring meetings pick up.”
“So take some time off and get those after Christmas sales,” I said, picking up one of my desktop jobs. “I guess I’ll see you at the meeting then.” I turned to my computer and began working.
“Are you mad?” she asked, standing.
“I’m sure you put in the hours needed to do your job.” I kept my focus on the paperwork and screen. “You’re entitled to an easy day now and then.”
“Entitled? I’m not talking about entitlements. When I spend my nights and weekends doing my job, there shouldn’t be an issue when I take it easy in the middle of the day.”
I turned to her and locked eyes. “I’m not your boss. I’m not salaried, I’m hourly. You put in the time differently than me. I get it, but now I have to do my job.”
“We need to grab lunch and talk. How about on Monday?” She leaned on the door with one hand on her hip and one on the doorknob.
“I’ll have to check my calendar, but I’m pretty sure I have a small opening,” I said, still working.
I could tell she wasn’t happy being ignored, but I let her go so I could get my work done. Several more people walked through, talking about the meeting, and I smiled briefly, not wanting to get caught up in the conversation. Nell and Jimmy poked their heads in, trying to pump me for what I knew.
“What’s the word?” Jimmy asked, looking at me over my monitor.
I looked at him and then Nell, who was sitting in the chair next to me.
“What’s this meeting about?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “You’ve got to know something.”
Part of me wanted to start some juicy rumors so they would leave me alone to pass it along. A story with enough truth at the core covered with pure fabrication on the surface would rip through this building so fast. The problem with that is these two fools would tell everyone I told them, leaving me with more idiots watching me work. I had already lost enough time this morning avoiding getting sucked into office drama.
“I wish I did,” I said quietly. “But I’ve been so busy working that no one has stopped to fill me in.”
They both looked at each other and then slowly moved toward the door.
“Don’t forget us,” Jimmy said, pointing at me before they headed upstairs.
For the next hour, I was able to get so much done that I finished a job and decided to deliver it. I got up, gathered the printouts, and walked to the door leading upstairs. From that spot, I had a clear view of HR through the mail room. To my surprise, I saw Ms. Cedar knocking on the door, with a man standing behind her. She opened the door and let the man through. She turned my way and waved for me to come to her.
“Are you ready for the meeting?” she asked when I was closer.
“The whole place is in a state of high anxiety. Who was that guy?” I blurted out.
“Don’t you remember him from the funeral?”
“The one from Nevada?”
She nodded and looked concerned. “Are you okay?”
I could feel my legs go limp a little.
“You’re pale.”
There are moments in your life when everything begins to make sense and there’s no going back.
“Why is he still here?”
“I thought you knew what was going on.”
I leaned on a wall to brace myself. “My guess was we were going to tell everyone the next step for our computer rollout.”
“We are going to do that,” she said, touching my shoulder. “That’s only part of it.”
“Then I am not as good of a guesser as you think I am,” I said, trying to stand on my own two feet again. “Is he here to fill Mr. Manor’s job?”
Ms. Cedar gave me a look like I was a small child with a skinned knee. “I can’t talk right now,” she said soothingly. “I guess you won’t be acting surprised later,” she said, cracking the smallest of smiles. “You don’t have anything to worry about,” she concluded, spinning me around.
Walking away slowly, I kept hearing the last thing she said over and over again in my head. Telling someone they don’t have anything to worry about just makes one worry about everything. My stomach did feel sick, but I wanted to run through the building, telling everyone what I saw. What did I know? What was I missing? I stopped in the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror.
“What are you doing?” my boss asked, staring at me through the open bathroom door.
I composed myself and walked past him sheepishly. I headed upstairs to deliver the job I was carrying around the whole time. The person who signed it in wasn’t around, so I put it on the desk and wanted to visit Alison.
“Do you remember the guy from the funeral that was talking to Ms. Cedar?” I asked quietly as I sat in the chair next to her desk.
“The one with the kids?” she asked, and I nodded. “What about him?”
“He’s here today with Ms. Cedar in HR.”
“So?” she asked with a bored tone.
“Why is he still here? He lives on the other side of the country. How long are you supposed to stick around after a funeral?” I felt like everyone was looking at me, so I scanned the room. Everyone was working and ignoring us. “What is this meeting all about?” My stomach was churning.
“You really don’t know?”
“I thought I did.”
Alison pinched my arm. “Calm down.”
I took a deep breath.
“What did you think the meeting was about?”
“The new computer system rollout. She said that was part of it. I asked her if that guy was going to take Manor’s job, and she implied it was much more than that.” I held my head in my hands. “I can’t stand not knowing.”
Alison looked at her watch. “We only have a couple of minutes until the meeting starts. Do you want to get down there and get good seats?”
I did, so I stood up. “That’s a great idea.”
We walked down the other stairs and came out by the front door. Moving toward the kitchen, I could see that others had the same idea. Since some of the building was still on vacation, there would be more room. We moved to the front and were able to sit across from each other.
“Are you okay?” she asked, touching my hand.
“I will be when this is over.” I looked at her and smiled. “Thanks for pulling me back from the edge.”
In a few minutes, Ms. Cedar came into the room and walked to the front. Leaning close, she put her hands on my shoulders. “If I ask you to say a few words about the computer system, will that be okay?”
I sighed. “I’m sorry I made you think I knew what was going on.”
“You do know what’s going on. By the end of the day, I think you’ll be very happy.” She squeezed slightly, and I lost all my tension and relaxed. “Now, are you okay to talk about our plan?”
“I would be honored,” I said, trying to turn around to see her face. “You know I mean that, right?” I managed to turn enough to see her nodding.
She patted me on the back, walked to the front, and got everyone’s attention. There was a flip chart, and she turned over the front blank page revealing some detailed outline. I tried to read it, but she flipped more pages.
“First, I’d like to say thanks to those that could make this meeting on such short notice.”
For the next few minutes, she talked about the history of the company and how the loss of Mr. Manor was very unexpected. She proceeded to discuss the current state of technology and the meetings we had to replace the entire system. Reassuring us about the commitment to keep up to date with today’s modern machines, she revealed a timeline on the flip chart. Pointing, she called me up to discuss the next steps.
I could see that all eyes were on me, and I needed to make this as easy to understand as possible. For the next few months, we would be rolling out the plan to replace everything. Keeping it intentionally light, I did my best to let them know that while everything was about to change, it would be in everyone’s best interest. For the first time, I realized I needed to believe the same message I was delivering.
By the time I was done, I could see that most people were excited about the plan. Ms. Cedar thanked me, and Alison was smiling widely.
“That felt good,” I said, sitting.
“You are very good at putting people at ease,” she said, tapping the table in front of me. “See, nothing out of the ordinary.”
The rest of the meeting was spent discussing which associates would be first to get new equipment and the order in which associations would get their database upgraded. There were plenty of questions and discussion about timing, but for the most part, it was all ironed out by the end of the time we spent together.
It was almost lunchtime by the time it was over, and I was about to ask if Alison wanted to go to lunch today when Ms. Cedar interrupted.
“Can you help me carry that flip chart back to HR?” she asked sweetly.
“Sure, no problem,” I said, standing up and grabbing it. “Is the door open?” I asked.
“I’ll be right behind you,” she said, guiding me through the crowd. “Did you have lunch plans?”
“I was about to, but you got to me first. Did you need something?” I asked, turning the corner, walking to HR. The door was open. “Shouldn’t that be closed?” I asked.
“It’s okay. She’s in there already,” Ms. Cedar said, pushing me along.
I entered the room, put the flip chart down, and saw HR sitting at her desk and the man from Nevada at the round table. “Is it good right here, or do you want it somewhere else?”
“Please sit down,” he said, pulling out a chair and tapping loudly on the seat.
I looked nervously at Ms. Cedar, who gave me a reassuring smile and motioned for me to sit. “What’s going on?” I asked, looking at HR.
“We wanted to talk about your future with the company,” HR said as Ms. Cedar closed the door. She turned over some pages on the flip chart, revealing the one I saw earlier.
Quickly scanning it, I could see a lot of things that did not make sense. “What is all that?” I asked, looking at Ms. Cedar.
“There’s no reason to be nervous,” HR said, achieving the exact opposite effect.
“Shouldn’t my boss be here?” I said, looking at HR.
The man from Nevada laughed loudly, drawing all the attention to him. “You told me he was different.” He pointed at the flip chart. “Can you do all that?”
I turned again to look. “Most of it.”
“The stuff you can’t, do you want to learn?”
I looked again. “The web’s a black hole. I’d rather not get involved.”
“Honest to a fault,” he said, standing up, holding out his right hand. “Where I come from, we shake to sell the deal.”
I took a step back and banged into a filing cabinet. “What are you talking about?”
“I want to offer you that job. If you don’t want it, walk out the door and go back to being what you were. Take a risk, shake my hand, do something new, and let’s go out to lunch.”