I looked at the hand and then glanced at the flip chart. “Who’s going to do the stuff I can’t?”
“There are going to be a lot of changes around here very soon,” Ms. Cedar said, urging me to sit down. “We wanted to bring you in to give you a chance at doing something new.”
Everyone else was now seated, so I reluctantly sat. The extended hand was gone, replaced with folded arms and a serious expression under a ten-gallon hat.
“Understand this conversation stays in here,” HR said, breaking the silence.
I nodded and waited for someone to speak.
“I am leaving at the end of the year,” Ms. Cedar began. “And we need to get a lot of the infrastructure in place long before that time. You are the best candidate to implement the new systems we talked about rolling out this morning.” She smiled and looked at the man from Nevada. “Also, our companies will be merging, and there will be no shortage of work to get done.”
“Plus, we will be moving to a new space,” he said, filling in more of the plan.
I put my hands behind my head and leaned back, looking up at the ceiling. “Do you have another desktopper and web designer already?” I looked around at their faces and could tell that if I left this room without taking this deal, I would quickly no longer have a job. “I also take it you have someone at your company that does what you are offering me.”
“I’ll be honest, there is a lot of redundancy between our companies, and that will be addressed. What you need to tell us is if you want the position we outlined.” He sat forward, and I could tell his patience was running out.
Sitting up straight, I looked at the flip chart again. Having gotten an earful from Polly and Alison in the past, I knew I had some more questions that needed answers. “How will this change my benefits and compensation?”
A smile appeared on the man’s face like he was reeling in a big fish, and he looked at HR. “Show him.”
HR slid a folder to me, and I opened it. “This is a salaried position?” I looked up and saw Ms. Cedar nodding. “Oh,” I said, rubbing my chin.
“Is there a problem with that?” HR asked.
“My position won’t be paid directly by the clients using my time?” I could tell they hadn’t thought of doing that, or maybe it was just a dumb idea.
“You’re part of overhead. Hopefully, having you as an employee will allow us to save money instead of making it like at desktop,” Ms. Cedar explained. “The more you know, the less we have to pay an outside vendor to do.”
“Makes sense,” I admitted. “I see insurance is cheaper.”
“That’s an exec perk, which we felt you now deserved,” HR informed me.
“I also see there is a sizeable bump in money. Is this in line with industry standards?” I asked, knowing it was nowhere close.
“For our type of business, it is especially generous for someone with no experience in the position.” He was right, and I was not about to keep pushing the matter today.
“I would like to review this and get back to you with a decision,” I said, watching their reactions.
“As long as you keep it to yourself,” HR insisted.
“The only person that will see this is my sister at home,” I promised. “When will all this be common knowledge?”
“Monday,” Ms. Cedar said. “We will call all the executives together in the morning and give them a detailed plan for the merger and move. You are welcome to attend that meeting if you take the job.”
“Since I don’t drive, where will the new office be located?” I could tell my lack of license was news to the man.
“That won’t be an issue,” HR said, coughing.
“I rely on public transportation, so it might be,” I shot back. I had a job once where it took a trolley, bus, and a fair amount of walking to get there daily, so I was not interested in doing that again.
“It’s a block away,” Ms. Cedar assured me. “That extra bit will do you good in the long run.”
“Is your company close too, or do they all have to move here?” I could tell my time for asking questions was running out.
“The company that’s merging is not too far away, but a few of them work remotely. They will come here, understand what needs to get done, and then leave. If there is a strong need for them to return periodically, it will be arranged. You have everything in that folder that you’ll need to know,” he concluded and once again stood. “I look forward to your decision.”
No handshake, no tip of the hat, just the unspoken Get out now before I change my mind. I held up the folder and waved to everyone, backing out quickly and closing the door quietly. Turning to go to my desk, I saw several people wondering what I was holding and what I was doing in HR. Keeping my head down and hurrying along, I made it back to my space. Shoving the folder into my bag and zipping it up again allowed me the chance of actually making it through the rest of the day without someone seeing it.
“How’s it going?” my sister’s friend said, scaring me as I turned my chair to face her. “Are you all right?”
I’m not sure if I was pale or red, but apparently it was obvious that something was going on. “Did you go out for lunch yet?” I asked, trying to return my breathing to normal.
“That’s where I was going now,” she pointed in the direction of outside. “Do you want to come along?”
“I definitely want to get out of here and talk to you, if that’s okay.” Hanging out with people from work was something I really didn’t do much of, but today I really needed to talk to someone.
“I was going to a cart to get something and bring it back. Do you have a preference where we go?”
“Oh, I’m not getting anything. I just want to walk and talk.”
There is a moment when people decide to spend time together that they realize how little they really know about each other. After that, there’s the hope that the other isn’t some raving lunatic who will monopolize the conversation. So what ends up happening is both decide not to be the one to start any meaningful dialogue, and the whole time ends up being wasted.
“What did you want to talk about?” she asked, grabbing her purchased food.
Seeing that I only had a couple more minutes for the walk back, I had to break my silence. “Why did you decide to leave desktop and work on a team?” I am sure she told me some reason in the past, but right now I needed to hear it again.
“Let’s be honest,” she started. “I knew that job wasn’t going to be something long-term for me. Getting my foot in the door was the important thing. Desktopping is something I’m okay at, but if I had stayed there, my speed at getting things done would have hurt me.”
“Did anyone ever complain about that?”
“Did anyone ever complain? They complain about everything—too slow, not creative enough, looks the same as everyone else—the list goes on and on. When the position on the team opened up, I jumped as fast as I could.”
I sighed. “What do people say about me?”
“I haven’t heard anything negative.”
“Anything positive?” I asked, needing to have my ego boosted.
“Fast and accurate. My team loves what you are doing.”
I wanted to change topics and knew doing so would not be smooth. “Have you seen that guy walking around with Ms. Cedar?”
“Someone told me he was at Mr. Manor’s funeral with his kids. Apparently they’ve known each other for years. He’s from somewhere out west, I think.”
“Nevada,” I threw in and realized I shouldn’t have when she stopped. “What?”
“What do you know?”
I knew there was no getting around it, but I tried shrugging and staying silent.
She sat on a bench and tapped it for me to sit. “We are not moving, so get comfortable and spill the beans.”
“You have to promise me you won’t tell anyone,” I said, still standing.
She crossed her heart and unwrapped her food. It did smell delicious, but I had to ignore that and stay focused. Checking to make sure the bench was free of pigeon presents, I decided to try and minimize what I divulged. I sat down and tried to look relaxed.
“They offered me a different job.”
“So that’s why you wanted to know about me changing positions.”
I nodded, feeling really stupid that I was that transparent.
“What will you be doing?”
“Managing the new system.”
She looked at me, and I could tell she was happy for me. “Nice. What else?”
“What do you mean what else?”
“You said ‘they’ offered it to you.”
“HR and Ms. Cedar,” I said, trying to stop the information flow.
“Do I need to call your sister and find out the details?” she asked, and my mind started racing.
“I haven’t talked to her about everything yet.” I could tell she was having fun messing with me.
She went back to eating her food and watching me, trying to stay sane. “Everything? You are a terrible liar.”
“Is that a bad thing?” I didn’t mind talking about my flaws if it would keep me from telling her more.
“You invited yourself along to talk, so talk.” She went back to eating and waiting for me to speak.
“It’s a beautiful day,” I said, sticking to a safe topic. Hopefully, she would finish up, and we could end this inquisition.
“Are you serious?”
“Yes, it’s a beautiful day.” I wasn’t going to budge.
“I didn’t want to do this, but you owe me.” She had crazy eyes, and I knew there was no escaping it.
“Fine. How much do you want to know?”
“What kind of question is that?”
I wanted to tell her everything, and that is what I was going to do. “We’re moving, merging, and lots of people are going to lose their jobs.”
She sat up and tried, mostly successfully, to keep from choking. “What?”
“The man from Nevada has a company nearby that is going to merge with us, and we’re moving like a block from our current building. If I don’t take this new job, I’ll probably be gone.” I hung my head in shame for telling her all that when I promised I would not.
“That’s incredible. Are you serious?”
I gave her my blankest stare possible.
“Wow. Who knows?”
“You are the fifth, I think.” I could see her mentally counting who the other four were. “Do you have any more questions?”
“Sure. Do you want the job?”
“Not sure. They showed me a flip chart with all the things they wanted me to do. Some of the stuff I have zero skill in.”
“Like what?”
“Web work. I get the concepts but have never done anything like that. They already have a web designer and desktopper lined up at the new place.”
“At least that will free you up to do the system work,” she said, finishing up. “When’s this all happening?”
“By the end of the year.” I wanted to add that Ms. Cedar was leaving too; however, that information seemed more personal, so I kept that to myself. “Execs are going to be told on Monday.”
“You have to decide quickly then. It’s better that way.”
“Is it?” I was not so sure.
She started scrambling in her pockets and pulled out a penny. “Do you want me to help you decide?”
“What, a coin toss?”
“Sure. Heads you take the job, tails you don’t. Ready?”
“Is this how you decided?”
She nodded. “Of course. It’s the only way.”
“Is this best out of three or five?”
“No. One flip.”
I took the penny and looked at it to make sure it had two different sides. “I didn’t realize you were weird like me,” I said, handing back the coin. “Go ahead.”
She made sure I was watching the penny and then gave it a big push into the air with her thumb. It angled toward me but she adeptly snagged it midair with her left hand and closed her fist before I could see the result. “Ready?”
“Show me.”
“When the coin was in the air, which option didn’t you want to show up?”
“What?” I leaned closer to her. “You messing with my head?”
“No. The actual outcome doesn’t matter. You decided what you wanted while it was still in the air. So, what do you want?”
I tried to grab her hand, and she pulled it away, giving me the crazy eyes again. “You’ll see it after you tell me.”
I stomped my foot, crossed my arms, and sat back. “This is dumb.”
“Really? You’re going to tell me there were no thoughts in your head while it was in the air? No weighing out what you really want? Seriously, you were going to let it all come down to a flipping of the coin?”
“No, I know what I want.”
“So the outcome doesn’t matter then?” She started to put the penny away.
“Stop,” I said, reaching out again. “What was it?”
“What do you want it to be, or better yet, what don’t you want it to be?”
“I was hoping it wasn’t tails. I do want to take the job. Now show me.”
She opened her hand and revealed it was tails. “Oh wait,” she said, flipping the coin onto the back of her other hand. “Heads it is.”
For a second, I was in utter disbelief at how happy I was that it was heads, and I should take the job. “Wait, if it was heads, would you have flipped it onto your other hand?”
“Don’t you always do it that way?”
“Yes, but I don’t look at it first.”
“So you’re saying I rigged it by looking at it and turned it over because it wasn’t what you wanted?” She was real good at manipulating me into thinking I was the crazy one.
“How do you know my sister again?”
“We trained in the circus together.” She did a funny monkey face.
For a second, I believed her until I realized that nothing I could say or do would make the situation end in my favor. “Okay, I have a question for you now.”
“Don’t you think we should get back to work?” She stood up, stretched, and then put the penny away in an obvious show.
“Yes, we should.” I stood up and walked beside her in silence, wondering when I became so gullible. When I got home, I definitely had to find out more about my sister’s friend.