Red flags are used to warn people. One should give you enough reason to pause. Two or three should be sufficient to make you come to a complete screeching halt. There are times when everywhere you look, a waving sea of crimson hypnotizes you into believing nothing could be as bad as it seems. I wonder sometimes how I can be so discerning given such little evidence when an entire team of people plunged ahead, seeing nothing wrong. Welcome to New Business’ faulty logic—problems are opportunities, so any dollar is worth it.
When the end of the day had come for me, I snuck out of the server room and went back to my office. The path was clear, so I did not have anyone stopping me for help. Leaning back in my chair, I picked up the phone and dialed Alison’s extension. It kept ringing and then went to voice mail. Not wanting to wait, I stood up, crept down a hallway full of file cabinets but devoid of people, past the bathrooms, and approached her office door.
Inside I could see her holding her head up with one hand on her forehead and holding a phone with the other. It looked like she was just listening, so I knocked quietly until she looked up. Motioning for me to come in quietly, I slinked in and sat down after closing the door. She touched a button on her phone, made sure it was lit up orange, and then spoke. “I’m going to be on this until five, at least.”
I nodded and stood, holding onto the door handle. “You doing all right?”
“We have a lot to talk about during dinner.” She shooed me and then took the phone off mute.
Two hours was a long time to avoid detection. Even though it was past my normal hours, seeing me standing up and walking around meant I needed something to do. I tried to follow my path back to my desk, but HR peeked out of her office and called me.
“Derrick, I need you for a minute.”
I smiled widely and put a little pep in my step as I closed the distance. “Sure.”
She sat at her desk and waited for me to poke my head into her office. “Come in, and close the door.”
I complied and sat in one of the chairs across the room.
“We are going to need you to turn off access for Kay and Wren.”
Pretending to be shocked, I sat forward. “Really?”
“Yes. We are going to shuffle some of the current employees and hire a new web developer.” I am constantly amazed at how the information I need to do my job is given to me well after I need it, and knowledge that is out of my sphere of responsibility is freely shared. “Next week the person will start.”
“You do realize that Wren used her own laptop and software?” I tried not to sound angry and condescending, at least to the level I was feeling.
“I’m not sure what you mean,” she admitted.
“That means I will need to call our hardware vendor right now to get a machine here in time. Also, I will need the company’s credit card to order the software online.” I held out my hand.
“Accounting will have to give you that. How much will that be for everything?” When I hear that question, I know the person needs to add at least a zero to the end of the number they have in their head.
“Laptop or desktop?” I asked.
“What is best?”
“Are they going to be able to work remotely?” I could see there was no forward thinking about how the position was going to work.
“Oh,” she said, biting her fingernail.
“I’ll get a laptop. It’ll be more costly, but the person will be able to work from home.”
“Wait, how much more?” There are two ways to shop—by function or by price. Technology should never be purchased solely based on price. Get what you need, or no one will be happy. I quickly outlined the cost differences and waited. “Get a desktop.”
“So this person will only ever work in the office then, right?” I asked, trying to make sure she understood her decision.
She nodded.
“Okay, the software will be much more than the computer cost.”
“What?” she asked, frowning.
“Desktop and web programs are pretty pricey. Can you tell me why Kay and Wren were let go?” I could see she wanted to tell me but ended shaking her head slowly. “Shame,” I said. “We’re going to spend a lot of money and time to replace them.”
“It has to be done. Go ahead and order everything before you leave tonight,” she said dismissively, not even knowing my day was already over.
Walking over to Accounting, I knew leadership gave no real thought into getting rid of those two positions at the same time. “I need a credit card to buy stuff,” I said, holding out my hand.
“How much?” I was asked. I related the information and could see my response determined which piece of plastic was held up for me to take. “Don’t spend any more than that on this card, okay?”
I saluted the person and jogged back to my office so no one else could stop me.
Calling our hardware vendor was always fun. They were very helpful, and it was nice to spend money even if it wasn’t mine. “You guys haven’t paid the last invoice we sent,” came the reply when I told him I needed another desktop. “If you can track that down and pay it, we’ll gladly get the new equipment out to you.” He gave me the invoice amount and number.
“I’ll call you back,” I said and then hung up the phone. Getting stuck in the middle when the company picks and chooses to hold payment is ridiculous. The other option, I guess, is that I would be the one they don’t pay. “Excuse me,” I said, leaning into the accounting manager’s office.
“Yes,” came the nasal, almost emotionless response.
“I need to buy hardware today, and our vendor won’t do it until we pay our past-due invoice. They gave me the info so you can look it up.”
The heavy man looked up at me and huffed.
“HR gave me the okay.”
“I’m not planning on cutting checks anytime soon.” He picked up the phone and must have called HR. After what I would call a shouting match, he slammed down the phone and wobbled past me to a group of filing cabinets. “What’s the vendor’s name and the invoice number?”
This winner was from the new company we merged with and was nothing like the former gentleman who ran the department. Jerry, the original guy, was replaced by a series of completely incompetent idiots until they settled on this mouth breather. That’s not an insult. This guy’s nasal hair was so thick and long that he needed the extra oxygen supply to help make his massive structure function properly. Well, maybe I’m still a little sensitive about the trend of good people being substituted with inferior models.
I told him the details. He pulled the invoice, grudgingly wrote the check, and put it into an envelope.
“I can put that into the mail on my way out,” I said, holding out my hand. There was no way I was going to trust that he would willingly put the check in the mail today.
He roughly put the envelope in my hand and then turned away from me to continue moving numbers around on a spreadsheet.
Sitting in my office again, I promised my vendor that the check was in my hand, soon to be dropped off in a mailbox on the corner. When you have a longstanding relationship with someone, it’s good to know that trust can go a long way. He assured me that the new machine would arrive quickly and was powerful enough to do the job. “Sorry that we didn’t pay you without all this hassle,” I apologized.
“No problem,” came his much-appreciated reassurance.
I pulled out the credit card and started shopping for the software. After a few minutes of searching, I realized there were way too many versions of the same stuff that I needed to call Wren. “Hey,” I said, happy that she was available. “I have to order the programs you used to do your job. I’ve been away from this too long. What do I need to get?”
“They’ve hired someone already?” she said, seething.
“Can I get a rain check on this conversation until we’re out together?” I asked, hoping she would stay focused.
“Fine,” she said and then told me what I needed to complete the transaction.
“Sorry,” I apologized. “I’ll see you and Kay soon.” I hung up the phone and walked to HR.
“You’re creating quite a stir,” she said, smiling. “Thanks for taking care of this. I know it’s not always easy with all this transition.”
“Having grumpy employees is not a good cultural fit. Isn’t that one of the company’s things they talk about all the time? Company culture?” I leaned on the doorframe.
“I’m new here, but I’ll see what I can do about the situation.” I wanted to believe her.
I shrugged. “I’m not used to dealing with coworkers that are so”—I struggled to come up with the right word—“toxic.”
She pursed her lips and opened her eyes wide. “Wow, that’s a strong word.”
“I call them like I see them.”
“May I give you a piece of advice?” she asked quietly.
“Sure,” I said, not wanting to be told to mind my own business or to let the big boys handle the problems.
“He’s been through a lot.” She nodded slowly. “You have to understand that.”
“Oh,” I said with mock concern. “That explains a lot. Thank you so much.”
“You’re a good person. I knew that would help.” It is going to take a while to get used to her style, that’s for sure.
Back in my office, I sat at my computer, waiting for the remaining time to pass. I read some e-mails that came in and prepared my calendar for what I was going to do when I came in tomorrow. I like to use the time first thing in the morning as best as possible since no one is really around to bug me. When I was almost finished, I looked up and saw Alison standing at my door.
“Come on in,” I said, smiling.
She did, closing the door. Alison pacing and talking to herself is still a beautiful sight to behold, albeit a bit disturbing.
“Can you sit down and be calm for a moment?” I asked, very worried at her stream-of-consciousness rambling coupled with a mane of disheveled hair.
“I’ve been on the phone for hours. Hours,” she repeated, locking eyes with me.
“You said it was going to be a long one.”
“Long? Having a long talk isn’t a problem.”
“Okay, you’re not making sense.”
“Do you know what they told me?” she asked, putting her elbows on my desk after roughly diving into a chair facing me.
“I wasn’t on the call, so no,” I said, trying to make her smile.
She waved her hands around frantically. “Everything. Absolutely everything.”
“Do you need a drink of water?” She had to be dehydrated or stark raving mad.
“Shut up and listen to me. I was on the phone with an employee that works on the new group. They’re letting her go after the transition. She knows everything, and that’s why they’re getting rid of her.”
“The new group is getting rid of her or we’re getting rid of her?” I asked, having trouble following Alison.
“We are.”
“Why?”
“They told her she had to move here.”
I scratched my head. “Getting rid of all the remote employees. They just fired Wren too. Wait, didn’t you say ‘she knows too much’ as the reason?”
“The move is an excuse.”
“Right.” I nodded, having no idea what she was talking about.
“There is no way I can work with this new group.”
“There’s no way you can’t. Aren’t they giving your groups to someone else?”
She stood up and starting pacing again. “Derrick, I’m serious, I can’t work with them.”
I clapped my hands to get her attention. “Unless you tell me exactly what’s going on, I’m going to have you committed.”
“They openly do drugs at their meetings. Some come drunk to board meetings. One guy actually came into one with a case of beer. Believe it or not, that’s not even the worst stuff I’ve been told.” She stopped and sat on the edge of my desk. “What am I supposed to do now?”
“Go tell New Business.”
“He knows.”
“You’re kidding me, right?”
“They actually said they didn’t want to work with a woman. Are they setting me up? I think they’re just trying to make me quit.” She fixed her hair and put on her glasses. “Do you think that new HR lady can help me?”
I must have made an icky face without realizing it. “If New Business knows all the issues, wouldn’t he have told her? Probably the whole cluster knows about the situation. What about Nevada?”
“You’re not going to believe this, but the man from Nevada actually knows the outside exec. They worked on some other group in the past. Oh, this is bad,” she concluded.
“Two options—you’re being set up or you’re not. Let’s go with not, so voicing your concerns should be fine. The other logical branch, go look for another job because it won’t get any better.” I stood and gave her a hug. “At least I’m here for you.”
“There’s something else I need to tell you,” she said, wiggling out of my embrace.
“Okay, what’s up?” I could feel my heart beginning to pound in my chest.
“I’ve been seeing someone else for months,” she said, taking a step back.
“On Tuesdays, right?” I said, folding my arms like I was annoyed.
She laughed. “You knew?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know why?”
“Because your mom thinks I’m a jerk and wants you to date someone more culturally alike,” I said flawlessly, having months to think what I would say if asked.
“Impressive. Then you know exactly what I’m going to say next then, right?” She moved very close to me and looked up. “Tell me,” she whispered, pressing against me.
“You’ve decided to stop seeing me. It’s not me, it’s you.” She shook her head slowly.
“Well, judging from your proximity, maybe you’re dumping him instead.”
She nodded.
“Are you still interested in going out to dinner?”
“Yes. We need to come up with a plan so I can manage this group without going crazy,” she said, hugging me tightly.