A/N: Ta-da. I'm back from my trip to South America. It took me a little bit longer to return, so sorry for the delay in posting.
Getting into the office of EE Martin the next morning, I was met with a mix of greetings, most of them happy though. Well, all of them happy with the exception of one. My boss.
Elmer Hunt was standing next to my desk in a somewhat impatient fashion. The fact that I was technically twenty minutes early didn't seem to matter. With his oversized suit, the old-fashioned glasses and his greasy hairstyle he looked more like blueprint for comedians than my boss. For his 35 years he looked easily 50.
"Look who finally decided on gracing us with her presence," he just remarked and I wondered whether it would help to point out that I was stuck in a blizzard. Probably not. So, I just threw him a strained smile, deicing on taking the high road and not arguing my point. It was fruitless anyway.
"I expect you to make up for the time you missed."
"Of course," I mumbled, having never expected to be gifted the hours for the days I missed. I had intended on putting in the hours anyway. And looking at my desk, I knew I wouldn't get bored anytime soon and definitely needed to work overtime to clear everything on it.
"Good," Elmer just replied, turning around to find some other poor soul to maltreat. "There's a meeting in about ten minutes I need you to attend," he all of a sudden said, turning my way for a fraction of a second, before moving on.
A normal person would probably ask more questions about said meeting. Me? I knew better and checked my emails the moment my computer had booted up. I knew I'd find all my information about everything in an email. One that was probably sent not even a day ago.
Bingo. First one up. Sent ten minutes ago.
Re: Strategy meeting -international distribution, marketing, cost-evaluation
I'm sorry… what? I had nothing to do with marketing, or cost-evaluations, especially not at an international level. This was way above my pay grade, and I'm not even sure if it was Elmer's either.
I had about eight minutes until the meeting and wondered whether I should get a small head-start in sorting through the mountains of files on my desk and do some sort of pre-selection along the lines of what needed my immediate attention and what could be put on the backburner for a few days.
In the end I made it to the meeting without sorting anything, realizing that by the time I'd be back the mountain might have grown some more and therefore ruining whatever little selection I had accomplished.
The meeting took two hours and I did not understand a single word. But it didn't seem like I needed to. After the initial confusion at my presence and what exactly my position at the company was, someone decided I wasn't going to be useful for input, so I was bumped to taking notes. Well, at least I was somewhat productive.
Making it back to my desk I realized I had been right indeed. The file count had grown. Not by a lot, but by few at least. Letting out a sigh, I got to work, going through every file and determining whether it was urgent or could stay unattended for a few days.
I powered through my files, barely getting up for food or something drink and by the time I decided on calling it a night, I realized it was way past 9pm. My usual time for leaving was 6pm unless there was something incredibly important and urgent.
Looking over my desk, I had managed to reduce the files by a bit, but not enough to actually call it a dent. I guess there was always tomorrow. Sighing at the files and the prospect of doing it all again tomorrow, I got up and went home, planning to be in extra early tomorrow to get a head start.
Two days later, I made it home before 9pm, after having spent every day since my return at the office until well past that time. My workload had only substantially been reduced and at this point I was expecting to return back home after 9pm for the remainder of the year. I was dead tired and knew the vicious circle I seemed to be in right now would probably continue for …well, forever and I didn't have any way of getting out of anytime soon.
What didn't make things any easier were all the snide remarks from Elmer, who seemed to have something to say to almost everything I did or didn't manage to do. This was hell, every single day.
I placed my takeout food I had grabbed on the way on the kitchen counter and went for the fridge, hoping I was still having some wine somewhere. Some emergency stash or the likes. I found one last bottle that had been in there God knows how long.
The first tentative sip seemed to be okay and I filled my glass generously, sitting down on my couch a moment later and flinging my heels all across the room, hoping to not see them again too soon. Throwing my head in my neck, resting it on the back of my couch and staring up at the ceiling, I contemplated life and if this was my destiny for the next 40 years or so. I really hoped it wasn't.
For three days it seemed like Elmer was trying to drown me in work, sending me endless amounts of emails regarding things that certainly had never been something I looked after or considered my tasks and inviting me into countless meetings I felt useless in. I don't know he hoped he would accomplish since his actions in the end would probably mean more work for him in the long run, but for now there was little I could do.
Neither could I do a lot about his snide remarks like Oh showing up for work two days in a row or I'm glad you honor us with your presence today. There technically was HR I could complain to about him, but I somehow figured they probably wouldn't do anything or maybe not even care. Which was a shame, seeing as this fell into their responsibilities, but I stopped wondering long ago whether I was the only one left who really worked most of these days.
When he tried pushing even more work my way and even more meetings for me to attend, I asked if we could talk for a moment.
"What's the problem?" he asked the moment I entered his office.
I looked at him for a moment, trying to find the right words without seeming too pushy. I learned long ago that pushy was something Elmer could stand even less than being constantly late. Which was ironic, seeing as he was the pushiest of them all and let's not talk about his punctuality, shall we?
"I feel like you are asking a lot of me these last few days. Maybe a bit too much when it comes to all the meetings and other emails."
"Aren't you for the task, Plum?"
"That's not it. It's just too much. You are asking me to do the job of what might as well be twenty. Half the things you sent me don't even fall into my responsibility."
"So? Maybe I want to help you grow," he suggested and I barely contained to roll my eyes. Grow my ass!
"Maybe I could grow a little less?" I offered and saw his perplex expression. I might as well have suggested he should do his own job.
"You know where the door is if you can't handle your job."
"I'm…I'm sorry?" I sputtered, more or less shocked. Was he suggesting I quit? I had expected some more arguing, some BS about one helping the other, team spirit or whatnot, but a suggestion about quitting? Not in a million years.
"If you aren't up to par, you know where the door is. No one is stopping you. Don't think I wouldn't go that way just because you have been with us for so long. I can find a replacement in a heartbeat. Especially with the current economy. Question is, do you find a new job as quickly as I find your replacement?"
I was still perplexed about the turn of events and especially about the turn of this conversation and didn't even know how to reply, how to react. To react at all. It wasn't as if I'd been with EE Martin for decades, and there were certainly other people who were more loyal to the company, but to be told I was that replaceable was eye-opening. And shocking. And still sort of paralyzed me. Without another word I left his office, more out of shock than compliance.
Sitting down at my desk, I realized that I managed to receive twenty new emails in the five minutes that I had been in Elmer's office. Maybe Elmer itself wasn't the only problem. Maybe it was everyone. Including myself. I couldn't blame anyone for dumping all their unfavorable tasks in my lap and on my desk if I never disagreed or voiced my resentment. In the end, I realized, I was as much to blame for the entire situation as I blamed everyone else.
It was this moment of realization when I remembered Carlo's words about being appreciated and being paid for the work you put in. Well, clearly, I wasn't getting any: neither the appreciation nor the money. So maybe I should follow Elmer's advice and find the door and just leave. But what would I do afterwards? The economy was bad and I wasn't really the most qualified person out there and figured I wouldn't get any references explaining what exactly I had been doing work wise all these months. And then I remembered Carlo's offer as well. He had seemed genuine when he had made the offer and let's be honest, things couldn't get any worse than what they currently were, could they? What did I stand to lose?
Surprisingly, it would take me another two days and several annoying remarks from my boss for me to make my decision and calling Carlos Manoso, telling him if the offer still stood, I would gladly accept. I was done with working for a guy who kept adding to my pile of work and never actually doing anything himself. Here was me, hoping Carlos wouldn't turn out the same way. I still had no idea what I was going to do and what exactly security entailed, but I guess I was up for the challenge.
I just hoped he was as well. And that our shared confinement in Fargo wasn't going to create issues I really didn't need.