Play with Me

“Ms. Miller!”

“Who’s barking your name?” he demands, and if he was cranky seconds before, he’s thunderous now.

I glance at the redhead. “I, uh, don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” he challenges.

“I haven’t gotten a name.”

“You’ve been in HR for two hours and you don’t know the name of the person you’re with?”

I cut my gaze from the woman to her desk. “I was in the waiting room for most of the two hours.”

“What? You have got to be kidding me,” he mumbles under his breath. “Put whomever you are with on the phone.”

I really don’t want someone else’s job on my conscience, either.

“Ms. Miller,” he says, and my name is a reprimand.

“Yes?”

“Put the person on the phone.”

“Please don’t make me do that.”

“You do not follow direction well, do you?”

“I’m about to head to my desk now.”

“Put the HR person on the phone.”

I sigh and hold my cell out to the now-pale redhead, who has clearly figured out to whom I am talking. She accepts it and presses it to her ear. “Mr. Ward—”

He obviously cuts her off as she goes silent, then says, “Yes. Yes.” Silence. “I didn’t know.” More silence, and she glances at me. “Right. I do know. I’ll make it happen.” She listens another few seconds and then hands me back the phone. “Your turn again.”

“Hello,” I say, placing the phone to my ear.

“This isn’t how we operate, and Maggie is normally amazing. I apologize that your day started like this, but right now I’m going to make it worse. I have an important meeting in an hour, and the computer is saying the documents I need are inaccessible. Tech support is on it, but I need you to pull the hard copies and scan them for me.”

I’ve barely recovered from his unexpected apology when the urgency of his tone has me standing. “Yes. Of course. I’ll go now.”

“Have you been assigned an email yet?”

“No.”

“Tell Maggie you need one yesterday and then call me when you get upstairs.”

“Yes, okay.”

He hangs up and I immediately tell the HR person, “I need an email ASAP, please. Can you call me at Mr. Ward’s desk with the log-in so I can head in that direction?”

“Yes. Absolutely. Do what you have to do.”

“Thanks,” I say, already turning.

“Ms. Miller,” she says, drawing my attention again.

“Yes?”