Rude Boss

The meeting – I honestly had forgotten all about that after lunch and the ride back here with Mr. DePaul. I’m still reeling from that – nerves still on edge. I mean, what really happened at lunch? Did we…bond? No, we couldn’t have.

Zahara to Quintessa: so, you’re okay…everything’s cool?

Quintessa to Zahara: yeah. I’m good….’bout to sit with Ian for training

Zahara to Quintessa: he’s ready for you, too. Turn around and look at him

I swivel in my chair and see Ian staring at me. What was he doing? Staring at the back of my head, waiting for me to turn around so he could tell me he was ready? Yeah, that’s exactly what he did.

“I’ll be right there, Ian.”

“Alrighty, Aphrodite.”

Quintessa to Zahara: girl, let me go sit with him. We’ll chat later.

Zahara to Quintessa: lol…okay, Aphrodite. LMBO!

While still sitting in my chair, I roll over to Ian’s desk. He adjusts his glasses and says, “You’re right on time. I was just about to start on a return.”

“Great,” I respond with my pen in hand, ready to take notes, but as he’s talking, all I can think about is Mr. DePaul and how he had lunch with me. And he smiled – oh his smile – smiled more than I’ve ever seen him smile around here. And, surprisingly, he wasn’t bad to be around. Maybe it’s the building that has him uptight and wound up most of the time, but when he’s out of the office, he’s a different person. And he left the scent of his cologne in my car.

This has been a crazy day. It’s not over yet and I’m completely bewildered, yet there’s something exhilarating about Mr. DePaul’s presence in my day. There’s something oddly familiar about him. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it’s something.

Whatever the case, I’m sure the lunch incident was just a one-time thing. I can’t see this ever happening again. That’s not the culture around here. The higher-ups stay with the higher-ups, mid-level managers hang with each other and the little people stay with the little people. So, I try to forget about the day and focus on Ian as he walks me through how to do something I’ve done a million times before at my previous job – just with a different computer program.