Episode 8 - A Window of Opportunity
“What did you say”John sneered at James. “You heard me loud and clear the first time John. I am not scared of you”, James replied. “Well. A lowly delivery man. Serves you right, don't you think? I know that the Committee thought you were talented but to me, you were always undeserving.”, John said, blocking his path. “You are nothing but dirt sandwich now.”, John said as he hit the box in James’s hand and sent its contents flying around. “Hey, what did you do that for?”, James yelled as John walked out of the elevator. Rushing up to him, James shoved John. “What is your problem dude? Can’t you see that I have work to do?”, John sneered, “And look what you did to my coffee! I will have you pay for it boy!”. The nerve! Talking to his former boss like that? James stood up straight and said, “You’re the one who blocked my paths and pushed me, causing the coffee to fall. You’re the one who should be paying for the coffee, not me. I’m not gonna move from here until you pay for it.”, he said, grabbing John by the dollar of his suit.
“Get your dirty hands off of me! This is a tailor made suit from a luxury brand that you can’t even afford.”, yelled John. “You know what, fine, I’ll pay for the coffee, since you are too poor and too pathetic to pay for it yourself. Would a hundred dollars do?”, he said, waving a stack of notes in front of James. He slowly took one out and tossed it at his face, “Here, just take it. Consider this a charitable offer from me”, John said with a smirk. Even though James was disgusted by this horrible treatment, he did really need the money. The note fluttered down and landed on the coffee puddle on the floor. James bent down quickly and picked it up, scooping up the money before heading towards the elevator. “Pathetic. Can’t believe a hundred bucks got you down at my feet”, John said as he roared with laughter.
Ignoring him, James walked towards the elevator. Now, he had to focus on his job and he needed to replace the drink as fast as possible and within the delivery time window. He dashed off to the nearest local coffee shop and grabbed an identical coffee for his client. There was no moment to lose. He got back to the twentieth floor as quickly as possible and went back to the place where the coffee had fallen. The place was clean, “Wow, what a quick service here!”,he thought as he rushed towards the office suite. “Number 245. Found it”, he muttered as he found the room number. Arriving at the door, he heard a woman’s angry voice coming from the room.
“John, this is unacceptable! How could you not run this by me before finalizing it? I am your boss, do not forget that, and therefore I have the final say. This model is full of errors and you seemed to have overlooked most of them. I understand that a single person cannot correct all the errors, which is why I should have been involved here. How could you have committed such a gross negligence? I should fire you right now.”, she screamed at him. James peeped inside the suite and saw John, standing in front of a desk, with his head hung low, with a guilty expression on his face.
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“I am sorry ma’am I won’t repeat this again. I’ll work overtime to correct this mistake, I’ll do anything. Please don’t fire me”, he begged and pleaded in front of him. Typical sycophant john, always sucking up to the boss. He would never find a solution or do the real work, instead he would find reasons and excuses to explain his mistakes. James scoffed, “What a sore loser, where’s all his attitude gone now?”, he thought. James knocked gently on the door. A woman’s icy voice came from the room, “Enter.” Hey, I have got your order. I am sorry it took so long. Your coffee got knocked over when I got into a run in with a dog.”, James said looking up at her. The woman had her hair neatly tied up in a bun, her face was perfectly chiseled and she wore a power suit. She totally looked like a boss. James was awestruck by her beauty. Her blue eyes pierced into him as she spoke, “That is okay, you may come in.”. James slowly walked across the room setting the coffee down on her desk.
She shifted her gaze back to John and continued to berate him for messing up the project and delaying it by ten days, “I am the CEO of this company and I should have been put on the case too”, she said coldly. John grew flustered by the moment, even more so now that his former boss watched him getting insulted over his incompetence. James silently placed the coffee, and in that moment glanced at the project plans, which were indeed full of errors. James had a few ideas regarding the solutions to the issue. “No, I must not intervene”, he thought as he quietly made his way out of the office. But something in him stopped him from leaving. John had insulted him a lot earlier, now it was his turn to show John’s place.
“Excuse me, Miss Hartman. Can I say something?”, he asked the woman as he turned around to face her. Shocked, John’s eyes grew wide as he stared at her. Miss Hartman nodded at James and said,“You may. But make it quick as I have tons of work to do.” “Thank you, ma’am. So, when I placed your coffee, I took a look at the plans for the management system that you are making for the hotel. Am I correct?”, asked James. She narrowed her eyes and said, “Yes, but what do you have to do with it.”. “Ma’am if I may, can I re draft the plan? I have full confidence that I will do a good job at it”, replied James with confidence. “Don’t listen to her, Miss Hartman! He’s nothing but a delivery guy! What does he know about tech”, John yelled defensively. “I am just trying to assist here ma’am. What’s the harm in trying”, James said smiling.
Miss Hartman thought for a moment, as she heard John protest some more. “Quiet down John and let me think here”, she said, raising her palm at him. John immediately fell silent. “How long will it take you to re draft it, clearing the errors?”, she asked in a frosty voice. “It would take me about ten minutes ma’am. No more, no less. Trust me, I have done this many times before.”, James said, grinning with confidence.
She looked at him, up and down, shrugged and said, “Alright I guess, there’s no harm in trying. Let us give it a shot then.” James’s face brightened up as he rolled up his sleeves. He was finally getting to work with tech yet again after years. “Right away ma’am!”, he said in a cheery voice.