“Sorry to have to deliver such bad news on the phone, but I thought you would want to know as soon as possible. Your whole department is being phased out. Downsizing, you know.”
Sandra hit delete before she had to hear any more. Then she sighed, deeply, trying to work with what the psychologist had recommended. “You have to walk through it with him, Mrs Cleveland. Learn his language.” Trouble was, it was a different bloody language every week. And this week, she didn’t really feel like learning it. What she felt like doing was marching up to the clinic, giving him a darn good shake, and saying “Snap out of it Robbie, please!” But that wasn’t going to help anybody, least of all her deranged husband. That sort of behaviour wasn’t going to bring Robbie back.
So she took a deep breath and called him.
“Miss Franklin, yes, how may I help you?” He was curt, perfunctory. She pressed ahead.
“Listen, Robbie…umm, Mr Cleveland, I know my…my work hasn’t really been what it could be, lately, but I really feel that I am…indispensible to…to the team and I think that we can get through the crisis, Robbie, ah, Sir, if we just pull together…”
“As I said, I’m terribly sorry, Miss Franklin, it’s really nothing personal. Four weeks pay and your desk clear by Friday. Oh, and if you’ll let the rest of the department know of course.” There was a click and he was gone.
Sandra hung up softly, silencing the last beep. It was so quiet in the empty office. The clatter was almost deafening as she swept the last of her sick husband’s things from his desk into a cardboard box. She left the building quickly, her high-heels ringing, insistent, cruel, like those damn beeps.
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4 comments:
Hi, sorry I wasn't sure how to leave a comment with the link so I've just done it here. Um, this is my first go, it was fun, it was challenging...hope you like it!
And it really is that cruel out there in the corporate world. You did a great job infusing the angst into the characters in such a short space.
and I love my sensible shoes... who can even think when your feet are squeezed into a dreadful shape... much less carry out a corporate role? thanks for your comments.
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