That Spring Morning

We all want promotions

 

It was a brisk spring day, about 45 degrees Fahrenheit as the dew laced my windshield.  I drove the country roads on my way to work while the sun inched its way to the horizon. Sipping my cappuccino, my eyes still peeled back from a short, sleepless night after a long but satisfying day. Excitement has overtaken my mind, since every vital sign was elevated. That would be a good reason not to drink coffee but...got to have that express lift. The engine purred as if it were brand new, while my jams rocked the suspension. 

Man, it was nice to sniff the morning air with the freshness that I just want to bottle and sell. The calming effect expelled with a sudden sigh of relief, wow, almost at work.  I  can't wait for this most prestige day. When reaching for my sunspecs, I turned East towards the facility as that great ball in the sky blinded my descending ride. Today was the big day. The day that I would move rank and jump 40 percent in pay and become the head of the leading engineering firm on this side of Chicago.

As I pulled into the parking lot, the guard greets me with a stern voice;

 “Hello Mr. Piccolo. How are you today?”

“Just a bit nervous, Tom, just a bit nervous.”

“Good luck Mr. Piccolo, “Tom said with a smile.

I just nodded back and thought, “this could be the most precious day I every experienced in the world, at least so far. 

I parked in my ordinary parking spot, because I was not officially promoted yet. I couldn't wait to park next to the engineering entrance door. The difference of walking  half a mile to a few feet crossed my mind, although it was good exercise that kept my stomach flat.

As I walked across the parking lot, I glanced at my acceptance speech and wondered if it was conceited.

I want to thank you for this opportunity as the head engineer of Global Automotives and Apparatuses. I’ve truly worked hard to better this company, its employees and its customers and look forward to a devisable beginning as we strive towards a profitable future with high dividends. 

I guess that will do.

As I entered the building, I saw so many friendly smiling faces that I couldn’t even believe that I knew these crazy souls. There was Mary, winking as if I was her hottie and Janis splitting the group, reaching for a hug. Jerry cracked some strange type of joke with Arthur and he started laughing uncontrollably. What a group of engineers I thought to myself.

As I reached my office, my assistant called me, “Mr. Piccolo, Mr. Taylor wants to see you as soon as possible.” 

“Ok Sally, but please call me Ralph…I hate the sir stuff.”

“I’ll try to remember that Mr. Piccolo.” she said with a nervous under tone.

As I turned to leave I displayed a puzzled smirk on my face, not sure why the double step (an expression of confusion). Who knows, maybe she had a rough night.

On my way to Jack Taylor’s office, I stopped to pour myself a steamy cup of coffee; one thing about this firm is its great tasting coffee. Actually In the top engineering magazines, they mention our Brazilian coffee as a delightful taste experience.

Jack was waiting outside his office when we made eye contact, but he didn’t seem very happy. That was two people in just about 5 minutes that displayed a convincing undertone, (one verbal and the other facial), what the hell is going on?

“Ralph, please come in at once,” Taylor hurried me in. “Please sit,” he said with a gestured”. 

The first thought that came to my mind was I didn’t need the coffee, as I placed it on the coaster and sat back in the chair. At that moment, a knock came at the door. It was James, the security guard who was also here for the meeting.

“I have rather bad news Ralph; it seems the quarterly projections show a 20 million dollar deficit. We over spent our budget 4 to 1 and our stock holders are rather disappointed. We traced the loss to your department. This company's zero tolerance is not to allow an over budget of any sort,” said Taylor.

“But…,” I said as he interrupted me.

“And furthermore, some equipment that you stated we purchased is unaccountable in this facility. 7.5 million dollars of robots and machines are not in the specified location, and we feel that theft or embezzlement has been encroached upon here,” Taylor said angrily.

“But Jack, that’s impossible; I check everything and we had a net profit of 65 million dollars. How in the world did we end up with a huge loss?” I said with a surprising squeak.

My inner voice was chattering and I could hear myself saying: I don’t like the sound of this or the direction it’s going and here I came to receive my promotion and it looks like termination is in order.

“Ralph, I want you to clean out your desk. As with everyone set forth by our bylaws for termination, James will accompany you until you are off of the premises.” Taylor said sternly.

The pressure began pushing against my eyes as the sorrow began to sink in. I stood there as my thoughts ran wild: What the hell am I going to do, jobs are not growing on trees, I can’t just grab one? I turned towards the door and saw a crowd of people staring. I did my best to hide my tears but to no avail. A bright light blinded me for an instant when I heard Mr. Taylor say,

“By the way Ralph, APRIL FOOLS!”

 

  

 

 

 

 

Reviews

[Annalisa]

...Oh my... that man was evil O.O . But putting the evil boss aside, the story was very good, it was engaging and drew me in quickly. There is a LOT of foreshadowing in the beginning, so I had already guessed that Mr. Taylor was going to fire Ralph, but the April Fools Day thing was completely unexpected.

There were two sentences that were a little off, the first was "one thing about this firm is its coffee."... One thing how? One good thing, one bad thing? It's just a little awkward, perhaps try, "One great thing about this firm is its coffee."

The second sentence was ""oh what the hell am I going to do, jobs are not growing on trees, I can't just grab one"", my only complaint about this sentence is that the story was stream of consciousness, Ralph's thoughts and the such, so I don't think you need to quotation marks, when I read it I was a little confused wondering does he actually say this?

But the story was a good read, and interesting... and the boss is EVIL. Kudos ;)

[Michael X]

nice work ralphy, very clearly depicted, the entire scene is easy to imagine, one feels like they are
in the office quarters of jolly, watching the "april fools" day event unfold, as well as the leading up
to events which create a full perspective on the situation, your opening sentences really emphasized
the beat of the emotion, with blissful vibracncy and positve outlook to gain, so when the entire
situation took its tragically comical turn, the reader is certainly taken right along for the ride, excellent