Chapter 1: Just Trying to Get By

Derek POV

Derek: I did it to her again. Ugh! But she makes it so easy. Plus, if I'm being candid, I think she’s begging for it.  She's smart but not savvy.  And after all, I can do it. I'm her boss. I have the ordained right to tell her what to do and dictate her 9-5, but let's face it, this job is really 9-9 if you're lucky. With VPs and Directors swimming in all lanes these days, we're all accountable so why shouldn't she feel the heat.  I don't need to convince myself, or you for that matter. In fact, I was given this position to lead and as such, it's acceptable for me to pass the buck.

So this assignment came up yesterday and it was shitty, I'll be the first to admit. It involved implementing some marketing plan to convert millions of our users into TV zombies and internet addicts, collecting household data from the masses. I'm simplifying here but that was basically it. Didn't the execs get that no one wants linear TV anymore even when you pair it with super cheap Internet? Anyways, I didn't want to do it and there she was. Hard-working, eager to learn, even more eager to please, and ripe for the picking - the perfect recipe for success for a worker bee. Or in this case "workerB" as her name starts with "B." Ok,  I'm diverting. 

Becca is not a pushover. She gives me grief, or "intellectually debates" and scrutinizes most decisions on strategy. Like I said, she's smart but "above [your] pay grade" isn't something she totally gets. All that aside, I like the push back she gives me. Somehow even when I don't agree with the direction I'm forced to hand out,  it kinda solidifies it, ya know?

Becca wasn't happy with this particular decision. I can't blame her. She'd been here for nearly a decade working in the same group and taking on more responsibility without any foreseeable path for advancement. Don't get me wrong. I advocated for her. She's a people person and while not a natural leader, a natural empathizer. She's earned the respect of every one of her co-workers. She's the emotional rock of the group. 

Going into the call, I knew she'd be silent when I planted the project on her lap. One, two, three, four seconds go by.  She's processing. I was surprised she stayed silent so long. She doesn't do long silences. 

But I do.

Here it comes: "So I guess I'm working on the holiday break then." I tell her it's the hottest time of the year for eCommerce and she should count herself lucky that she hasn't been asked to in the past. 

Still, I don't like Becca expressing resignation at her condition and feeling so damned hopeless, a victim in her own story, so I stay on the line with her. 

"I know the corporate grind can be taxing, but we all have to do our part. It's the only way up and eventually out and then up again." I say in my calm, Barack Obama baritone voice that commands both authority and credibility.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." her voice straining. "I'm just bummed that I'll have to cancel my trip to Israel. I was looking forward to some R&R,  floating in the Dead Sea, buying shawarma off an actual spit, sight seeing in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and hiking Masada. I can't even believe I just said that last part. Me hiking?" 

She laughs a little, making light of the situation and turning it around to ease the tension and get rid of the awkwardness. She does that a lot, I've noticed when there's conflict. The self-deprecating bit masks her supreme disappointment but it's the tool that digs her out of the current contact, which she is trying so hard to cut off. 

That really does blow. I mean Israel sounds like it would have been a great time - exotic locale, incomparable food, beautiful people, ancient culture.  That, and she has a connection to the place, even if she's never been there.

I wouldn't ever allow someone to take away my time off, especially when it's so hard earned. That's the fundamental difference between the two of us.

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Next Chapter - Chapter 2: All Too Well