He was running late for the meeting. He always is. May be he hates the formalities or subtleties of exchanging greetings with the people attending the meeting. May be by turning up late he can just sneak in without being noticed. May be he thought by being a nobody he could avoid the obligation to laugh at silly jokes that people crack which betray their anxieties.
He caught Diana on his way to the conference room. He said to himself, 'Ah! Not her. I am trying to avoid every possible human contact and there she is. How do I escape her?'. As if Diana understood his discomfort or as if she got used to his indifference by now, she did not bother wishing him either. By now, she learned to avoid such uncomfortable situations for her own good.
Edward had called for a meeting. To discuss budget, and most important result of any such discussion…headcount reduction. Jay hated these meetings. He believed that everyone should be given a second, third or so on chances, till they succeed. He was very soft in these matters. Which was most of his employees complaint about him. He could not tell apart performers from non-performers. Both got the same respect, both almost earned the attention. This was putting high number of his employees at distress. Yet, he believed that non-performers are just unlucky people who are waiting for someone like him to throw chances at them. Why? Did he value humans more than their intellect? Was he trying to make more friends than enemies? Later does not seem to be the case, as list of his enemies was growing day by day. Or did he fail explaining why he did so? Or did people fail to understand his explanation?
He saw the room was full. 'Ofcourse, how much people enjoy being the ones who decide others life's, careers', he thought. The meeting was short, as many did not speak, as if speaking may jeopardize their own jobs. He was happy that the meeting finally came to an end. He tried to leave the room as silently as he came in, but Edward had to stop him. No one escapes Edward.
"Jay! So you know the plan right? I would like to see the list from your end, by the end of this week."
"Yeap", said Jay with an expression that meant if only I had a choice.
"I hope to see less numbers from your department anyway. Am sure each of your employees have handful to work and no one is sitting idle without any assignment?!", it was more of a question than a statement.
Jay knew that Edward was referring to Diana. He knew that he had to get her started on Page 5. To confirm his assumptions, Edward said, "How is the new column on Page 5 coming along? Is Diana having difficult time starting or is she giving you difficult times?". Before he could answer Edward winked at Jay and left the room.
He came out of the room and there she was again. Walking back to her desk, with a coffee mug in one hand and a folded newspaper in the other, reading some article that caught her attention. She was startled when Jay said, "Diana, do you have few minutes?".
"Hai, yes."
"Please come by my office in five minutes, am going to go get my coffee."
"Sure"
She rushed back to her desk and drowned, the now cold coffee down her throat. She found a notepad and pencil and was ready to meet Jay. All this took her only 5 seconds, and she realized that she was to meet him in 5 minutes. Next 4 minutes, she could not comprehend what was it that she felt. Anxiety? Fear? Worry? Curiosity? Whatever that was it made her uncomfortable.
She knocked on the door and Jay made a gesture with his hand pointing to her to a chair. 'Why can't he say it in words?', She thought. She had never been in Jay's office before. Jay was struggling to find a notepad or something. Diana's eyes wandered across Jay's office. It was cluttered. There were too many things. Most of which surprised her. Paper greeting cards from his acquaintances, friends and family. Which meant he is a sensible and sensitive guy who treasures those cards. Few were dated 10 years back. Wow, who keeps a 10-year old card? He must be a romantic at heart she thought. There were many presents, awards hanging on the walls, which spoke of his accomplishments. She could not believe that he had so many accomplishments from her first meeting. That was another surprise to her. On his desk, she found couple of books, and "The Joy of WORK" by Scott Adams book caught her attention. That was the biggest surprise of all. Jay looked like someone caught in the wrong place. And someone who is enduring a painful job which he is least bothered about. And this book...she wondered if he ever opened the book!
"Okay! This is our first formal meeting I suppose", Jay said, writing date and Diana's name on one of the pages on his notebook.
"Well yes!"
Jay explained to her about their plans of running a column against Corruption on their Page 5 and how important this job is, and how many ass-****s she might have to deal with, and how tough it was.
He went on to add, "Given the complexity and importance of this work I had few people on mind who would run this column, but well Edward said it will be Diana who is right for this job. So here it is. Welcome aboard!"
Diana felt the pinch. She could connect back everything to this. The reason Jay kept her at a distance, why he kept her avoiding; he did not like Diana working on this column. She felt both happy and sad at the same time. Happy that, THAT was the only reason why Jay ignored her. If it was, she knew that she could prove him wrong and she could win his accolades given a chance. Sad, cause she was worried about "What-ifs". What if she could never straighten things out with Jay?
Meeting went on for 10 more mins, with Jay explaining her the intricacies of interviewing different people and how to get the right data to the public. At the end, Diana left the room with half excitement and half anxiety.
Next few months were difficult for Diana. Any information she gathered for the article, and when asked Jay to review it, he had would ask her to get it reviewed by one of her peers, with Jay not even looking at it. Even though she was more experienced than all of those people whom Jay mentioned to her. She still did it. She knew when to swim against and when to go with the tide. Her first article that got published got so many appreciations, yet he never acknowledged. It was as if Page 5 was a lost cause to him. After a while Diana gave up trying to win his accolades. She tried to solace herself saying that she was at least doing good at her job, even with all the dis-approvals from her immediate boss. That was her, after a while people around her hardly affected her or mattered to her.
It was a Friday night and Diana has been working on her next column for the last 38 hrs. She saw her pet, a Labrador puppy, at her feet, sleeping so blissfully. She called him Cuddles. She envied him. She thought if only I was a puppy! Could sleep like a log without anything to worry, would be fed like a beast, and adored like a precious doll. But, she a human being has to have a job to feed herself. Had to sacrifice her sleep to keep the job. She could have been on the party that her friend Lisa invited her. Yet, she was here working like an ass. Her phone rang which woke Cuddles up. He snorted and left her room to sleep in the living room without any noises around. What a luxury you have, she thought. It was Lisa. She checked time and it was 1 in the morning.
"Diana! I knew you would be awake...a workaholic. You would have loved this party! It is 1 in the morning and party looks like its just started", Diana could hear loud music and people in the backdrop, and she knew that Lisa was not lying.
"Well, the story of my life!", Diana said agreeing to Lisa.
"Hmm, don't you worry! Once you are done with your assignment we will catch up for sure. Unlike you am always free...okay, I gotta go. Bye!"
Lisa's call made her suddenly tired. She thought she should get some sleep. She switched off the lights and as she nuzzled into the bed, she saw Cuddles coming back to her room with a look on his face which said, "It's high time you realized that you needed sleep".
She dreamed that she was interviewing someone for her next column and she could not hear the person, as there was a heavy music. She was trying to ask him the same question again and again, but she could not make out what the other person was trying to say. She was yelling on top of her voice that the person could hear her. And all she could hear in response was some familiar music. She realized that it was her ring tone. She tried to find her phone, but it was not with her. She was wondering where the ring tone came from.
She woke up as if someone pushed her out of the dream. Her phone was ringing. It was 8 in the morning. She slept for 8 hrs, but it looked like less than 8 minutes. She reached study table and picked her phone. The display said "Jay Clements calling...".
