Kristin was called into her boss’s (Sandy’s) office one Tuesday afternoon. Kristen walked into Sandy’s office and had a seat.
“Why hasn’t that report been finished yet?” asked Sandy.
“Well, you gave it to me only yesterday,” said Kristin.
“Was it yesterday?” asked Sandy.
“Yes, it was yesterday,” said Kristin. Sandy either can’t remember things or she used that excuse to crack the whip, thought Kristin. “I’ll do my best to get it done.”
‘You know, I’ll be out of the office for the next three weeks,” said Sandy. “I’m going to have Sharon supervise in my place when I’m gone.”
Sharon was Sandy’s sister. She wasn’t that good of a supervisor. She really didn’t know the work and was mean. Sandy loved to blame the mistakes caused by her sister’s lack of knowledge on the co-workers. She refused to see Sharon’s incompetence and laziness.
Kristin thought, not only was this nepotism, Sandy using her sister to even work here, which is so unfair. I think I’m going to go behind her for the next three weeks when Sandy is out to show that I can be a better worker than both supervisors. Kristin saw the pictures of Sandy’s family displayed on her desk. It seemed like Sandy would only be happy if her own family members were employed in this whole company, thought Kristin.
The next day came, it was Wednesday, the start of Sandy’s vacation. Kristin passed by Sharon’s cubicle and saw her polishing her nails. The phones were ringing off the hook. There was a ton of work on her desk.
Sharon grabbed a package of work from her desk when she saw Kristin. “Here, this is for you.”
Kristin took the packet. She looked perplexed. Her jaw dropped to the floor but she didn’t say anything but took the work and went back to her desk.
It seemed like Sharon had a great idea after Kristin walked by. Sharon took several packets of work and distributed them to each employee. Now, there was nothing on Sharon’s desk. When she went back to her seat, she surfed the internet, powdered her face and made some personal phone calls. She then got up from her desk and walked around to each of the employees in their cubicles. She was observing what they were doing.
“You’re supposed to pick up the phone after only the first ring,” said Sharon to Angela. Angela was another clerk in the office.
Angela said nothing. She was too stunned and too busy to acknowledge the presence of Sharon, Sandy’s sister to do what she said. She had picked up the phone on the second ring and put it to her ear and said, “Marlee Enterprises. This is Angela speaking.”
Sharon walked to her next victim in the next cubicle.
“Oh, Sharon” said Mary. “I’ve got a question about the package of work you just gave me.” She tried to explain but Sharon cut in.
“You’re supposed to know that already,” said Sharon. Mary’s face dropped. Mary thought, do your job lady. Sharon then went on to the next cubicle.
Sharon approached Sally as she was getting up to leave her cubicle.
“Where are you going?” asked Sharon.
“I have to go to the lady’s room,” said Sally.
“It’s not your break yet,” said Sharon.
Oh, my God, thought Sally. What am I going to do? I guess I’ll wait until the witch disappears around the corner.
Sharon, aka, the witch made her rounds to each of the other cubicles then went back to her own cubicle. She sat down and streamlined a TV show through her mobile device.
The telephone rang at Kristin’s desk. It was a co-worker, Mary. Kristin answered the phone.
“Oh, could you help me?” asked Mary. “I’m so confused about this work I received from Sharon.”
“I’ll be right over,” said Kristin.
Kristin finished up with helping Mary answer her questions. Then Angela called Kristin from her cubicle.
“Oh, I’m having a lot of dropped calls according to the stats,” said Angela. “Could you help?”
“Surely, I’ll help,” said Kristin. Kristin went back to her office and opened her phone line to the incoming calls. Kristin answered ten calls. Then Sally called on the phone.
“I can’t get my computer to screen print,” said Sally.
“Okay,” said Kristin. “I’ll be right there.”
Kristin went to assist Sally at her desk. Kristin was well liked and looked up to by the other employees. She was friendly and believed it took team spirit to run an office efficiently. In spite of this, Kristin still managed to get all of her own work done.
Later, three weeks had gone by when Sandy was supposed to be back from her vacation. Kristin overheard some talking from the higher level managers. They had forgot to close the office door.
“Well, Kristin sure helped to keep the office going during these last three weeks.” said one manager. “The productivity with all of our staff has really improved. Kristin is showing herself to be a real asset to the company. She is helpful and she produces a lot of her own work.”
“I noticed that too,” said another manager. “Nothing has moved from Sandy’s office when Sandy is here. It’s like Sandy is not here when she is here.” Then the manager closed the office door.
Kristin’s ears had been burning. Kristin thought, I wish they hadn’t shut the door. If they were talking about me, let me have an earful too.
Things usually were kept secret in the office. Kristin was never told how she was rated among other employees but one thing was for sure. When Sandy came back from vacation the next day Sandy was called into her boss’s office. This time the door was closed through the whole duration of the meeting. An hour later, Sandy was packing her things and moved to a regular cubicle, not in a room with a door. She had been demoted.
Then Kristin was called into Sandy’s boss’s office.
“We would like you to “help” Sandy with some of her work,” said the manager. We’d like to see how you do.”
