I cleared my throat after a few seconds and Mr. Richardson looked up. “Can I help you?”
Did he not recognize me? That was humiliating in and of itself.
“I’m Morgan Carter, you sent me an email that you wanted to meet with me?” Shouldn’t he remember that? He did just send the email an hour ago.
“Oh right, Morgan Carter. Come in and close the door behind you,” he instructed, tapping at the keyboard some more.
I did as he asked and sat down in the chair across from his desk. I smoothed my skirt nervously. I noted the Chester Athletic coffee cup on his desk and could have groaned.
Oh man…
“Morgan, you’ve been here how long?” he asked. Did he really not know? He was the one that hired me.
“Three weeks, sir,” I answered.
“How do you feel you are settling in at CFL?”
“Um, fine.”
Mr. Richardson continued to tap away at his computer, barely glancing at me. “I’ll get right to the point, it’s come to my attention that the project you were hired to manage has encountered some delays. Timelines not being met. That’s obviously a problem for our customer.”
“There was already a delay when I started. I’ve been trying to get the team caught up but there have been some hiccups with infrastructure—” I started to say defensively. Was this man blaming me for inheriting a project already behind schedule?
Mr. Richardson raised his hand, silencing me as if I were a child. It made me want to hit something. Or someone.
“That’s not the point. We’re on a deadline for the end of the third quarter. You were hired to finish the new platform. Excuses won’t be accepted or tolerated. I’ll want you to submit daily status updates so we can keep track of how you’re managing your time.”
What the hell?
“Mr. Richardson I was hired to take over a project that had a lot of problems. I’m trying to learn the system but it has only been three weeks,” I pointed out.
“Look, we can only sponsor your Tier 2 Visa as long as there is a sustainable project for you to work on. Do you understand what I’m saying?” Mr. Richardson finally looked up from his computer, the crease lines in his forehead deepening.
“Yes, I understand what you’re saying.”
He was threatening to ship me back to America. But given how I was feeling about my adopted country lately would that be such a bad thing?
“I look forward to your progress report at the end of the day,” my boss concluded, finishing our conversation.
I got to my feet and let myself out, my mood worse than it was before, if that were possible.
I stopped by Hayley’s desk before I reached mine. “Do you think we can get out of here at four instead of four thirty?” I asked her.
“Does a one legged duck swim in a circle?” she asked.
“I don’t know what that means,” I responded with a chuckle.
“That’s an of course we can!” she enthused.
At this rate I was going to become a full-blown alcoholic.
Lucas
“There are much better pubs than this place, you know,” my sister pointed out, grabbing a handful of peanuts and dropping them into her mouth.
I tipped back the bottle of beer into my mouth, draining it dry.
“Why did you want to come here? The bar’s sticky and it smells like armpits,” Anna complained. She took a drink of wine and made a face. “They don’t even have any decent Chardonnays.”
