She didn’t give him a chance to say anything before she headed down the hall to his office. Moments later, she was back with his coat, which was also a trench. After she handed it to him, she pressed the elevator button.
I learned my first week here that this elevator stayed on this floor unless it was summoned to one of the other five floors that it went to. Robert allowed me on before him like the gentleman that he was. There was nothing better than a strong Black man who was a gentleman.
When the door closed, he glanced at me. He stared at me but didn’t say anything initially. “I know exactly where I want to take you to dinner.”
“Dinner? I thought we were going to do a late lunch, sir?” The octave in my voice was piqued like my interest.
He winked. “Dinner, late lunch, we’re saying the same thing, beautiful. I’ll send Jackie a text to make sure we have a reservation.”
Meeting With the Vice Presidents . . .
Francis was the first to greet me with a warm, genuine smile when we arrived at the meeting with the vice presidents. I made sure to tell her to call my office and set up a meeting with me for next month. When I saw Cora, the other woman that I knew applied, her welcome was non-existent. I had to speak to her first. She looked at me like I had two heads when I did speak. That was fine with me because at the end of the day, I understood how it felt to want something that someone had. I would never have been bitter about it, but we were all different.
The meeting went well, and we were able to cover a lot of ground when it came to the vision, goals, and how important they were in reaching those goals. It wasn’t hard to pluck out those who may have had adverse feelings about my promotion. I couldn’t, however, pluck out a fuck to give.
We were at the end of the meeting when Robert opened it up for questioning. Most of the questions were about the company, vision, or goals. That was to be expected. “Alright, we’ll take one more question.”
A man to the right of the room stood to his feet. From the smirk on his face, I felt like this was about to be some bullshit. I just wasn’t sure to what extent. “Yes, hello. Johnathan Corelander, vice president of sales. This question is actually for Ms. Plates.”
Yeah, this is about to be straight bullshit. Let me prepare myself for this shit.“Oh, my first question! Yes, Mr. Corelander.” My smile was just as fake as his.
He offered a curt smile. “Ms. Plates, can you tell us your secret to success? A woman with the minimal amount of education and experience that you have, but you still managed to make it to the seat of president. That gives hope to others who may be just as inadequate.”
Frozen! Did this muthafucka just ask me that shit in front of a room full of people?Gasps could be heard around the room. Yeah, they all knew that dummy lost his mind.
Before I could respond, Robert’s boisterous laughter stopped me. It wasn’t the kind of laughter that made you want to laugh. It was one that made you want to gather your things and leave. I took a discreet step away from him.
“I apologize for my outburst. I’m laughing because my mind is unable to understand what could have emboldened you to think that question was one that should be asked in this forum. Mr. Corelander, did you wake up this morning and say,‘I want to lose my job’?” Robert had humor in his tone as he spoke.
Like someone snapped their fingers, his laughter stopped, and his facial features tightened. “You must be out of your damn mind to think that you could be disrespectful to anyone in this company in that manner. What was it that you said? She was inadequate. Well, if she’s inadequate, then that means that you think the same of me since I selected her.”
Johnathan’s head shook so hard that I thought it would snap off. “No, no, Mr. Brand. That is not what I am saying at all. While your credentials speak loudly, it doesn’t seem that Ms. Plates’ credentials even whisper, so I wondered if it was a on the black hand side kind of thing.”
My eyes bucked at his words before laughter spilled out of my mouth. There was clamor all over the room. “Mr. Corelander,this is not how I expected you would end your career with the company. Instead of dignifying your ignorance or allowing Mr. Brand to, I will ask you to leave the premises immediately.”
Robert pulled out his phone, pressed the screen, then placed his phone to his ear. “Yes, I need security in the main hall immediately.” He disconnected the line and placed his phone into his pants pocket. “You might want to move it along, Mr. Corelander. See, my security, I did hire on the black hand side since there’s a trend of pharmaceutical executive assassinations.”
I giggled lightly before I gathered my composure. Robert and I had a conversation during a recent lunch about his security that traveled with him and that would travel with me on business trips. The fact that he told Johnathan that security was hired on the black hand side was funny because it literally was a company that was owned by his family member from Macon, Georgia.
I was introduced to the entire security team that covered our company. It was clear that regardless of how professional these men came across, all of them would be with the shits if it was needed. The majority of the team were minorities, which was a stark difference from the previous security company that was contracted under the previous CEO.
Johnathan’s face was flushed. If I didn’t know any better, I would say that he wanted to cry. He should have thought of that before he decided to pop out there like an idiot. He grabbed a coat that hung over his seat. “You know what, that’s fine. I’m not sure I want to be a part of a company that is headed by cotton-pickers’ descendants. I’m sure the Feds will be at your doors soon enough, knowing how you people are.”
“I know this muthafucka did not,” I mumbled. I forgot where I was and who I was for a moment when I took a step forward. My eyes shot down to my wrist when Robert grabbed it, thenthey shot up to him. He didn’t need to say a word because his expression said it all.Get me in check, CEO Zaddy!
Seconds later, security came into the room. Johnathan talked a good game, but the fear sprinted to his face when he saw them. Ferguson, the head of security, stepped into Jonathan’s space and asked him if there was a problem.
I couldn’t help what came out of my mouth next. I knew it would be unprofessional, but fuck that. “Call him a cotton-picker descendant. I dare you.”
He looked at me with squinted eyes, a red face, and a tight jaw. “Both of you will be sorry about this. I promise you will.”
“I don’t take threats lightly in the climate that we live in today, Mr. Corelander. Ferguson, please escort him from the premises, and make sure the needful is done to ensure he never returns.” Robert’s tone was so hard. It was clear that he wanted to do and say much more than he did.
It took a few minutes for the room to get back to order after Johnathan was escorted out. I wasn’t foolish enough to think that there weren’t others in the room that felt the same way that he did. He just screwed on his dummy nuts to say that shit out loud today.
Once the room was quiet, Robert cleared his throat. “What will not be tolerated atMediGenix Pharmaceuticalsunder my watch is disrespect of any kind. I don’t care how much you may dislike a person, you have that conversation with your little lunch circle in the quiet of a restaurant away from here. If you feel that someone is not properly performing in a manner that is becoming of this company and their position, there are processes to report that. Disrespect will not call for warnings. There will be immediate termination if found to be factual events. Are there any questions?”
The room was dead silent, as it should have been. After a moment more of silence, the room was dismissed. Individuals came up to both of us for various reasons.
