“Bitch!”
Charlie laughed. It added to the pressure, but he was right. This was important, and he had to do everything he could to succeed.
The first interview had gone well. He knew the CEO, and he placed a huge importance on people, so it was a role he was hugely invested in, which was why he was doing the first-stage interviews. Jason knew he was up against some highly qualified external candidates, and he was the only internal candidate.
They were having leaving drinks for Kelly, who was the head of reward. She’d been with the company for years and was moving on to somewhere else to do what she’d achieved at JenSure, which was to build out the entire reward proposition from scratch. They were good friends, and he was going to miss her. She was Jason’s work wife. Although Jane was a closer friend, given their history, she was still the boss, and there were certain things you didn’t share with your manager.
Some bright spark had decided karaoke was the way to go tonight, and Jason kept wincing at his tone deaf colleagues thinking they were the next Adele.
“Are you getting up?” asked Kelly.
“My talents lie elsewhere.”
“I suppose this differs from when you usually sing.”
“What are you talking about? I don’t even sing in the shower.”
“I know, because you’re standing up then as well.”
“Bitch!”
She cackled with laughter. He was going to miss working with her every day.
“I’m doing Rhianna,” she said, looking pleased with herself.
Jason smiled in support but was secretly dying inside. This was going to be cringe, but it was her night and tomorrow was her last day. Leaving drinks had moved to Thursdays since the pandemic.
It was another half an hour of wailing and the odd decentperformance before Kelly stumbled up to the stage and grabbed the microphone.
“Maybe we should stop her from doing this,” said Gabriel, who had taken Kelly’s seat.
“I don’t think we could if we tried.”
“Which song is she doing?”
“Hopefully not one of my favourites. I don’t want it ruined,” said Jason.
Gabriel laughed. The music started and Jason realised it was “Man Down,” which he liked, but it wasn’t one of his go-to Rhianna songs, so he was good. As soon as she started singing, there was a collective wince from the audience. She was holding the mic too close and had started in a really high register, so this was going to be interesting as things progressed.
“Rum-pum-pum-pum . . .”
Jason was trying hard not to laugh. She was getting into it big time.
“Oh whyyyyyyyy, oh whyyyyyyyy.”
“Oh, God!” said Gabriel.
“I know. She should definitely stick to the day job.”
“No. She’s not singing the radio version.”
“What do you mean?”
“Why did I pull the trigger, pull the trigger, boom . . .”
Oh fuck! There was nothing he could do to stop it as she carried on obliviously, and there was a collective gasp from the audience when she used the racial slur. This was bad, and she was still singing, even though she was surrounded by dozens of colleagues with their jaws agape.
“I think we better get out of here. Ignorance is bliss and all that. I can say goodbye to her tomorrow.”
