Required Attendees:Killian Blackwood
Then closed the notification and returned to her spreadsheet with focused intensity, channeling the nervousness into conditional formatting. When she finished, the whole thing fit on one screen. Instant executive comprehension:This man is a bottleneck.
She built the summary box:
Items waiting on Chad: 12
Oldest wait: 9 days
Client-facing delays: 4
Revenue risk: $847K
A new popup appeared on Chad's screen: "Access Denied: Please Submit IT Request."
Chad closed it.
Two more appeared.
He clicked one.
His email signature updated itself at the bottom of the screen, visible to April even from her desk:
Sent from my tiny car.
Chad stared at it. Blinked. Tried to change it back.
It refreshed.
Sent from my tiny car.
His browser redirected to his LinkedIn profile. Suddenly displaying his actual title next to Chad's preferred one:Marketing Associate IIinstead ofVP of Marketing.
"Not my LinkedIn!" Chad yelped, clicking desperately.
The profile refreshed. His custom headline now read:Aspiring Professional | Currently Learning.
A calendar notification popped up:
Practice Apologizing—2:00 PM.
Chad's face went red. He dismissed it.
Another appeared:
Apologize to April—2:30 PM.
From across the bullpen, April heard a snort. Jessica from Finance was pretending to read a report, her shoulders shaking.
April reviewed her work. Red cells everywhere. Three days waiting, four days, nine days. A visual map of every project Chad had strangled.
Chad looked up, wild-eyed. "Hey, is anyone else's system acting weird today? Can we reschedule IT maintenance or—"
No one answered.
Chad stood, tried to move toward the door.
Arthur shifted, occupying space the way a mountain does.
