‘You realise it’s already nine? Shouldn’t you be waiting for your break?’
‘Ignore her,’ said Miriam, casting a glare Sarah’s way. ‘The boss knows we need caffeine to get us going.’
Cathy strutted off to the staff room, leaving Miriam and Sarah in tense silence behind the reception desk.
‘Someone got out of the wrong side of bed today,’ said Miriam, breaking the silence and Sarah’s patience in one fell swoop.
‘My mood has nothing to do with which side of bed I got out of,’ said Sarah, pulling on her headset and praying a call would come through soon.
‘What is it, then? Got dumped? Didn’t get laid? Hate mornings?’
Sarah took a deep breath in, vowing to find another job where she wouldn’t have to work alongside such imbecilic playground bullies.Saved by the bell, thought Sarah, as her phone rang.
‘Good morning, this is Weatherwear Windows. How may I help you today?’
Sarah had to pull the headset away from her ears as the customer on the other end of the phone launched into a rant about his leaky conservatory.
‘I’m sorry to hear you’re unhappy with our product, sir. I’m sure…’
A stream of expletives reached Sarah’s ears. Her face burned.
‘Sir, I understand you’re angry, but that’s no excuse to speak to me this way. The best thing I can suggest for you is to piss off.’
Sarah slammed her finger against the ‘end call’ button. Cathy stood frozen mid-stride, two coffee cups held aloft in her hands. Miriam was staring at Sarah, her mouth open so wide Sarah could see her tongue piercing.
‘What. The. Hell. Was. That?’
Sarah spun her chair round to face Miriam. ‘He was being aggressive. What was I supposed to do?’
‘Um, remember the customer is always right?’ Miriam held her hands aloft and shrugged, flashing a confused glance to ally Cathy.
‘Yeah, Sarah. That was well out of order. What if the boss finds out?’
Sarah ignored her colleagues, pulling on her headset and opening the list of emails that required her attention. Her heart hammered in her chest and for the next hour, she stole glances down the corridor, waiting for the moment her boss would appear. When Mel’s door opened after an hour and a half of worry, it came as a relief.
‘Sarah?’ called Mel, her head poking out from behind the door frame. ‘Can you come to my office for a quick chat, please?’
Miriam and Cathy didn’t even try to hide their smirks as Sarah stood, patted her hair down and undertook the walk of shame to what she was certain would be a ticking off.
‘Sit down, please,’ said Mel, as Sarah appeared at her door. ‘We need to have a talk.’
Sarah walked into the office. She hated it in there. Against the peach-coloured walls hung posters of smiling people staring out of cheap, plastic windows. As if getting a new window could bring world peace and happiness. On Mel’s desk, photo frames cuddled into one another, a trophy cabinet of happy family life. Sarah thought Mel must be hiding a deep unhappiness. Why else would she need to overcompensate with that many photos? She even had a framed photo of her dog.
‘If this is about earlier, I can only apologise. I had an awful weekend, my dad…’
‘Sorry, Sarah. What are you talking about? What happened earlier?’
Sarah flushed a deep red. ‘Oh, nothing, nothing.’
‘It doesn’t sound like nothing.’
Sarah’s brain whirred through a list of excuses, but in the end she decided it was best to stick as close to the truth as possible. ‘I had an unhappy client swearing at me down the phone. I didn’t deal with it as well as I should have.’
‘Oh no, that’s awful! You know how important staff well being is to us at Weatherwear. You should have come to me straight away. Are you OK? Do you need to meet with the on-site counsellor?’
Sarah suppressed the urge to scream that woke crap, as Cynthia called it, was the last thing she needed. Instead, she forced her lips into a thin smile. ‘I’m fine, thank you. If it wasn’t about this morning, why did you need to see me?’ Somewhere deep down, Sarah wondered if she were about to be promoted, or get a pay rise. She might stay with the company then, if only to lord it over the two bimbos who shared her front desk.
‘I’m afraid this is delicate. We’ve… um… well… how do I say this?’ Mel took a deep breath and laid her palms flat against the table. ‘We’ve had some complaints about you.’
