I zoned out for the rest of Curt’s speech until he mentioned our reward.Please don’t let it be foam fingers again. Or temporary tattoos. Oh man, those were the worst. Or Payday candy bars. Curt should really take a class on dramatic irony.
“We made you these special t-shirts.” Curt did a couple of goofy raise-the-roof motions while our team exchanged furtive looks.
Elena went around distributing tie-dyed t-shirts while Curt explained about his eight-year-old niece’s tie-dye clothing business. The t-shirts came with her business card attached.
I held mine up. Across the front it saidVery Important Pickle. There was a tie-dyed pickle below the words. Or a colorful booger. It was sort of hard to tell.
“Thanks, Curt.”
He grinned at me. “No, thankyou.”
Chapter 19 – Noah
My supervisor had warned me that if I did well, I’d eventually be moving out of the phone support department, but I was still surprised when he pulled me from my desk an hour before lunch and told me the COO of Uncharted Treasures wanted to speak with me. A C-level executive wanted to speak with me? Not that I hadn’t ever worked with the top level people at Connecting Hearts, but I was basically hiding out here at this job. Getting called into the office of the Chief Operating Officer was not exactly laying low.
I took the elevator up to the top level of the building, expecting to see a lot of high-polished glass, sumptuous leather, and high end luxury, but the flooring was the same linoleum as down below, though a little less worn, and the receptionist’s desk, while large and imposing, was not new.
I let the receptionist know who I was and why I was there, and she directed me to take a seat in one of the beige upholstered chairs off to the side.
The COO didn’t make me wait long. After a few minutes, his door down the hall opened up, and he stuck his head out and gestured for me to come in.
“Hi, I’m Gordon.” He stuck out his hand once I reached him, and I took it, giving him a firm handshake.
“Noah Daalman.”
“Noah.” He studied me for a second. “It’s nice to put a face with your voice.”
Ah, they’d been listening to my calls. Not that I didn’t know I was being recorded, but hearing he was familiar with my voice was a bit unsettling.
“Have a seat.”
I took one of the leather chairs across from his desk and attempted to sit up straight, even though the chair was the type that made you want to sink back into it.
He smiled like he knew. I noticed his chair was the ergonomic kind with lots of back support. He slapped his hands down on the two armrests. “So, I’m a straight-shooter. I’ve looked at your resume. I’ve listened in on some of your calls, which tell me you’re a thinking-outside-the-box kind of guy with a strong work ethic. So, why is someone with your experience and education working in our phone support department? Hmm?”
That was not the first question I’d been expecting. “I, uh—”
He held his hand up to stop me. “Before you answer, you should know I value honesty above all else. I’d rather you admit you’re a recovering drug addict than hem and haw at me. What happened at Connecting Hearts? Your references over there are all low-level people who either don’t know why you left or don’t want to tell me.”
The guy was clearly used to getting what he wanted, but I also realized I had no ideawhyhe wanted to know.
“I’m not a drug addict. Or a recovering one. But my answer does make some other people look bad, so before I answer, I’d like to know the purpose of this meeting. Sir.”
He pursed his lips, studying me for several seconds before answering. “Fair enough. Uncharted Treasures is a bit of a dinosaur. We’ve been relying on loyal customers who are aging out of travel. You probably know this after all the calls you’ve made this week.”
I nodded.
“I was hired not too long ago to shake things up a bit. And that means building a team who is willing to do that with me. I’d like you as part of that team. But your exact position and salary are not what this meeting is about. Are we clear? First, I need to know if I can trust you.”
“Okay. Here’s the honest truth. I hadn’t planned to stay here very long. I’m still looking for a marketing position elsewhere. I took the position because of the location of the building. This is going to sound dumb…” Was I really about to say this? “I wanted to stay in my carpool group made up of Connecting Hearts employees.”
Gordon narrowed his eyes. “Because you’re a whistleblower.”
“No. Because I want to date one of them.”
Gordon scrubbed his hands down his face. “Oh dear, that’s worse. What did you do over there? Fall for one of your subordinates?”
“No. It’s actually a lot more complicated than that. And although they can’t legally keep me from talking about it, I’m sure they’d prefer I didn’t.”
