She always demanded everyone use her full name, Katherine. Not Kathy, not Kat, Katherine. It was a reflection of how little joy or playfulness the woman exhuded. She didn't allow pet names, as it brought an air of familiarity that she wouldn't allow her employees to have with her. She was a singularly focused woman, intent on getting the job done.
Her heels clicked down the empty hallway as she strutted towards her target. Her eyes set forward, shoulders back, she walked with the confidence of someone who believed they were sitting in an ivory tower, surrounded by nothing more than expendable assets only to be used to achieve her own ambitions.
A man with mousy brown hair and shoulders slumped over his keyboard watched her quickly approaching with disdain. His eyes sharpened as soon as he'd heard the soft clicking of her heels growing louder. His muscles tensed while he kept his head down and eyes focused on the computer hoping she would simply pass him by, almost holding in a breath. Unfortunately, those clicks never faded away, instead stopping right next to his chair.
"Matthew." She said in a stern, accusatory voice that commanded attention. The woman wouldn't even allow shortened names of others, as she felt it was 'too friendly' in a professional environment. Matthew spun his desk chair to face her and lifted his chin to meet her icy stare. In another universe, she might have been attractive. Jet black hair, sharp eyebrows, red pouty lips, slim build and an hourglass figure. But no, he couldn't feel anything but resentment and disgust when he looked at her.
"Yes...." He said in a cautious voice.
"Why are these construction quotes 50% higher than what we were quoted for the store we opened 3 months ago just two hours away?"
He felt his blood boiling inside. He wanted to explode, yell at her that OF COURSE they're 50% higher! The store 2 hours away was in a city with a population of 50,000! The city they were building in now had a population of 900,000. He thoughtto himself how lucky she wasthat the cost wasn'ttripled, but kepthimself quiet for a long moment.
She stared into his eyes with an uncomfortable intensity, as if demanding an answer. Matthew sighed after several seconds before speaking, "Mrs. Charles, I am confident I negotiated that quo-"
She cuthim off abruptly. "Matthew, I did not ask for excuses. I hired you for results. Are you incapable of producing them? If that's the case we can consider this your resignation."
Matthew straightenedand his eyes widened."Wait! No, I'm, no I'm not resigning, Mrs.Charles. I'm just trying to explain!"
She staredat him with a cold, uncaring expression. "Then explain to me how you'll get this quote more in line with expectations."
He trembled, knowing he can't afford to lose this job. Matthew tooka deep, steadying breath as he thoughtabout how much his life hadchanged in the past two months, and how desperately he relied on each paycheck. He calmedhimself and knewthe best thing he coulddo was toat least buy some time and get her away from him so he could think. "You're right, Mrs.Charles, I'll get right on it and report back."
A satisfied smirk spread across her face as she feltlike she'd won. She looked down at the man and really tookin his appearance. It seems like in the past two months he's really let himself go. Unfixed hair, dirty shirt, bags under his eyes. "Maybe if you presented yourself better, you'd get better results. Don't come in to work tomorrow unless you improve your appearance. I don't let disgusting and filthy people represent me. Do you understand?"
Matthew's fists clenched in his lap as he felt anger bubbling up in him again. He said through gritted teeth, "Yes, Mrs.Charles." Katherine, seeming finally satisfied, turned to finally walk out of the cubicle, leaving him to breathe a sigh of relief. He stared vacantly ahead at his monitor wondering how he was going to solve this problem as he listened to the clicking of her heels fade away.
************
That night Matthew, or Matt as he would prefer, pulled into the unfamiliar parking lot of the apartment complex he'd just moved into. He opened his car door and felt a sense of unease at the break in his almost decade long routine. He wasn't walking up to his home, he wouldn't hear his kids greet him at the door, and he certainly wasn't going to see his wife's face. Feelings of resentment washed over him as he made his way to the building thinking about everything that'd happened.
He thoughtback to better times, when his wife still loved him. When he could come home and be a father and felt proud of his family. A cold bitter sting snapped him out of these memories, reminding him that's not his reality anymore. That was before his wife grew ashamed and resentful of him, before his kids pulled away and would no longer speak to him. Before the drinking.
"You're pathetic, why don't you just stand up to her?" He remembered his ex wife's words.... "Of course you're not getting anywhere, no wonder they're about to fire you, you go in all day smelling like booze and just complain about why you can't do your job. What kind of example are you setting for the kids? How can I even rely on you if I don't know when you're going to be out of a job?"
He cringed at the memories and reached for the nearest bottle of whiskey, pouring himself a drink before sitting down at his computer. He needed an escape...something to distract him from the reality he'd been thrust into. These days it only seemed like alcohol and sex would distract him, and so with his glass in one hand, he typed in a url with the other.
Images and videos of women flashed across the screen, enticing him to click and consume their content. He instead decided to aimlessly click and look at various amateur photo sets.
After a few minutes of scrolling, looking for something to catch his eye, he suddenly froze, staring at the screen. "No....no way...it couldn't?" He stared at the thumbnail of a dark haired woman, with red lips, dark framed glasses and sharp eyebrows, wondering if he was hallucinating. At first, he felta mixture of disgust and rage, but then....curiosity. A spark of an idea. It gotthe best of him, and he clicks onto the photo set, mind reeling with questions and possibilities.
**********
The next morning, Matt strode into the office, confident and smiling for the first time in years. Greeting everyone on his way to his desk, a Manila folder under one arm, he didn'thear the hushed whispers, wondering what had gotten him into such a good mood.
He didn'tstop smiling as he madehis way through the day. As he sat at his desk, he heardthe familiar clicking of heels and he knewthey were coming right to him. He tooka deep steadying breath and smiled.
"Matthew, the estimate?" she said with a harsh tone.
Matt spun his chair and looked directly at her. "Good afternoon to you too Katherine. Surprised you didn't visit me sooner."
His sudden change in attitude seemed to catch her off guard. "Visit? What? Just tell me the new estimate."
Matt smiled up at her, never breaking eye contact, as his right hand moved to rest on the Manila folder he'd brought in this morning. "I'd love to review it with you. Do you have some time to chat privately? In your office?"
Katherine balked at the question. "Stop playing games, we don't need an entire meeting for you to tell me if you've failed or not."