Page 10 of Mr. February

Gloria casually inclined her head across the room. Surreptitiously, Jenny’s eyes followed her path and landed on Wade. He was talking to Kyle and Mike, another one of the programmers on their team.

“Cut it out,” Jenny said between clenched teeth.

“I didn’t say anything. Besides, it looks like the meeting is about to start.”

Jenny’s nerves jangled as she faced their boss on the other side of the conference table. She was so engrossed in her conversation that she hadn’t realized the room was full.

Elizabeth welcomed everyone to the meeting and provided some information about new clients. Dale from security alerted them of a break-in elsewhere in their office park and offered to walk anyone to their vehicle after hours.

The two team leads, Wade and Kenny, gave updates about their current projects. Other departments spoke briefly about what they were doing. Sarah, the web developer, was working with the head of the sales department, Lauren, on launching a new test website to demonstrate some of the company’s past work.

Angela in Human Resources instructed everyone to complete their mandatory online training. Jenny reminded everyone their tax forms went out the week before and to contact her if there were any changes they needed to make.

An hour after the start time, all the teams had given their reports, and there were no bombshells. She exhaled and relaxed a little in her chair. Then Elizabeth called for everyone’s attention.

“Kyle will be unable to attend next week’s conference due to oral surgery. At this late date, we can’t get a refund for the hotel, registration, and so forth, but we can switch it all to someone else. I’m grateful to those of you who volunteered to take on additional work to still meet your deadlines and go to the conference.”

Elizabeth smiled at the team.

“As you know,” she continued, “I prefer to keep team members together for their professional development. Everyone on Wade’s team is already committed next week, and Kenny’s team has a major deadline coming up.”

Elizabeth took a deep breath as she looked around the room. “We have a few options: break up the team training as a way to foster collaboration across the teams; write off the money; or send someone who isn’t a programmer.”

At everyone’s surprised expression, she nodded.

“Let’s look at all three options. Fostering communication and partnerships between teams is a great idea. It was honestly my favorite plan, but as I said, Kenny’s team has a major deadline. They’re not in the position to have someone out next week. And of course, I’d prefer to not throw the money away.”

A laugh broke out, and she smiled in agreement.

“So that leaves us with the third option, which is sending a non-technical person to a technical conference. What’s the value in that? We’re a tech company. It’s important that everyemployee, from the most senior developer to the administrative staff, understand our organization.”

Jenny knew she wasn’t the only one with a confused expression on their face. Her boss knew it, too.

“Would I have done this if we had a programmer available? Probably not,” Elizabeth chuckled. “But I think it’s a good idea. I won’t expect this person to return with a programmer’s skillset, but she’ll gain a better understanding of our industry.”

Jenny’s heart lodged in her chest when her boss made eye contact and held it.

“Jenny, it’s my understanding that your schedule is flexible next week. I’d like to talk with you after the meeting. By some weird fluke, it turns out there’s a one-day accounting conference happening the same week. It’s forensic accounting, but it will allow you to get some of your own professional development as well as a better understanding of our work.”

JENNY

Jenny agreed to meet Elizabeth in her office in fifteen minutes since another employee had an urgent question. That gave Jenny a few minutes to decide what she would say to her boss after this unexpected opportunity.

On the one hand, she appreciated the vote of confidence. However, she wasn’t the right person to send to a technical conference, even if the alternative was flushing money down the toilet. She could only imagine the negative reaction from some of the technical people if she went.

While she was excited at the prospect of doing forensic accounting again for the first time since college, she wasn’t sure it was the best decision to accept. Upgrading her skills would bea great plan if she intended to move on, but alienating her co-workers wasn’t ideal since she planned to stay in this job.

When the ladies’ bathroom door swung open, she held in a sigh. She had already concealed herself in one of the stalls to avoid talking to anybody.

“Jenny, are you in here?” Gloria asked.

“Yes,” she said, relieved.

“Hurry up and finish so we can talk.”

Since she was hiding out, Jenny was scrolling her news feed on her phone when a text notification came in.

“Leave me alone, you jerk,” she seethed.

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