Page 19 of Curvy Girl Summer

“Oh! Okay.” I nodded. “I know who you’re talking about now.”

“What are your thoughts?”

“She’s only been with the company a month. I haven’t gotten a chance to watch her work or work closely with her. So, I don’t really have any thoughts on her, but she seems to be working out the kinks of what’s being asked of her. She’s still new and adjusting. It’s only been a month.”

He nodded thoughtfully. “Okay.”

“Why? What’s up?” I asked even though my gut told me what was going on.

“This is the second mistake we’ve caught, and now the manager’s meeting is coming up and…” His voice trailed off as the elevator dinged. He gave me a curt nod to let me know the subject was closed. “Anyway, good work last week.”

“Thank you.”

He went to the second floor, and I went through the main door to my first-floor office space that I shared with four others at Encompass Tech.

“Good morning,” I greeted the programming team.

There were a few low good-mornings and a grunt from the corner.

It was a typical Monday welcome from them.

With a tight smile, I went to my desk on the far right, near the window. I turned on my computer, unpacked my bag, and prepared for the workday. My desk phone rang, and I frowned until I saw who it was.

“Good morning, Ramona,” I answered.

“Good morning! How are you? How was your weekend?”

I smiled. “I’m well, thank you. My weekend was nice. How was yours?”

“It was great! Are you coming to the second floor at any time today?”

My interest was piqued. “I can… Everything okay?”

“Yes, but something happened this weekend, and you are the first person I thought of.”

“What happened?”

“It’s not bad.” She giggled. “Just come up here when you get a chance.”

“Okay,” I agreed. “Let me check my email, and then I’ll be up.”

I logged into my account, and somehow, I had almost one hundred unread messages. Every single one of them came after five o’clock on Friday, as if the weekend didn’t exist. With a shake of my head, I started combing through each one.

Ninety minutes later, I finished going through my stuff, and the rest of the IT office seemed to wake up. They were a relatively quiet group of men, and since Constance was out on maternity leave, I was the only woman in the department. But my work environment was great, and my experience with them was far better than any other job I’d worked. We exchanged a laugh when someone pointed out an email that we’d all been copied on. We scheduled ameeting for eleven o’clock, and I smiled at the ease of everything with us.

My first job out of college, I was treated as if I were too young, too inexperienced, and too Black to successfully do my job. At the job I had prior to landing at Encompass Tech, I was told that my fatness was going to hinder my ability to move up in the company. And every day during my time there, I had to fight for my voice to be heard over the rest. So, I developed a thick skin, zero tolerance for bullshit, and the ability to make sure my voice was heard. I loved my career, and fortunately, for the last three years, I’d been happy with my coworkers and my employer.

Ahead of the meeting, I decided to go to the second floor and see what Ramona wanted. The finance office was toward the back, so I had to walk past the glass offices of the conference rooms. My supervisor was in a meeting with all the other supervisors, and it didn’t look good. Averting my eyes, I continued to my destination.

“Oh, hey—you can’t just walk in!” Bart Fender, Ramona’s new receptionist, called out from somewhere behind me.

I glanced over my shoulder. “Okay…” I looked through the open door at Ramona and then back to Bart. “But she’s looking right at me.”

“It’s fine, Bart!” Ramona yelled out from her desk.

“Oh, okay. Sorry,” he mumbled under his breath as he slowed to a stop a few feet away from me. Lifting his coffee mug, he nodded at me. “You can go in.”

With pursed lips, I walked into Ramona’s office and closed the door behind me.

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