Page 24 of The Happiness Blueprint
“It was just harmless jokes,” Mateusz says finally.
“Those type of comments are not acceptable.” I feel a mix of anger and sadness boil up inside me. All this time I’ve felt like a failure, like I’m doing things wrong. And here in front of me are two people who clearly don’t even try. Who dodge work and use their time for mocking me.
“No bad feelings, eh? We were just joking around,” Ram says.
“Those types of comments are unacceptable at work. I’m sure my dad wouldn’t tolerate that either.”
“Oh, what’s the big deal? Maybe I was right, maybe you do need to get laid.” Mateusz snorts to himself.
“I see. Well, guess what, I do need something laid. You two. Laidoffwith immediate effect.”
The disbelief on their faces is priceless.
“Peter is going to hear about this. You think you can come for three months and do what you want to this company?” Mateusz barks at me. But he does pick up his bag and heads toward his van, Ram following after like a puppy.
In real life, there is no choir of sisters cheering you on sayingWhoa, you stood up for yourself, you feminist, you!There is just a pounding heart, sweaty palms and the sound of men’s laughter as they walk off pretending not to care. I would have liked a choir or a round of applause. How else am I to know it was the right decision? I can’t believe I just did that. It’s all a mess now. I have a calendar so full I need to hold my breath to look at it, and now my workforce has just decreased to one (a thin, unassuming number not ideal as total staff count). In this particular circumstance,oneis a scary number. Lonely and easy to knock over.
I call my dad as soon as I’m alone.
“What happened?” He knows my upset voice better than anyone else.
“We—I—just lost two employees. As in I fired them. They are lost because I told them to get lost. They...they said some things about me... I haven’t had a good feeling about Mateusz since I arrived.” My voice breaks. “I’m sorry, Dad.”
He pauses.
“If you fired them, then you must have had a good reason. I don’t question that you are doing the right thing.” I’m grateful because it all happened so fast. Too fast for me to know if my reaction was, in fact, an overreaction.
“Thanks, Dad.” He is trying to be supportive, but I can hear the panic in his voice. He must feel as if he’s watching the house burn down and he’s not allowed to run in and help stop the disaster or reach for the hose. I look down at my feet. My toes tap the floor nervously. I should never have come here, should never have allowed myself to be persuaded.What Klara touches turns into a mess.Why didn’t anyone listen?
Dad makes a shushing sound, which has the same effect as his large hand on my knee. It stops the tapping.
“We will sort this out tonight, petal. But, Klara, one thing. We need three men on the ground. You have to put together an ad and fill the positions immediately. No time to lose. A carpenter is the most urgent.”
PART TWO
The month of March in Malmö experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 62 percent throughout the month. The clearest day of the month is March 31, with clear, mostly clear or partly cloudy conditions 40 percent of the time.
KLARA
Where can I find female construction staff?
Google Search I’m Feeling Lucky
We’re heading toward March, which means that it gets dark at 5:30 instead of 4:30. What a treat. I wrap my coat even tighter around my body, cursing the sun for only being decorative. Like the pointless gas fireplaces in London.
Mateusz and Ram reluctantly handed in their van keys and tools once they realized my dad was behind me, and I would feel relieved if it weren’t for the warning I got in the tile warehouse this morning.
“I would watch it, if I were you. They won’t go calmly or without trouble. There will be talk and all sorts of things,” Lennart says. He is the owner and a kind man I remember from childhood for placing lollies, stickers and other treasures in my hand whenever we met.
We have too much work. If I felt useless before, it’s nothing compared to now. All I can do is look on as Gunnar stresses and works overtime to finish. It doesn’t take long to find out that Lennart was right.
“We had a call this morning,” Gunnar says when I meet him back at Dad’s house. “The client in Veberöd wants to cancel his booking with us. He is going ahead with Ram.”
Great, so the guys who I am replacing are luring our clients away. I watch his concerned face.
“Have we had any others canceling?”
“I looked into it after the call. In August, a small project, same reason obviously. If they are willing to do the job for twenty percent less, why wouldn’t the customer choose them? How are they to know they’re getting lower quality?”
