The Interview

Part One

"Well, Ladies and Gentlemen," said Avaric, adjusting his tie and once more scanning the documents before him, searching for answers. He pursed his lips, then looked up at his round table of senior managers, frustrated that none of them had anything valuable to offer either.

"I know, I've said it plenty of times by now," he growled, gesticulating with his hands, "but we really must not forget that the prime objective of the restructure is to cut costs within the department. Not only should we use staff more efficiently, we should also aim to completely remove positions that are no longer required. I reckon, if we target the most junior employees, we could pull it all off with minimum expenditure on severance packages. Thropp. Your input. Give me something."

Elphaba looked up, her chin resting on her fingers. They'd been through this at least a hundred times. It seemed absurd to her that Avaric presented them with the same proposal over and over again, yet somehow still expected a different outcome to manifest itself, as if by magic. While she did agree that the company's finances could be managed better, she didn't see any improvements that could be made where her boss wanted them. If any level could afford to cut costs, it was the very top; however, that naturally was a conclusion he did not like to hear.

"The legal department are fully engaged and lagging behind their quotas," she reiterated once again, shaking her head. "We can't possibly lay off staff and expect them to suddenly perform better. They are already operating under a strict and efficient hierarchy, and even supervisors and managers are performing menial tasks on top of their higher duties to keep the department afloat."

Avaric huffed indignantly and hit the table with his flat palm.

"Then they are not good enough! Get rid of them! Find someone who can work harder and faster. You are the head of HR. Make it happen! I need human resources, not human deadweight."

In a private one-on-one conversation, Elphaba would have rolled her eyes and told him to get a grip; in front of everyone else, such a stunt would land even her in hot water.

"I will put together another performance review for you," she said instead, her tone impassive. "You'll have it by Friday."

He wasn't happy with that, but had run out of empty demands.

"Do what you must," he growled and snapped his file shut before dismissing his underlings.

While everyone else was quick to file out of the meeting room, Elphaba stayed behind, organising and re-organising her folders. She felt restless, but not because of Avaric. Rather than his unserviceable crisis over truly necessary budget commitments, her thoughts were with a certain blonde and her problems, which continued to elude Elphaba. If only she'd talk to her; but they hardly saw each other anymore, which was another point of concern. They'd been fine, she'd thought, up until after her birthday party. She wished she could at least figure out what she'd done wrong, or what had come between them. Of course she'd tried to ask Glinda directly—only to be told that it wasn't about her. She found it hard to believe that that was true.

There was a knock on the glass window, and Sarima stuck her head through the door.

"Hey Fae, are you done for today?"

Elphaba pushed her reading glasses up her nose and waved her hand.

"No, not yet. I'll have to go over to Legal in a moment and talk to Carenna, find some proof for Avaric that they are doing all that's humanly possible to do their job."

"Oh, fun," snorted the other girl. "Okay then, I might as well stick around and get a head start on my own assignments. Text me when you're done?"

"You're inviting yourself again?" asked Elphaba pointedly, cocking an eyebrow.