Life After You And Me

Unfiltered Madness

I glance around the room and the familiar faces stare right back at me. Endless thoughts swirl through my mind, causing a knot to form in my stomach.

My palms are slightly clammy, and I find myself fidgeting with the pen in my hand.

As the room falls silent and all eyes remain on me, I remind myself that I'm capable, desperately pushing back the thought that questions whether or not I deserve to be here. If I earned my place.

"Thank you so much for joining me this morning. I know the past few days have been... questionable, and I apologize that you've been kept in the dark about what's happening.

As you know, Amos is no longer working here. What you don't know is that I'll be taking over the role."

I let my words settle after saying them and I'm hardly surprised by the reaction.

They look at each other, as if already suspecting that to be the case. Even though it hadn't been announced, I had already taken over managerial duties.

It almost feels scandalous that Amos was let go and now I'm being promoted. It almost feels, to them I imagine, that he was let go specifically so I can assume the role.

I can neither confirm nor deny that suspicion, only the owner himself can.

But I've been tasked with a duty I have every intention of cherishing and doing to the best of my abilities.

It's important to me that I'm transparent about said abilities so they can hopefully trust me as a leader.

Maybe not right now as I know I'm yet to prove myself, but I'm willing to take the necessary steps to get there with them.

I take a deep breath after giving them a moment to adjust to the news. And then I continue,

"A few years ago, I owned and ran a successful company. I won't get too much into the details, but I had a staff headcount of over 50, 15 of which reported directly to me."

"What happened to your company?"
A member of my audience asks and I hear a few chuckles in the background.

A valid question.

If I owned a successful company, why don't I own it anymore and why am I a waitress now? That's hardly a success story.

"After my divorce...."

"Oh, so you had the company because of your ex-husband?"

A few more chuckles can be heard as they look at each other again, as if putting together the pieces of my life.

'She's only ever successful because of men.'

There's nothing anyone can ever say to me or about me that I haven't thought about myself.

My whole life has been a series of failures, my own parents would happily sound on that. I've learned to dust myself off the ground and keep it moving, especially in moments of adversity.

So as per tradition, I maintain a sound posture as I say,

"Yes. My ex-husband funded the company. He also helped design the structure and he played a pivotal role in its success. I wouldn't have gotten as far as I did without him.