Be My Christmas Grinch

A Nightmare Come True

I arrived to work half an hour behind schedule, and was therefore forced to walk into my staff meeting late. All twenty or so of my colleague's eyes shifted to me as I interrupted my manager's speech. The room fell dead silent except for the thud of the door shutting behind me. I awkwardly stepped towards an empty seat as I forced a not so enthusiastic smile.

"Glad to see you finally arrived, Gabby. Unfortunately, it seems as if you've missed the majority of our meeting today." My boss isn't a very mean looking man, but he does love to lay down his authoritative hammer whenever he gets the chance. Especially for showing up late. It must be his only policy. Show up late, and you've acquired yourself a strike. On top of that, if you acquire three strikes in a single month you're fired. I've seen it happen too.

"I'm very sorry! I had quite the rude awakening this morning and then there was so much traffic and-" He cut me off there.

"Save it. We'll talk after the meeting concludes."

With that he continued his talk about the changing economy. I let myself fall into one of the plastic chairs and sighed. What a great way to start off the day? All thanks to Mr. Gullible himself. He ruined high school for me and now he'll ruin the rest of my already miserable life as well.

I sat there trying to tune in on to what my boss was saying but everything just went in one ear and out the other. I kept thinking about the mail Josh was so eager to get to me. I really didn't appreciate his constant existence in my life, or even his frequent compliments. I had since complained to Kristy how she may have single-handedly given the devil's spawn my number, but she just told me to get over myself. What kind of girl complains about a guy who's head over heels in love with you and willingly throwing compliments at you left and right? Well, I have an answer to that. The kind of girl who wants to forget her past entirely, move to Jamaica, and start over. That's who.

Finally, the staff meeting concluded and my boss dismissed us. I gathered my stuff up and tried to escape but the sound of my name caused my feet to stop and turn around, although; I really wanted to leave at that point in time.

The rest of the room cleared out until it was just me and my boss. Once the last man walked out, my boss, or Ken as we call him, shut the door behind him. I was officially trapped.

He turned swiftly on his heels. His black boots rubbing against the carpeted, gray floors as he turned back to look at me. A pen being twirled in between his well trained fingers. I made an attempt to clear the air. "Ken, I know that-"

"Please, save yourself the breath so we can all get back to work." This man really liked to interrupt people, didn't he? He adjusted his navy blue tie, that coordinately matched his pants. Then, continued to look me dead in the eyes. I didn't appreciate the staring contest, but I refused to be the one to look away first.

He opened his mouth again. "How long have you worked for me, Ms. Dime?"

Still the staring contest continued on. "Going on three years, sir."

"So, presumably you should know my number one rule."

"On time, no fine. Be late, then relocate."

He clapped enthusiastically which caught me off guard. Suddenly, I felt like his joking smile would attack me at any moment. "Wow, you have been paying attention all this time! So, spare me the explanation and tell me what it means."

I hesitated, which left just enough time for his smile to dissipate and his pen to stop twirling. Although my stare competed well with his, my voice didn't quite match. "Uh, it means... It means if you're late then find a new... job?"

It sounded more like a question than I had intended for it.

"Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner," Ken set his pen rather harshly down on the round table, the amount of force required to set down his writing utensil a bit dramatized.

"That's your second strike this week, Gabby. What's going on?"

I bit the inside of my cheek searching for an answer. "Holiday stress."

The smile was back again. Ken is a very confusing man. It's hard to tell when he's being serious or when he's being careless. Right now he's kind of drifting in between.

"Really? I never took you as one to stress over the holidays."

"Well, that's just it. I don't stress over the holidays but everyone else does, and because of it I've had a few unfortunate run-ins with some all to jolly people."

Ken's lips parted, and an audible sound escaped. What was that? A chuckle? Or did he cough?

He made an effort to continue the conversation. "Family?"

"Family and friends."

"Interesting. Well don't be late again miss. I don't play around whether it's the holidays or the end of the world. The only way work gets done is if your at your desk filling out papers and reading emails."

"Of course, I completely understand."

"But since you were late I expect you to work those extra thirty minutes after hours, and I have a special task for you on top of that."

"What's that?"

Ken flipped through his clipboard of papers and pulled out a two page packet of what looked to be a list of names. He handed the papers over to me which I examined roughly. The title of the page in bold said "Terminated Positions."

"You know this time of year is busy before the break, however I've been inclined to make some essential budget cuts so as to make sure we can start off the new year right."

"Wait a minute, you don't mean you're laying off all these people..." I skimmed the list of names, a select few I recognized and a majority of other's that I didn't recall. That didn't make the situation any better though.

"I am. I have to. If it were up to me I wouldn't do this but this isn't my company to call the shots. The head office in Dallas called to let me know I had to terminate 10% of our offices' positions."

"Ten percent?! You have to be kidding. This is at least forty names."

"Which is why I would advise for you to start notifying them now. I would do it over email but you and me both know that's not professional. This sort of thing is best in person. All I'm asking you to do is find these people, let them know due to budget cuts their position is being terminated, and that it's effective a week from today. If they have any questions they should email me."

"I can't do this, Ken."

"Yes you can."

"No, I really can't. Christmas is literally around the corner and you want me to fire all these people! Can't it wait a month?"

"Gabby you're really pushing my buttons right now. You know it isn't up to me, now shut up and do what you're told or you'll be the next one on that list."

"It's the holidays, Ken!"

"Ms. Dime! You have no place to be yelling at me. You were the one who claimed holiday stress isn't worth it, so I don't see any logical reason for you to be getting all excited about this now."

"Please, just listen."

"Get going or you're fired!"

I was finally defeated. Ken was right. I had no place, and I needed this job. So I closed my mouth and blocked out my warring thoughts. Yeah, this would suck, but I can't let myself care.

The holiday season has no place in the office. This is my life and as long as it doesn't effect me. Then, it doesn't matter.

Right?