Hostile Takeover

A New Man

I burst through the door of Jeff's office, hoping my time there would be brief. I was planning to just swoop in, drop the bomb on Jeff, and then get the hell out as soon as possible. Upon entering, I noticed the new guy immediately. He was a young, white, handsome man who was impeccably dressed.  I could tell just by looking at him that he was very professional and probably would do wonders for the company.  I hated him immediately. 

I quickly spun around to face Jeff, but when I did, I lost my balance and had to sit down.  Everything seemed hazy as I stared blankly at the extremely large black man who now sat behind the mahogany desk, across which so many million-dollar deals had been made.  Even the giant desk itself could not shield the fact that the man's very expensive suit was just a little too small for his overweight body.

"What the hell's going on here?" I heard myself say. The big man looked a little annoyed by my interruption.

"I'm interviewing our newest team member, Grace, and I am glad you've finally decided to join us." I could tell he was angry as he motioned for the new guy to continue with the story he had been telling.  As I sat there trying to regain my composure, I learned a lot about the new man.  His name was Louis James, and he had an MBA from Harvard.  He probably would be a very good employee for our company, but he seemed a little too arrogant and far too hot for his own good. Something bugged me about him, and I was worried about him joining our team.

Suddenly, Jeff's office door flew open and in walked a little person pushing a very small cleaning cart made for someone of his size. He was wearing a pair of coveralls with the words Sanitation Supervisor written on the back of them. I probably should have spoken up and told Jeff about Miles selling the team to Sir Winston, but at that moment I was so out of it, I decided to just sit there and keep my mouth shut.

            Eventually, my thoughts wandered away from the interview as I watched the little man removing his cleaning supplies from his cart. It seemed odd to me that even though I had known this man for several years I had never really thought about how difficult his struggle against prejudice must have been.  In the past he would have been called a midget, or maybe even mislabeled a dwarf. Nowadays, he preferred to be called by the more politically correct term of little person. As I turned my attention back to the interview, I noticed that the new guy Louis had begun to relax. His arrogance was beginning to show itself with each passing question. At one point I saw the little man catch Louis's eye, distracting him for just a second, but the look on the Ivy League graduate's face said it all. I could tell that he was irritated by his interview being interrupted by the lowly janitor.

Suddenly the sound of a Dust Buster drowned out Louis's story about making the dean's list six semesters in a row. I looked up and saw that the little man was using the tiny vacuum cleaner to sweep the dust off of the bookshelf behind Louis. To his credit, the young man tried to remain focused on his larger-than-life interviewer as the noise echoed all around him. When Louis could no longer hear the questions being asked, he quickly restrained his emotions and calmly asked the little man to turn the Dust Buster off for a few minutes.

  "Benny, why don't you clean those shelves later?" came a deep voice from behind the large desk. The sanitation supervisor bowed his head subserviently and said, "Yes, Mr. Barron." The little man looked hurt as he climbed down off of his ladder and once again returned to his cleaning cart. Louis had seemed so pompous that watching his frustrations with the janitor was becoming highly entertaining. This arrogant ass had been puffing himself up all throughout the interview, and it was nice to see him taken down a peg or two. The interview continued, and all that Louis talked about were his own high test scores and his winning plan for success at Disco-Tech.  Before long, Louis had actually managed to develop a smirk on his face as he leaned back and began discussing his future goals for the company. I nearly laughed out loud as I watched the smirk on his face shift into a grimace and he sat up spitting. I looked up again and realized that the little man was back on his ladder. This time he was spraying bleach onto the light fixture, causing some of the droplets to rain down on Louis's face. The Harvard man was furious, but he managed to suppress his anger long enough to ask for help. The large black man stared intensely at the small white one.