Movie Night

Chapter 3 - The Grinch

Chapter Description: Is Peter's boss a Grinch? Opinions are mixed. Meanwhile, Ellen shares her favorite movie.

Manhattan FBI offices. December 20, 2006 - Wednesday morning.

"What time is your exit interview on Friday?" Karen asked after she and Peter discussed ideas for the Organized Crime unit.

"I meet with HR at 9am."

Karen smiled. "That's one of the things I really appreciate about William. He doesn't pull silly power plays and make you hang around all day. He pushes HR to process things early so you can enjoy a day off."

Peter stared at her, surprised at this take on things. "And does he always skip the debrief?"

"I honestly don't know. My take on it in this instance is that he trusts us to handle turnover on our own." Karen took in Peter's expression. "You thought he was in a hurry to get rid of you?"

He nodded.

"You really got off on the wrong foot with each other." She paused. "One more failing in our onboarding. No one told you about William's idiosyncrasies. People who don't know about his style tend to think he dislikes them. I guess that explains why you were open to a new job offer so soon after joining our team."

Peter pondered her comments on his drive to lunch. When he arrived at Win-Win, he walked to Henry's office. "Do you have time to chat before you show me my new space?"

"Of course." Henry gestured for Peter to have a seat. "What's up?"

"Before I start working here, I'd like to know more about your management style and your expectations of how we'll interact."

"Please tell me you aren't changing your mind about the job," Henry said. "We need you."

"I'm not getting cold feet. But I realized that I went into my last job with a set of assumptions that hindered me. This time around I want to be clear about what to expect."

Henry nodded. "I like to touch base with our leaders — and that includes you — at least once a week. Daily, when our schedules make it feasible, even if it's just chatting over coffee. If there's an issue or something that's frustrating you, I want to know sooner rather than later. I'll jump in with ideas unless you tell me you just want to vent. I'm always willing to be a sounding board, and I'll seek you out to bounce ideas around when I'm working on something I think you'd be interested in. If I have an issue with something you're doing, I'll ask about your reasonings and share my concerns, and if we're having trouble reaching a consensus I'll pull in other team members to help moderate. And if you have an issue with something I'm doing, I expect you to let me know."

Peter liked what he was hearing. After a few more questions, they completed the I-9 form and then the fun part began. Henry walked Peter over to his new office. The furnishings were stylish and modern, sleek charcoal steel with royal blue accents.

"I picked items from what we had in stock," Neal said, joining them. "I thought you'd like these, but we can change almost anything."

"Off hand I can't think of anything I'd change." He stepped inside to get a better feel for the space. With the deep gray walls, he would have expected it to feel dark, but that was offset by the light streaming through the window in the wall behind his desk.

Henry demonstrated the shade that Peter could lower in the afternoon if the light caused a glare, and that made the spacious office feel cozy. Shelves lined the lower half of the wall to the right of his desk. They were mostly bare, but one held a set of very familiar accounting textbooks. "Tell me you borrowed these from El and didn't break into my house to steal them."