Tim & Chuck

CH. 3 ...Plant Children

"What is up with these plant gifts, is it a New York thing or something?"

"No, it's just a human thing."

Over the next two weeks, Tim caught himself musing fairly often about how plants didn't used to be his forte. But his most immediate acquaintances, mostly comprising of his neighbors, had all decided for him, that his house needed more plant presence to prevent it from becoming a "musty and cluttered roach-infested bachelor pad" as Ms. Lewis adamantly stated. He had met Ms. Cassidy Lewis at the end of his first week in his new home. She lived directly across the street from him and had swung by with a card and some home baked cookies. Immediately she seemed to adopt Tim as her own child that she had never had, stopping by regularly after that. He wasn't certain of how he felt about her comments, seeing as he regularly cleaned him home and made a habit of not leaving food out and about. Yet he also could not argue with her feisty personality and allowed himself to be taught how to water the plants he seemed to acquire almost overnight.

Tim had to admit that it surprised him to see how welcoming his neighbors had been. He was led to believe that it was hard to build a close community in New York due to the sheer volume of people who were employed under various corporate empires and were therefore, busybodies. Perhaps this was a very misleading stereotype. He had to mentally smack himself because while he knew better than to assume everyone he would meet was friendly, he really appreciated his neighbors helping him feel acclimated to a new city.

On the corporate front, Tim had settled nicely into his CEO leather office chair, immediately establishing business moral codes and eradicating any mentality that allowed languid behavior to fester. He was eager to prove himself a good boss, though not a stringent one; he still wanted his employees to enjoy working there.

Mandy, his assistant, was the first person to greet him. She had been appointed by his father before the transfer of the reins to Tim, and Tim liked her right away. She appeared to be hardworking and sweet but a boss lady in her own right, and Tim knew he could count on her help to keep the company in check if need be.

Inspired by the aesthetic of his neighbor Carly's bakery, Tim set about budgeting interior decor for the Journal to transform the multi-floored high-rise from a bland and plain cubicled office to something more "inspiring and innovative" as he explained to the board. He even opted to have a faux plant wall installed, as an ironic ode to the one plant he owned at home.

But the first day Tim walked into his office, there was a small fern on his desk much to his surprise. He knew that that was not a part of the interior design plans. "Welcome to the company, sir." Mandy smiled as she stood attentively in the doorway to his office.

"Thank you Mandy...um...what is this?" Tim gestured to the plant. "Oh. Well I had it brought in as a welcoming gift. Um, it doesn't require much natural light and I can water it so that you don't have to keep track of it." Mandy said, uncertain of her boss' reaction.

While Tim didn't dislike the plant, this was the second instance in a short span of time in which someone had gifted him a plant. Was it common to give plants as welcome gifts? This was new to him; usually his father would gift something along the lines of a wrist watch or high value gift card to the person he wanted to welcome to a new role in any of his companies. Perhaps New Yorkers valued more natural gifts?

"...I can get rid of it if you would prefer?" Mandy's tentative voice spoke up. Clearly she was unsure of how to read her new boss.

Oh right. He had forgotten to respond.

"Oh, no no it's fine. Thank you for this. I must admit I wasn't expecting a gift but I appreciate the gesture." Tim added "thank you gift for Mandy" to his ever-growing mental checklist. He still wasn't sure of what to do with the fern but he didn't want to be rude.