Drabbles

Jefe

     She's cursing silently and leaning heavily on the copier, her hair curtained around her face. Her knuckles are white, her grip on the machine strong. The poor thing, the copier, is spluttering uselessly. You come closer to the scene to see if there's anything you can do to help. You've only been working here for a few weeks but if there's one thing you can do, it's get a copier to run the way it's supposed to. You approach the woman and ask if there's anything she needs help with, and she snaps her head up at you. You rear back, a little frightened, but you stand your ground. You've never seen this woman before but you're pretty sure you'd hear about an employee with anger issues. So you ask again if she needs any help. She sighs and runs a hand through her dark hair, saying there's something wrong with the copier and she needs it fixed, now. You approach the machine as someone else comes into the room, asking for the woman, calling her ma'am. The woman ignores the poor kid as she's focusing on you, watching you try to fix the copier. The guy calls for her again, and she growls, saying, "Okay, me voy! God!" You chuckle, amused by her outburst, and more amused by the guy's confused expression at the Spanish thrown at him. She snaps her fingers at the guy and tells him to make copies of the papers atop the copier when you're finished fixing the damned thing. Then she storms out, her heels silent on the carpets. The guy stays in the room with you, and you ask him what her deal is. He scratches his budding beard and says she's stressed about the merger coming up, and, really, she's usually very nice. You ask who she is as you finish with copier. He raises his eyebrows at you and says, "Our boss." You flush, embarrassed. Your first interaction with your boss was awkward to say the least, and you leave the room to go gossip with your cubicle mates about what just happened.

     Your friends want to know everything about your boss. They say she's progressive, a real treat, but that's only what they've heard. They haven't met her. The only reason you met her was because you were floors up, passing on a message to someone much higher on the corporate ladder than you. You tell your friends this, and that you really didn't get a whole lot of information on your boss. You only know she was upset about some kind of merger and that she has great taste in heels. They groan, ask a few more questions you can't answer, then end up talking about something else. You wonder if this merger will effect your job.

     By pure chance you come into contact with her again in the elevator. You're running a little late and you don't even realize it's her until she speaks, though not to you. She's talking on her cell, speaking Spanish lovingly to someone. She smiles, you see it from the corner of your eye, and you put your hands in your pockets as she hangs up. She sighs, then looks at you. You look at the little numbers above the elevator doors. A few more until you're on your floor. "Don't I know you?" she asks, getting your attention. You nervously look at her and say, "Yeah. I... fixed the copier." Her face shows recognition and she nods. She thanks you, then asks, "What do you do here?" You tell her you do reports, mostly. She grunts and asks if you're good at it. You say you haven't been fired yet. She chuckles and then the elevator doors open on your floor. You say goodbye and she nods, giving you a little wave. You tell your friends what happened.

     You volunteer to deliver another message to the top floor. You want to get out from behind your computer, but you want, well, you hope you'll see your boss again. You don't know why. You take the folder you're handed and step into the elevator and go up, up until you're where you need to be. You're supposed to deliver the file to an assistant and translate any jargon as needed. So you do, deliver it, and find that the assistant is the guy from the copier room a while back. You say hello and he smiles, silently dismissing you, but you linger for whatever reason. You check the copier room to see if everything is still in order then decide that you should probably get back down to your desk before you get in trouble. As you wait for the elevator to stop on your floor, you hear a commotion from where you delivered the file. You see your boss, the file open in her hands, groaning and asking hard questions to the assistant you delivered it to. The poor guy is shrugging and saying something softly that you can't hear, then his head turns and he points to you. Your boss looks up, her face difficult to read, and she waves you over. You're absolutely anxious as you walk over. You're scared you'll get fired for simply delivering a file that she didn't like. When you're before her, she asks, "Is this accurate?" with a plum painted fingernail pointed at the open file. You start to nod, but then shrug. She frowns and asks, "Did you do this report?" And you shake your head. She breaths in, her jaw working, then hands you the file. She tells you to look it over and make sure it's accurate. She wants it by the end of the work day.