The Non-Shriveling Rose

Scattered Chapters - Chapter 8 (Victory)

I woke up early, like any other working day, trying to catch the bus. Except this day was different, I was going to request my first leave since I joined the company. I knew that my probation period is six months, and that I joined in June, which meant I can request a leave in January. These were the rules, clearly described on my contract.

Things seemed to work out, but only on papers. In reality things are different, things are complicated, and so many factors are involved.

It was one of the largest oil and gas projects in the world - as I mentioned earlier - which meant strict deadlines and committed management and staff in order to complete the project on time.

When I arrived at the site I was enthusiastic to meet my Quality Manager, I knew that he supported me from day one, before even he became the quality manager. He was the one to promote me to lead the non-destructive testing team. I thought after I did prove him right, he will help me getting my leave for January.

I went to his office and knocked the door, "Please come in," he responded.

"Engineer Abdulrahman, I have a request, and I hope you can help me with it," I asked.

"Anything Mustafa, tell me what is it?" he said with a genuine smile.

"I would like to request a leave in January, it is very important," I requested.

"What's wrong? Is your family ok in Bahrain?" He looked concerned.

"Nothing wrong with them, my family is fine, plus I'm not travelling to Bahrain, I'm going to Egypt" I couldn't hide my smile while saying Egypt.

"Egypt huh, Are you getting married?" He wondered.

"Not marriage, but hopefully a step towards that, it won't be long it is only 10 days," I explained.

"10 days??? What is it? engagement at least? Even if it is engagement I can't help you with 10 days, I thought you were speaking about a couple of days," He was serious yet he still kept the usual smile on his face.

"Well, this is very important to me, you know how hard I work for this company, this is how hard I work toward anything that matters to me, and now I'm speaking about the only thing that matters the most. Please don't put me in a situation where I have to lose my job for a 10 days leave." I stood by my case firmly.

"It is that important then, even though I don't totally understand what this is all about, I will accept the leave from my side, and I'll try to push it. But if it is rejected by the project manager or the head office, that is out of my hands." He said trying to be supportive as he used to be.

"Thank you very much sir, I appreciate it." I said with a very big smile on my face, one you can never hide even if you tried to.

"Don't thank me yet, you have a lot of work to do to earn it, you need to find yourself a replacement, and do a proper handover. We will not tolerate failing in this project because of smartass like you is falling in love." He reminded me.

Even though it is only ten days leave, but my tasks had to be taken over by somebody who will not mess things up. The statistics were finally getting better, our clients will not accept to see the numbers going down again.

I had to nominate someone from my team; I couldn't get someone external to do the job. It must be Sudhish, he is the one. Sudhish was a young Indian member of my team who I could rely on, but the problem with him was he could never tolerate pressure. I knew this because whenever I put some pressure on him to give me more production, he collapses and his productivity decreases drastically. Asking him to replace me can put a lot of stress on him, but he was my only choice.

"Sudhish, I have good news for you, you are getting promoted." I told him with a smile on my face.

"No, no, Sir, I don't want any promotions, I'm satisfied doing what I'm doing." He replied.
He was always against change, even if change meant improvement, he will object, he wanted things to stay the same.

"Sudhish, you will take my place for ten days, so you better come back to my office one hour early every day so I can train you, and to do a smooth handover." I insisted.

"No Sir, are you joking? I cannot, are you resigning? If you resign, I resign too." He said, highlighting the times I told him I will resign because I couldn't handle the pressure, he thought this was one of these moments.

"No Sudhish, I'm not resigning, I'm taking ten days leave, you are the only one I trust to take my place, and I need you to support me because I really need this leave." I assured him.

We spend more than 30 minutes arguing about this when he finally accepted.

We worked through the handover, and day after day he was getting better. I tried to focus on training him how to do my job, as something to take my mind away from thinking about the admission process of my leave. But every now and then I wondered if it will be approved!!

I pushed myself and my team harder to clear more backlogs, to improve the numbers, the results, and more importantly to prove that I'm worthy of this leave as an award.

It was a gamble as these improvements may have had an opposite effect, because the management may have seen these improvements as a factor to reject the leave request. Who wants to lose the guy who is making them look good in the eyes of their clients, even for a short period of time?

But I was determined, I even did book the ticket, I didn't care. Even if my leave will not be approved, I will simply resign to go and see her. This is how I made up my mind about this.

"Mustafa, your leave is rejected." I heard Abdulrahman saying across the hall.

I jumped of my chair, looked at him coming with a paper in his hand. He was the kind of person who has a smile on his face even if he is bringing bad news, but there were no smile this time.

"Really? I've already booked the ticket!" I asked with a worried tone.

"No, I'm just messing with you; here is your approved leave." He totally transformed his facial expression and had his smile back.

"Thank you Sir, I will never forget this." I was relieved. Even though I was going to Egypt anyway, I wanted to do that without losing my job.

"With regards to my leave, Mission Accomplished,I told you I will see you in January, I always keep my promises, See you soon." I texted her with the sound of triumph echoing my victory.