What Drew Korzo wants for Christmas

Another kind of help

Drew almost dropped the teapot.
Ever since he founded a successful dating service, his life has certainly not been all moonlight and roses. But he has never been such a nervous rack.
He bipped his personal assistant with a shivering hand.
"Just a minute Mr Korzo"
Almond has once again been in some desk reorganization frenzy.
"Will you please just come already. I never asked you to order the notebooks by size and colors in the first place"
"You will admit it looks way better"
"I don't give a sh... Whatever. Just pour me some tea"
Almond mentally noticed that he could just do it himself. It seemed so out of character. Drew Korzo wasn't a manic tycoon, expecting to be served for every tidbits of his daily life. He was an honest, old-fashioned social entrepreneur with a lot at heart, more invested in the healthiness of the workplace than in the to-and-fros of his stock portofolio. Almond handed the cup and a small plate rendered invisible by an overwhelming pile of cookies. After some silent eating and drinking, Drew looked like his old self again.
"I... I'm sorry to ask you this. I can't seem to grasp anything."
"Perhaps you need some rest. It's Christmas time and most of your employees are gone already."
"It seems hardly feasible. Not with the deal in sight"
It has been going on for several months: Tinder seemed willing to buy YouAndMe.com for an extravagant amount. Any other start-up founder would have just taken the money and run. Not Drew. He was rightly worried most of his employees would just be quickly dismissed. Tinder would clearly not need one more dating service. Beyond integrating the more advanced features of YouAndMe.com matching algorithm, the deal was solely about cleaning competition.
On the other hand Drew urgently needed the money for his other brainchild: his charity Foundation. Donations have been alarmingly low. People seemed to have forgotten the real meaning of the Holidays and focused more on receiving than giving.
The only alternative was a complicated scheme where YouAndMe.com employees would have been given the possibility to find similar work in an upscaled Foundation but it could never be a perfect combination. For instance he would never need a dozen of computer engineers for charity purposes. At some point it should probably submit this tricky problem to the powerful matching algorithms of his company...
Or perhaps he would have another kind of help.

The voice came from his now empty cup.
"What's up Drew?"
At first he thought his nervous state has given way to outright crazyness. But no, it seemed real. There was a three-inches elf in his cup dressed like a santa's helper.
"Yay I'm talking to you. You could answer back. You're not very polite."
"Who are you?"
"Most people call me Calvin."
"Fine, Calvin... I guess... What are you doing in my cup?"
Drew never thought he would one day utter such a phrase'
"Observing you. You make a sad picture. You used to look like some Ads for Armani. Now I would rather put you in a campaign on the effects of drugs."
"I have been under some heightened stress during the past months. And yes I have been smoking a bit. To sustain the shock."
He never told anyone about it. Not even Almond. The elf was hardly trustworthy but, even if he was not just a figment of his imagination, who would believe three-inches magical being?
"Perhaps you should just relax"
"Oh dear. If you had just come for cheap psychological advice I can just show you to the door."
"It has been proven to work. Once in Britain, a long time ago, I did just that to an overstrained banker, that has been previously visited by three christmas spirit with little results. It did wonder"
"The world has changed. Most of your tricks have since made their way to the latest self-development crap."
"Not all."
Calvin has instanltly shifted into a ten-feet giant, that could hardly be contained in the otherwise confortable headquarters or YouAndMe.com
"That's the kind of magic I could use. I don't think it would solve most of my problem but it would certainly look impressive in most meeting negotiations."
"I'm sorry. That's strictly a personal feature. The only transmissible magic I've got is this brooch, but..."
"That's still better than nothing. What does it do?"
"Reading people's minds, but..."
"Even better than changing size. The real problem with you Calvin is you don't know how to sell your stuff. How does it work?"
"You put it anywhere on you, and you will hear whatever your interlocutor is thinking. But..."
Drew pinned the brooch to his vest. It was an ugly tacky brooch. Yet he couldn't wait to try it.
"Almond, Almond! Come right away"
"Will you just stop. Once Almond come I will have to disappear and I didn't tell you the most im..."
"You can always tell me later on. Almond!"
Almond came back loaded with a set of red-colored pencils waiting to be ordered.
"Yes Mr. Korzo"
Calvin has disappeared letting behind a utterly broken cup — he was still inside while enlarging to a giant size.
"I have dropped the cup. I really can't do anything by myself. Why did you left me?"
"There's still a lot to do."
And then Drew heard a more sarcastic version of Almond voice.
*With all the caprices of this old fool, I will never finish by christmas. I still have all the CD records to classify.*
Drew almost erupted and finally managed to stay calm. He had a more sarcastic reaction in mind.
"I'm sorry to bother you so much. You should be almost over by now, unless you were to tackle some absurd task, like rearranging the records nobody listen to in the era of Spotify"
"Ooh, yes. Things are looking nice"
*How on earth did he guess I was looking forward to clean up this old pile of dusty records*
"Then we are covered. I think I will follow your advice and take some rest. If you want to leave sooner today to get some quality time with your family, don't hesitate."
"That's very nice Mr. Korzo"
*He is really going through some emotional rollercoaster: one second before all grumpy and now all nice and charming. I wonder what is going on in his head.*
I don't wonder what is going on in yours, thought back Drew.