Christine was late today for her 9 am meeting.Though,Company provided transport was great, Christine had always preferred travelling in Metros that saves some travelling time.Today, When she reached the nearest Metro station, It was very crowded.There were many people who were waiting for next metro.At last,She did not manage to get in metro that had just arrived.
She could only resign to her fate and sat on near by bench.She started chatting with her best friend and colleague Sandra on the WhatsApp(Popular mobile application)while waiting for next metro.
"Sandra, Where have you reached?"
"I am almost there.Just waiting for elevator to come down at ground floor."
"Umm, I am going to be late and will reach only when meeting is about to start."
"Okay, got it but don't forget that we have a meeting on 5th floor in Conference room no.44.By the way,my Male God is going to attend today's meeting.He may probably share the Project release details for next 1 month."
"Sandra, Don't get too excited.I bet that he will not say more than 5 sentences in the entire meeting.He will just scold entire team for not delivering last release on time."
"Whatever, I will get happy by just looking at his face."Sandra tried to prove her point.
"Argh....You are infatuated.He might be a good looking person but might be rotten from inside."Christine thought her friend is too naive.
"Why do you always have to say all these negative things for all the time when it comes to guys? No wonder, You are still single girl because no guy would be able to ever satisfy your conditions.Aunty must be really worried about you."
"My mum likes you very much because you both think alike.I am going offline.Next metro is arriving in 5min.I cannot miss this one.See you later."
—CreativeWorks IT headquarters—
City M, Country A
By the time, Christine had arrived in the 5th floor conference room, Almost everyone from her team had arrived and were waiting for on-site team to connect with them.She quickly found Sandra, luckily her friend had saved a chair for her.When she started walking towards Sandra, Her Manager Ray called her name from behind.
"Christine, Please come and Occupy this seat."He was pointing to empty chair beside him. Christine cursed him inwardly.
"Good Morning Ray, Thank you but there is a chair next to Sandra.I will sit over there." She is not fool to sit next to him.
"You do not make me repeat myself again. Sean need some inputs from you.Also, he wants you to take notes for him during the meeting.You can chitchat with Sandra later. This is rather an important meeting, I want everyone's full attention on Rick and Sam's presentation."
With no other choice, Christine went to sit between Sean and Ray.It was really awkward situation given that she was asked to sit between her manager and her immediate supervisor.She promised herself that she would never reach office late especially when she has such morning calls.
While She was taking her laptop and notebook from her bag,She heard couple of message notifications on cellphone.Sneakily, she took out her mobile from her trouser pocket.There was one text from Sandra-
"How are you feeling being seated on hot seat? "😂😂😂😂
Christine don't want to talk with her for rest of her day.Who will laugh when your BFF is in such a predicament?
There was another text message from Sean-
"I neither need your inputs nor want you to take notes for me.This Old chap is pissed off since morning. All I can say for now is that you are the reason why he is so angry.Don't give him anymore reasons."
Suddenly, She noticed that everyone is silent and was looking in the direction of projector.
She then turned in the direction of the projector as well.She, However understood why everyone is glued to screen.Their Male god had made appearance.
On the big projector Screen, five people were sitting around the round table - Rick(Client Manager),Lucy(BA), Kylie( Developer),Cletan ( Sr. Developer)and Sam( Technical Architect).
CreativeWorks Client office was in City O, Country N.Their on-site team was working from this location.Very recently, they had deployed big release into their production environment.Today's meeting agenda is to share next release plan details with team, New opportunities in the upcoming months etc.
Rick started addressing them first as a client manager. Rick appreciated team for their hard work and dedication in delivering smooth release.Support team has not yet received P1 incidents in production in HyperCare week. He thought his team did excellent job. He believed that his team can handle all the tricky and difficult situations.However, he did not wish to displease his big bosses and affect business relationships with other partners so he chose his words wisely and did not go overboard with his praises.On the surface, he encouraged this team but did not forget to mention clients expectations from this team.
Later, Rick showed a roadmap for next one year. Also, he said Team will onboard more resources both at on-site and offshore for the new work coming in the next year.Christine was busy capturing key points from Rick's presentation.Sean did mentioned that he does not want her notes.She was very sure that Ray will be looking for these notes.She should not give him any reason for getting angry on her.
"Today,Sam was looking very young and dashing in Blue shirt.He is in this project for last 5 years but he has not come to our office so far.I have even heard rumours that he has not been to his home in City D in these 5 years.I am looking forward to his visit to offshore office."
"You need to visit consulate to get your business visa stamped by Friday.You are flying there in next week.On-boarding team will prepare your temporary accommodation, Air tickets etc.Don't forget to submit your current laptop at IT help Desk.You will be provisioned with another laptop from client after you reach Client office.Also, Collect sufficient currency from Forex office.Global travel team will brief you on other details and instructions. I have meeting coming up. Do you have any questions for me?"" No Mark, I am good. I will reach out to you if I need anythi
Sean's Cubicle was in another corner of the project bay.One would meet all annoying colleagues on the way.On top of that, Ray's Cubicle was next to Sean's Cubicle.You can't talk non sense when you are talking with Sean in his cubicle. Sean is a great supervisor who understands all of his subordinates very well. Sometimes, He feels helpless in front of Ray. Ray thinks of various ways to torture his team. Ray is a typical manager who takes credit for all good work and blames his team when he receives any escalations.Luckily, Ray was not in his cubicle when Christine
At last, Cloud9 team reluctantly agreed to let Cletan go but they thought of of giving him a big farewell party on this last day. Sam promised them that he will plan out all the events and inform them by mid next week.
He will ignore Ray's pings for next few days. He does not have time to deal with this annoying person.Next, Cletan replied to Sean's message."All
"Miss Sandra, That's at least 3 months away. We will grab all opportunities to get closer to Sam and will show off in our WhatsApp group.Also,did you thought of Sam as some casual guy who will go on date with just any girl? You are thinking too highly of yourself."Sean was trying to conceal his emotions quite well. When this silly girl would realise that he likes her."I did not meant
"Come and Sit down next to me, Christine. Child, you should have informed me earlier. I have only prepared three simple dishes for today's dinner.Tell me what do you want for supper tonight. I will prepare it for you.""Mumma, Don't tire yourself.You have also returned from office after long working hours. I am fine with these dishes.Look, you have already cooked Pomfret Fish fry and Prawns curry for me."