Commencement

by Lawrence Cherry

Tim wanted to put his head down to rest if not for just a minute however, this would be impossible in the tiny cubicle where he had recently been banished. He had just finished checking over intake orders and sent a bunch of receipts to accounting. Now he had to update Preston’s calendar. It was 1:30, and he still hadn’t had a lunch break, not that he was in any condition to eat anyway. He woke up this morning with an excruciating headache that only went away after throwing up what little breakfast he had eaten. Now his headache felt like it was coming back, and the nausea along with it. Tim desperately needed a break, some respite from the constant flow of work that came at him from the time he walked in the door. Tim thought that with Mr. Big Shot taking over the department, his workload would have been reduced. After all, Tim wasn’t in charge anymore, so why should all the responsibility fall on his shoulders? However, in the aftermath of the most devastating professional coup he had experienced so far, there seemed to be an endless stream of work for Tim, and working at Herns and Marshall had become like working at a forced labor camp.

  As could be predicted, Preston’s triumph at that tell tale meeting changed him into a Stalinesque despot. In a short period of time he became well versed in how to employ bullying, intimidation, and threats to get what he wanted, no matter how big or how small. Preston fumed when files were lost, but raged when no one bothered to check to see if the chicken wings in his lunch order were fried hard enough. He was annoyed when he didn’t receive important messages, but was livid if you used staples instead of coated paper clips on his documents. Two weeks of his swaggering was enough to make Clara turn in her resignation and forego her severance pay. Since then, they would hire an administrative assistant only to lose them soon after an encounter with Preston’s vituperative ego. The longest they’d had an admin since Clara’s departure was two weeks. Vera hung around for as long as she could, but soon the stress of the environment caught up with her. Nearly a month into Preston’s reign of terror, Vera collapsed suddenly while photocopying documents for him. It was luck that Tim found her not long after she collapsed. She had to be taken out in an ambulance. Word got back to the office that she had developed hypertension and was on an indefinite medical leave. This meant that Tim was now the secretary, admin, and office manager for Preston. So now on top of his daily duties of keeping his department running under the interim organization he’d developed, Tim also had to answer phones and take messages, make copies, organize files, manage Preston’s appointment calendar as well as his own, and anything else that Preston dictated. There were times when Tim didn’t know if he would end up taking a ride in an ambulance or a hearse.

  Tim’s health problems gradually worsened. He was at the point to where he was living off of a diet of seltzer water, soda crackers, soup, and Ensure, since he couldn’t keep down much else. However, he was determined to stick it out. After all, he had his vacation coming in two weeks and then he could finally work on getting some rest. This fact was the only thing that kept him going, and the fact that Preston’s behavior and work (or lack thereof) were slowly coming back to haunt him.

  It had been more than a month since Preston presented his Big Idea of the All Powerful Website. There was supposed to be a presentation that was to have taken place several weeks ago in which Preston was to have expounded in detail just how his idea would take shape and manifest itself within the company. The problem was the Big Idea was easy, but trying to pinpoint and organize the details was much more complicated than Preston had anticipated. He just couldn’t put everything together. First, there was the problem of choosing and settling on a firm that would design the website. There were several that Preston had been in negotiations with, but he had not signed a deal with any one of them yet. Then there was the whole glitch with how the accounting department would interface with the website, the design of the website itself, possible changes in department policies and procedures, procedures for troubleshooting, all which had yet to be done. It was a big task, and after the departure of Clara and Vera, Preston pleaded for and got additional time to work on the project. However, that time was now running out. His final deadline was just before the two-day Christmas break, and he was no closer to finishing his final plan than he had been weeks earlier. At this point in time, even Standoff was becoming impatient. Sometimes it was even fun to watch Preston, squirm as he made excuses for why he had not met any of the timetabled goals for the project. He would try to blame Tim, but Standoff would always remind him that this website was his idea, and he was ultimately the one responsible for its taking shape. Yes, the Fall of Preston Scott was imminent. Tim was just hoping that he would be sitting in the front row when Preston came down.

  Tim was halfway through the updates, when the Despot walked in a half-hour late from lunch for the umpteenth day in a row.

  “Where’s Sarah?” Preston asked looking around the office in bewilderment. Sarah was an admin from the accounting department who had graciously lent her support after Tim practically begged her for help.

  “She left. She said she could only stay for a couple of hours. She had to get back to accounting to work on a bigger project there.”

  Preston ran his hand over his scalp in frustration.

  “Get on the phone with that temp agency again: see if they can get someone over here for the afternoon. In the meantime, did you hear anything from HR about interviews for the admin position?”

  “No.” Tim replied as he dialed the agency. “I called them this morning and they said they haven’t found anyone who wants a interim position.”

  “And you let them get away with that?” Preston cried “Tim, you see how short-staffed we are! You should have lit a fire under their pants and told them to stop lollygagging and send some candidates for interviews! Hello! It is what you’re being paid for!”

  Tim decided to try to be reasonable rather than let Preston goad him into an argument.

  “With all due respect Preston, I can’t just go around making threats. It’s not like I’m their boss.”

  “And at this rate you never will be. Just call the agency and get Joe on the line. I hope you can at least do that!” growled Preston before he stormed back into what used to be their office.

  Tim was trying to call the temp agency for the second time when he heard the dictator’s blustering bellow.

  “Tim!”

  “Yes.” Tim replied in exasperation.

  “Where the hell are those bids from the tech firms?!”

  “On your desk, I suppose. I gave them to you before you left for lunch.”

  “Oh, is that so? And do you think I would be standing here talking to your sorry butt if they were?”

  Tim got up and went past Preston into the office.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing? That’s my office!”

  Ignoring Preston, Tim grabbed a bunch of files from Preston’s disaster of an ‘in-box’ and sifted through them.

  “Do you want me to call security?”

  “Do you want your precious bids?”

  It didn’t take Tim much time at all. After flipping through some of the folders in the in box, he found what he was looking for.

  “Your bids, sir”, said Tim slapping the papers against Preston’s chest as he walked past him back to his cubicle.

  “Cute, very cute. You probably moved them from where I had them in the first place. I’ll have to remind myself to lock my office door when I go out for lunch.”

  “You’re welcome”, sneered Tim.

  “So what did the agency say?”

  “With all of the interruptions, I haven’t had the chance to put the call through.”

  “Get it done yesterday already!”

  The dictator withdrew to his office and Tim dialed quickly hoping to finish his business before some new complaint brought Preston stamping out again like a terrible ogre in a fairy tale. Tim felt bad having to call Black Tie Staffing for what seemed like the thousandth time. As he sat listening to the phone
ringing on the other end, Tim felt even worse for the poor victim who would be sent out for the position. When the receptionist answered the phone she recognized his voice immediately and Tim could sense her irritation.

  “Hey, Maggie. It’s Tim From Herns and Marshall. We need another person who can fill an administrative position.”

  “If this is for the Business Services Department, we don’t have anyone.”

  “You can’t be serious! Let me speak to Joe!”

  “Fine. I’ll transfer you.”

  “Joe Tarantillo.”

  “Hey, Joe, it’s Tim. What’s this I hear about you not sending any temps to our department at H&M? What’s going on?” said Tim trying to be diplomatic.

  “I’m sorry, Tim, but the last kid I sent there went to the BBB to have me reported. I’ve got a reputation to uphold and a business to run. Standoff and I had a conversation and we decided in order to keep things good between us, I don’t have to send anymore temps to your department until further notice.”

  “Standoff knows about it?”

  “Yeah. It was his idea. I thought he would’ve let you guys know by now.”

  “No, not yet. But I understand”, Tim said resignedly.

  “You’re gonna have to try to borrow someone from another department. Sorry about this, Tim.”

  “Not as sorry as I am.”

  Now Tim would have to be the bearer of bad news. He went over to Preston’s office door, which was now locked, and knocked. I wasn’t long before he could hear Preston stomping toward the door.

  “Yes?” he asked peevishly as he cracked the door open.

  “I just got off the phone with the agency….”

  “And? Don’t tell me they can’t get someone here until tomorrow.”

  “No temps are going to be coming at all. They’re not sending temps to our department.”

  “Why the hell not? What did you say to them? Don’t tell me you’ve managed to alienate us from one of our closest business associates?”

  “Of course not! All I did was ask them to send another admin. It seems the admins who have been sent here have been complaining about

  the work conditions…”

  “Get Joe on the line!”

  “It won’t do any good. He’s spoken with Standoff. They’ve made an agreement.”

  Preston was crestfallen.

  “That can’t be…why would he…I mean he knows I have a deadline. How could he expect me to…I’m going to call Joe myself. There has to be some mistake. You probably got the message wrong anyway”, stammered Preston before slamming the door in Tim’s face.

  At that moment the phone began to ring at the front desk. As Tim went to answer it, he could hear the echoes of Preston’s conversation with Joe through the office door.

  “Herns and Marshall, Business Services. Tim Russell, speaking”, Tim answered.

  “Standoff here, Tim. Put me through to Scott. It’s urgent.”

  “Of course, sir.”

  Tim tried passing the call through to Preston’s office, but the line was still busy. So he got up and knocked on the door.

  “I’m on the phone!” Preston screamed from behind the oak door.

  “Standoff’s on the line! He says it’s urgent!”

  There was a moment of silence.

  “Pass him through.”

  Tim went back to his cubicle and passed the call through successfully. As he tried to put his mind back on his own work, he couldn’t help but pause to wonder why Standoff had called. Tim knew it probably wasn’t to congratulate Preston for a job well done. Tim wished he could hear the conversation Preston and Standoff were having right now.

  It wasn’t long before Preston appeared from his office. He had a very wild expression on his face that seemed to hint of fear.

  “Standoff’s on his way for a status report. He’ll be here in an hour. I want all the preliminary files together. Don’t mess up. I’ve got a lot riding on this.”

  “You have everything in your office.”

  “I know that, genius”, Preston sneered. “I’m giving it to you to straighten out and create the status report.”

  Tim felt he shouldn’t have been surprised by the outrageous nature of the request. Preston wanted him to complete a status report of their work in less than an hour. Under any other circumstances the task would have been impossible if not for the fact that Preston hadn’t done a thing since the last status report meeting with Standoff. Tim knew he would merely take the last report, add a few meaningless bullet points and reprint it. The bigger surprise would be Standoff’s reaction to the report.