She took a deep breath and said to her boss everything that she’d wanted to say for the past five months,
“That’s it, I can’t take it anymore. I walk in here five minutes early like I always have every day of my life. Like a farmer for her crops or a child’s favourite teacher for her students or even a mama bird for her helpless little chicks. I’m always here for you. We’ve been through so much together, the Markson Scandal, the near dissolution of the company, your divorce! And yet it’s always, “Lookin’ fine today darlin’,” or, “Get me another cup of coffee doll!” Well I’m sick of it.”
She was so infuriated you could practically see the fires she was imagining through her eyes. She began pacing back and forth like a teenage girl from a children’s cartoon and the entire office stared in a frozen state.
“And on top of it all, the government has been raising the damn cost of living and I haven’t had a raise in three years, three damn years John! Tell me, how many raises do you think you’ve had in these past three years? I can tell you, it sure as hell is more than me! Idiot. Misogynist. Degrading, ignorant, stupid man!”
As she became more and more angered, the security guard by the door began to walk nearer and had his hand on his baton but stayed back so as to avoid any unnecessary violence. She stared at her boss deep into his eyes as he stood there dumbfounded.
“But…
You were so nice to me when you were just starting out here. I was just starting out my life and you weren’t much older than I was. Sitting in that desk over there, we locked eyes every time I walked past you to bring coffee to your old boss. We laughed, we talked, we really knew each other.
I miss that man. Tall, handsome, caring, everyone’s favourite guy. Your charisma actually made me stay here instead of going to university with my brother, you know that? Cause we had a plan, you and me. We had a plan.”
Taking a deep breath and not looking away from her azul eyes just covered by her beautiful red hair, he opened his mouth as if to say something but he couldn’t.
“What?” She demanded a response with a new stare of confidence. He tried again.
“Caty.” He paused, trying to choose his words very carefully, but she interrupted immediately.
“Don’t call me ‘Caty.’ Call me ‘Cate’ or ‘Catherine.'” He opened his eyes and spoke eloquently.
“Caty, I know I’ve abandoned you as I’ve climbed the ladder, I’m sorry, I really am. But that’s the corporation, I’ve pushed for you to get a better job here than that of a secretary but here you are, angry at me for treating you like the secretary that you still are. Now, go get me another cup of coffee doll.”
She exhaled a gasp and couldn’t help but look away from him as if disgusted by his very existence. Her scarlett high heels clicked, their wearer looking past the five or six desks between her and her idiotic boss. They stopped by the elevator.
“I thought there was hope for you, John, I really did. Sometimes I wish we could go back to when we first started, but it’s clear that’s just a memory now.” She looked around the room, at everyone in her presence. She illuminated the office with a new light of moving on by uttering the words, “all of you, I advise that you either take his job or move onto something you’ll enjoy before he shatters your dreams. John, you’ll have my letter of resignation by Monday.” And she left.