flash fiction: fast track
so beth she thinks herself all important and stuff like the queen like the boss like the bitch with money and she flaunts it around, her new credit cards and what her job pays her — because that’s how she talks, she says they’re going to put her on the fast track once she gets done with her leadership training, they’ll sit her down and go over her new improved situation and how she’ll get paid more while she increases her responsibilities — but i just say, well that’s good for you so now maybe you can start paying more of the bills? — she says she will, i’m not sure if i believe her but if she’s going to act like the queen bee about it then she pays bills like the queen —
beth arrives home from work, she says she spent most of her day in leadership training, that they were teaching how to make sure that team members meet their commitments and responsibilities, a topic i find interesting in the context of talking to beth — because she’s not the best at that, responsibilities and commitments, and she knows — so this encourages me because then she’ll learn, to be better at her word, a requirement of a leader — beth opens the refrigerator and takes out a beer she asks if i want some i say no but maybe later it’s too early still, and she asks, too early why? never mind —
she opens the bottle and stands drinking and i ask so what did you learn about commitment and responsibilities — she shrugs, she says they just started the class, but it’s all a matter of accountability, and i ask her what she knows about that, and she says well something like if it all goes wrong who you can blame, whose name is on it, something like that, and in response i nod, well fine — but after another sip of the beer she keeps going, she says that it’s a matter of clearness over who is responsible for what, so that that person knows, and you tell them, you’re responsible for this task and that task, and here’s when you need to turn it in, it’s all professional like that, the thing you need to do, the date you need to finish, that all should be written —
beth looks professional in her new blue blazer matched with a silky white blouse and beige pants, she carries a black cloth bag over her shoulder that holds her computer, her perfume smells of daisies mixed with some musk, she says people comment on her appearance and her perfume, even her bag even though they ask her why it’s not leather — she says she’s offended by the question but she holds in her disappointment — she’s nearing completion of her leadership program, which includes more on feedback, managing change, hiring, career development for your direct reports, and then she finishes and she says they will be talking to her about the next steps — i tell her that’s wonderful, such great progress she’s made in such a short time, she’ll have those new responsibilities and climb her way upward on the salary ladder in no time, on that fast track she’s been talking about —
Image by Remaztered Studio from Pixabay
