Warm Hearts, Cold Coffee AKA Another Day, Another Headache

By Moonflower

Disclaimer: Sounds a lot like Dar, so please forgive me…..(I am sorry Missy, it just that Dar reminds me SO much of my boss!!!)

I roll out of bed as the alarm jerks me out of a sound sleep. I walk over to the shelf it resides and flip the switch. I softly pad over to the walk in closet to pick out what I am going to wear today. I look the left side of the closet that holds my work attire, mostly suits with pants, silk shirts, and some polo shirts and chinos for casual Fridays. The right holds my casual and dress clothing. I pick out a well-tailored black business suit teamed up with a gunmetal gray silk shirt to complete my corporate shark look. Grabbing my clothing, I head to the bathroom and turn on the shower. While I am waiting for the water to warm up, I am anxious, but excited about the new acquisition that I am to oversee today. I proceed to get ready while the coffee pot is doing its pre-programmed function. After I hop out of the shower and finish getting ready, I run downstairs to the kitchen to pour myself a cup of coffee in a travel mug to drink on my way to work. This will be my breakfast. I grab my keys, shoulder my laptop, and place the pager and cell phone on my hip as I open the front door. Setting the alarm as I head out the door, I survey my surroundings. A nice quiet gated community in Beverly Hills filled with colonial style homes and other yuppies like me. I am pleased with where I am..it took me long enough. I use my remote to unlock the doors and start the engine of my vehicle. As I hop in my Lexus LX470 SUV, I remember that I need to call my secretary and let her know that I will be out of the office most of the day. Several minutes later, I am on the way to work on the interstate and become irritated at an idiotic driver who almost sideswiped me as he changed lanes. I use the thirty-minute drive to plan my day ahead. I arrive at corporate headquarters, guide my Lexus into its assigned spot and turn off the engine. I grab my briefcase and take a quick look in the rearview mirror before I get out. I aim the remote behind me to lock the doors and begin the short trek to the door. "Another day, another headache." I mumble to myself as I swipe my key-card to gain entrance. As I enter HQ, I look up at the atrium that goes up the entire length of the building. I never get over the fact that it is so ostentatious. I hop on the elevator and press the button for the 21st floor where the all of the Vice Presidents have their offices. I look at the door to my office, Vice President of Operations as I say hello to my secretary, remembering on my way to work that I needed to pick up some files on the way to the office. "Good Morning. Any messages?" I say. She greets me with a smile and I listen to her tell me that accounting is outraged about some budget mess and several other problems at the office. I thank her and go into my "inner sanctum" as I have come to call it. I walk to my solid cherry desk, shove my laptop into the docking station and plop down in the leather ergonomic chair as I wait for the infernal thing to boot. I turn around in my chair and look at the sunrise. It is so relaxing. I hear my start up sound, turn around and log into the system to check my mail. I have 63 new messages, 47 urgent. I quickly scan the mail: budget issues, corporate use policy of the computers, new cell phones..most of it seems to be about the takeover. I will e-mail them later with the most up-to-date info, after the meeting at DEF. While I was checking my e-mail, my wonderful secretary snuck in and brought me a cup MoccaBerry coffee and a large box. I stare at the darn blasted thing trying to figure out what in tarnation it could be. MoccaBerry forgotten, I finally give into curiosity and open my desk drawer to pull out the ever-present dive knife that I use as a letter opener and a threatening device…Hey I haven’t used it on anyone…yet. I slice open the brown paper box and peer inside at the contents. I dip my hand in and pull out what seems to be a large bundle of bubble wrap. I carefully peel away the mounds of duct tape on the wrap so as not to tear it …Hey it is a great stress reliever, I get to wring necks!!! I roll the bubble wrap away from the object to reveal a rock. I stare at it quizzically and look inside the box hoping for some inkling of a hint to hit me in the head. I find a note taped to the bottom of the inside of the box.

K

Now isn’t that sweet I think as I fold the bubble wrap up and slide it in the bottom of my desk drawer. I pick up my now luke-warm coffee and I sip it while I finish checking my mail. As I finish, I grab my briefcase place the files in it for the DEF merger. Grab my web enabled PDA, and head out the door. Several hours later I walk out of the corporate, offices of DEF feeling quite satisfied about the terms were able to come to agreement on. Hearing my stomach grumble, I take a quick look at my Rolex and realize that I missed lunch. I think I’ll just head back to the office, grab my laptop, say hi to the guys in the IT department (what a bunch of fun people) and give them the update on all the work they will have to do in the morning, including migrating all 65,000 DEF employees over to our mail server. I get to the office and ask Rick, our head IT geek, if he want to go grab a bite of supper. We head out to the best burger joint in town. While at dinner we discuss the merger and all the bells and whistles that go with it. At dinner, I wind down from the anxiety that I had earlier during the day, and relax as Rick tells me yet another OLD IT joke. He asks how it went and I tell him the sordid details of the day and how satisfied I am with the compromise we made, while still coming out on the top of the pile. With this takeover, we will be the largest international IT company on the planet. Our stock prices should soar. I say goodnight to Rick in the parking lot of the restaurant and hop in the car. As I turn the ignition, I think about all the work that I still have to do when I get home tonight.