Happy Monday morning everyone. There was no need for the snooze button today. There was also no need for the alarm today as my neighbor pulled out of his drive to go to work and didn’t realize there was a motorcycle parked behind him. Apparently there was a house guest he knew nothing about. The crash was loud, the profanity was louder and everyone woke without the need for the alarm clock. And so we start the day. At least I know my day is starting better than someone else’s. Petty, I know, but it does make me feel good. Shall we start our morning prompt?
Oh this could be fun. I think I am going to pull it apart. Make the disintegration of the group, or his removal from it more significant as well as the extra work and confidential files much more dramatic. Could be fun to intertwine the two.
Monday, June 12th: I will need you to work late tonight.
“I will need you to work late tonight,” he said. John looked up. Peter barely glanced at him as he continued on his way.
“But tonight,” John started.
Peter slowed but didn’t stop. “Can’t be helped I am afraid. Sorry.”
He didn’t even look over his shoulder as he continued down the hall. In his mind it was a done deal. John would work late tonight. It was decided. He frowned. Things would need to be rearranged. Again. He reached for his phone and sent the text. He didn’t have to wait too long for a reply.
“Not surprised,” was the response. “We are going to go ahead rather than reschedule.”
‘And I’m not surprised by that,’ he thought. He felt the slight sting of disappointment but he had to admit it was more than fair. The weekend trip they all planned had been postponed four times already because he had to work late on a Friday or come in for a few hours on a Saturday.
John shook his head and sent a message back. ‘I understand. Have fun. Wish I was with you.’
There was no response and his screen went dark. He set the phone aside and got back to his computer. He wasn’t terribly surprised by the lack of response either. He had to cancel on most of the planned events for the last eight months and couldn’t even remember the last time he saw his friends face to face. He missed drinks out after work and weekend barbeques. He missed dinner invitations and had already caused the rescheduling of the annual trip multiple times.
‘At this point it is probably safer to assume I am going to be MIA then to plan on me attending.’
Given the rapid response from his first message he suspected they already planned to go regardless of his schedule. ‘And I can’t blame them for that either,’ he decided.
As he got back to work he wondered how long he had to be absent from the group before he was no longer considered a part of it. While he still had been invited to the annual trip, the other smaller in town invitations had become fewer and farther between. In fact he hadn’t been invited to one in at least a couple of months.
‘Maybe longer.’
It was a depressing thought. He looked at his own stack of work and realized that it would take him less than an hour to complete. He also knew that while it looked like no one was watching about the time he reached the end of his week’s work Peter would have another bundle sent to his desk and that would be what kept him here working late.
John knew it was Peter’s own work, tasks designated for him to do as floor supervisor. He also knew that Peter considered his supervisory duties as an excuse to delegate his own work on to others. ‘And I know this is work he is not supposed to delegate,’ John added.
In the last stack passed off to him were several folders marked confidential. Since he knew Peter would not accept them being skipped, John went ahead and dealt with them. There had also been a follow up e-mail sent from the head office when his log in code was used to submit the details for those files. He knew someone other than Peter was watching and as annoyed as he was at missing the trip, he was quite curious to see what might come out of the current observance.
Ten til Midnight 