Feeling a bit draggy today. Neighbors are doing some work which apparently involves late night celebrations and early morning heavy machinery. And digging. Lots and lots of digging. I am beginning to think they are putting in an addition with a basement instead of just an enlarged semi enclosed back patio. Admittedly it is now almost as big as the house itself so anything is possible. Regardless, let’s shake the brains awake with a writing prompt. Timers set and off we go.
I always love when someone clearly reaches a breaking point and gets some petty revenge in. I’m sure it will backfire, but it was fun to write.
Wednesday, September 9th: Thank you for your input.
“Thank you for your input,” Steve said. The words were coldly formal and Lana tried to keep her smile politely friendly. She turned and walked out of the office.
‘Input,’ she repeated to herself. She had completed the entire project and had all of the documentation to back it up. This wasn’t the first time her supervisor Steve claimed one of the projects she did as his own. She saw the reports for the minutes of the meetings. They were posted on the company’s internal server so they could all read them and know the direction the company was heading. It was supposed to promote openness and transparency within the company.
Most never bothered to read it.
Lana did.
She saw other department supervisors credit those who did the work in their reports. Steve never did. All the work was always his. He liked to tell them it was because he was the supervisor so everything came under his heading. She knew no other department performed that way. She also knew that he viewed the work as his. This wasn’t the first time she had been thanked for her input, as though she performed some minor task.
‘This is the last time though,’ Lana said. She had been offered a different position in a different company. She was leaving. Lana reached her desk and found herself amused. Always after completing a project, Steve asked her to do the write up of the project he would present to the board. He knew the titles and a general description but didn’t pay enough attention to know anything about the way the project worked or even it’s basic parameters.
The meeting was Tomorrow afternoon and if Steve held true to form then tomorrow just before lunch he would stop by with an immediate emergency request. She would work through lunch to get it done and then get back to work.
‘But today is my last day.’
She doubted Steve remembered that. Her HR exit interview was slated for ten minutes from now. At that time she would turn in all her passwords and electronics to them and they would work with IT. She transferred all of the data from her work laptop to the protected database as she was instructed. She wondered what issues that would cause.
Steve not only wouldn’t have the write up of the project but he would not have access to the project itself.
‘Come to think of it all the projects I completed for the company are in there.’ She knew there was some sort of review process once she left and that it would take at least three days for those doing it to get through her things and release them back to her department.
‘Not my concern,’ she told herself. She had done everything she needed to do. She followed all the rules and regulations and now she was done.
She finished the transfer of files and logged out. She saw the time, powered down and took her laptop to her meeting with HR. She would hand things over in the presence of IT and everything would be signed over. Steve was already gone for the day as he always left just a little bit early to beat traffic. He claimed he came in early to make up for it and beat traffic that way but as he usually arrived after she did, Lana wasn’t convinced.
‘Not my concern,’ she told herself. It hadn’t been during her time her and it wasn’t now. She found she had a little bounce in her step as she left the office for the last time.
Ten til Midnight 