Sphere 7

Sphere 7

January 18, 1999

William hadn’t stopped calling over the course of the weekend. I had kept the answering machine imitation going for the first few times, but after a certain point I just put the phone away. Every time it rang would have just been temptation to go into work, and that was temptation I would rather not have. It had been a nice weekend, the best one I had had in a while in fact. I had caught up with Catherine and had a wonderful night’s sleep. We had genuinely talked for what felt like the first time in months and I saw a few of her wonderful, beautiful smiles. I felt like I was on the top of the world, like nothing could take me down.

With a spring in my step and a smile on my face, I entered Playtime’s store, ignoring the dreary looks on the faces of my coworkers. They must have had a rough time without me. Or perhaps they had always had such dreary expressions and I just hadn’t noticed? It was something to look out for anyways.

I had barely made it to the second floor when I noticed something was off. The general ambiance of the floor was completely off on a way I couldn’t identify. Some potted plants had been moved, two of them now adjacent to the staircase rather then in the corners of a room. My cheeriness faltered, replaced by a disturbing sense that something was terribly wrong. I was clued into what it was when I saw a man walking down the hall, in the opposite direction.

He was a shorter man, seeming to be around 5’5, with dark brown hair that was immaculately gelled and groomed. His suit looked freshly ironed and was free from wrinkles. A feeling of dread filled me, my smiling falling as I met his cold eyes. They had a twinkle in them, and when combined with his slight smug smirk and his general body language, it gave off the demeanor of a predator. His smirk grew as he locked eye contact with me, and he gave the slight nod of his head in acknowledgment. “Alan.”

It wasn’t too much of a surprise that he knew me, considering my position in the company, but I hadn’t had the faintest idea of who this person even was. I didn’t even have the faintest memory of meeting this person before. “Hello. Do I know you from somewhere?”

The man shook his head ever so slightly, “You know me starting as of this moment. We’ve never met before. It was disappointing to see that you skipped out on the mandatory meeting over the weekend. It was a shame you couldn’t make it, it was entertaining.”

I blinked. There was a meeting? “Sorry, no one told me.” Something was niggling at the back of my mind, screaming at me that disaster was on the horizon. The both of us had been invited to a meeting. I could easily assume it was a major meeting, and that this man had been there. Which meant this man was in a high enough position to warrant a presence at the meeting, yet I didn’t know him. A theory formed in my mind that made a pit form in my stomach. I pushed it aside. I needed more info before I jumped to conclusions. “What was the meeting about?”

He had a knowing tone to his voice, one which dripped with the amount of smugness in it, “That’s odd, I thought William had already told you? Now, I could tell you what you missed, but where’s the fun in that? I’m sure someone could fill you in. Now, I really have to go, I have a tight schedule to keep. I’m sure you understand.” The man continued walking briskly down the hall, before suddenly stopping next to me. “One last thing, Alan. I expect to see you in my office soon.” With those ominous last words, the man headed down the staircase.

I was sorely tempted to chase after the man, to demand answers to what he meant. But I didn’t have to. I knew what was going on. Asking him pointed questions would be pointless, especially if he danced around actually answering anything. I didn’t want to believe what he had implied. I needed confirmation.

The waiting room on the third floor office was back to normal. There wasn’t a single trace of the Christmas decorations that had littered it a few weeks ago. The somber expression on Belle’s face was all I needed to see. It had happened.

Her eyes widened as she saw me, and she gestured me over. Her eyes flitted around nervously, and she spoke in a hushed tone. “The company’s been sold, Mr. Gramme. Mr. Catstooth has been replaced.”

William had been fired? That revelation has hit harder then anticipated. I had expected it to happen, yet it still felt like someone had punched me in the gut hearing it. We didn’t always see eye to eye, but William had been in the company since it had started. I felt something building in me, a desire to fight. I wasn’t about to let the people at Happy Smiles take over and ruin things. “Belle, did a brunette with a very punchable face tell you where he was going? I’d like to have a word with him.”

Belle hesitantly nodded, “Mr. Griffiths, erm, our new boss, said he would be waiting for you in the conference rooms.” It was surreal to hear this after I’d been dreading it for so long, like a nightmare come true.

I needed to set things right, I needed to make sure I would have a job in the immediate future.

The plurality of the word ‘rooms’ conference rooms was something of an inside joke. Playtime had only ever had the one third floor conference room, and it was a fully spartan and functional one, with beige walls and a simple long rectangular table in the center. Seated at the head of the table was the root of all evil, Mr. Griffiths.

I glared at the back of his chair and settled down into the chair directly opposite from his, the one at the other head of the table. It was a purposeful choice. There could only be one person at the head of the table, only one leader. It was an unspoken challenge, and one I was confident in winning. I cleared my throat.

Mr. Griffiths spun in his chair to face me. His posture was stiff and straight, one that made me keenly aware that I sat with a slight slouch. “Right on time, Alan. It’s a shame you missed the meeting on Saturday. We had such interesting discussions.”

I decided not to ask what the discussions were about. It was an obvious trap to fall into, and it was one that would let him dominate this conversation. I wouldn’t let that happen. “I never got the memo for that meeting. Unless you had other plans, I’d like to focus on this meeting, however. Specifically to go over the plans of the last meeting and tweak them so that everything runs smoothly.”

To my surprise, my new boss didn’t argue, “Fine by me. To recap on the last meeting, which you missed by sheer bad luck, the company is going to go through a period of restructuring. Every single last detail will be improved. At its core, the company will be mostly untouched. The Playtime you know today will still exist, but it’ll exist in a different form.”

I frowned. The general idea sounded okay, but I wasn’t an idiot. I had caught onto how he had said Playtime would be mostly untouched. I needed to run damage control. Mr. Griffiths might be my new boss, that thought left a sour taste in my mouth, but he hadn’t even been at the company for a week yet. He didn’t know how things were done, he didn’t know Playtime’s priorities. I wasn’t going to let him change whatever he wanted. “That all sounds like an interesting idea, but how would we go about the implementation of them? What exactly needs improving? I’d rather we don’t rock the boat too much too quickly.”

Mr. Griffiths yawned, giving a slight nod. “I don’t think it would be necessary for you to know. But, for the sake of fairness and all that crap, I’ll tell you. Firstly, we want to work on your diversity in the company. Especially when it comes to retail. Simply put, Playtime looks like a toy company, but your employees look like they work in a factory. There is nothing fun and exciting about the uniforms being worn on the ground floor, aka the floor that people actually see. Secondly, the retail staff is both incompetent and dull. A box with a single rock in could outwit them and they don’t even know where to begin to help customers. They’ll point the the priciest toy out there and try to sell that, rather then selling what the customer is looking for. I don’t think any of them were ever kids to start with, they don’t know how children think. Secondly, the entire retail staff is at least in their thirties, and some are far older then that even. It’s creates a contrast we don’t want. We want someone who the kids can relate to, someone younger, to work retail. Now, what would you suggest? Where do you think we could further stand to improve?”

What Mr. Griffiths has said was fairly well thought out, to his credit. I was hoping it would be the speech of an incompetent man. But so far, he had been genial, polite in fact. Was this genuine, or was it all a mask hiding malicious intent? I couldn’t straw man his argument, not when he had seemed to have a reasonable conclusion. The concern I had felt over being fired was slowly fading away. Perhaps I had worried too much and forced myself to believe the worst about the future. “First, lets focus on your suggestions. You said you found the retail department less then satisfactory. Does your plan for improving it involve a substantial amount of layoffs?”

Mr. Griffiths nodded, and when he spoke it was in a soothing tone that seemed like it was meant to allay my concerns. “While the current plan does involve firing a lot of the retail department, I don’t intend to be wasteful. I intend to clear out the slackers and the problem people. I believe it would be more trouble then it’s worth to try to rein in the more problematic people at this company.”

I frowned. He seemed resourceful, yet he also was needlessly laying off a massive part of the company for a marginal boost in income in the long term. Part of me admitted it seemed like the efficient thing to do, but that didn’t mean I liked it. “I disagree on that point. It would be cheaper to simply educate our employees on how to properly behave and through that and and combination of enforcing good behavior, we would effectively have the same results for less.”

Mr. Griffiths sighed, shaking his head, “Alan, I’ve worked with problematic people before. In my opinion, it’s safe to say that problematic people never change. You can put a fresh coat of paint over the problem, but sooner or later that paint will chip, and everyone will see it when it does. I’m amazed you haven’t learned that lesson for yourself firsthand. Now, onto something more important then your concerns. You dodged the question earlier, Alan. How would you improve the company?”

I noticed the slight jab in his words, the barb directed towards my skills. I wouldn’t let him get away with that. I was competent, I was going to keep my job, and I was going to present Mr. Griffiths with a wonderful enough idea that he couldn’t help but admit it. As much as it hurt, I would even show a hint of deference, so as to get on his good side. It was going to be a bold suggestion, but hopefully it would work. “Well, I think Playtime needs to quite literally go under a reconstruction. Going back onto what you said about appearances, I think the store is due for a change. The store’s layout is functional and it works well, but it’s not see inspiring. If this is to be a central store, then it needs to look grand, whilst also looking fun. I’m thinking a second floor and upping the production so that it doesn’t look empty would be a wise choice of action.”

The frown that spread across my new boss’s face was one that filled me with a sense of dread. He crossed his arms, “Alan, I’ve taken a look at the finances of the company. Doing what you just suggested, well that would be costly enough that I don’t think it would be worth it.”

I needed to clarify this, I needed to make it out to Mr. Griffiths that I wasn’t an incompetent idiot. I knew it would be costly, perhaps more so then the company would afford, but he had asked and I had answered. “I was speaking hypothetically. I’m well aware that it would be costly to renovate the building.”

“Uh huh.” Clearly he wasn’t impressed and quite doubtful of my response. There was something layered in his voice that I couldn’t quite place. “Well I wasn’t asking hypothetically. You should keep your ideas firmly in the clouds and leave them there. This company needs employees that are grounded, Alan. Your lack of knowledge about the company’s finances is a unwelcome surprise. I-“

I bristled. I was well aware of the company’s finances. Not a dollar was spent without my knowledge of it. To imply otherwise, to imply that I was incompetent, it was wrong in every way. “Mr. Griffiths, let me clarify. I was-“

He loudly cleared his throat. “You are an idiot for interrupting me. Thanks to you I now have to piece my train of thought back together. Now where was I before I was so rudely interrupted. Oh yes, on renovations. The fact of the matter is that if the company followed up on your hypothetical ambition exactly to your standards, we would lose a significant amount of money. I’m sure you are aware that remodeling a store is far more expensive then merely buying a secondary location and turning that into our main hub of operations?” I had barely opened my mouth to reply when he started again. “It’s okay that you aren’t. It’s hard to do everything at once, Alan.”

What was he implying? Was he seriously trying to imply that I was incompetent? That wasn’t true! I was capable, I was dedicated! I wasn’t about to let him say otherwise. “Mr. Griffiths, I think you are mistaken. I have worked at Playtime for years and I am known around the workplace for the number of overtime hours I have clocked over the years. I didn’t get to my position by being an idiot. I ask you to remember that I have experience in the workplace, before implying things such as my incompetence. It’s rather unbecoming.”

I resisted the urge to shudder as a vicious grin spread across the face of my new boss. The smile had far too many teeth to it, and it seemed like a declaration of war rather then a sign of happiness. With every word he said the sinking feeling grew, as did his smile. “Of course not, Alan. You’re not incompetent, you’re incompetent and foolishly ambitious. I already mentioned my belief in that people don’t change, Alan. You might have been what the company previously needed, but Playtime needs different things now. The direction that I’m taking the company in, I feel that you won’t agree with it. I’m afraid you’re going to take it far too personally, Alan, and I wouldn’t want to be the cause for an untimely death from a stress caused heart attack because you didn’t agree with your job anymore. I’m on your side, Alan. It’s just that I feel you are too ambitious for what this company needs. Pride cometh before the fall and all that. I’d rather not fall because you tried to remodel the company and failed. But you know what, Alan? I could have worked with that, I could have ignored the little voice in the back of my head warning me about you. It was disappointing, however, to find that you had harassed one of my employees. I’m sorry, Alan, but I cannot allow that sort of behavior to stand in this company. I intend to get rid of the troublesome elements of the company, and you, Alan Gramme, are one of them. You’re fired.”

I blinked, my mind slowing to a halt as I tired to process this. Dimly, I recognized that I was shouting, dimly I recognized that I was marching down the hall, but I didn’t seem real. I had been fired. I had been fired. I was unemployed. I was out of income. I was broke. I would have to find a new job. I would still be broke. Catherine didn’t have a real job, we would both be broke. We wouldn’t be able to afford food, we wouldn’t be able to afford power. We wouldn’t be able to afford Lori. We would have to give Lori up. I was going to lose my child. My child was going to either grow up in poverty or grow up with a foster parent. I had failed as a husband. I had failed as a father. Why did things have to change? I didn’t like change. Change was to be avoided. I wish things had never changed.