A Sleepy Induction Meeting With Jana (Part 3)

Payback on Najla

When back from lunch, feeling refreshed, I began upon some more much needed filing. Quite used to the fact that Najla doesn’t lift a finger upon David’s filing or any filing for that matter, I done my part and felt smug knowing one day she would get what she deserved. Payback couldn’t have come sooner or more sweeter as after half an hour of doing filing and Najla checking out email (To which she could have been helping me out) I thought to wait upon Najla to mention our need to do the outgoing mail.

It wasn’t until 2:40 p.m. that I finally thought to make a note of the mail and as I noted I would grab the mail she froze in her tracks in a desperate realization come too late. “You have to go to your meeting in fifteen minutes” she barked in shock to which her anxiety bid her to remark “We have to hurry with the mail and get it done”. Najla was too busy playing ‘read the message’ on the email server that she lost track of time and knowledge that I had to leave soon after.

In desperation, Najla tried to raise a gear upon my pace by noting that we had to get the mail done. What she meant to say was “Can you get all your mail done in fifteen minutes so my lazy ass doesn’t have to worry about your portion”. Knowing that this is exactly what Najla was thinking and keeping in mind that she didn’t bother to help me with filing when I asked for teamwork, I laggardly walked over to the mail, picked it up and placed it on our table.

Najla was quick to snatch the outgoing mail as she literally threw the piles into separation and as she took her time doing her mail hoping that I would show haste, I took my time also. Well, my conscience bid me to speed it up a notch but there was no way I could complete my portion of the outgoing mail in fifteen minutes. When 3:00 p.m. had arrived, I bunched up what mail was completed and heading to the mail to claims box at Jana’s desk, I asked her if she was thinking of heading up to the meeting some time soon.

“I was just finishing up now” she uttered as the both of us made plans to head up together. Fight spite with spite I say as my relationship with Najla was left a touch tethered to malevolence upon my departure with Jana.

Upstairs to the Meeting

Trying to make the best of our little excursion, Jana and I had a little chat about expectations and what we should be looking forward to at the meeting. Grabbing a lift to the eighth floor we walked past the girl at reception who was busy taking a call and figuring we would be in the same room as to every other meeting upstairs we tried our luck. Walking through the doorway which had the meeting room in view, Jana and I noticed a couple of people sitting down on a table just to the side of the door so we figured that we should wait for the receptionist to inform us.

Seconds later we were shown in by the blonde haired lady who is a touch on the old side but still looks good looking in her own respects. Unable to recall the lady’s name who is in management, she ushered us back through the door to which Jana and I made an entrance to an already packed room upstairs of rookies alike of me. Being only three seats left, Jana decided to find the first available seat which was right at the end of the table where the entrance to the room was.

Myself, I sat opposite of her on the other side of the table to which I noticed there was a chair vacant right next to me. Seeing that Jana looked a touch fidgety and anxious I uttered “Jana, come sit over here next to me” as I patted the beautifully meshed seat. On her way over she smiled saying “I didn’t know there was a seat there” and a lady next to me who looked like she knew Jana made some cracks with the both of us.

With everyone settled down the other management guy who had the almost balding and shaved head walked into the room and introduced himself along with the lady. Having a bunch of printed paper in front of us regarding the company, policies, information and the like, we all perused through it before the guy decided to begin. There was also a late comer that arrived before the projects were on their way.

The Man With the Goatee

Having a goatee but better grown than mine, wearing a vest and having an exuberance of charismatic energy about him, he surprised me for someone who had only been there for two weeks, maybe a touch longer. To my memory, this was the guy who opened the door for the kitchen a couple of weeks ago and uttered “There you go kind sir”, leaving a lasting impression on his professionalism. It was obvious to me that this guy had probably worked as a salesman or in the telemarketing business before he joined up with HIH because he certainly had that bubbly attitude as well as his courtesy.

Looking around the room at all the new faces to the company, they all looked bland, pale or lacking of position in the company yet. Most of them seemed lost as to where they fit in with the company yet, lacking confidence but plenty of interest. There was only one favorable girl with blonde hair in the room that I thought was good looking but nothing as outstanding as I had seen in other levels and sections prior.

When my selective ogling was complete, the management guy started the ball rolling by playing that ever infamous game of having everyone speak up to the crowd, explaining their background, their positions, that sort of shit. Grateful that Jana didn’t have to start first in which I would anxiously speak second and blow my cover of seeming composed, the guy with the goatee set the benchmark for the rest of our input into the circle of insight.

My Turn to Speak

When it was my turn to speak and starting a touch late to gather my composure I uttered “Hi, my name is Tony, I’ve been with the company for about three months now and I come from an accounts and word processing background”. Sounding vigilant in my voice, I was at that point in tone where I sounded as if I was in and out of discomfiture. Nevertheless, as soon as that hurdle was out of the way we went through the pages in front of us where nothing really caught my attention that hadn’t been shown to me prior.

The only thing that gained interest upon me was the fact that only claims is involved in the incentive scheme which means that we don’t get a part of that eight million dollars to which comes from commutation files that the legal department settles the price. Being in legal is a scam from not having those desired incentives but I guess like everyone else who has been in legal for years, I am just waiting for reform.

The other interesting factor was that we don’t only receive eight days of sick pay but we also receive personal time off days. Having this explained to me and Jana at the end of the day when everyone had left, we could take one of these days if we had to stay home for some reason. An example would have been to take care of children if there was a school strike and for me it would have measured more along the lines of looking after my mum or needing a personal day off to do a horde of shopping and banking.

Whence the little preview was concluded and half an hour into our little chat, the guy told us he had to leave to start upon an important file within his room. “I’ll leave you in the trusted hands of my colleague” he exclaimed as he made a crack about the movie we were about to watch and to look out for him as he had more hair back then.

Lights Down for the Video

Upon his egression everyone on the far side of the long table where Jana and I were sitting were asked to move to the sides so that we could watch the movie. With the flick of a button shutters slowly started to close as if a slowly blinking eye was about to nod off to sleep. With each inch the light dimmed in the room and coming almost out of nowhere was a large screen to which a camera was going to project its image.

Understanding why we had to move as we were in direct view of the screen, I watched what seemed to be a nicely furbished cupboard swing open to show an intense video player and a touch of a sound system inside. Sitting back to watch this movie in the dimmed room, I had the blonde haired management lady sitting next to me but being her professional self, kept her eyes on the screen all that time.

Glancing slightly around the room once or twice I noticed that everyone was on the brink of falling asleep just as much as myself. The movie lasted for twenty minutes which didn’t really show much but the inauguration of the business and how we got our present name. There was a point where I closed my eyes for one or two seconds but as the blonde lady jumped up ready to turn off the video, my eyes had widened open with expectation of a brighter room.

Rubbing our eyes in relief, Jana expressed how she was about to fall asleep, much to the murmur of the room. That basically was the all of the meeting as the blonde lady informed us we had run out of time and the other group had to join her soon. Feeling no need for apologies, as everyone walked out and I was gathering my papers, Jana sat back and asked that question about the personal days off.

This also gave me an opportunity to redeem myself and express my opinions in a way that would have taken the deceiving display admitted when we done the rounds of salutation. Heading back down to level two, I done some more filing for the rest of the day, content with the fact that Najla had completed all the mail. When the day had come to an end, I walked out alone, pleased to be heading to the train station on that, my Wednesday afternoon recovering from the effects of a lifeless Tuesday.