Demoted and... Chapter 3

3) Sales call

"Timmy, can you come in my office, please." Carrie squawked through my speakerphone. I should have never shown her how to use the phone system. I went around the glass and into her office.

"Take a note, please." She instructed. I sat down in one of the chairs across from her desk. "Cross your legs. No one wants to see up your skirt." She said. I sighed and crossed my legs, placing a legal pad on my lap. "At the knees." She said, raising her eyebrows showing that she did not expect to have to give me such detailed instructions.

"First thing tomorrow morning, we need someone to make a sales call to ComFreight in Leuton. Tomorrow at four we're going to have a companywide meeting to make clear the new power structure. Sometime next week I'd like someone to make a pitch to AGC - I think we can increase the durability, and the useful life, of their bowling pins by 40%. Joe is working on a prototype right now. Check on his progress and set up an appointment with them to coincide with when he'll be done." Good lord, she was taking this seriously. I hadn't pursued new customers in nearly a year. Between bulletproof glass offerings and our defense contract, we weren't hurting for revenue.

"Add these to the public calendar, CC me on the email to everyone about the meeting, and let me know when you set up an appointment with AGC." She said as I scribbled down her instructions. "You're dismissed." She said, waving me off to complete my tasks.

It was almost five o'clock on Thursday and half of the staff had already left. I emailed Gary to ask for a sales guy to make a call to ComFreight, the managers list to have them notify their subordinates about the team meeting, and Joe to inquire about this new project. Despite being the proxy between Carrie and the rest of the company, I felt out of the loop. It was a pretty common feeling now as things kept happening beyond my control. At a quarter after five, I grabbed the keys to the Honda and made my way to the parking lot. I hurried to my car to escape the cat calls coming from near the loading dock. I wanted desperately to stop at the bar on my way home but I couldn't go in there looking like this. I wasn't looking forward to going home, but what choice did I have?