In at the Deep End by Kate Davies

Author:Kate Davies
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780008311360
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2018-11-29T16:00:00+00:00

25. ALL OF THE BAD WORDS

Owen and I were standing by the biscuit cupboard that Monday when Smriti walked up to us, trailed by Tom, who looked even more miserable than usual. ‘Can we have a quick chat?’ she said, motioning to Uzo who was walking slowly back from the kitchen with a peppermint tea. ‘In the meeting room?’

Owen looked as apprehensive as I felt. I’d had several ‘quick chats’ in meeting rooms over the years and nearly all of them had ended in tears (mine). I’d had one with the ballet mistress at the English National Ballet after breaking my ankle and with the physiotherapist who told me I’d never dance en pointe again.

We took our seats in the meeting room. Owen tapped his pen against the table until Uzo said to him, ‘Stop it, eh?’

Smriti steepled her fingers and smiled at us all. ‘I just wanted to let you know that we’re undertaking a strategic review of the unit.’

I looked across at Tom who was slumped in his chair, muttering darkly. I looked at Owen too. He was staring straight down at the table. My heart started hammering. I did care about losing my job, it turned out.

Smriti carried on talking, using all of the bad words – ‘merging’ and ‘restructuring’ and ‘rationalizing’ and ‘fit for purpose’. ‘I want you to know that each and every one of you adds value to the team,’ she said. ‘But there is a possibility that some of you will be redeployed, and there may be some redundancies.’

The word ‘redeployed’ made me think of Eric. I told myself to look on the bright side. There were worse things in the world than being made redundant.

‘It’s going to be OK,’ Owen whispered, when we got back to our desks.

‘How is it going to be OK? She said they were going to keep one Correspondence Officer in the merged team. One! And there are three of us! Uzo’s definitely getting it.’

Owen crouched by my desk. ‘They’ve posted the SEO jobs. Two Senior Account Manager roles in Internal Comms.’

I turned back to my computer and loaded the Civil Service jobs website. The Senior Account Manager jobs were right at the top of the page. ‘We need excellent verbal and written communication skills, and the ability to think creatively.’ I looked at Owen. ‘We might actually be qualified.’

‘Want to go to the pub tonight and work on the application form together?’

My fear of unemployment had taken over my fear of rejection, so I said, ‘OK.’

Uzo wandered over, mug in hand, on the way to the kitchen, and saw what was on my screen. ‘You applying for the Senior Account Manager jobs?’

‘We both are,’ said Owen.

‘Shh,’ I said.

Uzo made a tutting noise. ‘You two are crazy,’ she said. ‘Why would you want to be in charge of things? Do you know how hard you have to work when you’re in charge?’

Owen and I spent two hours going through the application form, ignoring the shouts of the middle-aged men watching football on the other side of the pub.

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