Winter Calling by Lynn Galli

Author:Lynn Galli [Galli, Lynn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penikila Press
Published: 2017-12-19T23:00:00+00:00

13 | TRU

RUMBLINGS SOUNDED THROUGHOUT THE

office. Not that they weren’t commonplace, but today, they were louder and interspersed with several adjectives for the word “cold.” I tuned them out. They didn’t know Renske like I did. Not that I knew a lot about her, other than she’s considerate and giving, thoughtful and appreciative, reserved and unpretentious. She was in no way cold, yet with her gender, her aloof manner would always be classified as frigid. Presidential elections have been lost on those kinds of false presumptions.

“Winners, us, loser, Frozen.”

“Take that, Bitter.”

“Screw the Scrooge.”

“Would have liked to be in that meeting with Aiden and Icebox.”

“Do you think Snowy melts in defeat?”

“Guys!” I raised my voice for the first time in ever at work. Every head turned to me, shocked. “Please stop talking about a coworker that way. It’s inappropriate and unkind.” Lots of brows raised, but they ceased the insults. “Now, what exactly have we won?”

“The Christmas party is back on. Aiden told his blabbermouth assistant, so everyone knows.”

Everyone except me, probably because I’d gotten here early and dove into the performance reviews for the HQ staff and hadn’t come up for a breather all day. “And this has to do with Renske, how?”

“She canceled it.”

“Because she’s a Grinch.”

“An icy, subzero Grinch.”

“Stop! I’m not kidding,” I repeated. Why couldn’t they see what a hard worker Renske was? Or how much she cared for the future of their jobs? That every restrictive move she put in place meant they’d get their paychecks on time? “She wouldn’t have the power to cancel it. If she made the recommendation, it would have been for financial reasons.”

Mina stared open-mouthed at me. “She did cancel it.”

I fought the urge to throw back a school yard, “Did not.” Once Mina’s mind was set, there was no changing it. She used to toss out applicants just because she didn’t like their facial hair or sweater choice or how they laughed. They weren’t potential dates, they were potential employees. Someone’s facial hair or lack thereof wasn’t an indicator for job performance. Mina would set her mind, though, and bad facial hair and ugly sweater and cackle laugh would be out of a job.

“She more than canceled it; she told Aiden if they wanted it, they’d have to pay for it themselves,” one of the hospitality supervisors spoke up.

“That’s not canceling it, then, is it?” I retorted. “As I said, if she told Gus to pay for it personally, she believes the company can’t afford it.”

“She’s obviously wrong if it’s back on.”

“Or Gus and Aiden ignored her recommendation.” And were spending recklessly like they did last year when they forced me to send out an all-staff memo postponing payroll until the opening week’s revenues came in.

“What is up with you and Frozen anyway?” Mina barely kept her voice down as everyone else started to settle back into work. “Someone said they saw you talking to her in town the other day.”

Oh, the marvels of small towns and their amazingly claustrophobic qualities.

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