Monday August 27th, 2012

The exercise:

Let's get the week started with: the replacement.

It's been a very long day and I am quite ready for bed.

So that's where I'm headed.

Mine:

Kelly's right hand was halfway to the phone on his desk when the girl from the temp agency finally showed up in his doorway. He adjusted its course so that it instead arrived on a report he had been ignoring for the last week, which he then shifted to the opposite side of his desk.

"You're late." A quick look at the time would have informed him that leaving late unmodified was a generous decision. Appropriate choices included: very, extremely, and monstrously.

"Sorry sir, the first three buses were completely full so I had to wait at the stop for -"

"And now, instead of getting right to work, you're choosing to waste even more time by offering up an utterly worthless tale." Kelly removed his glasses and inspected them for a moment, looking for smudges. "How about we don't bother with that, hmm?"

"Yes, of course. Sorry sir."

"That's twice now you've called me sir. The woman you're replacing for the rest of the day would rather eat a large box of staples than call me that." Kelly returned his glasses to their perch upon his Roman nose and offered a thin smile. "There might be some hope for you after all."

2 comments:

Greg said...

Heh, monstrously late sounds good! Kelly seems to have taken lessons from Henri at some point, which is rather pleasant to see. I do feel a little bit sorry for the girl though....

The replacement
Square pegs in round holes,
Staff who score own goals,
The boss is tired,
He's grown complacent,
Head Office send
His replacement.

The cubicles are quiet and bleak,
Twenty fired in her first week,
But all the work is getting done,
She can show she's surely won,
Until the staff just up and leave,
An exodus she can't believe.

Marc said...

Greg - yeah, I was thinking at one point that perhaps I should have just turned Kelly into Henri. A long lost brother, perhaps?

Ah, a poetic, somewhat tragic story. 'Exodus' is a great word choice.