The one-hour presentation provided by Franca and Alessandra was nothing but a primer. It was crazy how much training and preparation was put into place for this project. Franca and Alessandra had been rehearsing and training themselves for a month.

I watched and overheard Franca on a few occasions when she was training. It was actually pretty brilliant about how she did it. She took out flash cards and wrote down what she thought would be the common questions, then fired back potent and easily-understandable answers. It was both concise and creative.

Despite all the many hours and weeks of training, everything would come down to just fifteen minutes. We secured that presentation window to begin at 2:30 p.m. Honestly, I think we were invited to the conference because the project for the hotel would be big.

In fact, it would be our biggest project yet. The revenue from just this one project would end up being six figures – perhaps even several six figures. Naturally, that would depend on what our customers wanted, and what we had the capability to deliver.

In general, business picked up for us and the office stayed pretty busy. The phone seemed to be ringing off the hook. Not surprisingly, there were some time-wasters that I had to deal with. We had our share of potential clients who wanted us to take on projects at prices so low we wouldn’t be making a profit. Then, we had people who couldn’t make up their minds about what they wanted. Stuff like that had saturated my time and overloaded me.

That was only part of what I did, though. I was often a ‘sound board’ for what to do on projects. Here’s the funny part about this big hotel deal – it just ended up falling on my desk by fluke luck. All I did was send out a general solicitation email, and we got a response. One thing led to another, and here we are.

One of the annoying things that ended up in my ledger, was to do photo editing and make draft presentations. Sometimes I want to lose my mind because Franca and Alessandra would change theirs after I spent an hour putting a presentation together.

The real aggravation for me, was how and why they changed their minds. I would get done drafting a presentation, and Franca would walk in the room, look at it, and offer a lukewarm response. She would say things like: “This looks good, but we need to change the appearance of what we can offer them.”

So, naturally, I would obey her wishes (she is my boss, after all) and change the design. Alessandra would then look it over and give her spiel. “I like how you did this part, but we need to focus less on appearance, and more on price.”

I would then explain that Franca told me to draft the opposite approach, and she promised to have a meeting with Franca to discuss it. I don’t think the meetings ever took place, because the contradictory feedback and advice continued to spread like the Black Plague.

At least the photo editing was easy. It was just a matter of making some mouse clicks, cropping, and adding some special effects to make the photos look sharp. I didn’t have to take the pictures at all. I just had to process them and make them look great. In turn, it made our business look great.

The work schedule wasn’t too bad, either. If I needed to get up and leave my desk to take a break, nobody ever complained. Besides, it’s not like I would leave for hours and stick them with my leftover tasks.

Other times, I would do something like play a nerdy game of solitaire on my computer. It was boring, but it relaxed the brain a little bit. Sometimes, it would give me a distraction from my tough coworkers. That was nice, too.

I think the best thing I like about my job, is that I can go home at the end of the day and totally disconnect. My work would be done until tomorrow. I wouldn’t get emergency phone calls from my employer, or anything dramatic. They would let me go home, and I could chill out and relax.

Not only is my emotional health important to me, but my physical health is a top priority. On that note, I pulled out my cellphone and looked at it. It was 11 a.m. and I decided to take my normal early lunch break.

Out of courtesy to Franca, I called her extension to let her know that I would be out of the office. That was yet another thing I learned to do. On one occasion, she couldn’t figure out where I was and got really upset that I didn’t mention to her that I had left.

I picked up my Cisco desk phone and dialed her extension. The phone rang five times, and went to voicemail. The ‘no answer’ became a routine that seemed to always happen. Apparently, it was wrong for me to take off without notice, but it was okay for her to do that whenever she wanted.

“Franca, I just wanted to let you know that it’s 11 a.m. and I’m going to be taking an early lunch. I’ll make sure I have my cell if you need to call” I said before I clicked the phone back into the holster.

I grabbed my LL Bean jacket and softly closed the office door behind me. When I was walking out of the office/warehouse, I saw some loose leaves flying around.

It reminded me of my childhood. When I was a girl, my parents had a property that had several oak trees on it. Now, oak trees are beautiful, but they are a real bitch in the autumn. I guess it was okay because I was able to stay active, and help my dad rake the leaves, but it got old after a while.

I started the car, and zoomed off. Maybe next time I’ll buy a Mercury Grand Marquis. It’s an ‘old person car’, but I still love it. James’ car had tons of room, leather seats, and was clean. Admittedly, mine almost certainly wouldn’t be as clean, but it would be comfortable and fun.

After about ten minutes, I arrived at one of my favorite places – Whole Foods. I’m a vegetarian, too. I have a hard time eating animals that were killed for the purpose of feeding me. Besides, a vegetarian diet is usually healthier – as long as the carbs are avoided.

I walked to the front of the store and the large, glass door zoomed open. When I walked in, I got the normal whiff that made everything smell delicious. What I really love is that the aroma would change depending on where a person went – but it always smelled delicious.

I walked down over to the sandwich refrigerator and found a simple, tasty lunch that would work for me – a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I knew from past research that the natural, honey roasted peanuts over a blotch of smooth jelly would be a great treat.

I paid for my sandwich and left. I got in the car and went back to work. I did the usual and let myself in, sat at my desk, and began to eat my sandwich. Okay, I was going to have a few carbs, but I’m not fat, so who cares?

I had one missed call. I clicked a few keys on my desk phone and went to the message. It was one I’ve had before, from a long-winded guy who just didn’t know how to shut up and move on.

Hi Maya, this is Alan Stevens from the city clerk’s office. I’m calling to follow up regarding the expired business license for your company. I grew up in a family who had a small business, and I know how difficult it can be to make ends meet. If you need assistance, I can refer you, as well. I’m willing to give you guys grace and not charge any delinquency fees if you renew your license by this Friday. Otherwise, I will be forced to add a fee of $45. I would like to make sure that…

I don’t know what else he said because I entered Franca’s extension to forward the voicemail, and hung up the phone. On the one hand, I know that Franca was busy and probably forgot to renew it. She has always been on top of her game, but a human being can only take so much activity.

I plopped onto my black desk chair and leaned back in my seat for a moment. I snapped open the plastic sandwich container and grasped my sandwich. I always found it ironic that the store that always insisted on the natural and organic, would package everything in plastic. Apparently, using things like pesticides is wrong, but polluting the Earth with plastic is okay. Odd, indeed.

I took a small bite of my sandwich and hummed in approval. “Mm. That’s good” I quietly said to myself as I chomped.

I pulled out my iPhone with my free hand, and started looking at some memes. I snickered a bit because some of them were funny. For some reason, people get much more bold and open when they are writing something behind a computer screen. It’s probably because it is easier for them to avoid dealing with reality.

Less than thirty seconds later, a blushed Franca came into the room. My heart rate shot up, because I knew that face. She only had that look (and that color) when she was really anxious or pissed about something. She’s not the type of person who keeps those feelings to herself – not by a longshot.

I didn’t say anything and I just drew my eyes to her. “Where the hell is Alessandra? I don’t know where she is. I keep calling her phone, but my calls just go to voicemail!” she blurted in anger and looked right at me.

I didn’t know where she was, either. It wasn’t my job to look after her. “I don’t know. Sometimes we get lunch over at Whole Foods together, but I haven’t seen her in a few hours.”

She slightly bowed down her head and grasped her forehead with her two fingers. She sighed deeply and waved her hand at me. “Just tell me if you hear from her, okay? If she blows our opportunity to get the biggest job ever, she’s in deep trouble.”

Franca is one of those people who means what she says, and says what she means. I wouldn’t want to mess with her. I just hoped that Alessandra was safe. Even though we argued and had tension, I didn’t want harm to fall her way. “I just hope she’s okay, but I’ll tell you immediately if I hear from her.”