****

Daniel checks on the report with a frown. "Is this what main brunch delivered this week ?" 

His secretary nods "yes sir ! The file came back from the client."

Daniel clicks his tongue "summon the brunch manager."

"Yes sir."

The secretary was about to leave when Daniel stops him "wait, summon one of the old employees first."

"Yes sir."

Daniel looks at the report again. A vein pops in his brain. He already got an idea about the fundamental problems of the main brunch from Oliver's case. But there is neither any evidence nor any official complaint to take action against the branch manager.

But needs to do something about this situation. Daniel was busy in his work  when a knock interrupted him.

He looks at the digital clock in front of him before answering "come in !"

Daniel's secretary walks in with a woman following closely behind "Sir, this is Mrs. Masai from main branch. She handles the submission."

The woman greets Daniel "good afternoon, sir !"

"Sit down." Daniel orders the woman before dismissing his secretary.

The woman looks at Daniel hesitantly "Is anything wrong with my performance, sir ?"

"No ! Mrs... ?"

"Masai !"

"Mrs. Masai, I heard you are an old employee of my Fusion. I hope you will be honest with me as I have some questions I need honest answers."

Mrs. Masai nods a little "ok sir."

"You don't need to fear anyone, Mrs. Masai. I am the CEO here and except me nobody can take your job away. Now tell me ...

How is the working environment in the main branch ? I mean work loads, overtimes and work ethics. How is it ?"

"It's good sir. Very good."

"I need honest answers Mrs. Masai. I know it's not good otherwise I wouldn't have asked you. Tell me about the work loads and overtime ?"

Mrs. Masai gulps "Sir, we don't really do overtime. I mean we don't get paid for overtime but to meet deadlines, sometimes we need to work beyond our office hours."

"How many extra hours ?"

"Three to four hours, mostly. Depends on the deadline."

"Don't you get enough time to finish the project ? One or two weeks ?"

"No sir. We hardly get one week. Most of the time it's three or four days."

Daniel raises his one eyebrow "And nobody ever questions that deadline ?"

"Sir, everybody wants increment. And  it was really easy when Oliv.." Mrs. Masai stops in the middle.

"It was easy when ?" Daniel asks "talk freely. Consider this your feedback. We will improve the work situation depending on your feedback."

"Sir, our former teamlead used to handle so many tasks himself. He used to update the progress report, proofread the PPT and outsource the raw materials himself."

"What about the new one ?"

"Now we do all these ourselves." Mrs. Masai choosed her words carefully.

"And what about your branch manager ?"

"Sir is good. He tries to give us as much time as possible but the clients ..."

Daniel scoffs a little. "You will be shocked to hear Mrs. Masai, Fusion doesn't take clients with less than ten days of deadline. Which means every branch gets minimum seven days to prepare their proposal and submit it to the headquarters."

Mrs. Masai blinks. She almost gasped but controls herself in time.

"Our main branch often submitted the proposals earlier than the deadlines and asked for new clients to work with. We thought our main branch employees are very efficient and fast, but nobody told us about the unpaid overtime."

Mrs. Masai frowns as the realisation hits her. All these rigmarole for nothing ?

Daniel pulls out the report that was submitted by main branch this week and places it in front of Mrs. Masai. "This is your last report. I wouldn't even comment about the proofreading. Even our company name is spelled wrong. But, please take a look at the content.

"The cheapest material with no warranty, the quotation with no practical numbers ?" Daniel lets out a sharp breath. "Thank you for your feedback, Mrs. Masai. Now I know what to do. You may leave."

Mrs. Masai looks at the report in front of her "Sir, should I take it back ?"

"No, I can't risk this proposal again." Daniel mocks. "Your branch will recieve only three new clients for this month. And the deadline of those proposals will be 14 days each. Spead the news to every employee. No need to do extra shifts."

Daniel closes his laptop as Mrs. Masai left with nod. He is frustrated to point of headaches. He rings his secretary in.

"Yes sir ?" The secretary walks in within seconds.

"Call someone and book a hotel." Daniel instructs before heading towards the exit.

****

Oliver looks at his new office desk as he finishes the decoration. First day at work.

Yes, he didn't waste anytime. Yesterday he got the job and within twenty four hours he cleaned his room, washed his clothes, ironed them and cleaned himself up. Ready to start his fresh journey.

He looked around the office once again. Though this company is very small and his salary is almost as same as his old one, yet he is happy to be active again.

He smiles in relief. As it's his first day, he doesn't have any real task to complete. In the first hour he took a tour of the office. Second hour he was introduced to some of his colleagues. Then third hour he was sent for biometric identification and ID card processing.

Then he had his lunch. Now after lunch, almost evening He is settled in his new desk. Oliver never had such a lazy workday in his entire life.

He still remembers his first day at Fusion. He was assigned to outsource tree files with 200 entries each. A faint smile appears on Oliver's face remembering the old days. Even though he never loved his old workplace, yet the "what if" questions are making him upset.

"Oliver, all set ?"

Oliver stands up suddenly "oh yes mam ! All set."

The woman, his direct supervisor looks young. Oliver doesn't know if she is younger than him or not. He hopes not.

"Do you like your new office ?"

"Yes mam !"

"Ok then enjoy your first day. You don't need to do anything today. We will start tomorrow."

Oliver was about to nod when he noticed the file in her hands. He frowns "Mam, I can start today too. Is there anything I can do ?"

The woman smiles hesitantly "actually I can use a little help but you are new today. So I am not sure if you can do it or not."

"I can do it. What is it ?" Oliver reassures.

"Actually I need to send a confidential file to our boss urgently. But I have deadlines to attend. I need someone to deliver this file."

Oliver smiles. That's an easy task. "I will send it to the boss. Where is the headquarters?"

The woman smiles in satisfaction "Thank you Oliver. Then I will leave this file to you and send you the location. You can take one of the company cars and after you deliver it, you can go home straight. No need to report back to the office."

Oliver nods. "Ok mam !"

Oliver walks out of the office in happiness. So far so good. He check his Messenger for the address.

Hotel Daffodils ! Oliver stops in his steps. He dials back to his office.

"Hello Oliver !"

"Mam, this is not headquarters. This is a hotel location."

"I know Oliver. It's almost evening. Boss isn't in headquarters."

Oliver frowns "Boss lives in hotel ?"

"Don't be stupid Oliver, our Boss lives in states. He visits capital occasionally. So when he visits, he lives in Daffodils."

"But Mam, this is ... "

"Oliver please do it for me. If I had time, I would do it myself. But the deadlines.. "

"But Mam, I am new and I don't know the boss."

"Don't worry, you just go to the reception and show them your ID. They will guide you."

"O..ok !" Oliver lets out a sigh. First day at work. He can't possibly say no just because he had a bad experience previous time. He decided to take one of the hotel staffs with him when he reaches the hotel.

He enters the company car with the file and shares the location with the driver "Hotel Daffodils !" 

Vote & subscribe ❤️