The Taming of the Shrew

Chapter 4

4
Miriam heard the laughter and muffled talking from behind the door, and despite her best efforts at keeping her temper, her lips began to thin in annoyance.  ‘Of course I couldn’t expect Wanda, my supposed ‘right hand’, to remain loyal,’ she thought angrily, ‘especially if it involved a particularly hot guy.’  She threw down the documents that she was attempting to read just as Dexter was entering. 
“And how was your tour?  I trust Wanda showed you all our little sub-departments?” she asked, fixing a pleasant expression onto her face.
“Wanda was most welcoming, thank you,” he replied pointedly.  “She was kind to even show me the water cooler.”  ‘Why wouldn’t she?’ Miriam thought, but managed to keep it between her teeth.
“Ah yes, the water cooler, where they all converge,” she said coolly, busying herself sorting through some papers.
“You can learn a lot from a water cooler,” he replied, seating himself behind her desk.  She became flustered at his close proximity to her.
“You must have me mistaken with our Human Resource VP,” she retorted rather sharply.  “This is the Finance department.  I deal with the money, not the people.”
“I see you must get along quite well with your staff.”  He stretched his legs and made himself more comfortable into the chair.  “Am I to assume that this will indicate how well we will interact in the future?”  She fidgeted irritably at his remark.  It wasn’t the first time she had been told to improve communications between herself and her staff.
“Listen here Mr. Barnabas,” she began, talking behind almost clenched teeth, “my department deals with results.  Its results have been outstanding.  There have been no complaints on that score.  Anything else belongs to a different department, not mine.”
“Is it true that you’ve had perfect performance reviews ever since you’ve been the Assistant VP?” he asked.
“Yes, though I do not understand what that has to do with anything,” she answered.
“What percentage of your review rests within the performance of your own staff?” he countered.  Miriam opened her mouth to retort, but stopped.  She had never considered that before.  Dexter saw his opportunity at her sudden speechlessness.
“You should also consider their level of self motivation.  You haven’t actually been a model of employee inspiration and yet you manage to score such high marks on your performance reviews.  What does that say about your staff?  What does it really say about you?”
Miriam remained motionless as her brain processed all that he said.  If somehow what he said was true, then she had no real impact on the Finance department.  In other words, she realized with a sudden horrific shudder, without her, it would run with the same level of efficiency and timeliness that was attributed to her.  Suddenly, she felt quite ordinary, and she hated it.  It made her feel insignificant, and if there was one thing other than foolish that she hated feeling, it was insignificance.  Miriam suddenly felt her eyes begin to burn, a telltale sign that she was about to tear up.  Excusing herself, she fled the office, leaving Dexter feeling quite confused and concerned.  She rushed down the hall and barged into the women’s’ washroom in quite an unladylike manner.  She locked herself into a stall, tore some tissue quite viciously and pressed them firmly to her eyes.  She held it there till the feeling to weep had passed, then disposed the tissue in the bowl before flushing.  Upon exiting the stall, she met some ladies who were powdering their faces and talking.  As they recognized her, the talking went down to a lull.  ‘Interact with my staff you say,’ she thought.  ‘Well I’ll show him.’  She smiled at them as she washed her hands.  Their expression in response was surprise; one even looked quite apprehensive.  ‘Ah well, at least I tried,’ she thought wryly as she dried her hands and exited.

Dexter looked quite relieved as she re-entered the office.  He stood up.
“It was never my intention to upset you,” he said, “but you had a right to know.”  She nodded.
“Maybe I did deserve to be told in that manner, especially considering the way I’ve treated you so far,” she admitted.
“Well I’m ready to overlook that if you are,” he said with a quick smile.  “Now if we could agree on which area I am to work in, I guess we could get started today.”
“You mean you’re to share my office space?” she asked, horrified.
He looked up, “I assume so, since we’re going to be working closely together.  I hope you don’t mind.”
Of course she minded!  “Excuse me again,” she said hurriedly, “I, er, have to go do something.  I’ll be right back.”  She exited the office again, this time making a beeline for the VP’s office.  ‘Donnie better have a good excuse for this,’ she thought grimly as she walked.