Monica Raymond traversed the bustling city street, making her way to EnerG Tower. She was EnerG's CEO, and took great pride in the company, which specialized in energy drinks. She entered the building and greeted the receptionist. "Good morning, Kathy!" she beamed. "Good morning, Mrs. Raymond." the receptionist replied.
Monica got in the elevator and went to the top floor, where her office and her employees worked. Once she reached the top floor, she was greeted by her assistant, Todd. "Good morning, Mrs. Raymond. I hope you slept well." he said, hurrying behind her. "Indeed I did." she replied. "By the way, congrats on the anniversary tonight! What's it been, like ten years?" he asked.
"Ten best years of my life." Monica responded, brushing her auburn hair back. "So do you and Andy have any special plans for tonight?" Todd asked. "Well, we're going out to dinner, to the restaurant that he took me on our first date, and then I'm sure that will lead to a little somethin' somethin'..." she said, winking to Todd.
Todd frowned at this remark. "Right. I guess one of the upsides to being infertile is that you don't have to hire a babysitter, right?" he joked. "I guess so. You know, I always wanted to be a mother, but I gotta admit it's fun not being on the pill and being able to only be responsible for yourself. And I don't even know if I'd want to get pregnant now. I mean, getting big and fat? Stretchmarks? Yuck, am I right?" she said.
"Yep. I mean, it's not like I'd ever get pregnant. Cause, ya know, I'm a guy." Todd said. "Wait, aren't you gay?" she asked. "Yeah, but I can't get pregnant just because I'm gay. You do know that, right?" he asked. "What? Yeah, uh, of course. Duh. What do I look like, a friggin' idiot or something?" she asked, sitting down at her desk. Guess I can't believe everything I see on Facebook these days. she thought.
"Of course not, Monica. So just to let you know, you have a meeting in half an hour." Todd said. "Great! Thanks for letting me know." Monica said, as a female coworker walked in. "Hello, Mrs. Raymond. I was working on two new flavors for EnerG and I was going to decide on one. Which one do you think we should go through with? Fruit punch or chocolate?" she asked.
Monica looked her over. The employee's name was Jodie, and she just became a full-time employee after being a temp. She had just graduated college a few years ago, and was known as the office ditz, often dumbfounding the rest of the office with her thoughts. "Oh, fruit punch, definitely. What was the other flavor? Chocolate? That sounds disgusting! Nobody would drink that!" Monica said. "Sorry! I just had chocolate milk and it tasted good." she noted.
With that, Monica walked to the conference room, and was greeted by a handful of the more valuable employees. This included Charles, a balding middle-aged man, Tiffany, a woman in her early 60s, Danny, a man Monica's age, and Penny, Danny's wife. After conversing with one another for a few minutes, they began their conference all with EnerG's stockholders, which was done over the phone.
"So, Mrs. Raymond, we're sorry to say this, but the numbers have been steadily decreasing over the past few months." said one stockholder. "Well, we're in a bit of a rut, I'll admit, but we're confident that we can and will bounce back." Monica said reassuringly. "Mrs. Raymond, empty promises mean little to us at this point. If we don't see positive changes, and fast, we'll force you out of the company." said the stockholder.
Monica gulped. "Well, do you have any suggestions on how we can improve?" she asked. "Most of the energy drink market is riddled with the same old flavors. It would be beneficial to add new, exciting flavors to the market, like chocolate, for instance." the stockholder said. Damn it, Jodie was right. she thought.
"Alright, well thanks for letting us know how you feel." said Monica. "No problem. We'll talk in a couple of days, and hopefully by then you've turned things around." said the stockholder. The meeting concluded, and they left the conference room, to see a brunette woman she had never seen before, standing next to a couple dozen cans of an energy drink she had never seen before.
"What's the meaning of this?" Monica asked. "Hi! I'm here to promote the newest product from Yaral Industries called Xpect! And we want you all to try it!" the representative said. "Yaral Industries? Where the hell are you from?" she asked. "Right now, Yaral Industries is located right across the street." she said.
The employees looked out the window, and sure enough there was a tower with Yaral Industries' name on it. "Funny. This is the first time I've seen that building." Monica noted. "Well, we're here to stay! After years doing business in exotic locations such as Canada, we've decided to expand to the wonderful land of America, starting right here in New York City!" she beamed.
"Alrighty then. Thanks for the introduction. So why are you here again?" Monica asked. "We realize that you are now our rivals, but we wanted to show respect by giving you Xpect for free! Try some!" she said, handing it out to everyone in the office.
They all took a sip. Shortly after, they all either bolted to the bathroom or to a trashcan, violently vomiting. When they returned, they found that the representative was gone. "Ugh, they probably made us sick on purpose. Some respect they're showing there..." Monica said, wiping her mouth.
"Well, at least EnerG tastes better than Xpect..." Todd said. "That's right. Small victories, everyone. Small victories." Monica replied.
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