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INFORMATION FLOW An Office in Disarray A Fiction Story By Joe Cappello [email protected]

©Joe Cappello--2009

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It was Friday, bagel day, and Lisa Connelly was first to reach into the brown paper bag, still warm from the contents inside. She grabbed a plain one near the top, cut it in half and buttered it. She picked up one of the halves and brought it seductively to her lips. She tasted it with her eyes, her tongue, the sides of her cheek. What sweetness, what utter deliciousness, as the crunchy outer layer cracked between her teeth and mushed into the soft center forming a sumptuous mixture of flavors seasoned with a buttery sweetness. She closed her eyes for a second and drifted away, satiated, content, if only for this moment. Friday, bagels, the weekend, a sequence of events she longed for in the endless cycle of working days. The voices of her colleagues interrupted her rapture as she poured herself a cup of coffee. “Here’s how it should go: the limo should pick me up first. Then Stella, then Lisa…” That was Roger Porter speaking, more enthused than anyone had ever seen him on the phone with a customer. He wore a perpetual grin that caused his face to break out in red spots as he periodically pushed the side of his wire-rimmed glasses further up his nose with the knuckle of his right index finger. He was doing a lot of both as he reached in the bag for a raisin bagel. “No way,” said Lisa, her voice raspy from the hot mixture she generously poured down her throat. “The driver picks me up first, then we head straight for Atlantic City. To hell with the rest of you.” “What about my cat?” Stella Benson squinted, her nose widening as she bit off a piece of bagel. “I have to feed him before we leave.”

3 “After tonight, you can pay someone one to feed your cat and wipe its behind, if you so choose.” Roger grinned again as he gave his glasses another heave. “When‘s it coming to my house?” Leo Loopey, who was hard of hearing and wore thick framed glasses, strained his ears as well as his eyes to follow the conversation. “It’s not coming for you, Leo,” Roger crooned in a singsong voice. “Stop it,” scolded Stella, her silver hair brushing her stooped shoulders. “Of course it’s coming for you, Leo.” She patted her pudgy co-worker on the shoulder who, having not heard a word she said, wondered why she was touching him. Everyone laughed then grew silent as they chewed on their bagels and actually considered the possibility of what could happen to them all that very night. Kelly Contrera cruised through the rear door of the office as she did every morning, her thin frame tall like the mast of a sailing ship coming into port. She didn’t bother to stop and call the sitter to see if her four-year-old daughter was all right. Instead, she set her sights on the kitchen area where she could see her customer service people gathering over bagels and morning coffee. There they are, she thought, congregating again, b s’ing, starting early to make work the furthest things from their minds, go ahead, have your bagels…she thought…. Kelly stopped at the table raising her bony fingers as though she were trying to pick up her crew’s thoughts on some untuned radio frequency. “What’s going on here?” she asked in a pleasant but demanding tone. “Oh, nothing,” Stella suppressed a laugh her jowls filling with chewed bagel.

4 “Well, the 200 Million lottery is tonight and we bought tickets, you know. As a group. We’re just planning what we’re going to do when we win.” Lisa raised her eyes and chomped down on a couple of inches of bagel. “That’s right,” Roger said. “We’re gonna’ hire a limo and head out to Atlantic City. You may be short four customer service people tomorrow.” Kelly looked at the four cubicles that lined the wall like opened coffins waiting for the dead to return to them. “Well, since the drawing is several hours away and you haven’t won a damn thing and it happens to be 8:30, I suggest you go to your cubicles and get to work. And if any body doesn’t show up tomorrow, he or she will be docked a day’s pay.” The party was over as everyone juggled napkins, coffee mugs and bagels in two hands and made off for their cubicles. Lisa turned to Stella who was right behind her. “The limo’s definitely not picking her up.” “Excuse me?” demanded Kelly. “Nothing, nothing.” Bubba Starr was winded by the time he reached Kelly’s office. A round man with a puffy face and skin the color of sawdust, you could always tell how busy they were in shipping by how hard Bubba exerted himself coming up the back stairs to Customer Service. He now stood in Kelly’s office his thin strands of blond hair unsure as to how they should rearrange themselves on his big bubble of a head. “I’m busy, but we have to talk.” Bubba stood in the doorway, leaning on his elbow, a sheet of paper in his hand. “Yes, Bubba.” He was forcing his way into Kelly’s

5 workspace as he did on so many other occasions and, reluctantly, she yielded to the snowman blocking her door. “What’s up?” she said, turning away from the computer and looking at him. “It’s these damned customers, Kelly.” He waved the paper in his hand up and down, causing it to make a crackling sound. “They’re supposed to get faxed a packing slip after we send their shipment. Now, we don’t mind helping you out downstairs…” Kelly felt a sudden flash inside. This contrasted with a certain softness her appearance projected, particularly with the men from the plant. The customer service people who worked for her say she cultivated the illusion of vulnerability to dupe those who would challenge her into holding back for fear she might break. That’s when she would respond as coolly and decisively as someone twice her size. She gripped her pen in her fist as she moved it around at waist level.” You’re not helping us out, you’re doing your job.” “Well, that’s just it,” Bubba said, rubbing his hip on the doorframe, “this shouldn’t be our job. Faxing customers should be done by customer service.” Kelly drew a deep breath, her gray eyes ready to engage in a battle reserved for a body much broader than her’s . “Customer notification of shipments should be done by shipping…like advanced shipping notices and bar code labels…it’s all your stuff, Bubba.” Bubba smiled as he shook his head. “Look. I’m not here to argue. I’m here to tell you we can’t do this any more…. “You mean, won’t..” Kelly frowned and looked back at the computer avoiding eye contact with Bubba.

6 “…can’t…can’t and you’re gonna’ have to step up.” Kelly folded her arms. Why did she always have the feeling she lost these battles, despite her best efforts to stand up to the big guy? Bubba always managed to get his way, to find a way to convert his pounds into sheer advantage so that there was no point going against him. She looked outside her door to the table where Lisa and Stella were examining lunch menus. She checked the clock then her watch. 9:30a.m. She shook her head then turned back to Bubba. “I can’t give you an answer now, Bubba. I’ll have to check with my boss.” “Fine when will that be?” Again, the imposition, grabbing the back of her chair and leaning in to her, taking up the space near her, beads of sweat collecting in the folds of his face where he now forced a smile, making her even more uncomfortable. “The end of the day.” She looked back at her computer screen as the snowman melted away. After the 10 o’clock break, Kelly made her rounds to check on her troops. She found the four of them around the kitchen counter staring at something lying on a piece of tin foil. “What is it?” Lisa looked at the mound of edible substance analytically. “Don’t exactly know,” Stella said as she angled to get a closer look. “Someone said Doris from accounting brought it in.” “Well, can we eat it…even if we don’t know what it is?” Roger asked. Kelly confronted the group. “What the hell’s going on here?” Leo didn’t speak, but only pointed at the shiny foil. “I need a better explanation.”

7 “Look, Kelly, no big thing,” Lisa explained. “Doris brought this in and…” “And you wanted to taste it. Even though you have no idea what the hell it is and you should all be at your desks working.” Stella had already snagged a piece while everyone was occupied with Kelly. She pushed the glob to one side of her face until it swelled into a bulge on her left cheek. “It’s meat, some kind of meat…very tasty meat, I might add.” Kelly was the cue ball that scattered the group back to their cubicles. She shook her head in amazement. Roger waited for her to disappear down the hallway before making a phone call. “Hello, Emily? Roger Porter calling. Look, any news yet? Ya’ think…?” I was hoping I’d have at least one interview by now. Fine. I’ll try to be patient.” Kelly had returned with some news from engineering that made her simmer. She walked directly to Lisa’s cubicle. It was like entering another world. Four pictures hung in a perfect diamond configuration, a sunrise, a sunset, an ocean view and a night sky filled with stars. There was only one piece of paper on her desk, which she was reading closely when Kelly entered. “You’re supposed to have finished the Meyer quote. Where the hell is it?” Lisa looked up her eyes moist as she tried to control her anger. “I told you and Joe that I need more time.” “That was last week. How much more time? Meyer was on the phone with Joe, now he wants to know why we can’t move a simple quote…” “It’s not a simple quote, Kelly.” She felt her voice rising.

8 “It is if the customer can go to our competition and get it a hell of a lot faster from them than from us. And that’s exactly what he’s done.” Kelly paused as she looked directly at Lisa. She could see the rage there beneath the surface searching for some way to come out. She knew enough to stop it there. “Look, I know you’re busy. But if you can get it within the hour, Meyer will give us first shot. Okay? Can you do it?” Lisa looked down again and spoke to the paper. “Yes. I’ll do it. You’ll have it.” Kelly turned and left, shaking her head disgustedly. Lisa opened her desk drawer and removed a college catalog. Roger was pouring a cup of coffee when Stella approached. She spoke softly, not looking at him as she removed a Styrofoam cup from the top cabinet. “Have you heard anything, Roger?” Roger talked low into the steamy cup as he raised it to his lips. “No, but I called again today. Left a message.” “Well, I hope it works out for you. What does Marcy think about it?” “She’s fine with it, she just doesn’t want to move. She doesn’t want to deal with pullin’ the kids out of school.” “I’m sure you’ll find something local.” Stella winked as she poured the coffee in her cup. “I’ve had it with this place. Time to go. There’s no future for me here.” “That’s my phone.” Stella finished stirring the cream and sugar into her coffee, picked up the cup and headed for her cubicle. Kelly rounded the bend behind Stella and

9 caught sight of Roger. Their eyes met as Roger blushed, taking a long sip from his cup as the steam momentarily fogged his glasses. “That’s fine, Joe, bring in your consultant.” Kelly folded her arms and looked away from Joe Snelling, her boss and the Director of Sales and Service. She came to talk to him about Bubba’s faxing issue, but he had other things on his mind. He sat across from her fidgeting with a world geography calendar on his desk. He was several days behind and he kept peeling the daily sheets off slowly, reading about the Parthenon, Stonehenge and other notable landmarks. Kelly was used to his distractions, his sudden change of moods. He looked rumpled, slouching there, his gray hair thin and scraggily on his head, his red pull over shirt gathered around his waist, not quite tucked all the way into his pants. Then as if on cue, he sat straight up and looked directly at Kelly. “Maybe you’re too close to things.” Kelly twirled her pen between her fingers. “We’ve improved, Joe, you said so yourself.” “That’s true, no argument there.” “Then what is it that you want? We’re making progress.” She clutched her pen as she raised her arms along with her voice. Joe narrowed his eyes as he shook his head. “You don’t see, you don’t have a clue.” “About what?” Kelly leaned forward unable to hide her annoyance.

10 Joe went back to his calendar, but he didn‘t pay much attention to it, curling the bottom of today’s date, which showed a stunning photo of Niagara Falls, with his thumb. “Kelly, do you think we can really go on the way we are?” “What do you mean? We’re up this month, we’ve been up every month since the beginning of the year. Why? Do you know something I should know?” Joe stopped fiddling with the calendar and looked at Kelly. He seemed to be searching for the right words. “Yes, we’re up. Today. What about next year, five years from now? That’s your work life here, Carrie’s future.” Kelly stiffened at the mention of her daughter’s name, a natural reaction, a way she sought to protect her child at something that might pose even the remotest threat. That was her way since her husband walked out two years ago. Joe leaned in to her trying to underscore the urgency of his words. “You’ve got to improve, Kelly. Your department out there. Every process. Taking orders…dealing with customers. You’ve got to show me a plan…” Kelly was shaking her head before he got the last few words out. “Plan…what… plan?” She half smiled at her question. “Change, Kelly. A plan for change. For your department, your people.” “Change? With this group? These people whose biggest interest in life is playing the lottery so that they wouldn’t have to come to work anymore?” Joe was about to respond, but Kelly cut him off. “No let me finish. You know what they do after they eat breakfast? Plan lunch. They look for the slightest distraction so they can avoid sitting at their desks. Last week,

11 Roger brought in binoculars so they could all take turns watching couples doing it in cars parked in the lot across the street.” “We even have an employee who is so timid…don’t ask me how he got into customer service, I didn’t hire him…that he’s afraid to speak.” Kelly was sitting at the edge of her chair, a coating of perspiration was forming on her forehead. “He won’t do anything unless you tell him. In fact, I’ll bet he’s standing outside right now. Ten minutes ago, I asked him to bring me the Dancer contract to sign, it’s due today. I told him if your door was closed to knock and come right in. Ten minutes ago. I’ll bet you he’s standing out there right now.” “Don’t be ridiculous, Kelly.” Joe waved her off. She got up and opened the door. Leo was standing outside, the top edge of the contract moist from where he had been ruining it between his lips staring at the door that now stood open before him. “Get in here, Leo. Didn’t I tell you to come right in?” She grabbed the contract from him and signed the last page. “Get this to accounting now Leo…now!” She chased him out of the door. “And don’t stand outside go right in!” She turned back to Joe. “And you want to bring in a consultant to get these people to change?” “Look, all I’m saying is, let’s bring in an outsider. It couldn’t hurt. Let’s see what a fresh pair of eyes can find.” “Fine.” She dropped her arms and sat back in her chair. She gripped the pen more tightly. Joe sat back as well, enjoying the truce Kelly had reluctantly declared. “Look, Kelly. I know you think I’m an asshole.” Kelly was about to protest, but Joe stopped her with his raised hand. “No. look. I remember what it was like. I remember your side of

12 the desk, looking at people like me as though they didn’t have a clue.” He folded his hands in front of him and smiled at her. “It’s not what I planned to do, you know.” Joe brought his arms up behind his head and looked past Kelly as though reflecting on a long thought process that brought him to this decision. “So then why do it? It will only cause bad feelings out there. I have enough problems with them.” Joe fixed his eyes on Kelly and spoke as kindly as he could, given the choice of words that followed. “Because I’m not getting what I want from you, Kelly. If I did, I wouldn’t need an outsider.” Kelly headed directly to Roger’s office, a piece of paper in her hand. As she approached, he abruptly hung up the phone. “Don’t let me interrupt,” she said as she stopped directly in front of his desk. “No problem, no answer.” Roger fixed his glasses once again and stared at Kelly. She wanted to say something, but thought better of it. Instead, she looked at him for a moment trying to understand their relationship and most of all him. All she knew was that he was the funny one, always clowning, making everyone laugh. The joke could be on him, but that was okay. In fact, it was what he wanted. Like taking the pain for the team, so they could score the easy victory. But there were those brief moments, like now, when Kelly could see vulnerability. At those times, he seemed defenseless, unable to cope, not sure of who he was or what he was doing here. This was one of those times and Kelly softened her tone as she spoke to him.

13 “Roger, are you looking for a job?” Rogers face turned splotchy, the red spots blending into the white ones until he looked as though he was having a reaction to something he ate or drank. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Kelly,” he tried to sound indignant but the trembling in his voice betrayed him. “Look, I know. This came for you, from some lady named Kim.” She showed him the faxed page she held in her hand as she read aloud pointing to the text. ‘Give me a call about my order.’ But if you look at the top of the page, you’ll see the fax identifier that says ‘Emily Calder.’ Everybody knows Emily Calder is a head hunter around here.” She placed the page on his desk. “So, you gonna’ fire me?” “Fire you? Yes, maybe. Maybe I should fire the whole lot of you. If you don’t want to be here, they probably don’t want to be here either.” Kelly sat down in the chair opposite Roger. She seemed deflated, the energy suddenly drained from her. Roger’s mind processed words and phrases instantaneously, but he couldn’t put any combination together that would make an intelligent response. His wit so handy in work situations failed him. He looked at her like a wounded animal waiting for the final pounce. Kelly got up and abruptly walked out. Stella googled the internet for “London,” a word she had looked up a thousand times before. The search revealed a long list, hundreds of thousands of hits with the word “London” in a title, phrase or internet address. She glanced down the page and clicked on a link to a tourist site for London. She studied the page carefully as she picked up her phone and dialed a number she found on the screen.

14 “Hello? Is this the London Travel site? Good. I’m on your web page and, well, you could save me a lot of time if you could answer a question for me.” She waited for the response, smiled then nodded. “Good. Tell me, to visit London is it better to fly into Heathrow or Gatwick?” She listened intently to the response. “I see. So, it probably depends on where I’m staying. Well, I’m not sure as yet. Can you advise me of good accommodations near the center of things…you know..close to the Metro and all? How many? Two…uh..oh…” Stella was suddenly over whelmed with embarrassment so much so that she couldn’t speak. She tried to explain to the person on the other end of the phone but she heard her words twist and fracture until they sounded like broken gibberish. Tongue tied, she hung up the phone, slouched back in her chair and put her head in her hands. Kelly was the first at the conference table for the groups daily 10:30a.m. meeting. As everyone filed in and took up their seats around the table she sat looking straight ahead, a boxer concentrating on the upcoming battle. She wasted no time in answering the bell. “I’ve noticed some problems that need to be addressed. I made a list.” She referred to a piece of paper in front of her. “So I’m just going to read from it.” She shifted her weight in the chair and snapped the paper as she held it up in front of her. “First. Work starts at 8:30a.m. That means you are at your desks working by 8:30a.m.

15 “Second. Lunch is at 12p.m. If you need to order, pass the menu around. No more congregating at 9:30a.m. to order. It’s turning into a B S session. “Third. Your phone is for your customers, not your personal business." She looked at Roger than the others. “Keep all such calls to a minimum.” She placed the paper in front of her and looked at everyone for their reactions. Lisa had some notes in front of her about one of her customers who wanted a faxed shipping notice every time an order was shipped. But she decided to keep quiet about it. “Any questions?” Kelly folded her hands on the table and braced herself for what she thought might follow. Leo was confused about the new products that were recently introduced, but he didn’t see this as an appropriate time to talk about it. Stella thought it was taking too long to get faxed orders delivered to her desk, but she didn’t want to risk setting off Kelly. Roger’s attention was focused on a van in the parking lot across the street, rocking back and forth in response to the movements of its two occupants. “They all think I’m an idiot.” Leo‘s eyes darted as he spoke on the phone registering the impulses in his brain like a seismograph depicting a thousand tiny eruptions. “Yes, they do. I’m hesitant, I know it, but I….I…don’t tell me to take it easy… I’m hesitant because I need to take things slowly. And I don’t talk much. I can’t hear all that well. To my supervisor that means I’m dumb. I just..I just..I know what you’re saying…no, I don’t want to throw away all the months of hard work..” Leo put his elbows on his desk and covered his face with his hands, caressing the phone to the right

16 side of his face. “I’m having a hard time, today…I’ll try…I know..one day…that’s all it is …one day.” Lisa dialed MIS and waited for Bill to answer the phone. His “Hello” was more like a plea, a desperate tone hoping you wouldn’t stay on too long or ask him to do too much. It’s not that he wouldn’t help you; he didn’t always have the answer and he was terrified of saying “I don’t know," the dreaded admission of MIS personnel all over the globe. This first moment of contact for Bill was a ride down the steep slope of uncertainty holding on for dear life and praying you didn’t fall off the track. “Hey, Bill, it’s Lisa.” She knew her colleague and the right decibels to strike when speaking to him to relieve him of his terror and make him feel relaxed. “Got a crazy question, from a crazy customer, what else. They want to get a notification of their shipment after it’s sent out. They asked me if I could fax it but, hey, we got computers here, right, Billie boy?” Bill laughed and Lisa could see him turning red at the other end of the phone. “Anyway, instead of faxing it, could we e-mail it? You know, maybe automatically, so we didn’t even have to think about it?” Lisa paused listening to Bill’s answer. She broke out in a big smile as she lifted the receiver half way off her ear. “I thought so Bill. Send it automatically by e-mail. Sure. I’ll get you the name and the e-mail address. So it goes automatically at 6a.m. everyday? Starting tomorrow. Terrific, Billie. I knew you could do it. Thanks.” Bill hung up the phone and sat back in his chair, slightly out of breath, the ride over for now.

17 Lisa , Roger and Leo were having lunch when Kelly stopped at the table looking disturbed. “Where’s Stella?” Lisa parked the food in a corner of her mouth so that she could speak. “I think she went to the post office. She should be right back.” “Well, fine. What I have to say affects you all so you can pass it on to her.” Kelly refered to the paper in her hand. “Look, all of you, this has got to stop. Conducting personal business on company time is out of control. Stella’s booking a vacation for her and her husband, this morning, that’s when this fax came in.” Roger put down his sub sandwich and gave her a curious look. “What do you mean, with her husband? She doesn’t have a husband.” Kelly pointed to the page. “It says so right here…’accommodations for you and your husband in London this coming July 25…’ I’ve seen enough of this and, I’m telling you all, it’s got to stop.” Lisa looked at Roger, then spoke directly to Kelly. “Stella’s husband died five years ago.” Bubba was an extra tight fit in the doorway as he gave that half smile of his to Kelly. She thought of what he must have just eaten for lunch which is why he could hardly fit in the doorway. She pursed her lips to suppress a sudden, irresistible urge to laugh. Bubba got right down to it taking on the air of the academic about to instruct a student eager to drink from the fountain of his knowledge.

18 “I’ve been thinking and I’ve come up with a way to help you, Kelly.” It sounded like a line from a Frank Sinatra song. Kelly sat slouched in her chair watching Bubba attentively. “So here’s what I’ll do for you.” He started pacing again, each step designed to bring her closer to the knowledge he had waiting for her. “I’ll collect the packing slips in the morning after the shipments are made. You can hand them out to your customer service people and they can fax them.” He stopped in front of Kelly, his heels together and his body bent forward at the waist as though he were about to take a bow. Kelly’s thoughts were far away, thinking about her daughter and the story she would read her tonight. Lisa looked at a half completed college application wondering what good an engineering degree would do her here. Leo sat helplessly at his desk rubbing his hands together and looking at the door trying to decide if he should make a break for it and be gone before anyone noticed. Stella added another London web page to her “favorites,” which now contained a folder with over 200 such sites. Roger looked out the window, thinking about a change and if he would actually have the guts to make one. Joe Snelling pulled out a book about management, sighed and placed it back on his shelf. The next morning at 6a.m., a program containing information requested by a certain customer wrote a text document, attached it to an e-mail address and sent it on its way. The fragments of the document poured freely out over the internet striking one another playfully, bouncing from one end of cyberspace to another, connecting to servers and finally the destination computer.

19 The message sat in the in box, its subject in bold letters. A cursor made its way to the entry and the mouse double clicked as the message opened on the monitor coming face to face with the user.