On Sunday morning, the wind died down. The apartment complex grounds were a mess with leaves and broken twigs strewn over wet ground. On my way back from jogging, I saw a huge tree had fallen and blocked the sidewalk around the human-made lake near my apartment. No victims, but one car that was parked on the curb got smashed.
I was about to go around the fallen tree when I heard my phone buzz. I took it out from my running belt. On the screen, I saw a new email notification from Rowena. I groaned. Not again!
Last month, Rowena had requested that Lena and I reroute our office email to our personal email so we could help in our off hours with a project for Mr. Samuel Hamilton III, the owner of Myriad. Desiree told us about the possibility that Mr. Hamilton would establish a partnership with a company somewhere in Europe. It was a “hush-hush” project, and only people in the accounting department knew because we were the group that worked on and processed the financial data. The rest of the departments would be informed later to prevent any negative issues. But the hush-hush project hadn’t even started yet, and Rowena was already taking advantage of our personal time. Almost every Sunday, she emailed us to finish our reconciliation reports so she could review them Monday morning. It made little sense why we couldn’t do that Monday morning and have her review them later in the day, but what Rowena wanted, Rowena got.
I scoffed at her email, inserted my phone back into my running belt, and continued jogging. I had already done most of my tasks, so there were only three left, but they would take half of my precious Sunday to complete. Ugh!
By 12:30 PM, I’d finished the reconciliation reports and submitted them through the Blackline, an accounting-reporting website our company used. I sent a text to Lena.
Are you done with your report?
My phone vibrated when she replied. Tapping on the screen to open the text, I chuckled at the thunder emoji she sent. I wasn’t in the mood for teasing her, so I responded by sending a nodding emoji.
I closed the office notebook and put it back into the computer bag with a sigh. In the last two months, I hadn’t been feeling any excitement about working at Myriad anymore. I still liked my coworkers and enjoyed events like cooking demonstrations or wine tastings. But my manager was unbelievable!
I remembered vividly the day I had interviewed with Rowena ten months ago. I’d been impressed by her easygoing manner and excited to work for her. I’d been even more excited on the first, second, and third days in the office, but the bubble of excitement had deflated slowly on the fourth day. The honeymoon period had ended, and Rowena showed her real personality. She wasn’t easygoing as she’d seemed during the interview. The promise of “will train you until you’ve become an expert” had been forgotten.
“I want to show you only once, so you’d better remember and not make me repeat it,” she’d said in a bossy tone, pointing her forefinger in my face to intimidate me.
After that, I’d felt uncomfortable around her as if she were releasing an unpleasant aura. Rowena was very moody and impatient. My stomach had clenched each time she passed by my cubicle. I hadn’t understood and still didn’t, why she always furrowed her eyebrows at me whenever I went to her for advice. And she’d quickly stopped answering my questions at all, telling me she didn’t remember and “go check the folder where we keep the general ledger’s history or wait for Lena to come back.”
Lena had already gone to Chicago because of a family emergency before my first day and wouldn’t be back for three more weeks, so there was no one to help me. I’d quickly become friends with Sylvia and Yoo-Shi that first week, but they couldn’t help because they were from a different division.
To make matters worse, without any help while adjusting to how things worked at Myriad, I’d been making mistakes. I remembered feeling cold beads of sweat run down my spine each time Rowena emailed me back on one of my reports with “WRONG ACCOUNT” written in the subject line. It had been really hard not to think of her glaring at me from her office, because it was diagonally across from my cubicle and Lena’s, adding to my growing discomfort around the woman.
When Lena had returned to work, a heavy burden seemed lifted from my shoulders. She was super patient. Her golden blonde hair bounced as she nodded in sympathy while reading all the notes from Rowena on my reports. Slowly, she’d taught me to understand the accounting process at Myriad Beverage. After only a couple of hours with Lena, I’d been able to do my job better.
Lena was well-liked by many people at work. When she’d returned from her leave, coworkers stopped by her desk and asked about her family. Rowena had said nothing, only sending sharp glances at her when Lena had a conversation with a lady from the tax department. From my peripheral vision, I’d been able to see her staring at Lena.
Around noon that day, Rowena had called Lena to her office. Through the office’s window, I had been able to see that Rowena’s face was twisted and her lips were puckered as if she were eating something sour. I’d been surprised how Lena had come out of her office calmly, with a smile. I’d been intrigued to learn from her about how to deal with Rowena.
A week later, I’d bumped into Lena in the ladies’ room on the third floor, the top floor of the building, and she was crying. As I’d pushed the restroom’s door open, I saw her standing with her back to me, both hands up to her face, and her shoulders shaking.
Startled, she’d turned around. Her teary eyes had widened and then glared at me.
“Why are you here?” she’d asked, pushing a lock of her long hair out of her face. “Are you spying on me?”
“Of course not,” I’d said, confused. “I like coming up here whenever I need to be alone. Besides, this is the cleanest restroom in this building since this floor is only partially occupied.”
She’d stomped her foot and said, “Don’t you dare tell anyone about this.”
I’d moved aside as she left the room abruptly, her footsteps echoing in the empty hall.
When I’d returned to my cubicle next to hers, Lena had looked fine, but she became quiet and even avoided me. Later, she’d approached me and asked if I’d like to go out for dinner with her. I hadn’t wanted to but was curious about her strange behavior, so I’d gone with her to an open space mall about twenty minutes from our office. We’d ordered our dinners and sat in the outdoor dining area. While we’d waited for our food, Lena poured her heart out on how Rowena had treated her staff and how Desiree knew but didn’t do anything.
“That’s awful!” I hadn’t been able to believe my ears. “Why does Desiree let this happen?”
“You don’t get it, do you?” she’d said with a bitter smile. “Desiree is Rowena’s friend. They used to work together.”
I’d blinked speechless. It had never crossed my mind that Desiree was Rowena’s friend. No wonder they seemed to get along well.
“Another example of how Desiree always gives Rowena what she wants.” Lena had shifted uneasily in her seat. “Have you been in documents storage?”
“Not yet,” I’d said, shaking my head.
“Well, the storage space is dirty and messy, which is why we call it ‘the dungeon.’ Desiree told us that cleaning the storage area needed to be a team effort, so everybody has to put aside time for a cleaning day. Everybody set aside the date, and on that day, we wore casual attire. But then Rowena told Desiree she had a ton of reports to get done and asked permission to stay in the office. I heard their conversation.”
“Did Desiree permit her?” I’d asked.
Lena had rolled her eyes. “Of course!” She’d curled her lips. “Don’t get me wrong. I don’t care if she comes with us or not. But I didn’t like her remark. She said ‘so long, suckers.’ No one heard but me because I was passing her office when she said that. Again, I don’t mind at all, but why did she say that? What a jerk she is!”
“Maybe she was joking?” I’d tried to give Rowena the benefit of the doubt.
Lena had scoffed. “Rowena, joking? You haven’t known her too long, have you?” Her eyebrows had lowered and pinched tighter. “Soon, you will know that she is cunning and a jerk!”
“Did others, like Christine or Sylvia, notice that Rowena got out of cleaning day?” I’d asked.
Lena had given me a half shrug. “Christina looked annoyed when Desiree said Rowena wasn’t joining us. If I’m not wrong, Christina had asked permission to leave early for her son’s award ceremony that day, and Desiree had told her no. Sylvia and Yoo-Shi…well, they are neutral with Rowena. But I know Sylvia has a beef with Desiree because when the non-alcohol division was established almost two years ago, Desiree initially offered Sylvia a position as an accounting manager. But then instead, she gave the position to Rowena.”
Lena had taken a deep breath and looked at me. “I’m sorry to tell you all these things. You must think I’m a jerk, talking ill behind someone’s back. Well, you’re an adult and can tell the difference. And I want you to be careful in the office. So no matter how badly Rowena treats you, don’t go to Desiree, OK? Not even to HR. No one wants to work with a crybaby. Just bite your tongue and do your job. Once you feel you can’t stand it here anymore, find another job.”
My stomach had steadily tightened while listening to this. Myriad was my first company to work for after university, and I’d wished to work there for a longer time. Alas, I’d needed to learn there was no such thing as a perfect place to work.
“After all you’ve been through, why are you still working here?” I’d asked carefully.
Lena had been taken aback and didn’t respond right away. “Well, this office is near my house,” she’d said, lifting her gaze to me. “And also, I’m working toward getting my CPA license, so I think it’s wise to stay in this company until I get it.”
She’d studied my face and said, “Rory, please keep what I’ve said to you today just between us, OK?”
“Yes, of course,” I’d nodded.
And since then, we’d been good friends who always gave each other comfort whenever Rowena was harsh to one of us.