Sweet Surprises

Sweet Surprises

         Bobbie Clarke scanned her cluttered desk for a list of contact names she had been given the previous day. Lifting folders, brochures, contractual drafts and miscellaneous pieces of mail, she became increasingly irritated at her own untidiness.
          ‘Roberta!’ Bobbie cringed in her seat as she realised her manager was heading for her desk. Mr Davenport knew Bobbie hated being called Roberta, yet he enjoyed antagonising her at any given opportunity. She brushed a strand of black hair behind her ear, turned in his direction and masked her annoyance with an insincere smile.
          ‘What is this?’ he asked, looking at her desk in horror. ‘Iraq? It looks like a bloody bomb hit it!’
          ‘I know, I was just tidying it up. Been ever so busy, you know, reports to complete…’
          ‘Yeah, whatever. I want to see you in my office. Today. Two-thirty. Be there.’ Pleasantries were not high on Mr Davenport’s agenda.
         Bugger! She thought, Whatever is the matter this time? ‘Sure, I’ll be there’, she replied and returned to her paper hunt. Finally finding it inside her freebie newspaper (how on Earth did it end up there? ) she proceeded to distribute the sales figures and budget forecasts to the named people.
         How it came to be that a woman of her talents and skills had to work in a hell-hole like this, for a lard arsed miscreant like Mr Davenport, was beyond her. The sales office was too removed from Head Office, and too small for any real prospect for a promotion. She sighed and decided that rather than sitting on her proverbial, she would start applying for jobs. Anything was bound to be more interesting, challenging and rewarding than this, she thought to herself and fired off another email to Colin at HO.
         Lunch consisted of a semi-palatable chicken sandwich purchased from the trolley lady, eaten by her desk as she browsed through the latest issue of her favourite glossy magazine.
         She looked up, watched Mr Davenport shouting down the phone behind the perplex screen separating his office from the rest of the staff. His face turned crimson, Bobbie realised with a not inconsiderable amount of glee, as he worked himself into a state of fury. Grateful she was not at the receiving end of his abuse on this occasion, she braced herself for the looming meeting.
         What annoyed her the most about her boss was that he was no better than her. She had no idea how he had obtained the position of regional sales manager, but imagined it must have involved bribery. Not all of Mr Davenport’s dealings were entirely above board, according to the rumour mill. I could easily do his job a thousand times better than he does, and pulling the staff behind me in the process, rather than have everyone working against one another, she thought, returning her attention to an article about J-Lo’s on-off wedding.
         With an ominous sense of foreboding, she approached Mr Davenport’s office at two-thirty on the dot, knocked the rickety plastic door and entered the room. Her boss had his back turned, hiding behind the over-sized chair. Is he asleep? she wondered. She coughed discreetly. No reaction.
         The door behind her burst open.
          ‘Bobbie, how nice to see you again’. She couldn’t believe it. It was Colin Caldew, the Sales Director from HO. She rose from her seat, shook his outstretched hand. There was an awkward silence during which Bobbie suddenly realised that Mr Davenport still had his back turned.
          ‘If you will excuse us, please’, Colin said. Relieved, Bobbie made herself scarce and returned to her desk, from where she had a perfect view over the office. Fascinated, she watched as the scene enfolded before her. Mr Davenport was neither asleep nor, regretfully, dead but turned slowly in his chair to face Colin. They spoke in quiet, hushed voices and after only a few minutes, she watched her manager get up and pace the office. Colin, however, appeared to be doing most of the talking. At one point, Mr Davenport stopped his pacing, looking pensively into the office, then across to Bobbie’s desk.
          ‘You can’t!’ she heard him shouting.
         She bowed her head and tried to focus on the mail shots.
         Only shortly afterwards, the door from Mr Davenport’s office tore open and the corpulent mass that was Mr Davenport stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind him as he went. The other members of staff all looked up from their desks, trying to work out what was happening.
          ‘Bobbie? Could I have a word, please?’ Colin was behind her. She could feel her heart pounding underneath her polyester blouse. She followed him to Mr Davenport’s office. Colin held the door open for her, and closed it behind her.
          ‘I wanted you to be the first to know that John… Mr Davenport has been suspended on full pay. We found some ehm… irregularities in his dealings with a number of his account. So, while we investigate certain allegations that have come our way, we need someone to, well, step in.’
         Bobbie was speechless. Well, who was it going to be? Someone from HO? A rookie?
          ‘I think you would be perfect for the job’, he said, smiling at her.
          ‘Me?’ Wow. Who would have thought? Thanks very much, Mr Davenport, she thought.
          ‘I would love to, I mean to have the chance to prove myself.’ She paused briefly, trying to gather her thoughts after these revelations. ‘What happens when Mr Davenport returns?’
          ‘I doubt he will. And certainly not back to his previous role. We would want him where we can keep a close eye on him. But, between you and me, I don’t think he is coming back. He’s already admitted to the offences, the investigation is merely a formality.’
         Bobbie couldn’t stop grinning; irrespective or rather because of the devastation this must surely have caused Mr Davenport. Serves him right, she thought.
          ‘How about a drink? Get the others to shut the office for the day, I think it’s time we all got to know each other’, he said. Bobbie returned to her desk, face beaming. A promotion. On the very day she’d decided to start looking for a new job. What a sweet surprise. Bobbie Clarke, Regional Sales Manager.