about
you is that you were given a good pay rise.’
I shrank down in the easy-chair and remembered my six month review.
It had been strong. They had given me six per cent.
‘Read this,’ Felix handed me an envelope.
I opened the envelope and glanced down the paragraphs.
Failed to follow procedure… did not alert manager to problems…
poor test practices… could result in disciplinary action.
‘What does that last bit mean? About disciplinary
action?’
‘Disciplinary action would be either a verbal or written warning
if you fail the programme.’ Felix looked impatient behind his narrowing eyes. As
if the question was outside his concern. ‘Or you could be re-graded as a junior.’
‘A junior?’
‘You signed a contract as a senior systems analyst. We need to know you have the necessary skills
for that job.’
‘Is that all?’ I managed to say. ‘I’d like to be excused.’ I
winced inside at how childish I sounded.
‘Sure.’ Felix mumbled and went back to his computer screen as
I let myself out of his office.
Our Monday meeting had started. I ignored Boris’s wave and went
straight into the toilets. For once, being the only woman on the floor was an advantage;
I always had the toilets to myself. Rumour had it when Felix took over his position
he questioned why the men couldn’t use the ladies when theirs had a queue. I leaned
over a sink and tried to get my head around what just happened. I had heard of this
happening to someone in the States. After three programmes he’d been fired. I couldn’t
risk being fired. Or demoted. I’d have to leave. But how
could I leave so soon? The hop would look bad on my C.V.
I went back out to the floor and grabbed my handbag. I needed
to escape.
Chapter Five
I wanted to scream at Desktop. Instead I cranked the phone against
my ear and started typing.
‘Again, the underlyings are enabled via the switches. So, you need to send us that information. Same with
price retrieval,’ Gordon, my Desktop contact was saying. We had met at the AsiaCap kick-off meeting. He had a long face and a short nose,
like a cartoon cat.
Under my new role, the project required me to write the spec
for Desktop and I tried to remember the terms they were using from the Introductory
Market Data course. ‘It’s just that: as I was saying, Gordon – I’m writing this
down and will have to check it with the consultant.’ I continued to click my inbox,
willing the screen to refresh with new mail.
‘We’ll probably need about two weeks to implement. We test it
from here, make sure it’s enabled but we don’t do any end to end testing. That’s
up to you.’
‘Fine. I’ll update the website when
that’s ready for you.’ I jumped when new email appeared. It was the reply to my
job application.
‘Okay, thanks everybody. Have a nice day.’ Gordon ended the call.
I hung up the phone and took a closer look. Development focus, full life-cycle. I went through the form and
filled in the questions about my job history.
Last job: DataCom
Reason for leaving: Travelling
References? Mark McCarthy
They were my previous employment details. I had only been with CouperDaye for eight months. I could pretend I’d been
back-packing and this job never happened.
Interviewer: Rob Hanger
It was an agency interview. I’d have to get past some twenty-two
year-old with a spotty face and a shiny suit first. But, once I got to the real
thing, I had the skills they needed.
The T.V. screens around the canteen were showing a Jerome Ross 5-Minute Snap about Payroll. I passed
below the rolling scene that started with a picture of a chemical pulp mill where
wood-free paper was made. The Life of a Payslip covered each step up of production up to the rubber stamp and journey through the
office in the mail-cart.
‘Hi,’ I said as I slid into our booth.
‘Hi,’ Sam replied. We held each other’s eye for a moment and
I flinched, hit with self-consciousness. This was my
you is that you were given a good pay rise.’
I shrank down in the easy-chair and remembered my six month review.
It had been strong. They had given me six per cent.
‘Read this,’ Felix handed me an envelope.
I opened the envelope and glanced down the paragraphs.
Failed to follow procedure… did not alert manager to problems…
poor test practices… could result in disciplinary action.
‘What does that last bit mean? About disciplinary
action?’
‘Disciplinary action would be either a verbal or written warning
if you fail the programme.’ Felix looked impatient behind his narrowing eyes. As
if the question was outside his concern. ‘Or you could be re-graded as a junior.’
‘A junior?’
‘You signed a contract as a senior systems analyst. We need to know you have the necessary skills
for that job.’
‘Is that all?’ I managed to say. ‘I’d like to be excused.’ I
winced inside at how childish I sounded.
‘Sure.’ Felix mumbled and went back to his computer screen as
I let myself out of his office.
Our Monday meeting had started. I ignored Boris’s wave and went
straight into the toilets. For once, being the only woman on the floor was an advantage;
I always had the toilets to myself. Rumour had it when Felix took over his position
he questioned why the men couldn’t use the ladies when theirs had a queue. I leaned
over a sink and tried to get my head around what just happened. I had heard of this
happening to someone in the States. After three programmes he’d been fired. I couldn’t
risk being fired. Or demoted. I’d have to leave. But how
could I leave so soon? The hop would look bad on my C.V.
I went back out to the floor and grabbed my handbag. I needed
to escape.
Chapter Five
I wanted to scream at Desktop. Instead I cranked the phone against
my ear and started typing.
‘Again, the underlyings are enabled via the switches. So, you need to send us that information. Same with
price retrieval,’ Gordon, my Desktop contact was saying. We had met at the AsiaCap kick-off meeting. He had a long face and a short nose,
like a cartoon cat.
Under my new role, the project required me to write the spec
for Desktop and I tried to remember the terms they were using from the Introductory
Market Data course. ‘It’s just that: as I was saying, Gordon – I’m writing this
down and will have to check it with the consultant.’ I continued to click my inbox,
willing the screen to refresh with new mail.
‘We’ll probably need about two weeks to implement. We test it
from here, make sure it’s enabled but we don’t do any end to end testing. That’s
up to you.’
‘Fine. I’ll update the website when
that’s ready for you.’ I jumped when new email appeared. It was the reply to my
job application.
‘Okay, thanks everybody. Have a nice day.’ Gordon ended the call.
I hung up the phone and took a closer look. Development focus, full life-cycle. I went through the form and
filled in the questions about my job history.
Last job: DataCom
Reason for leaving: Travelling
References? Mark McCarthy
They were my previous employment details. I had only been with CouperDaye for eight months. I could pretend I’d been
back-packing and this job never happened.
Interviewer: Rob Hanger
It was an agency interview. I’d have to get past some twenty-two
year-old with a spotty face and a shiny suit first. But, once I got to the real
thing, I had the skills they needed.
The T.V. screens around the canteen were showing a Jerome Ross 5-Minute Snap about Payroll. I passed
below the rolling scene that started with a picture of a chemical pulp mill where
wood-free paper was made. The Life of a Payslip covered each step up of production up to the rubber stamp and journey through the
office in the mail-cart.
‘Hi,’ I said as I slid into our booth.
‘Hi,’ Sam replied. We held each other’s eye for a moment and
I flinched, hit with self-consciousness. This was my
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