The Tale of the 9 to 5

By A.D.S. Ferreira - November 21, 2018

3:42pm.

God, could this day go any slower. Day after day of repetitive phone calls, for the same thing over and over. I look over my cubicle walls, to see where Janice our manager is before opening solitaire sneak in another round.

Booyaa! 1,045,942: me, 1: Solitaire.

After for what seems like an eternity, I look up at the clock once again.

3:44pm. Urrghhh, are you for real?! Two minutes!

*Rings *

“Hello. Thank you for calling, this is Stacy. May I get your first and last name pl-?”

Within seconds, I yank the headphone piece away from my ear while being deafened by the yelling on the other side.

“I’m sorry sir, may I please get your first and last name. I’d like to further look into this matter on your account.”

*Inaudible screaming continues *

3:49pm… Good Lord, help me.

“Let me dispatch you to our manager, who has more power to help you,” I explained while trying my hardest to hide my annoyance. I press the hold button before giving that madman a chance to respond.

“Janice! Line two.”

“For what,” she spat out in utter disgust.

“Costumer needing to speak with a manager.”

“Did you go through step by step protocol?”

“Mhhmmm…”

“Did you Stacy?”

Damn, I can feel her eyes trying to pierce through my soul.

“Yes, ma’am. They asked to speak to a manager.”

As I watched Janice grab the phone to deal with them, I realize an Instagram notification pop up on my phone. Great, another photo of Nicole living life with her dream job.

“Out with my clients at a cake vendor meeting!!!! #yum”

3:53pm.

Seriously? I deal with yelling costumers and product defects inside this small grey cubicle, while she is out eating cake? She gets paid for this?!

I instinctively lock my phone and pull up Facebook on the office computer to creep her business page now.

Scroll, scroll, and scroll.

4:15pm.

Who knew time passes by faster when you are virtually watching someone else having fun with their job. What I wouldn’t give to have Harry Potter teach me the apparition spell, so I can join her and leave here.

4:17pm.

Scroll, scroll and scroll some more.

A floral mystical picture catches my eye. Hmmm. “How to Get Your Foot in the Door of Events Industry Master Class.” Ha, I’d go just to get a foot out of this door.

Of course, Nicole shared this.

“Stacy!!” Nick shouted in my ear.

“Yes?!” I shot up out of my chair as Nick scares me half to death, “Jesus Nick, are you trying to have me take my last breath?!”

"Ha… Well you know, I am always trying to take your breath away. What are you looking at by the way, that’s definitely not work.”

The sound of him biting into his apple while leaning on my desk momentarily distracts me.

“I’m not really sure if I am honest, seems like a seminar for the event industry.”

“Sounds right up your alley, especially since you love planning all the company events.”

… He wasn’t wrong, I do love it.

“Don’t be silly, this isn’t for me!”

“Well, why don’t you go and find out?”

“Nick stop I know nothing about it! Ha..ha,”

I can’t help but think about what Nick is insinuating, can this actually be something for me? Can I live my life like Nicole?

“Oh, that’s funny,” He says with a sarcastic tone as he points at my screen, “there seems to be a phone number and email you can contact to find out.”

As I watch him walk away towards his desk, I can feel my heart beating quickly in my ears as I stare back at my screen. Coincidently, my phone vibrates with yet another notification from Nicole posting another picture.

Next thing I knew, I’m emailing the seminar ad about reserving my spot to go. For what seems like a couple minutes, I find myself entering the Facebook vortex of photos again, and staring at Trade Sensation Events’ business page photos until my phone vibrates because my sister Bells is calling.

“Hello?”

“Hey! Where are you girl? I am standing outside your office building waiting for you. Are we not going to dinner?”

"Huh, why? It's only four thirt- Holy crap sorry! I am coming right down, I didn’t realize it was already five fifteen!”

“Hahaha! That is funny, aren’t you always staring at the clock like a hawk?”

“Sorry got distracted, be right down.”

Click.

“If that isn’t a sign a fate, I don’t know what is,”

“Nick! Stop scaring me! What on earth are you still doing here?”

“Oh nothing, just amused watching you get distracted with those wedding photos. You should take a friend and go,” Nick says with all his Gandalf wisdom as he likes to put it.

I grab all my stuff, wave goodbye, before rushing out the doors to meet my sister. I can feel the excitement inside me exploding to tell her about the ad, that may have just changed my life completely for the better.