A New Job!

Fred had already been feeling a little tired when he got to work, what with all his cleaning at home. He hoped he could focus on this new work enough to not let Helen down. He had just a twinge of self-doubt which seemed to go with a small twinge of pain in his stomach, but then buried his nose in the papers in front of him.

The company had hired a consulting firm to conduct a number of efficiency studies for them. Unfortunately the results had been presented to them pretty much as pages and pages of statistics. When the company complained about the format, the consulting firm insisted they’d done everything they’d been commissioned to do. So the company needed someone to interpret the findings in a more practical way so they could decide which of their business practices could benefit most by being changed. They also needed to know specifically what changes needed to be tried first. This was the task that was given to Fred.

The time and motion studies came first. Fred wondered if these weren’t just experiments in rushing people at their work, but once he got into them, he found them rather fascinating. They were really about finding the best way to do a thing, and then training the employees to do the task that way. He also noticed that the best methods were meant to also enhance the safety of the workers, which would ultimately save on injuries such as his, hence, saving the company considerable time and money on injury claims, as well as saving employees the inconvenience and pain of injury. This, he decided, was a good thing. And so Fred worked away at interpreting the studies into a working strategy.

At the end of his first day doing this, he was very tired. But he felt good, knowing there was something important and interesting for him to do at work. While he was doing his shopping, he noticed the greeting card section of the store. The words “I’m Sorry” stuck out somehow. He went over and had a look. He couldn’t make up his mind between three cards he liked, so he bought them all, figuring that getting Myrtle to forgive him wasn’t exactly going to be a one-card job anyway.

After unpacking his groceries and eating a simple supper of canned spaghetti right out of the can, Fred sat down at his table and composed a short note in one of the cards:

“Dearest Myrtle,
“I really am sorry for letting you down. I didn’t mean it to happen. She caught me completely off guard. Honestly Myrtle, it’s you I care about. Please don’t hate me. Fred”

He addressed it and mailed it downstairs in the building mail box. Sighing, he returned to his apartment and decided to watch some TV before bed. He was tired, but he was actually looking forward to work the next day.

And so the week went along for them both. On Thursday, Fred found out his blood tests were negative. He felt some relief, but there was still that last one out there somewhere. Still, if what Bill had told him was true, he probably didn’t have anything to worry about. He would just feel better when the results of the HIV test were in. At work, Fred took some of his work to Helen, just to make sure that what he was doing was what she wanted. A little later in the day, he was called to her office. Mr. Grieves was there.

“You’ve made Helen a very happy woman,” the man chuckled so deeply that it came out as a rumble. Fred just kind of stared nervously. Nice, he thought, not the woman he most wanted to impress, but... “Do you like this work, Fred,” Mr, Grieves was asking.

“Oh yes,” he heard himself say. “I like working with the statistics, Mr. Grieves. They ... um... sort of seem to speak to me,” he stammered, instantly wondering if this last admission was a good idea.

But Mr. Grieves only rumbled again. “So you wouldn’t mind being reassigned to this job permanently?”

Again, Fred was caught by surprise, but he went with his gut on this one. “No sir, I guess not,” he smiled. He wasn’t expecting this, but he did prefer the statistics over the shipping codes.

“Good, m’boy... that’s very good,” said the boss. He glanced at Helen who was smiling happily. “Helen has been looking for the right person for this job for some time. Not much point in commissioning studies if you don’t understand the results!” he almost shouted, then he laughed quite loudly, making Fred back up just a little. “Have you ever studied Data Analysis, Fred?”

“No sir,” said Fred, a little uncertainly. “It just seems easy to me,” he sort of squeaked.

“Well that’s fine,” said Mr. Grieves. “But we’ll be sending you to some Data Analysis courses at Upton College in the coming semester, just to cover your back, so to speak,” said the man smiling.

Upton College, thought Fred. He smiled hugely, which of course was misinterpreted by Mr. Grieves, but no matter. Fred was thrilled with what was apparently his new job, and even more thrilled that he would have an excuse to appear on campus where Myrtle worked. At least, he hoped his classes would be somehow close to where Myrtle worked.

“If it works out,” Mr. Grieves was saying, “we’ll be having you continue on with data analysis for the larger corporate interests.” Mr. Grieves leaned a little closer to Fred and lowered his deep voice just a little, “and there will be a little something extra in your pay if all goes well, Fred.” He winked.

Fred was very pleased with this news and wished he had someone to share it with.