Chapter 10 – The Power Outage
I was hauling balls this morning and I knew that I would hit my quota of 18 audits by mid day. These days were rare anymore due to the new QC standards and the fact that the work we were getting all around sucked. When the Houston office closed, not for the day but permanently, they were told that they had thirty days before they were out on the street. We were told that they would be sending us their work as it came in and their staff faded. The Houston center manager, who opted for early retirement, said that his office would continue to produce high quality work right up until the end. When we were told the week after that Houston got the Velvet Hammer, I was shocked to see that management actually believed that the work that was going to come in from Houston would have even the slightest ounce of quality.
So here we were congregated in front of Larry’s office in a large circle. On Larry’s left was Manager-lady and to his right was Phillip the assistant manager, a pudgy man with brown hair who read too many self-help books. He, like Chester, also saw into the truth of things: the government was run by secret groups, the FBI was listening to his phone calls, and all sorts of fun stuff. Unlike Chester, however, Phillip thought much more of himself. He invented new types of management and marketing; the whole nine yards. He also helped bring down Enron; as if they needed the help. We all knew he was full of it and he spent most of his time in his assistant manager cube not talking to the rest of us. In truth, no one was really sure what he did here but his dad worked upstairs so to speak, so here he was. That aside, he was looking confident as Larry reaffirmed that our new work would be easier and would not need many phone calls.
Chester cleared his throat at this. “So even though they’re getting canned, they’re still going to produce the same quality work?”
Larry looked perplexed. “Well of course. They’re Riders people after all.”
“No, they’re unemployed people,” Chester countered.
Philip silently clasped his hands together and turned to Larry. “Lar, I got this.” He directed his words to everyone now and we waited with mock enthusiasm for the Sermon on the Mount.
“You see, you’re all under the misconception that a person’s work is based on what they’re taking home and how they’re treated at a company.” He smiled letting the dumb peons figure it out.
“You are really here for the opportunity to be a part of something more important than your regular lives. You just think it’s for the money. In fact, I bet that I could stop paying all of you and you would still show up because of how much satisfaction you get here.” He smiled widely at us like this was a compliment.
There was total silence as usual after Philip talked. It wasn’t that anybody agreed with him but more that we knew if we did say something, we would be breaking the golden rule. We would also probably be breaking many HR policies and would lose our jobs if we expressed ourselves, so no one talked. Larry looked uncomfortable. He disliked Philip as much as the next guy and he always cringed when the man would start to talk.
It looked like Philip wasn’t done. He opened his mouth and the lights went out. There was a murmur from the group and we all looked stupidly at the ceiling as if we could see the source of the power outage.
“Let there be dark,” Philip barked.
“Ok that’s good. Thank you, Philip. Ok everyone, the computers are on a backup generator or something, but it doesn’t last long so go save your work and shut down,” Larry said silencing Philip.
I turned to the nearest cube and sure enough, the monitor was still on with the computer humming away. I walked back to my desk and gladly saved and shut down. I felt a glimmer of hope that the power would be out for a long time, but I knew it would come back up in five minutes or so. Power outages only lasted for long periods of time on your day off, when you were watching a movie or when the weather sucked. They never lasted when you were getting paid to sit around and wait for the lights to come back on. I rolled my chair to Adrian’s cube. She eyed my thermos cup.
“Is that stuff really that good, Bill? You always have it.”
I held out my cup. She looked apprehensive but she took it anyway and held it to her lips taking a small sip. Her eyebrows raised and she smiled slightly.
“What is this stuff called again?”
“Choffy. It’s ground cocoa beans.”
“It’s good. And it gives you energy like coffee without the caffeine?”
“Yeah, it’s kind of a health drink but it tastes good and it wakes me up.”
She took another sip and handed the cup back to me. “Sorry I don’t want to drink it all, but I’ll have to get me some of that.”
She huffed. “So how long do you think the power will be out? I have so much stuff to do today.”
I laughed. “Only you could be upset when the power goes out and you get paid to do nothing.”
She rolled her eyes. “Sorry I’m such a good employee, but also I don’t want to get bored.”
“I’m sure we’ll be back to work in five or ten.”
We weren’t back to work in five or ten, not even twenty or thirty. After forty-five minutes, most of the office had reverted back to childhood, throwing paper air planes and making up pointless games to pass the time. It was nice. By this point, even the phones weren’t working. They all tied into the computers and when the backup ran out of juice we were off the hook for all things Riders. Larry came around and told us all that the power company said that it was going to be another two hours, so we all were to take a super extended lunch that was paid and we didn’t even have to make it up.
As soon as I heard that we had two hours for lunch, I felt my whole being start to glow with joy. By now, Yoda and Chester had joined us along with Ankle and Manager-lady. I turned to the group. “Wings?”
That one word and Ankle, Chester, and Yoda snapped to attention and nodded in agreement. Adrian and Manager-lady looked a little confused.
Manager-lady was the one who spoke. “Ok is there some sort of language we don’t speak? What do you mean wings? Like hot wings?”
Chester corrected her. “Not just hot wings. BW2’s—Buffalo Wild Wings. Let’s go.”
“Wait, you guys don’t want to hear what we have to say about this?” Adrian said a little perturbed.
I looked at her. “You don’t want wings?” I said, incredulity etching my tone.
“Well I don’t know. I mean wings are ok.”
Manager-lady spoke. “Yeah, I don’t think I want that. They’re all greasy and nasty. I don’t like wings.”
Yoda shook his head at Manager-lady like she just spoke blasphemy. In reality, she had. “I don’t know if we can still be friends.”
“What? It’s chicken.”
I held up my hand. “Stop, stop there. Not just chicken we’re talking about here. BW2’s, B-dubs, or even BW3’s depending on where you’re from—, they are like…like…” I struggled for the words. “…like little morsels from heaven,” I said.
“You’re high,” Adrian said.
“No he’s not, Adrian. Have you ever had BW2’s?” Chester said.
“Well no bu—”
“Come,” is all Yoda said and we all started to the door, Adrian and a reluctant Manager-lady in tow. As we went, we softly said “wings” to people; many followed.
A couple of hours was a must for wings. BW2’s wasn’t known for its speed and to be honest, I didn’t think I could confine myself to the thirty minute lunch even if they were fast enough. We needed to take two cars. Yoda, Chester, and Ankle got in mine and Manager-lady and Adrian followed in Manager-lady’s green Explorer. Traffic wasn’t bad as I got on I-25 heading south. It looked like there was an accident on the north bound side but it would be cleared by the time I could be extricated from BW2’s. I exited I-25, turning right onto County Line and then another right on Chester, no relation to the present company. There it stood on the left-hand side of the road, bright yellow sign ablaze. I felt warmth blossoming in my chest. It was early so the parking
lot wasn’t that full and we found a spot close to the front.
Yoda turned to me when we stood up out of the car. “Are you going to be able to handle this man? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so happy before.”
“Yeah, I’m fine. This is where I was meant to be.”
“You really need a girlfriend” was his only reply.
We walked in, waves of spicy smelling goodness greeting us. There was a short thin bouncy girl with long curly brown hair and hazel eyes. Cory was a very pretty girl and always seemed to be happy. She stood at a little counter waiting to seat us. When she recognized me, she smiled widely. It wasn’t the standard “welcome to my place of business” smile. No, Cory and I had history. We talked almost every time I came here. She was a kindred spirit.
“Hey, Bill who are your friends?” she said brightly.
I pointed at Chester. “This is Chester.” She looked him over and chuckled a bit thinking she was being let in on some inside joke.
Chester looked confused. “What’s so funny?”
Cory looked at me and I realized what she was thinking and I mouthed to her “it’s not a nickname.” She looked embarrassed and shook her head sending her curly brown hair cascading across her face.
“O-Oh nothing, I just got a joke I heard on the radio this morning.” She didn’t brush her hair out of her face and I suspected that if she did her cheeks would be red.
I hurried to introduce the rest of my co-workers and she led us to a table.
Manager-lady gave me a wry smile. “So how do you know her?”
“I come here a lot.”
“So is there any… any…”
“Thing?” I finished for her.
“Yeah, you two seem to like each other and she super cute.”
Yoda frowned. “Don’t tell me she’s like you”
“Like me?”
“A wing freak.”
“We’re not freaks,” Cory said flitting out of nowhere pulling out a notepad. “I guess I’m your server today, too. Can I get you anything to drink?” she said to the table. Everyone but me ordered. She knew what I wanted and then she took orders for lunch, again skipping me.
After she left Adrian said, “Aren’t you going to order? This place was your idea.”
“I don’t need to; Cory knows what I want.”
She looked unconvinced. “She knows? Please Bill, there’s like twenty different sauces here. How on earth could she know what you want? I’ve heard you talk about this place. You have a crush on every sauce here.”
“I want medium today; it’s the best.”
“What, do you two have ESP or something?”
“No, we just understand each other that’s all.”
She let it go but when our order came—mine being twelve medium wings with ranch dressing—Adrian looked amazed and a little creeped out.
“You should ask her out,” Chester said after awhile.
I looked up realizing he was talking to me. I raised an eyebrow.
“You two have a lot in common and she’s the only woman in this place that isn’t disgusted that you’ve eaten twenty-four hot wings.”
“He’s got a point on that one. I’m disgusted with you right now, Bill. How do you stay so thin when you eat like that?” Manager-lady said scrunching her face.
I finished the wing I was on and thought about it. Cory was cute and we got along great. Sometimes I would stay passed close and we would talk. The more I thought about it the more I thought I would give it a try.
The next time she walked by I gestured for her to come close so I could whisper in her ear. “Hey, do you want to go on a date?”
She straitened a bit and I saw her smile. “About time you asked,” she teased.
As we left Cory handed me a slip of paper that had her phone number on it. I could tell she was trying to be discreet about it, saving me from being interrogated by my co-workers. Had I been with all men this would have worked, or if they had seen they wouldn’t have cared. I saw Adrian and Manager-lady exchange looks and was thankful that we took separate cars. Fate continued to shine on me as we arrived back at the office. There was a letter on the door to the building letting us know that the power company called and said that it was going to take several more hours to fix the problem. The letter went on to say that we all had the day off. We walked inside the abandoned office and retrieved whatever we needed from our desks and I was out to my car before anyone could question me. As soon as I slid behind the wheel, I pulled out my cell and entered Cory’s number into the address book.
I decided to send her a text asking when she was available.
Bill’s phone “Hey this is Bill. When can u go out?”
After a moment the phone vibrated.
Cory’s phone “I get off @ 5 then I need 2 go home and change so how about 6?”
I was surprised. I thought she was going to tell me sometime next week.
Bill’s phone “ok that sounds great. where do u live? Or do you want 2 meet somewhere?”
Cory’s phone “u can pick me up if u want. it doesn’t matter to me up; it’s up 2 u.”
That was good, she felt comfortable enough with me to have me pick her up. I noticed Manager-lady out of the corner of my eye playing with her keys and I could tell she was thinking about coming and talking to me. I shot Cory a quick reply asking for address and then I got the hell out of Dodge before anything could happen.