An Unpleasant Surprise !

Debbi and Carol were in Jeff's office for a debrief after the training course. "So, how did you find it ?" Jeff began. "Oh it was fabulous" gushed Carol. "I learned so much. Ingram was a fantastic coach, he made me aware of so much I didn't know" she continued. "And it wasn't just the official sessions. It was so beneficial to interact with the other course members informally and learn from their experience." Carol finished her ingratiating spiel. Jeff turned to Debbi. "And how about you ?"

"Er, yeah. It was useful" Debbi mumbled. Jeff glanced down at his laptop. "Yes, well I can see why you might be a little subdued. It seems you rather showed us up as a company" he accused her. "What do you mean ?" Debbi felt her face reddening. Jeff turned round the laptop which was displaying Ingram's page of photos and captions from the course. Debbi cringed. "It wasn't fair. She kept cheating" she whined, trying to excuse her failures. "Oh now, that's not right Deb" Carol objected. "You know Diane was just better at thinking outside the box, while you let your emotions get the better of you. Ingram told us those were the lessons to take from those tasks !" Debbi seethed. "Well, I really hope you have taken that lesson to heart Debbi" said Jeff. It was always a bad sign when he called her Debbi instead of Deb. "I have to say my faith in you has been a little undermined."

Debbi threw herself into her work and kept a low profile for a couple of weeks. Then Carol bounced into her office. "Have you heard the news ?" she asked. "What ? That terrible earthquake in Chile ?" Debbi wondered. "No, the news from here silly. Jeff's appointed a new Product Development Manager. We won't report directly to her but we'll be expected to offer her every assistance." Debbi was suspicious. "Her ?" she said. "Yes" Carol confirmed. "Jeff head hunted Diane after hearing all about her on the course. Isn't that great ?"