Ben and Melissa get bad and worse news

Ben’s face was a mask of grim determination as he walked into the large meeting room as it swarmed with employees. His steps were swift as he made his way through the people towards the seat that he knew Melissa would be reserving for him. He settled down into the seat wordlessly and took a deep breath. Melissa’s concern rose, Ben was a gregarious guy whose outgoing personality was one of the things she enjoyed about him so much. Seeing him shut down like that meant something had gone wrong. “What happened?”

“They are going with Judy.” Ben seethed as he watched the last few years of work evaporate before him. He had kept his anger in check while sitting in the meeting. He had even managed it while making his way through the crowds. Now as he sat there, he could feel his frustration boiling over. “Fuck this place.” The words hissed between clenched teeth as shook his head.

“Ben. Careful.” Melissa glanced around the room to see if anyone had been paying attention to the pair as he expressed his disdain for their employers.

“That isn’t even the worst part.” The boiling anger began to burn away as he took deep breaths to control himself. Ben was one of those men that hated losing control. Sure this was a setback, and it was frustrating, but he could find a new way around. Sadly, he knew it wouldn’t be here at TechCo. “They decided to institute Return to Office. So I’m going to have to pick between the jobs. And with this promotion off the table, it won’t be here.”

Melissa cursed quietly. “Shit.” Returning to the office would put a hamper on her plans as well. Especially if it meant Ben was gone. Realizing that he was likely worried about his own life, she decided to put her issues to bed till she could cement her relationship with him. “Look. this is kind of a good thing right? We both knew this was a long shot for you, but the Head of Tech job that you are up for at FinOp is way more of a slam dunk. It just wasn’t as good as this one.”

The burn of rejection was slowly beginning to fade from Ben as he sat there and listened to Melissa speak. She was right of course, still it stung his pride to be skipped over. He knew he could have done the job and done it well. Seeing the bosses step up onto the dais, he was interrupted by a vibration from his second work phone. Pulling it out, he saw a number of messages from Missy. “Oh shit.”