First Friday Meeting: Trouble ahead?

James

It was not that bad of a meeting. I got to see what Donna, Christine, and Amber had been writing on all this week, it was actually really interesting. We discussed every article a bit, and then it was finally time for mine.

Christine: "You know, James, the article was really impressive. I didn't expect such a good article from you." Ugh, what a backhanded compliment, but I'll take it. At least she was happy. Donna: "I did expect a good article from you and you did deliver. I googled your name and you got a prize last year for a piece you wrote. If you keep delivering articles as expected while Dan is away, I don't think you have much to worry about." Aw, that was a lot nicer. "Th-Thanks, Donna."

"Hm, I'm not so sure about that", Beth interjected, "the article is good but I'm unsure if it's a good fit for our magazine. We have some core readers that we want to keep entertained, you know? But I'm willing to give it a shot. This is business and we need to take a risk every now and then or we'll get left behind." Ouch, this felt more like an acceptance out of pity. "I don't really have anything new to add", Amber said. At least my article got printed, I guess.

Unlike the others, I had no small errors to fix, so I was tasked with editing some of the freelancer's articles, but that was quick too. My mind drifted back to the app. If Amber really liked even more depraved sub stuff, I could purchase a Location upgrade, no? Suddenly, Beth interrupted my thoughts. "Hey James, can you bring us three coffees?" I guess I was just an intern still. "Sure. Anything I need to know about the coffee machine?" "It's too old to have any fancy settings, don't worry", Donna interjected. She was mad, but I think more so at Beth than me. I never really drank coffee, mainly because I never needed to. Didn't change how tired I felt in the morning, only made me piss more. Awfully bitter, too.

As I had made the three coffees, I noticed a problem. The cups were very full and I only had two hands. Ugh. So I basically had to let someone down. Wait, who even wanted a coffee? There were four people besides me in the office. I picked two cups and asked who wanted some. The gentleman, or I guess gentle master that I am, I gave Amber the first cup and Beth the second. Gotta pander to her if I wanna keep this job. Donna was once again angry, but she was staring daggers at Amber it seems like. I returned with her cup a moment later.

"James, could you come into my office, please?" I could hear Beth ask just as I was wanted to sit down. "Sure, boss, what is it?" I said as I followed her into her office. Amber and Donna were chatting. I hope Donna wasn't that mad.

"I know I haven't been very fond of your article, but you're good at editing articles and proofreading them. The truth is that, based on clicks and what our readership wants, we should probably expand. I'm still on the fence about how compatible your writing talents are with our magazine, so I don't want you to write an article next week, I want you to edit articles and get in touch with our freelancers and your coworkers to get more and more interesting articles done. That should help me get some of my responsibilities off my shoulders, too."

"O-Oh sure. Quick question, how permanent will that change be?" "Well, it depends. We live in the Internet Age, so clicks and feedback matter. I could very well be wrong about how popular I think your article will be. Either way, I think it would do you some good to read more articles and have more sources of inspiration as a result." "Alright, then I'll edit articles next week."

"Thank you, this was everything. I'll mail you a list of everyone I'm expecting to submit an article next week." "Thank you, bye."

I can't deny, this felt like a demotion. But on the other hand, she was right, I was very good at proofreading stuff, I did that a lot for Amber back in college, too. Maybe my skills were best utilized this way? I needed a quick break, so I grabbed my phone and went to the bathroom. Donna and Amber suddenly stopped talking, Amber was a bit nervous, while Donna had the same smile as she did on Monday when she asked me quite openly for a date. Did Amber tell her anything?