Focused on job improvements

When Tom got to work the next morning, he was surprised by how nice everyone was.

The first person he saw when he walked in was Claire, a tall blonde woman who looked like a fitness model and usually never spoke to him. She was talking to a redheaded girl at the front desk that Tom had never seen before, probably the new receptionist. As soon as Tom entered the building, Claire turned to him and said, "Oh, good morning, Tom!" with the kind of smile and head tilt that someone gives you when your dog has died.

That was more words than Claire had ever said to Tom, and all he could think to say back was, "Um, morning."

"Hey, buddy!" said Brandon as Tom was entering his office. "Hey, could you send me a copy of what you've done so far with the Thompson's Mining manual?"

"Well, sure, but why?" asked Tom.

"Oh, um, you know. It's good for more than one person to keep up with these things. Anyway, get some coffee. They've got a pot of the good stuff in the kitchen!"

Tom didn't leave his office much that morning, but every time he did, someone acted like he was a **** row inmate on his last day. He supposed that it was common knowledge that today would be his last day. Even Janeece was being polite despite the fact that he could see a fury behind her lovely, brown eyes. She didn't say anything when he asked her to pass the creamer in the kitchen, she just smiled tightly and handed it to him.

Oh course, he had no intention of leaving this job.

When lunch time came, Angelique called him and said, "Mr. Roberts is waiting for you in the parking garage," then hung up without waiting for a response. Unlike all the other employees, her voice had just as much venom in it as usual, although her throaty accent made the disdain sound sexy.

Tom went to the garage and found a very nice, black car idling at the entrance, waiting for him. It wasn't a limo, but it was a luxury sedan with a private driver.

"This is nice!" said Tom as he climbed into the back with Mr. Roberts. "How long have you had this car?"

"It's not mine, it's the company car."

Since his boss didn't want to say anything more, it didn't seem that weird that Tom pulled out his phone. However, instead of surfing the internet, playing games, or doing any of the other things people do with their phones to avoid small talk, Tom sent Mr. Roberts a message.

• Tell me more about why you have a private car and driver.

Mr. Roberts turned to him and broke the silence. "My heart attack a couple of years ago was worse than most of the staff know. I actually can't drive anymore, so I had to get a driver."

"I'm sorry to hear that, sir. I hope the heart attack didn't interfere with anything else that you enjoy doing!" said Tom with a wink.

His boss did not enjoy that joke. He scowled and looked out the window. Tom didn't mind. His boss should be grateful, Tom had managed to get the old man's limp dick working again with his commands the day before.

The restaurant was a very expensive steak place where the tables were extremely far apart. The food was good, but most of the price seemed to be in the snooty, privileged ambiance. They ate in silence for most of the meal, other than a bit of small talk about basketball, which Tom followed but Mr. Roberts didn't, or theater, which Mr. Roberts was a fan of but bored Tom.

When Mr. Roberts put down his steak knife for the last time, he looked at Tom and said, "Well, I hope you enjoyed your meal, Tom."

"Oh yes, very much." Tom took out his phone. He looked down at it, almost disregarding his boss.

This, of course, seemed very rude to the older man. He cleared his throat to get Tom's attention, but Tom ignored him and typed something out. He coughed, but was still ignored. Getting a bit annoyed, he let out a big "EH HEM!"

• It's fine that I'm using my phone while you talk. Just ignore it.

Of course, Mr. Roberts didn't know that he'd just gotten a message over the slack app. His phone in his jacket pocket didn't ding, it didn't even show a message. However, it did send out a signal that his subconscious received. He calmed down and ignored the phone and the lack of eye contact from his employee.

"Tom, we need to talk about your future."

• You can't fire me, not now or ever. I'm you're oldest, most loyal employee.

"I mean, you're very valuable to the company. We hope to have you with us for years to come, obviously."

"Obviously," said Tom without looking up from his phone.

"It's just that some of the other employees have concerns about your work. Some of them feel they're having to do extra work to make up for..."

• Don't listen to them.
• Why not?
• They're just kids. They don't have respect for the kind of experience that you and I have.
• That's true.

"You know what?" said Mr. Roberts, recovering from a pause, "nevermind. Don't worry about the other employees. I'll take care of them."

"Well, that's really good of you, Chuck!"

Tom's boss wrinkled up his nose at that. He'd never let any of his employees call him by his first name. He was very old fashioned like that.

• We've known each other a long time, Chuck. We're friends, right?
• Yes, I suppose we are.
• We built this company together right from the beginning! We're great friends and we should treat each other that way.
• You're right, we should.

Mr. Roberts' face relaxed into a smile. "You know what, Tom? We don't have to rush back to work. Let's order a bottle of wine!"

"Great idea, Chuck!"

Tom's boss flagged down the waitress, who Tom had noticed was a girl of college age. Her outfit wasn't revealing, it was a white button up shirt and black slacks, but she was rather cute and the slacks were just a bit on the tight side.

• The waitress is really attractive. Make sure you check out her ass every chance you get. It's going to make your cock rise to the occasion more and more.

Mr. Roberts stole a quick glance at the waitress' butt as she left to get their wine. Then he turned back to Tom and said, "I hope things are going well for you at work."

"Well, they could be better," replied Tom.

• I'm your oldest employee. The fact that my working conditions are crap sends a terrible message to the other employees. The reason they all leave you for other companies once they're trained is that they look at me and know that staying with you will be miserable. You need to give me a bunch of perks to make my job easier and show them that things get better.

"Tom, you're not just a friend." His boss put a consoling arm on his shoulder. "You're a valuable employee who has done more for this company than anyone. Tell me what you need and I'll get it for you."

"Wow, Chuck, it's so good to hear you say that!" Tom wasn't sure if the happy feeling in his chest was sincere gratitude for finally hearing this after years of service or just a victory dance for pulling this off. "I could definitely use a significant raise, all I've had is cost of living for twenty years."

"Done."

"And a bigger office."

"We can definitely do that."

"Also, I need a junior editor assigned to me to help me with my workload."

"Hmm, well, I supposed we can do that."

The waitress came back and poured some wine into Mr. Roberts' glass. He glanced at her rear as she bent over slightly, then looked again and stared longer. After she moved to the other side of the table, he continued, "As soon as someone new comes up for junior editor, we'll-"

"I want Sandy. We worked very well together during her training yesterday."

"Well, no, we can't do that," said Mr. Roberts. "Sandy has already been assigned to Claire. She has a ton of work that she needs done during her vacation, so she's spending today getting the young lady up to speed on-"

Tom was typing furiously as his boss talked.

• Just fucking give me whatever I want, you little shit! I deserve it and you're not going to cheat me out of it!

Mr. Roberts choked on air. All the authority and confidence drained out of him as he said, "Um, I'm sorry, Tom. You're right. You've been here longer than anyone, you should get to pick your staff."

Tom laughed under his breath, then said, "I want the company car, too. You can use my old Subaru. It's from 1997, but it still runs okay."

"Yes, that's fine," said Mr. Roberts. He looked like he wanted to object, but couldn't. Then the waitress walked by and he stared openly at her ass, his hand unconsciously sliding up his thigh to his crotch.

"Pretty nice piece of tail, huh?" said Tom. "I bet you'd like to take a bite out of that!"

"What? No, no, of course not," said Mr. Roberts meekly. However, his eyes never left her ass as he spoke.

Tom knew that Angelique's butthole was going to get a very thorough cleaning this afternoon.

When they got back to the office, Tom got some boxes from the supply closet and started packing up everything from his desk. Janeece and Claire came to the door. They were smiling consolingly, although Claire's smile looked a lot more sincere than Janeece's. "Hey Tom, are you doing okay?" asked Claire.

"Pretty well, actually," said Tom.

"That's good! Keep up the good spirit, Tom! We're all very sad to see you go."

Janeece rolled her eyes.

"Oh, I'm not going far. My new office is just on the other side of the building, right next to Chuck's office."

The women looked shocked.

"Wait, you're not being fired?" asked Janeece.

"Fired? Me? I'm the most senior employee here! Of course I'm not being fired! Chuck just took me to lunch and told me about all the new perks I'm getting."

Tom picked up the box and headed out. The ladies, their jaws hanging, followed him through the cubicles outside.

"How the hell are you getting promoted instead of fired?!" asked Janeece.

Everyone heard that, and all the people who had been extra nice to Tom that morning stared at him like he was a dirty hyena now.

Claire put a hand on Janeece's arm. "Now, take it easy. We'll ask Mr. Roberts what is going-"

"Mr. Carlton!" said Sandy, running up to him. "Let me carry that box for you! I just learned that I'm going to be assigned to work under you!"

"WHAT!?" yelled Claire.

Tom thanked Sandy and handed her the box. He smiled all the way to his new office as Claire and Janeece, plus most of the rest of the employees, stared at him with undisguised loathing. Once he was in his new office and had the door closed, he put his ear next to the wall he shared with his boss. He was pretty sure he could hear Angelique yelling for the old man to lick her ass harder.