The Overdue Report

When your boss asked you to prepare a financial report that she could present at the quarterly stockholders? conference call, she gave you plenty of advance warning. Ms. Wu gave you the assignment on Monday morning, and the conference call was scheduled for end of day, Friday. A full week. No problem.

Except that now it?s 4:00 PM on Friday afternoon, and the report?s not finished.

It?s almost ready. Despite a series of unlikely and unexpected obstacles, you managed to pull together all of the information you needed for the report, except for one item: a pie chart that you asked Brad from Accounting to prepare for you. He dawdled and dragged his feet, and you nagged him and hounded him, and finally, this afternoon, he e-mailed you the chart. And naturally, now your computer is down.

The folks at the IT desk tell you that they?re in the middle of several disasters already, and that they won?t even be able to think about looking at your computer until Monday morning at the earliest. This does not put you in a good position for finishing your report in the next sixty minutes. Ms. Wu might be able to convince the IT folks to rearrange their priorities, but her door is closed, and you know that she does not like to be disturbed when her door is closed.

The good news is that Jackie, Ms. Wu?s assistant, is at her desk. Jackie is in her mid-twenties, with wavy blonde hair and bright blue eyes. You know that she?s tall, with long, lovely legs, but as she?s seated behind her desk, neither her stature nor her legs are apparent. Today she is wearing a white blouse whose top three buttons are undone, revealing her throat, a handspan?s worth of chest, and a generous slice of cleavage. Her breasts are round and full and threaten to pop the next button at any moment.

The bad news is that Jackie seems just as busy as everyone else. She?s jumping from phone call to phone call on her headset, trying to look up information both from her computer and from an assortment of files and notepads on her desk. As she sees you approach, she quickly manages to hide a ?I don?t have time for this right now? look (just after you manage to hide your ?I?m staring down the front of your blouse? look).

?I hope this is quick,? she says. ?I?m trying to get some last-minute answers for Ms. Wu before the conference call.?

?It?s the conference call I need to talk about,? you tell her. ?My computer is down and I can?t finish the report Ms. Wu asked me for. The IT desk says that they can?t spare anyone to help me. I was hoping Ms. Wu might be able to call them and convince them this is an emergency.?

?She doesn?t have a lot of free time herself,? Jackie says, tilting her head toward the closed door behind her. ?Can?t you just...?

At that moment, her phone rings again, and she glances at the caller ID and frowns. ?I have to take this,? she says, and after a mournful glance at her empty coffee mug, she sighs and answers the phone.