The New Guy

Todd Cuthbert sat nervously at his desk, flipping through tabs on his quarterly revenue report and practicing his talking points in his head. He’d had a decent quarter. His existing accounts had increased by 3% and he’d added one new client to his portfolio but lost another, so his net sales were basically flat. Not a disaster, but below target and he was sure it wasn’t going to be a great meeting with the Sales Director.

Todd was an Account Manager at RevTec, a company that specialized in accounting software for sales and retail companies. As far as jobs go, it was about as boring as he could imagine, but he’d been with the company for 5 years and it provided a good, steady income. He’d started with them right out of college, after a 9-month job search and dozens of interviews for more exciting positions.

His degree was in Finance and Accounting, and he dreamed of working on Wall Street for one of the major Investment firms. Unfortunately, his BS from Central State in Ohio didn’t get him a second look from anywhere that exciting. He took the job at RevTec and moved to Minneapolis, not exactly Manhattan, but a place to start.

Looking back, Todd considered it the best decision he’d ever made in his life. Not because of the job, but because of a girl, Kaitlyn Sullivan. Todd and Kaitlyn met through a dating app three years ago, and, for Todd at least, it was love at first sight.

Kaitlyn, who went by Kait among friends and family, was a high school social studies teacher and assistant coach on the girls’ soccer team. She was also the most perfect girl Todd had ever laid eyes on. She was 5’4”, with shoulder-length, wavy brown hair, and a gorgeous athletic body, the gift of playing soccer her whole life. Kait didn’t consider herself to be model-level attractive, but she was undoubtedly cute and enchanting.

In truth, Todd believed he was punching way above his weight class with her. Not that he felt totally inept when it came to girls and dating. He’d had a few girlfriends in high school and college, and a steady stream of dates before he met Kait in Minneapolis.

He never considered himself exceptional though. He was average height, 5’11” in shoes, though he always liked to exaggerate a little and say he was 6-feet. He’d played some football and basketball in high school but wasn’t particularly athletic and rarely got the chance to play in games. Now 27 years old, he jogged and worked out a few times a week at the office gym to try to stay in somewhat reasonable shape, but he didn’t exactly look forward to hanging out at the pool with his shirt off in the summer.

Todd was pulled out of his nervous fidgeting by a loud laugh coming from the office of Mr. Thornton, the Sales Director. Looking up, he saw Thornton walking out of his office with Hunter Puissant, the newest Account Manager at RevTec, who had joined the company a few months earlier.

The pair were in the middle of a jovial conversation. Thornton was a middle-aged man with a slightly receding hairline and goatee two decades out of style. His clothes also seemed to be meant to fit a man 20-years younger, as his slacks struggled to contain his hefty gut.

“Great quarter, Hunter! I wish we had a few more men like you around here.” Thornton said, looking up at the much taller and younger man, giving him a friendly slap on his broad back.

“Funny, that’s exactly what all the girls tell me too.” Hunter responded in perfect deadpan, causing Thornton to fold over in exaggerated laughter again.

Todd’s eyes rolled back in his head as he watched the exchange. The Director wagged his finger at Hunter as he tried to regain his composure. It was the type of interaction between the two he had to watch multiple times every day. Thornton’s perpetual fawning and obvious attempts to buddy up with the new star of the office were literally nauseating.

As Hunter strutted away back to his desk, Thornton looked up and made eye-contact with Todd. His countenance changed immediately. Still somewhat slouched over from laughing, he pulled his shoulders back and the smile on his face turned into a stone-faced stare.

“Alright Cuthbert, let’s go.” He said with an almost painful inflection.

Todd grabbed a couple of printed out reports from his desk and headed in for what was surely going to be a long and unpleasant meeting.