Then he texted Clare. Just the suit is fine. Stop worrying. Three dots appeared immediately. Then I wasn't worrying.
Then did you try it on? Then never mind. See you Tuesday. He smiled at his phone in the dark bedroom. He went to sleep.
The union filed the formal request for the assessment document on Monday. By Wednesday, something unexpected happened. Don called Marcus into his office again. And this time, Don looked like a man who had received information he hadn't been prepared for. "The corporate office wants to meet with you," Don said.
Marcus stayed completely still about the restructuring. About your department's performance record, Don shifted in his chair. Apparently, the firm's assessment was flagged internally when our legal team ran it against the actual department metrics. There's a discrepancy. He said the word carefully like he was aware of how much it was carrying.
Corporate wants to understand it when Marcus said Friday 2:00 conference call with the VP of operations and the firm's lead consultant. Marcus looked at his manager for a long moment. Don had the expression of a man who was trying to determine whether he was witnessing a problem solving itself or escalating and wasn't sure which outcome he preferred. I'll be there, Marcus said. He went back to work.
He Gerald a text with three words. Meeting Friday conference call. Gerald called back within 10 minutes with instructions. Say what you know. Cite the numbers.
Do not speculate. Do not get emotional. And do not under any circumstances let them reframe your performance as luck. That night he told Clare. She was at his kitchen table.
She'd knocked with Tuesday's quissants. And neither of them had mentioned that it was Wednesday and she listened to the whole thing with her hands wrapped around her mug and her expression doing the thing it did when she was processing something and waiting for the full picture before she responded. When he finished, she said they found the discrepancy themselves. Their own legal team flagged it, which means someone inside the company already knew this assessment was wrong and needed it on record before they moved forward. She looked at him directly.
Marcus, this is good. This is them giving you the opportunity to make the case rather than forcing you to fight from the outside. Or it's them bringing me into a room to manage the situation before it becomes a legal issue. Also possible, she said. Both can be true.