The Meeting

He entered the room and took his usual seat in the back corner—as far away from the “action” as he could get. He put down his Coke and flipped open his laptop. Working during the meeting was frowned upon, but the screen made him feel protected. 

He hated these weekly meetings. Nothing ever got discussed or decided; everyone just filled the  boss in on what they were doing. It could all just be email. Half the time, it didn’t feel real anyway.

As usual, the boss was late.  When he finally strolled in, he grinned like he always did and greeted the room.  He turned to Joni and said, “Let's get started.”

Robert tried not to zone out, at least not until after his turn. Nobody likes looking surprised when their name is called because they haven’t been paying attention. But there were so many projects that he knew nothing about and had no interest in.

When his turn finally came around, he gave his update. Everything was fine, everything on track. He didn't have any real issues but he needed to invent something for his boss to work on, otherwise his boss wouldn’t feel like he was doing his job. He mentioned that purchasing had stalled a small order, would his boss make a couple of phone calls?

Once he was done, Robert zoned out again. There were so many more projects; he hoped he wouldn’t fall asleep.

As the meeting ended he picked up his laptop and started to walk up out of the room. Pete walked over and said, “Hey, Rob—”(he always calls me that—my name is Robert, he thought) “—congratulations! Couldn't be more well deserved.”  What was Pete talking about?

Robert mumbled a confused thanks and was still standing there when  Joni came up. “Congrats! That's going to be a lot of work. If you need any help, let me know.” He’d always liked Joni; she was the type of person who always volunteered to help. He just didn’t know what she was offering to help with.

What had he missed?

Had he zoned out so badly he had fallen asleep? 

Was he assigned a new project?  Something important that needed to be done?  He looked around but he couldn’t recall.  He sat down and tried to replay the meeting.  “OK, we started with Joni.  What did she say?”  No answer came.

He sat there for a while, deep in thought. Only then did he hear the fire alarm that had been going off.  A fire drill, “Oh, another distraction.”  He hadn’t noticed everyone leaving, but the room was now empty. He grabbed his laptop and went to the door.  This wasn’t their usual meeting room.  He couldn’t remember the fastest way to the exit. The fire alarm must have been going for a while—there was no one in the hallway.  Left or right? There was no exit sign at either end.  He turned left.

When he got to the end of the hall, he saw the stairwell.  He had a bad premonition. He had to get out. The alarm was still ringing. Was this a real fire?  Did he smell smoke? 

No one was in the stairwell.  How long had he been distracted?

At the bottom of the stairs, the main door appeared and he felt a wave of relief—he was almost there.  He reached out to open the door—and knocked his alarm off his nightstand.

Picking up the alarm, he sighed, “Another day at the office.”