Login info is on that sticky note. The operations team meets every morning at 9:00. I’ll introduce you." At 9:00, Amara followed Sarah to a conference room. Six people were already there, chatting and drinking coffee. They fell silent when she entered.
"“Everyone, this is Amara Williams.” She's joining the operations team as a junior analyst. Amara, this is Marcus, Jennifer, Tom, Rachel, David, and Claire." Claire was a woman in her late 20s with sharp features and perfectly styled blond hair. She looked Amara up and down, then smiled tightly. "“Welcome.”" The others murmured greetings and went back to their conversations. The meeting started.
Marcus, the team lead, went through the week's projects. Amara took notes, trying to keep up with the jargon and acronyms. Everything felt foreign. She’d studied this stuff in school, but actually doing it was different. After the meeting, Claire approached her desk.
"“So, you’re the one Ethan personally hired.”" "“I went through an interview.”" "“Right. Of course.”" Claire’s smile didn’t reach her eyes. "“It’s just unusual.” He doesn’t usually get involved in entry-level hiring. You must have made quite an impression." "“I hope to prove I deserve to be here.”" "“I’m sure you do.”" Claire tapped a stack of files on Amara’s desk. "“These need to be reviewed by end of day.” Data entry, basically.
Pretty straightforward. Let me know if you have questions." She walked away before Amara could respond. The files took all day. Client reports, financial data, compliance documents. It was tedious work, but Amara forced herself to focus.
She finished at 7:00 p.m., long after most of the office had emptied out. The next few weeks fell into a pattern. She arrived early, stayed late. She took on every task given to her, no matter how small. She asked questions carefully, aware that some people seemed impatient with her, especially Claire.
"“Amara, did you finish the Henderson report?”" "“Yes.” I sent it to you this morning." "“I didn’t get it.”" "“I sent it at 8:15. Would you like me to resend it?”" "“Never mind. I found it.”" Claire’s tone suggested this was somehow Amara’s fault. "“Next time, make sure the subject line is clearer.” Or Amara, we need the Riverside analysis by noon." "I wasn’t told about that project." "Marcus mentioned it in the meeting last week. He assigned it to Tom." "Well, Tom's busy with something else now.
“Can you handle it?”" "“I’ll try, but I don’t have all the background data.”" "“Figure it out. That’s what we do here.”" Amara figured it out. She always figured it out. But the pattern continued. Last-minute projects, unclear instructions, blame when things went wrong.
One afternoon, she was working on a client presentation when her computer froze. She tried rebooting. Nothing. She went to find IT. "“My computer crashed.