“He was pretty built, so I totally believed him,” another one injected. “You’re pretty crazy to take him on after that claim, Nao-senpai.”
I continued eating the lunch that Mai packed me, not paying much attention to the conversation until I heard my name. “I knew he was bluffing.”
Besides, even if he wasn’t, I’ve been in my fair share of fights. I would have figured something out at the some point. I was pretty confident in myself. Not that they needed to know this.
“How though?”
“His stances, I guess? The way he carried himself. For someone who was supposed to be a black belt, he sure didn’t know how to balance himself properly. He swayed too much when he walked, stuff like that,” I replied, trying to remember what it was about him that told me he wasn’t really a fighter.
“Are you some kind of secret master martial artist or something?” he quirked an eyebrow at me.
“Nao, my office. Now,” my manager called from the entrance of the break room. Then, without waiting for me, he walked out, leaving my two co-workers to just stare at me as if I had any more clue of what happened than they did.
“Uh,” I packed up my lunchbox as they continued to stare. “I guess I’ll see you guys later.”
When I arrived to his office, he was already seated back in his chair, reading through the files strewn across his desk.
“Sir?” I knocked on his half-opened door. “You wanted to see me?”
“Come in,” he responded, looking up from his work. “Close the door.”
I did as he demanded before taking the seat across from him. I stared at him expectantly, waiting for him to start the conversation. It seemed to take a few minutes, but he eventually broke the silence.
“How long have you been here, Nao?” he asked.
“A little over a year,” I answered.
He picked up one of the pieces of paper he was reading earlier. “You learn fast and you’re not afraid of people who try to cause trouble. Your supervisor has nothing but good things to say about you, and I can see why based on your performance reports.”
I expected him to continue because I assumed that he was going somewhere with this. Instead, he paused. When the pause was prolonged, I decided to speed the conversation along. “Thank you. Was there something specific about my performance you wanted to discuss?”
“Well, there’s something I’ve been wondering,” he cleared his throat before picking up another piece of paper on the desk and sliding it towards me. “On your application, you’ve disclosed to us that you’ve served time in a juvenile detention center on charges of assault. I understand you were young at the time, but it is still something that concerns me.”
“I understand, sir,” I responded, even though I understood nothing that was going on.
“So you understand that I’m taking a huge leap of faith for what I’m about to do.”
“Sir?”
“I’m offering you a promotion, Nao.”
“I’m not sure I follow... why?”
“Despite your troubled past, your performance here is phenomenal. You instinctively know how to de-elevate a situation, you are physically capable of jumping into action at any time, you make appropriate decisions under high pressure, and I have seen you looking out for your juniors without being asked to. When you are around, people feel relaxed because they know that if something happens, they can rely on you. That is supervisor material.”
I should be happy. He was willing to look past my past and see that I was a different person now. I liked my job, mostly because of how carefree it was. I just came into work, stood around for a couple hours, and then went home. There was never anything much to worry about and never any work to take home.
A promotion meant that would change. Possibly. Being a supervisor meant that I would have paperwork to fill out, people to look out for, schedules, and trainings to do. Did I want to take on this level of responsibility?
“I will need some time to think about this.”
“Of course. If you could give me an answer within the week, I would appreciate it.”
“Thank you, sir. Will that be all?”
“Yes. You may return to your designated area.”
No comments:
Post a Comment