I Woke Up 178 by M.P. Arsent
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I didn't say a word,simply sat there and did as I was told. Did I want to take the guy by the scruff of his neck and escort him to the front door? Damn right I did,but that wasn't the way to handle it.
A few of the others heard what was said to me and were waiting for me to go off the deep end. I had to consider just what I wanted to do at this point as it was likely to define me in the eyes of a lot of the folks on the floor. I looked up at the clock and we had about 15 minutes before the opening bell. I stood an motioned for Patrick to follow me. I headed into my dads office and Stan certainly saw us go in there. I closed the door.
"Mr Greene, you do not take that tone of voice with me or any other member of the staff. It is NOT how I expect to be treated nor should it happen to any one else either. I am prepared to overlook it this one time,but so help me I hear of it again and you WILL be shown the front door. Now get back to your desk. I'll join you shortly."
He turned on his heel and made his way back to his desk. Stan poked his head in through the connecting hallway.
"Rubbed you the wrong way did he?"
"He told me it may be my company but to shutup and sit on my hands because I didn't know anything."
Stan flinched at that one.
"And he still has a job here?"
"For the time being,but he's on slick ice. Does he do that to everyone,or was I singled out for special consideration for some reason?"
"He's pretty short with just about everyone, but he's never been downright rude before. You want I should have a word with him?"
"No I think he has heard quite enough for now. You know of anything in his life that might be upsetting him?"
"Nothing that I've heard about."
"I'd better get out there and support him the best that I can."
"That's if he'll let you."
"Yeah."
The murmur that was running through the floor came to an abrupt halt as soon as I stepped out of the office. All heads were turned in my direction.
"We have work to do people."
Which was all it took to get things going again.
Patrick was a bit closed mouth when I sat down next to him. Soon enough the phones started ringing and we eventually settled into a smooth operation between us.
4:30 finally got there and we were done for the day.
Patrick turned to me before I could go to find Stan.
"Mr Sawyer, I need to apologize to you for my actions this morning. There was no excuse for it."
He hadn't whispered this either. It was said loud enough so that those who had heard him this morning could well hear him now.
"Don't let it happen again."
I offered him my hand and he took it.
After that I went and found Stan.
"You handled that well Dennis. Otherwise it's been a quiet day."
"We can use all of those we can get. See you in the morning."
Another "hump" day taken care of.
Al and I were home and we had a bit before supper would be ready. Karl wasn't home yet so I hit the pool. Bobbie was soon enough over to give me grief until he was called home to supper at about the same time Karl showed up. I was out to dry off before Mrs Ohanlon gave me the heads up.
"So how did your day go Den?"
"Oh it started off rough but we got through it."
"Rough how?"
"Angelo is out for a couple of days and I got put with a different trader,who managed to quite securely put his foot in his mouth before the bell even sounded."
"Do I want the specifics?"
"No as we took care of things right away. The day evened out pretty quick once we started working. How was your day?"
"Not to bad. I sat in with day while he interviewed people. Takes a lot more...skill I guess, than I thought it would. You have to know how to read people and dad taught me a lot today. It's not just the answers on the application that you have to look at."
"Yeah I haven't had to interview anyone yet but I've always thought there had to be more than just the answers on a form. The written language can be manipulatedor flat out lied through. So can the spoken for that matter, even attitude can be faked for a while I'm sure. So no doubt in my mind at all that there is a bit of talent or art involved being a personnel manager."
About that time dinner was put on the table and shortly after Mrs Ohanlon was on her way home. Karl and I hit the pool again for a bit and then just crashed out in front of the tv.
We crashed a little earlier than usual and were right there on the go again at 5:45. Laps were run,showers taken an breakfast consumed and the the three of us were out of the house.
Once I was inside the building I found Stan for the overnight report.
"Quiet night in both the after market and the Asians. Europe doesn't seem to have woken up yet."
"Really quiet or just nothing happening at all?"
"Just really quiet. There are transactions taking place, just nothing large or of note. Nothing on the news wire to give any indication either."
"Is it just me or does this feel like something bad is about to happen?"
"Not just you Dennis. Keep your eyes on the wire today and stay on your toes."
"Word of the day is conservative again?"
"For right now yes."
I got out to my desk and Patrick was there shortly and didn't seem to be in a good mood at all.
"Anything wrong Patrick?"
"Nothing that you can do anything about Mr Sawyer."
"You need time off? I can arrange that."
"Thank you but no. This is one of those things that is going to have to solve itself, and my taking time to try to address it would probably only make it worse."
"Just know that we'll do what we can for you Patrick."
"I appreciate it Mr Sawyer. Now what's got Mr Bellows brow so furroughed?"
"Things seem too quiet on the European markets this morning,like people are waiting for something to happen."
"That doesn't sound good."
"Doesn't feel good either. Word of the day is conservative and to keep our eyes on the news wire."
We soon got down to business and I kept a close eye on the news wire and supported Patrick as best I could. The day was quiet all around the world it seemed, like everone was holding their breath. Try as I might, I couldn't find a reason for it, or could I?
It was a stupid idea but I went to Stan anyway.
"Stan, what if the world is waiting to see what Andros does with all of those millions? It's a big enough story to grab attention around the world isn't it?"
"There's no doubt that what he does could well have international repurcussions, but enough to slow down the world economy?"
"What if he decided to fund some new little known technology that could revolutionize more than one industry? What if he found a way for cold fusion or something equally earth shattering?"
"That could certainly do it, but to keep something like that a secret seems highly unlikely. Word of research on that scale would likely have spread even if only by word of mouth. As far as I've seen there hasn't even been a hint."
"Well, it was just an idea."
"And not a bad one Dennis, and there might well be some validity to it in the long run. There's the closing bell. Best go get things cleaned up for the day Dennis."
"Sounds like. See you in the morning."
I went back to my desk and shut things down for the night. Patricks mood hadn't improved much during the day.
"Remember Patrick, anything we can do to help."
"I'll remember Mr Sawyer and thanks."
"Get out of here and relax. That's an order."
"Sir, yes sir!"
He snapped me a salute,did an about face and walked away, but with a smile on his face.
Al and I were very shortly out behind him. It was an uneventful trip home and we had beat Karl home again, but not by much.
"So how was your day love?"
"Quiet,too quiet. Like the calm before the storm."
"That doesn't sound good."
"It doesn't feel good, and there's nothing to point to anything that might be a big enough happening to cause this kind of concern."
"Which probably means it's something political."
"There aren't and governmental conferences scheduled for the foreseeable future,no national elections anywhere that I or Stan know of. No military build ups reported anywhere in Europe. There's the usual stuff in mianland China and the Russians. India has been quiet,things in Pakistan seem to be holding steady. There just doesn't seem to be anything happening anywhere."
"Which is when everything seems to go to hell in a handbasket. Sounds like all you can do is keep your eyes and ears open lover."
"Seems that's all we can ever do. Let's go eat."
We had our supper and pretty much just crashed tonight and we were to bed fairly early.
5:45 and another Friday got itself underway. The usual routine was followed and Al and I were soon at the office.
"Same as last night Dennis, nothing seems to be happening."
"It's going to be a hell of a long weekend it something doesn't happen today."
"Regardless, all we can do is hang in."
"Yeah I suppose. Best we get ready to get to it."
I moved on out to my desk and got my terminal set up for the day. Patrick showed up a few minutes later.
"Same as yesterday Patrick. Keep our eyes and ears open."
When the bell finally sounded,not a single phone rang. It seemed the 'wait and see' attitude of much of the world had caught up to the United States.
"What the hell is it that we're not seeing?"
A rhetorical question at best and not one I really expected an answer to.
"If I could answer that Mr Sawyer....."
By noontime there was some minor business going on and by closing it was almost up to the standards of a quiet day.
Stan sent everybody home with an "Enjoy your weekend", which kind of gave me the feeling that Monday was going to be a bear of a day.