"Customer service scores dropped 3% since last week," a man in a blue tie was speaking but Kevin wasn't listening. He was staring out the window at the kids playing in the park below. "Each of you are responsible for holding your store managers accountable and I want to hear how each of you are committing to bringing these numbers back to standard," the man continued and then looked around the room to see who would speak first. The room was silent until the man saw Kevin staring out the window. "Kevin! If you don't mind, can you tell us what you're doing to motivate your store managers?"
Kevin continued staring out the window for a moment and then finally turned his head toward the man in the blue tie and then around at the other district managers in the room that were now all looking at him. "I plan on sitting down with each of them, over the course of the next two weeks, one on one and asking them questions. Find out what they think leads to actual customer satisfaction and how to translate that into actionable steps for their employees. I will reiterate with them that it is their job to train and get their employees, that they chose, to do their jobs," Kevin responded calmly and with confidence.
"Well," the man in the blue tie began to speak when Kevin interrupted.
"I know that there are a few managers that like to hang out in their offices and never actually show what good customer service looks like to their employees," Kevin said looking into the blue eyes of the blue tied man.
"Well. That sounds good enough. Does anyone else have anything to add?" The sooner Kevin stopped talking the better.
Kevin turned around to look out the window but the kids were gone and so were his hopes of distracting himself from the dull meeting. Maybe there was something he could do to end the boredom? He began looking around at the parking lot and thought about what might happen if one of the cars were to just blow up. But which car? He looked around and saw a particular distasteful yellow Hummer and closed his eyes tightly. After a minute of intense mediation he heard an enormous BOOM and gasps from all around him. He opened his eyes and to his surprise and excitement the yellow Hummer was engulfed in twenty foot flames. People in the room and in all the rooms, in all the buildings near by, gathered at their respective large windows to see what had happened.
Kevin was filled with a sense of joy for only a second when a sense of guilty fear started to creep under his skin. What if someone found out it was him? Was it him? How did he do this? He stood up and briskly walked out of the room and as he left he heard someone behind him saying,"Where's Kevin going?"
He walked down the hall, past the empty desks, into the elevator and out of the building. As he made his way to his car, which was not that far away from the inferno that was once an over sized gas guzzler, he looked up and saw his fellow managers staring down at him with confused and angry faces. Kevin got into his utterly practical sedan and drove home passing a few fire trucks on the way.
When he arrived at home he turned the news on but no channel was covering the explosion. Must be too soon, he thought and decided to put on the next episode of "Game of Thrones" instead. He had a normal evening which consisted of a sandwich for dinner, smoking weed after that and then playing video games until his eyes were so heavy his characters wouldn't stop dying. He went to bed barely remembering the events of the day. All he knew is that he felt good knowing he got to leave work early.
The next day Kevin woke up in a great mood. He made the breakfast he only made on special occasions, blueberry pancakes and hummed while he ate. When he was about to grab his keys to leave for his office his phone rang.
"Kevin, it's Larry. We need to have a conversation about yesterday. Come to my office when you get here," said the man with no emotion and most likely a blue tie.
"Okay," Kevin said and hung up the phone. A sense of dread was making it's way through his skin and settled in his stomach. How would he know I made the car blow up? Maybe they were mad because the cops needed to interview all the witnesses. Or was it about the meeting or something else? Before he could think about driving he was already walking into the office building.
As the elevator doors opened a slew of concerned faces greeted him and he knew something terrible was in store. Kevin walked to Larry's office slowly, struggling to will each step forward. He knocked and was told to come in. He opened the door to see Larry and another man waiting for him. Larry spoke first.
"This is Henry from HR. He's only here to observe. Sit down," Larry had on a red tie this time. Kevin sat down in the leather chair. "What were you thinking yesterday? You can't just leave in the middle of a meeting. Did you think that I wouldn't do anything?" Larry was starting to get angry.
"I thought," Kevin started.
"You thought that you could just leave in the middle of my meeting and go home," Larry asked now standing up. The man from HR looked up and then started furiously writing in his note book.
"I was distraught, because of what happened. Maybe I just needed some time," Kevin said while looking down. He hoped this would appease Larry and his red tie.
"Well. Your getting a formal write up for this and no more bullshit from you," Larry said beginning to regain his cool. "You get that down Henry?" Larry said looking at the man from HR who was still furiously writing in his note book. "Get out of my office," Larry demanded.
Both Kevin and Henry stood up.
"Not you Henry," Larry said angrily.
Kevin left the office feeling like he had dodged a bullet. He was making his way over to his office when someone tapped him on the shoulder. It was Susan but she had never spoke to him directly before.
"It was pretty awesome how you just got up and walked out of the meeting yesterday," She said smiling at him, he dark eyes piercing his soul. "Bad ass," she added and walked away from him looking back and smiling as she did.
Kevin was dumbfounded and smiled all the way back to his office. When he got there he ran straight over to the window and looked out at where the yellow Hummer had exploded and smiled to himself when he saw another yellow Hummer parked in the same spot, completely untouched. It had worked. His imagination had created a reality that suited him and next time he was stuck in a boring meeting he would close his eyes, meditate on that yellow Hummer and make something happen.
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