manner when you return to the US and your senses. Clearly your aunt’s death had affected your behaviour more than we anticipated. It’s understandable. But this is your career we are talking about here…’
‘I resign, Giles. I’d rather get a job scrubbing toilets than continue to work under your management.’
To her amazement she heard a smattering of applause in the background and knew it was either Lauren, or more likely Toby, who had been unable to resist the urge to celebrate her moment of revenge, or was it madness? Had she really thought this through? What on earth was she going to do without an income? Wasn’t Manhattan the most expensive city in the world to rent an apartment? And how could she throw away everything she had been working towards since she left college? All those late night scrambles to close an investment deal to make their wealthy clients more money than they could spend in one lifetime? Was that all for nothing?
A curl of self-doubt tickled at her abdomen as a crystal clear image of her mother’s gentle face floated into her mind, swiftly chased by a rendition of her father’s mantra which he had repeated often since they had laid her mother to rest. ‘
Pursue your dreams as hard as you can, but don’t forget to pause and smell the flowers you were named after!
’
She returned her cell phone to her bag but knew she would be retrieving it again shortly to take Lauren’s flabbergasted call. She was amazed to find the crushing weight that had taken up residence in her chest since the wedding had not just shifted, but melted away.
As she set the ancient kettle to boil and searched for a packet of the loose tea her Aunt Bernice favoured, she contemplated her now-former workplace. She envisaged the stony faces of Giles and the other two senior VPs at the boardroom table in that temple of insatiable greed which preached any problem could be solved by throwing enough money at it, so why not take the risk? She knew that those who shied away from the excessive risk-taking were destined to wallow in the lower echelons of the company hierarchy and became mindless paper-shifters, indoctrinated in the culture that screamed money was king and its accumulation the only goal worth pursuing.
Young associates at Harlow Fenton existed on frequent injections of caffeine which disguised the lack of restorative sleep and the ever-tightening tentacles of the stress they all constantly fought against. They were obliged to accept these tortuous conditions as a rite of passage; they, like their predecessors, had to pay their dues. There was no slackening of expectations even when those who had endured the gruelling journey had reached the top and were in a position to make changes. More was always better in the corporate culture of excess – more hours, more money, more clients, more deals, which often translated into more booze, more food, more sex, more emotional crutches.
Chained to their computer monitors, blinkered to the outside world in their corporate cocoons, where nothing worth knowing happened anyway, their only companions were stale, stained coffee cups and gut-wrenching fear. Every waking hour was spent nose-to-screen until they succumbed to their chosen poison or expired. Then they’d be wheeled out, without a word of thanks, and a fresh-faced business school graduate would be slotted seamlessly into the vacated booth to continue the relentless cycle, their naivety exposed when they swore they could tame the corporate tigers lurking in the financial jungle.
Her only regret was that her resignation had left Lauren alone to continue the fight against the ‘male, pale and stale’ culture that was so prevalent on the Harlow Fenton board. In order to survive an executive needed to focus firmly on their intended escape route for when the pressure became unsustainable, and Rosie knew Lauren’s was motherhood. Lauren and Brett had been trying for a child for well over a year now, the failure
‘I resign, Giles. I’d rather get a job scrubbing toilets than continue to work under your management.’
To her amazement she heard a smattering of applause in the background and knew it was either Lauren, or more likely Toby, who had been unable to resist the urge to celebrate her moment of revenge, or was it madness? Had she really thought this through? What on earth was she going to do without an income? Wasn’t Manhattan the most expensive city in the world to rent an apartment? And how could she throw away everything she had been working towards since she left college? All those late night scrambles to close an investment deal to make their wealthy clients more money than they could spend in one lifetime? Was that all for nothing?
A curl of self-doubt tickled at her abdomen as a crystal clear image of her mother’s gentle face floated into her mind, swiftly chased by a rendition of her father’s mantra which he had repeated often since they had laid her mother to rest. ‘
Pursue your dreams as hard as you can, but don’t forget to pause and smell the flowers you were named after!
’
She returned her cell phone to her bag but knew she would be retrieving it again shortly to take Lauren’s flabbergasted call. She was amazed to find the crushing weight that had taken up residence in her chest since the wedding had not just shifted, but melted away.
As she set the ancient kettle to boil and searched for a packet of the loose tea her Aunt Bernice favoured, she contemplated her now-former workplace. She envisaged the stony faces of Giles and the other two senior VPs at the boardroom table in that temple of insatiable greed which preached any problem could be solved by throwing enough money at it, so why not take the risk? She knew that those who shied away from the excessive risk-taking were destined to wallow in the lower echelons of the company hierarchy and became mindless paper-shifters, indoctrinated in the culture that screamed money was king and its accumulation the only goal worth pursuing.
Young associates at Harlow Fenton existed on frequent injections of caffeine which disguised the lack of restorative sleep and the ever-tightening tentacles of the stress they all constantly fought against. They were obliged to accept these tortuous conditions as a rite of passage; they, like their predecessors, had to pay their dues. There was no slackening of expectations even when those who had endured the gruelling journey had reached the top and were in a position to make changes. More was always better in the corporate culture of excess – more hours, more money, more clients, more deals, which often translated into more booze, more food, more sex, more emotional crutches.
Chained to their computer monitors, blinkered to the outside world in their corporate cocoons, where nothing worth knowing happened anyway, their only companions were stale, stained coffee cups and gut-wrenching fear. Every waking hour was spent nose-to-screen until they succumbed to their chosen poison or expired. Then they’d be wheeled out, without a word of thanks, and a fresh-faced business school graduate would be slotted seamlessly into the vacated booth to continue the relentless cycle, their naivety exposed when they swore they could tame the corporate tigers lurking in the financial jungle.
Her only regret was that her resignation had left Lauren alone to continue the fight against the ‘male, pale and stale’ culture that was so prevalent on the Harlow Fenton board. In order to survive an executive needed to focus firmly on their intended escape route for when the pressure became unsustainable, and Rosie knew Lauren’s was motherhood. Lauren and Brett had been trying for a child for well over a year now, the failure
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