Amanda was an office worker. One of those cogs in the corporate machine. She could explain what she did for a living, but she often just told people the company where she worked. In specificity she worked in accounts payable oftentimes having to take on the burden of explaining to suppliers that the money was on the way, knowing the company was playing accounting tricks with the books. She was good at her job, but she always felt like she was cleaning up the mess sloppy immoral men at the top of the corporate ladder made.
Accounting is where Evan worked. He started the job naively thinking that he was going to be supported in being a stand up steward for the company. Time and time again he was asked, or really told, to work accounting magic to make the books balance for the shareholders. He gave up explaining after day one that he can only make things appear a certain way but the numbers are what they are. He was constantly asked to do things that were unethical and illegal. He many times put his head down, did the right thing, and then let his supervisor complete the lie. He was told many times that his inability to fit into company culture was why he always stayed a junior accountant even though he was over-educated and qualified for the job. He was kept on because he was “damn good at crunching the numbers,” but his pay never went up.
Amanda was always on the look for a new job. Accounts payable was paying well enough, but she wished that she had more choice. She felt that she always had to be the responsible one.
Evan and Amanda both ate lunch in the company’s cafe. The company provided snacks and even full lunches to those who wanted them. They both typically would bring their own sack lunch from home whether it be leftovers from the night before or simple turkey or peanut butter sandwiches. The company was pushing what they deemed to be healthy food and wanted their employees to eat better and thus get a discount with their American health insurer. More often or not the fruit being pushed were apples.
Amanda and Evan would sit near each other around the same time, but never with each other. This was all the usual and mundane until one day Amanda had forgotten her lunch. The previous times when she forgot it, she normally just stayed at her desk and toughed it out through the afternoon, but today she figured she would get some of the company’s handouts.
Evan wondered why he had never noticed her before. He saw that she had some sparse company food and decided to start a conversation. “Hi, aren’t you normally part of the bring your own lunch club?”
The question startled Amanda normally only talking to a few of her colleagues from accounts payable. “Yes, I forgot mine today. Normally I just go without for a few hours, but I figured I would give this a try.” She looked around knowing that her and Evan were pretty much the only ones who brought their own lunch.
Evan motioned to sit and Amanda welcomed him. “Would you like my apple? They pretty much throw them at you when you walk in the room.” He raised his apple as an offer.
She raised the apple she received upon entering the room. “I already have mine.”
They both chuckled and started to talk not realizing they were late to get back to work and they were the last two in the cafe as it was being cleaned.
“I guess we should get back,” Evan said.
“Yeah, it was nice talking with you. I’m surprised we haven’t met before.”
“Well, you know, the corporate world likes to keep people in their little areas.” They both began picking up the places to toss their trash. “So,” Evan spoke with the nervousness of a gentleman, “would you like to go out sometime?”
Amanda smiled, “yes, that would be nice.”
They exchanged numbers and waited for the weekend.
(The conclusion posts in a week form this post.)