"Unfortunately, remote isn't going to work. You know Caprock's policy on face-to-face to avoid miscommunications," Simon said. "And our accounting folks have already tried to break it down, but something is getting lost in translation. We need to see their process for ourselves and understand how they are pushing data through MADS. Everyone lumped them in with the rest of Europe, which seems like a colossal mistake right about now."
"Isn't it a bad sign if the accounting guys don't understand?" Jenny asked, showing her business analyst chops. Claire thought the question was valid.
"We'll be fine. Grace Simmons from the GFS team is coming with us. She works with these guys every day and should be able to translate the accounting pieces."
Simon paused with an eyebrow raised, then continued when no one said anything further.
"Noah, Claire. The brass wants the two of you in England the week prior to our Norway trip."
"What? Why?" Noah asked. Even with an empty seat between them, the icy stiffness of his response blew over her, giving her goosebumps, and Claire leaned forward, waiting for Simon's answer.
"Claire needs to visit the England plant, and it's good timing. You're scheduled to go back to England in December anyway and this way, you can show her around and introduce her to everyone. In the future, she'll be working with both the users and the IT folks from England as well as here. From there, you'll both fly to Norway and join the team to work on this credit issue."
"I'm not scheduled to go back until closer to Christmas," Noah argued.
"Well, now you're going a couple of weeks early." Simon paused. "Is there a problem?" he asked.
Noah grumbled under his breath. "Nothing I can't rearrange."
"Claire."
She jumped as her boss focused on her. "Sir?"
"You have your passport in order, right? No problems there?"
"No. I mean, yes, no problems. I'm good."
Simon nodded. "Okay. Call Jake in HR. He's with the travel group. He can help you arrange your flights."
Noah pushed back from the table and stretched. "I'll do it. No sense in the two of us trying to schedule our flights separately."
Before she could thank him, Noah stood and walked out of the room. Claire blinked as she watched him leave. She didn't ask him to book her flights. She could take care of her own arrangements. Before she could get herself worked up, she remembered Simon had blindly overridden Noah's plans for December. Without knowing more than that, she decided to choose grace and assume Noah was annoyed with Simon, not her.
Chapter 13
Revelations and Apologies
"Okay, before we go any further, we need to have a safety moment." Simon's announcement was followed by groans and mumbled complaints. "Yeah, yeah… quit your whining. We're technically supposed to do this at every meeting, so be happy I only do them once a month."
"He does?" Claire whispered to Jenny. "I've been here almost two months and this is the first time I've heard about it." Jenny giggled and elbowed her.
They sat up straight as Simon paused and glared around the room. "And don't tell anyone I said that unless you want more of them."
There was some grumbling, but everyone nodded in agreement before he continued.
"Okay. Today's safety topic is what to do when someone has a seizure."
Claire froze. What the heck? She had disclosed her condition when hired, but never thought to be put on the spot like this. When she glared at Simon, however, he wasn't looking at her. Instead, he was studying a brochure in his hands. Okay, maybe this wasn't about her.
He briefly ran down the first aid procedures listed on the card. Time the seizure. Keep them safe from harm. Turn them on their side. Don't put anything in their mouth.
"Any questions?" he asked.
"I thought you had to do something to keep them from swallowing their tongue," Larry said.
Claire opened her mouth to speak and quickly shut it again. Don't say anything. Keep your mouth shut.
"Yeah, and what about calling 911?"
