"Have you seen her?" Noah asked Larry. He adjusted his phone's headset and finished typing the update email to the project testing group. He'd stayed in England when the rest of the team had disbursed earlier this month and now juggled his time between project work and production duties at the plant.
The "her" in question was the new developer. Her first day was last Wednesday, but with Larry the only core team member based in Houston, none of the others had had any contact with her. She had yet to attend a regular project meeting. Allegedly, she'd been in the room during a quick conference call earlier in the week, but she didn't speak so nobody had a first impression to go on. Not meeting her, even if it was virtually, was ratcheting up the stress levels with the developers. And their tension was grating on his nerves. Frankly, it was pissing him off.
After spending the past year working with the different branches of the company, he'd hoped he could transform the temporary assignment into an opportunity and perhaps make a lateral transfer. He didn't want to be a production manager for the next twenty-odd years, waiting for someone to retire. But this recent chaos had everyone on edge and was an unknown factor with the potential to disrupt his plans for advancement. His job didn't depend on this one new hire, but he couldn't help feeling that everything hinged on how smoothly she integrated with the team.
"Yeah. Simon's been introducing her here and there while giving her mini tours of the IT department," Larry said. Simon Miller was the enterprise applications manager and the IT director's second in charge. Noah had been surprised to discover the new developer reported directly to Simon on the company org chart. He'd expected her to report to one of the application managers below Simon. It was on his list of questions to ask Jackie when he was back in Houston next month.
"And?"
"She's pretty. Lotta red hair. Nice ass."
Noah rolled his eyes. "Did you learn nothing from the sexual harassment training you took in June?" He generally liked Larry, but the man had the worst sense of humor and ran off at the mouth more than he should. No one ever took him seriously, but yeah, if someone was going to say something off-color, you could count on it being Larry.
"Listen," he continued, "I don't care about her looks, Larry. I'm asking about her. Does she seem competent? Is she going to be a pain? Will the project schedule be impacted while we get her up to speed? Those are the things I want to know."
"She seems fine."
"So you really don't know anything." Noah flattened his voice into a teasing accusation.
"Yep, that's about it."
"You're a lot of help." Noah's mouth curved in amusement.
"I do what I can. How are the VIG guys? I haven't talked to anyone about it since we all scurried back home." As shallow as Larry appeared, it was an act. Noah had seen the guy bend over backward for someone in need.
Noah considered the question. Aside from him, the core team members lived in various locations around North America, some in the US and others in Canada. They would gather for intense work stints, then retreat to their home locations to work remotely until the next scheduled meetup. Regardless of where they were working from, the team talked every day, either by email or the company's messaging app. The work didn't stop just because they weren't sitting together.
"They're still walking on eggshells. They're not as tense as they were before we knew what the fallout would be, but they are nervous about this new girl's role and how she'll fit in with the team." Noah scanned the latest production run report as he spoke, highlighting a few numbers deviating from normal.
"Are they still thinking she's a snitch for upper management who will report back everything they say and do?" Larry asked.
"Yes. And I'm still hearing grumblings from them worried about their jobs." The thumping beyond his office door slowed and Noah turned in his chair to peer out the window separating his office from the plant floor. It was suspiciously quiet.
Larry's typing ceased on the other end. "Huh. I assumed Del was overreacting when he threw that out there. She hasn't said much in the few meetings I've seen her in. Mostly observed and taken notes."
"Interesting." Seeing nothing suspicious on the floor, Noah focused on his production reports again.
"Maybe she's just the quiet type." Larry's keyboard noises resumed in the background.
"We'll see." Noah caught movement in the corner of his eye and glanced through the window again. One of the shop supervisors was stomping his way toward him. "I need to run. I'll talk to you later."
"Hey, before you go, when are you flying to Houston?" Larry asked.
"Two weeks, I think? I'll be there from mid-October until Christmas, then back home to England."
"What about your gal? What's her name again?"
Noah scoffed. Larry was always ribbing him about women. He'd be shocked to learn Noah hadn't had a "gal" in his life for a while. "Jealous much?" As much as Larry went on about women, Noah thought he was lonely, so when the older man goaded him, he let it slide off his shoulders. "Look, I've gotta go. Something's up on the floor."
"Yeah, okay, I've marked my calendar. We'll grab a steak when you get in."
Noah disconnected and removed his headset as Keith barged in. The clatter of loud machinery assaulted his ears until the heavy door shut behind the irritated supervisor.
"Can you believe this shite? Sales has lost the plot again." Keith waved a clipboard around in one hand and glared at Noah.
Noah held his hand out and waited. "What's happened?" he asked.
Keith slapped the paperwork into Noah's hand. "We completed a bulk order for the eighty-fives on Monday, and reset for the fifteens today. Now they come in and want an emergency run of more eighty-fives! Do they not understand how long a reset takes? I swear, sales jockeys and bean counters kill me. Every week there's a new cock-up coming from them that we have to suffer through." Keith wiped his forehead and jammed his hardhat back on his head.
