aback by Angela’s immediate outburst that the printed words just seemed to swirl before her eyes. She thought she recognised some of it as being printed in Arabic, but she stumbled to say anything cogent.
“What? I don’t un-der-sta-and, Angela?”
Angela Mortimer stabbed her beautifully manicured bright red-polished index finger viciously on to the newspaper, hissing low at Marcie between her clenched laser-whitened teeth.
“Well, please allow me to explain, Dr Venters. This is an English-language copy of last week’s Al Jazirah newspaper. Unfortunately, many of our poor Arab Muslim cousins cannot afford to purchase expensive iTabs to digest their daily news -”
Marcie knew that Angela was having a dig at her knowing she was Jewish but she gritted her teeth and said nothing in reply.
“- I just happened to buy it for some light reading on the beach in front of the 6 Star Burj Al Arab Hotel, where I was trying to enjoy my holiday. Of course, the first thing I see on the front page is this poisonous article by some journalist called, eh – El Kharroubi - berating St Bart’s and the presentation you gave last week! He has compared my department to some sort of 21 st Century Auschwitz and that you are the Todesengel of St Bartholemew’s! What in hell happened when I wasn’t here?”
“Angela, that man was extremely rude to me in front of many of my fellow professionals!”
“Professional - you call yourself professional! I have made enquiries this morning and from what I hear you stormed out of that presentation. If you had been professional you would have stayed and headed off this Kharroubi fellow with reason and logic.”
Marcie felt the anger rising within her, the rims of her eyes forcing back tears.
“You want me to reason and logic with that Arab? I could not. He compared me with that beast Mengele. My forebears were butchered at the hands of that perverse Nazi bastard. No way would I try and reason with that!”
“Okay, okay, Marcie, let’s both calm down. Sometimes I think that is your problem. In the lab you are focussed and emotionless. But take you out of your comfort zone and, well, sometimes you become erratic and emotional.”
Marcie sucked in a deep breath to calm herself.
“I am always emotional about my work. And like you – I am a woman -”
“Agreed, Marcie, I am a woman. But I try to keep my emotions for when I am outside my work. I just ask that you also try to do the same. Let us just hope that this Al Jazirah thing just dies away quietly. Now what had you come to see me about?”
Marcie swallowed hard and thought that her next staement was not going to help matters.
“Well, you see, Angela, the thing is this – I have misplaced my memory stick. The one I was using at the presentation. I cannot find it anywhere -”
“Do you not have a copy of the presentation on your main computer?”
“Yes, but –“
Angela cut Marcie off.
“Well what’s the problem? It’s just a small stationery item. Just indent the stores for a new one!”
“I’ve already done that. It’s not that –“
Angela was getting frustrated and agitated again. She thought to herself, Venters thinks I’m some sort of stationery clerk.
“Well, Dr Venters, what exactly is the problem?”
Marcie swallowed even harder this time.
“It’s just that, em, you see, Angela – my workload on this Superstore DNA project has been such that I have been doing a lot of work at home lately –“
I’m now the Payroll Manager, Angela thought and interrupted again with her bitter sarcastic tone.
“And I commend you for that, Dr Venters. As you know your management contract does not allow for overtime payments. Any additional work is taken into consideration at the time of your Performance Appraisal –“
Marcie snapped back.
“Oh, for God’s sake, Angela, I’m not talking about money here! There was more than just the presentation on that memory stick!”
Marcie could almost see her boss’s
“What? I don’t un-der-sta-and, Angela?”
Angela Mortimer stabbed her beautifully manicured bright red-polished index finger viciously on to the newspaper, hissing low at Marcie between her clenched laser-whitened teeth.
“Well, please allow me to explain, Dr Venters. This is an English-language copy of last week’s Al Jazirah newspaper. Unfortunately, many of our poor Arab Muslim cousins cannot afford to purchase expensive iTabs to digest their daily news -”
Marcie knew that Angela was having a dig at her knowing she was Jewish but she gritted her teeth and said nothing in reply.
“- I just happened to buy it for some light reading on the beach in front of the 6 Star Burj Al Arab Hotel, where I was trying to enjoy my holiday. Of course, the first thing I see on the front page is this poisonous article by some journalist called, eh – El Kharroubi - berating St Bart’s and the presentation you gave last week! He has compared my department to some sort of 21 st Century Auschwitz and that you are the Todesengel of St Bartholemew’s! What in hell happened when I wasn’t here?”
“Angela, that man was extremely rude to me in front of many of my fellow professionals!”
“Professional - you call yourself professional! I have made enquiries this morning and from what I hear you stormed out of that presentation. If you had been professional you would have stayed and headed off this Kharroubi fellow with reason and logic.”
Marcie felt the anger rising within her, the rims of her eyes forcing back tears.
“You want me to reason and logic with that Arab? I could not. He compared me with that beast Mengele. My forebears were butchered at the hands of that perverse Nazi bastard. No way would I try and reason with that!”
“Okay, okay, Marcie, let’s both calm down. Sometimes I think that is your problem. In the lab you are focussed and emotionless. But take you out of your comfort zone and, well, sometimes you become erratic and emotional.”
Marcie sucked in a deep breath to calm herself.
“I am always emotional about my work. And like you – I am a woman -”
“Agreed, Marcie, I am a woman. But I try to keep my emotions for when I am outside my work. I just ask that you also try to do the same. Let us just hope that this Al Jazirah thing just dies away quietly. Now what had you come to see me about?”
Marcie swallowed hard and thought that her next staement was not going to help matters.
“Well, you see, Angela, the thing is this – I have misplaced my memory stick. The one I was using at the presentation. I cannot find it anywhere -”
“Do you not have a copy of the presentation on your main computer?”
“Yes, but –“
Angela cut Marcie off.
“Well what’s the problem? It’s just a small stationery item. Just indent the stores for a new one!”
“I’ve already done that. It’s not that –“
Angela was getting frustrated and agitated again. She thought to herself, Venters thinks I’m some sort of stationery clerk.
“Well, Dr Venters, what exactly is the problem?”
Marcie swallowed even harder this time.
“It’s just that, em, you see, Angela – my workload on this Superstore DNA project has been such that I have been doing a lot of work at home lately –“
I’m now the Payroll Manager, Angela thought and interrupted again with her bitter sarcastic tone.
“And I commend you for that, Dr Venters. As you know your management contract does not allow for overtime payments. Any additional work is taken into consideration at the time of your Performance Appraisal –“
Marcie snapped back.
“Oh, for God’s sake, Angela, I’m not talking about money here! There was more than just the presentation on that memory stick!”
Marcie could almost see her boss’s
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