She's the Boss by Lisa Lim Page A

men are?”
    “Why, of course,” he replied with a pearly white smile. “They’re my references!”
    Suffice it to say, the interview with Larry, Moe and Curly was over as soon as it began.
     
     

Chapter Nine
     

     
     
     
     
    The door was flung open and I turned toward it, watching Carter stride in, lips first. They swam into the conference room like a rainbow trout.
    “Why are all these people in my meeting?” he demanded.
    I took in the scene through Carter’s eyes. The conference room was jam packed. “It happens all the time,” I remarked lightly. “Meetings here are attended by far too many people and most of them don’t even need to be here. If you ask me, it’s a big drain on company time. Meetings,” I said in my best infomercial voice, “the practical alternative to work.”
    Carter’s frown deepened. “So why are they here?”
    I shrugged. “I guess they don’t want to feel left out.”
    “But I didn’t invite them!”
    “Someone obviously did.”
    Carter adjusted his tie and cleared his throat. “Since half the call center is present here at this meeting, I’d like to say two things. One: Amanda Briggs will be returning to work next week. In case some of you aren’t aware, she’s recently lost her husband. I’ve had some conversations with Amanda over the phone, and she is doing well. Now when and if you do speak with Amanda, please don’t worry that you will be bringing up the pain of her loss; she’s well aware of her loss. Rather, your acknowledgement doesn’t just recognize his death, it reaffirms that his life was lived.”
    Truong met my eyes from across the room and we both raised our eyebrows in reluctant admiration. Everyone seemed to be listening intently, hanging on to Carter’s every word as if he had a direct line to the Almighty.
    In a meeting like this, I undoubtedly felt the influence he wielded. And as much as I hated Carter, I had to admit, the guy was like duct tape. Simply put, he had a light side and a dark side to him . . . and he held shit together.
    Shit like this call center.
    “And two,” Carter’s voice carried across the room, “the only people who should be in this meeting are Karsynn Higginbotham, Deepak Prasad, Jewel de’Nyle and Shane West. The rest of you, please leave now. This meeting does not concern you. ”
    The conference room started emptying out and I found myself humming, “Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall. Ninety-nine bottles of beer. Take ninety-five down. Pass it around. Four bottles of beer on the wall.”
    And then there were four. Well, if you included Carter, then there were five.
    Carter sat down and began, “The four of you are in this meeting because I’ve received your application for the Project Manager position.” He stopped to let it sink in. “One thing you should know about me is that I have a somewhat unconventional approach to managing my team. I don’t simply look for opportunities to do the unexpected, I create them.”
    Deepak butted in quickly, “I know exactly what you mean! I’m constantly going against the grain, paddling against the tide, bursting through conventional wisdom, so to speak.”
    By now, Deepak had talked himself up so much that his head had blown up a thousandfold. An unlikely vision flashed before me. Deepak’s ginormous head was floating down Central Park West like a giant air balloon in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
    Someone seriously needed to deflate that giant head of his.
    Meanwhile, Deepak carried on talking about Deepak. “People have always knocked down my ideas because they’re too far out there. But look at Google! It’s one of the most successful companies around and guess what? Like Carter, the Google team takes an unconventional approach to managing.”
    I groaned inwardly. Deepak’s false flattery was so transparent.
    “That’s true,” Carter acknowledged. “Google allows its employees to spend one day each work week focusing on their own projects.