Your Life and Business

“She said I’m not friendly,” Sam whined, entering the office. He checked his watch and added slowly, trying to sound relaxed: “Something has made me hungry.” “Who said WHAT?” Emily asked quickly, sipping her coffee.

“Actually, I wanted to leave earlier today,” Emily said looking at her watch “it’s 17h30… John is still having a meeting with Ron. If John comes …” She frowned and sighed fixing her eyes on her watch again: “Why should work always come first?”

Ruth, John’s deputy, was standing in the middle of the open plan office and looking at the tribal mask that John had given her. “It’s fantastic. Thank you! Hmm.. John, I’d like to talk to you but I have an appointment with Mr. Smith now,” Ruth said. John suggested that they have lunch together and left the office.

Ruth looked at her watch and saw it was 08h50 and nearly time for their weekly team meeting. As John wasn’t here this week, she would be running the meeting herself. Ruth enjoyed bringing the team together on a regular basis to discuss progress and to hear everyone’s feedback.

Ron knew that starting a new job is considered to be one of the most stressful life events. He started as a senior manager two days before John went on holiday. Being John’s boss, Ron wanted to build a relationship with John’s team as quickly as possible.