reply. "Oh dear, I know you are. I must have been so frazzled that I forgot to mention. It's quite alright. I am glad you are here." I stood up from my hiding spot and walked briskly towards my boss's office, angry that my mom always let Bethany off the hook, angrier that she wanted to ruin my birthday by talking to me about junk. Because that is what it felt like, a bunch of stuff that just did not need to be talked about. I am thirty now for gosh sakes, and if I am going to make mistakes, I do not want my mother's input on it.
I opened my boss's door and there stood a man all of five foot one, oriental persuasion, baggie logo'd jeans, and matching tee shirt, only two gold chains today; he must have been in a rush to get to work and no hat. No Crawly work shirt, which was typically a no-no, but he was the boss, so he got away with his current dress code that he considered dressed up for the job. Add to the fact that he had some kind of mohawk haircut going on that was all held back like a ponytail to the back of his head. "Amber!" He was excited to see me. I walked in, closed his glass door to his glass office that overlooked the production floor.
"What's sup?" I plopped down in an old green leather chair and relaxed my body.
"Happy Birthday!" He stood over his desk, but not by much height, as they had never found him a smaller desk for his tiny pint-size body. He looked over to me from something he was looking at on his desk. "Was that your mom and sister I saw out there?"
"God. Yes. She wants to take me to lunch. Berate me that I haven't quit my job and gone to college." My boss, Mr. wannabe gangster but goes by the name of Wally Woo, knew all about my life, even about Steve. I had sent him an early inner office memo that I was passing off my new beau Mason, as Steve. He sent me back a short comment. 'You work fast'. Wally Woo was cool that way. He got it. All of it. The over bearing parent, the better than me sister, the boyfriend issues and if I wasn't mistaken he was about to help me out.
"Well. Here. Happy Birthday. Show this to your mom." He handed me a packet, and I looked at it.
My reply was excited but sounded more stunned. "Online management course paid for by Crawly. Rocking." I finally looked up at him and practically jumped out of my seat to hug him but refrained. Office etiquette had some boundaries, besides I would feel like I was hugging a fifth grader. "Dude. How'd you get this approved?"
"Let's just say that your last review was outstanding, and if I can get you trained and replacing me, I can move up to International Sales Management. That gig pays a hell of a lot more, and the chicks will dig me in a three-piece suit."
I laughed while holding the packet in my hand. "Woo, they dig you any ways. There is no one quite like you Woo." We both started to laugh. "See you at Pete's tonight?"
"You owe me a song." I nodded and smiled as I walked out. We did the perfect rendition of Ice-Ice-Baby last month that had the crowd cheering. As a boss, he was super cool, but as a friend, he rocked it. Perhaps he was one of the many reasons I didn't think leaving this place ever made sense. I was truly happy here. It's not a rocket scientist job, but it's a great job with great pay and benefits so why would I want to go anywhere else. Oh yeah, the fact that it would get my mother off my tail about getting an education.
As I walked down the hall with the packet about college in hand, paid for by Crawly, I knew that my mom would find something wrong. I could only hope it was enough of a distraction to keep her from going on about Steve and asking about Mason. I know I needed to tell her, but I just did not want to deal with her on any of this. As I rounded the corner to my cubicle, half lost in the cover letter to my packet telling me that my two-year online management course