Carson found Chandra in her cube banging away on her keyboard. He hoped she wouldn't be there and passed by several times waiting for the butterflies in his stomach to settle down. The anticipation of his task just made them worse, so he decided to plunge in head first and get it over with.
He took a deep breath and knocked on the frame of her cube. "Excuse me, Chandra?" She didn't respond. He knocked again.
"Hold on a minute," she replied.
Carson detected an agitated edge in her voice. She continued to peck away at her keyboard, giving him some time to reflect a little more on the situation. He decided it just wasn't worth it and would be better to quit while he was ahead. He turned to leave just as the pecking stopped.
"What is it?" she demanded, spinning her chair around to face him.
"Oh, hi," Carson's voice cracked as he turned back to face her. "I didn't mean to disturb you. Maybe I should come back another time?"
"Well you've already disturbed me, so what is it?" Chandra crossed her arms and her legs and stared at him. "Hey, aren't you that new guy who works with Jason Braun?" Her eyes narrowed and her face became even darker.
"Ahh..." Carson's mouth went dry. "Yeah, that's me." His tongue felt like cardboard and made a clacking noise when he spoke.
Chandra's hands clenched into fists and she pounded them on the armrests of her chair. "I can't stand that guy!"
"Yeah, I know you don't get along that well, which is why I was hoping we could, uh, get off on a better foot..."
"Yes...and..." Chandra rolled her hand towards him in a circular motion as if she were trying to pull words out of Carson's mouth.
"Well, I thought maybe we could have lunch sometime?"
"Are you asking me out on a date?" asked Chandra, making a disgusted face. She threw her arms down by her sides, "Are you trying to hit on me?!"
Carson glanced up at the wall and saw one of the blue HR lights and froze, expecting it to go off at any moment.
She pointed a finger at him, "You know that's bordering on harassment, buster!"
Carson held his hands up and shook them. "No hitting! No hitting!" he exclaimed, looking back up at the blue light again. "No one's hitting on anyone!"
Chandra crossed her arms again. "Then what do you want?" she asked through pursed lips.
"Look, I'm new and I'm trying to feel my way around..." Carson stopped and smacked his forehead. "Bad choice of words... Okay, what I'm trying to say is, I just wanted to ask a few questions to learn more about this place, like what kind of role you have and how configuration management supports your projects. I know you are really busy, so I thought you might have some free time during lunch, that's all."
"Oh," said Chandra, running her fingers through her shiny black hair and flipping it back over her shoulder. "So you didn't want to ask me out on a date?" she asked in a softer tone.
"No, no, not a date," replied Carson.
Chandra stuck her lower lip out and twiddled a strand of hair between her fingers. "Oh, okay," she answered in a quiet voice.
"I mean, it's not that you're attractive." Carson winced. "No, I mean you are attractive, but not in a way that... I mean..." he shifted his weight and put his hands out in front of him, "That is to say, being attractive or not being attractive has nothing to do with work, or the work place, but talking about work during work is..." he threw his hands down in desperation. "This isn't working."
Chandra's face took on a puzzled expression. "You mentioned lunch?" she asked.
"Yes, lunch! Are you free for lunch today? I thought we could just go to the cafeteria. What kind of food do you eat? I mean, do you eat cafeteria food?" he asked, biting his lip.
"I try not to. I usually bring my lunch, but I suppose I could get a drink or something."
"Yeah, I usually bring my lunch too."
"What time?"
"What time?" Carson's mind drew a blank.
"When do you want to meet for lunch?" she asked, enunciating each word as if speaking with a foreigner.
"Oh, yeah... Whenever's good for you. You know, lunchtime." He nodded his head.
Chandra checked her calendar on the computer. "I can meet you at twelve-thirty, but I have to be back no later than one."
"Fine; twelve-thirty it is. I'll meet you in front of the cafeteria."
"Okay," she answered. There was a painful silence as the two stared at each other. Carson felt lost in her large, dark brown eyes.
"Was there anything else?" she asked.
"Oh, no. That's it. Thanks. I'll see you at twelve thirty." Carson turned to leave and smacked into the cube wall, nearly knocking it down. "Ow!" he said, rubbing his nose.
Chandra jumped out of her chair. "Are you okay?"
Carson nodded and held up his other hand. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Thanks," he replied in a nasal tone, and walked out of the cube. Oh that went well, he thought as he checked his nose for blood.
***
On his way back to his cube, Carson saw Ruben coming toward him down the aisle. He looked for a doorway to duck into but it was too late; Ruben had already spotted him.
"Carl!" Ruben shouted, waving his hand as if hailing a taxi, "I've been looking for you."
"It's Carson."
"Whatever. Listen, Gruber wants to see the first draft of the project management plan for Dreadnaught A-S-A-P."
Ruben rested his elbow on the hallway wall and leaned over him. Carson could smell coffee and cigarettes on the man's breath, making his stomach turn.
"The configuration management plan is part of the overall project plan and I'm assigning that to you. I need it, like, yesterday, so you might want to clear your calendar, Bub."
"Is there any example or references I can get started with?" asked Carson, turning his head to the side in an attempt to escape Ruben's noxious breath.
Ruben raised his eyebrows. "I thought you were the CM expert; you should know what to do. If not, I guess you have your work cut out for you. You might want to clear you weekend schedule too, then."
Ruben straightened and put his hands on his hips. "I'm going to need that by Monday morning, eight AM sharp," he said, poking Carson's chest with a bony finger. He then turned and walked down the hallway. After a few feet, he stopped and turned back. "You better get started, sport," he said, holding his fingers in the shape of a gun and pointing them at Carson.
Carson rubbed the spot where Ruben poked him and headed back to his cube. Now he really wished he could find Martin. Carson had no idea how to write a configuration management plan and once again, he was in desperate need of help.
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