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“It’s bad,” Esther said. “Really terrible.”
He ran his hand over the back of his neck. “Oh.”
“Overly complicated, difficult to parse, flaccid—”
“Okay.” He got to his feet, smiling as he snatched the pages out of her hand. “I get the picture. The joke is bad. Ditch the joke.”
“Weak,” she continued, having too much fun teasing him to stop. “Flabby, limp. Really not getting the job done at all.”
“But you liked the rest?”
“The rest is great. Really.” It felt good to be able to say something complimentary about his writing and actually mean it.
His whole face lit up, like she’d just told him he’d won the lottery, and something fluttered in Esther’s stomach. He was shockingly handsome when he smiled like that. Too bad he didn’t do it more often.
“All right,” he said, waving the script pages at her as he headed for the door. “Thanks.”
“You keep working on those jokes, friend. One day you’ll be funny.”
He raised his middle finger at her, grinning as he let himself out.
“I believe in you!” she shouted as the door slammed behind him.
Chapter Twelve
Thursday was Esther’s performance review at work—her first review with her new manager, Diane.
Esther wasn’t worried about it. She was good at her job. She always got her work done under deadline and made fewer errors than most of the other design engineers.
“Have a seat,” Diane said when Esther showed up at her appointed time. Diane had an office to herself, because her job involved interviewing new hires and doing performance and disciplinary reviews. Also firing people. It didn’t seem like a fun job, even if she did get her own office with a door and a window.
“How’s your week been going?” Diane asked, lacing her fingers together on top of her desk and smiling. She was in her forties, but she looked much older. Everything about her was dowdy: her hair, her clothes, her glasses, even her smile. She reminded Esther of her fourth-grade teacher, Mrs. Kopecki, who had been in her seventies.
“Good.” Esther shifted in her seat and tugged her skirt down over her knees. Even though she wasn’t worried about her review, it felt a little like being called to the principal’s office.
“Glad to hear it.” Diane’s smile got wider. “Shall we get this over with?”
Esther nodded. “Sure.”
Diane looked down at her desk and shuffled some papers. When she looked up again, she wasn’t smiling as much. “I’d like you to know you’re one of the most promising engineers we have. You’re technically brilliant, and your ability to quickly find innovative, efficient solutions to engineering problems is second to none.”
So far, it was all good. But something about the way she said it made Esther feel like there was a “but” hanging out there.
“However…”
And there it was.
“At times you can come on a little too strong, or give the impression that you’re impatient or disdainful of your peers and their abilities.”
Esther’s mouth opened, but all that came out was, “Oh.”
Diane paused, tilting her head to meet Esther’s eye. “You’re one of the best engineers on your team, Esther. Which means that most of your coworkers won’t be as good as you at what they do. But everyone here has a contribution to make, and you need to be able to work cooperatively—with everyone.”
Esther nodded, feeling numb. This wasn’t at all how she’d thought this would go. Her last review had been stellar. Her old manager hadn’t had any criticism for her at all. They’d spent the whole time talking about what kind of project she’d like to move to next, and the path to becoming a subject matter expert, and what kind of technical areas she might be interested in pursuing.
It hadn’t gone anything like this.
“It might be helpful to remember this is a team,” Diane continued, “and not a collection of individual heroes. In order for your own work to be effective, you’ll need to be able to work with your peers and superiors in a smooth, efficient manner.”
