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The note read “Turkey_Lozenge_Dynamite_23.”
“Is that the new password?”
“Obviously.”
That seemed to be his favourite word.
“Well, thanks.”
I had already lost his attention.
Back at my desk, I couldn’t wait to show that vexing sign-in form who was boss. I threaded my fingers together and cracked my knuckles before typing the new password in. I pressed enter, and…
The same error message.
No. This isn’t happening.
I tried the chat. Same thing again.
I stood up, ready to march straight back to the IT department, when a thought struck me. The guy at the help desk never asked for my email address, just my name. That wouldn’t normally be an issue—the email addresses followed a strict naming convention: first name dot last initial at Luxmore dot com. But there was more than one Amelia C in the company, and the other Amelia had that email address, not me. With this in mind, I tried the password with the Amelia dot C email address.
Bingo.
The other Amelia’s emails filled up my inbox.
I realised with a sinking feeling that this did nothing to remedy the situation. All I had accomplished was locking Amelia Crook out of her emails by changing her password. I wanted to bang my head against the wall in frustration.
I would have to go back to the help desk to sort it out, but first, I decided to call Amelia Crook and explain what was going on. She worked in the marketing department. I didn’t have her direct line, but I had a laminated list of the main numbers for each department taped in the corner of my desk. I made the call. After a few rings, a man picked up. “Hello, Luxmore marketing department, Harry speaking.”
“Hi, Harry. Can I speak to Amelia Crook please?”
“Sorry. Amelia doesn’t work here anymore. Would you like me to put you through to someone else who can help you?”
She doesn’t work here anymore…
“No. That’s okay. Did Amelia get made redundant in the restructure?” I asked.
“Yes, I’m afraid she did.”
“I see. Well, thanks for letting me know. Bye.”
I hung up.
So, Amelia Crook had lost her job. That meant IT must have made a mistake. Yeah. They got our names mixed up and closed my account instead of hers.
Or…
With a creeping sense of dread, I realised there was a second possible explanation.
Chapter Six
An ominous message in the work chat greeted me on Monday morning.
Lauren Grant:
Hi, Amelia! Could you please pop in to HR today?
Despite the message’s cheery tone, my blood ran cold. Had HR caught on to the Amelia mix-up? Did they even know they were chatting with me and not Amelia Crook?
