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Then I noticed Dennis didn’t have a glass either and took a sip directly from his plastic bottle.
I also took note that Dennis was also coatless, versus suits for the opposing side.
I definitely had yet to understand the dynamics.
Dennis and Talbot were saying something about the weather when Cindy entered and placed a coffee cup on a saucer in front of Talbot.
He nodded, without a verbal thank you to her. Jerk.
Before she left, another of our team came in and went through the handshake ritual with the other side.
I learned he was Pembroke, our general counsel.
He took a seat next to me. “Syd,” he whispered, sliding me his card.
I leaned and whispered back, “Jennifer.” I arranged my cards in front of me in the order of their seating.
“Shall we get started?” Talbot asked.
“Let’s,” Dennis responded. The pad in front of him was blank. He lifted the top sheet to read from the next page. “My note says you were going to give us a quarter update.”
I glanced sideways. The page he read from was also blank.
Sweaty Palms gave Talbot a sideways glance.
“I don’t remember that,” Beak Nose said.
Dennis lifted his Coke. “Let’s start there anyway.”
Sweaty Palms shuffled through his pile of papers, pulled out a folder, and opened his laptop to start the presentation..
Syd got up and flipped a switch on the wall that brought down a screen from the ceiling, and then adjusted the vertical blinds on the far wall to darken the room a bit.
Sweaty Palms started talking to the first slide.
“Can we get a copy of that for Jennifer?” Dennis asked.
Sweaty Palms glanced at Talbot, who nodded before he pulled out a stapled set.
I rose and thanked him before reclaiming my seat. Following along, the numbers were similar, but not the same as what I’d seen, but without the folder in front of me, I couldn’t be certain. I fidgeted, but decided not to leave to get the folder.
Then Dennis started asking me if I had any questions for Sweaty Palms after every few sentences their CFO got out.
Each time, I was question-less, and now my palms were sweaty as well.
Dennis was testing me, and I was failing at my new job.
By the fourth page of Sweaty Palms’s presentation, Dennis had given up asking me and had taken to grilling Baldy and Sweaty Palms himself about projections down the line.
Turning back to the second page, something had seemed odd at the time, but I hadn’t connected the dots.
I opened my phone’s calculator and had the answer in a few seconds. I raised my hand like a schoolgirl asking a question.
Talbot started talking over Baldy about the new product line and ignored me.
“Excuse me,” I inserted at a pause in their conversation. “I want to go back to the receivables for a moment.”
Talbot dismissed me with a wave. “We’re past that. George, let’s hit the next slide.”
