Carrie's Calamity

Chapter One

Chapter One

Carrie Hatchett was sitting at her new desk in her new office without a clue what she was supposed to do. She looked out the window. Next to the road outside the office block, clear as day, was a big sign saying ‘Carrie Hatchett Enterprises’. Carrie turned on her computer. Folders relating to the various business dealings and internal concerns of her new company peppered the screen. She sighed.

It had been very nice to discover that she was the owner of a company after returning from an assignment that had sent her back in time. It had been especially nice that it was the company she’d only recently been fired from. Yet she was beginning to wonder if she was really as lucky as she’d thought.

Carrie chewed her lip, studied the computer screen and clicked on a folder. Around one hundred files popped up. She scanned the file names, but few seemed to make any sense.

An awful feeling of familiarity swept over her. She recalled the first day she’d worked at the company, when it had operated under a different name. She’d been hired as supervisor of the call centre in spite of the fact that she had no relevant qualifications. She’d soon found herself entirely out of her depth.

Most puzzling and frustrating of all had been the call centre’s manual for dealing with complaints. The steps had seemed to lead customers around in a circle rather than dealing with the complaint.

The files on the computer screen might have made more sense than the complaints manual if Carrie had the slightest understanding of businesses or accounting or sales figures or staffing protocols or manufacturing agreements. The truth was, she probably had a better comprehension of the pheromone language of her alien managers in her other job as a Transgalactic Intercultural Community Crisis Liaison Officer. In other words, a smidgen more than nothing.

Carrie sighed again and closed the screen. Should she give up the idea of managing the company and leave? If she slipped out the back door maybe no one would notice. She loved her new expensive house and car, but were they really worth the trouble and responsibility of running a company? She fondly recalled her little flat where she’d previously been perfectly content living with her dog, Rogue, and her cat, Toodles. If she found a simple job, like dog walker or ice-cream seller, she might be happier, if poorer.

She gave a sudden sneeze and noticed that her throat was sore. Great. To add to her problems, she had a cold.

As had become her habit when she didn’t know what to do, she decided to ask her best friend for advice. Carrie went out, nearly bumping into her personal assistant, Alice, who was holding a full mug.

“Oh, sorry,” said Alice. “I was just bringing your tea.”

“Great. Thanks. Just put it on my desk.”

Carrie went through the outer office where Alice sat and then down the stairs.

Alice hadn’t asked her if she wanted any tea. Carrie wondered if she had one every morning. As far as Alice was concerned, Carrie had been the company owner for years. But Carrie herself was living a new time line that had been created by something that happened during her previous assignment with the Transgalactic Council. She hadn’t lived those years that Alice had known her and she had no memory of them. Technically, she was the same person, so Alice probably wouldn’t notice anything too different, but Carrie worried about slipping up in some other way that might make Alice think she was losing it. Just thinking about it all made her head spin.

Rob from Accounts passed her in the corridor. All the people working at Carrie Hatchett Enterprises seemed to be the same ones she remembered.

“Hi Rob,” she said cheerfully.

“Morning, Ms. Hatchett.”

Ms. Hatchett? Hadn’t her previous self told the staff to call her Carrie? That would be one thing she would change.

The call centre department was on the other side of the building. It was reassuring to see as she made her way over, that everyone seemed to be working happily. No disasters yet.

As she stepped into the call centre, Carrie’s first impulse was to check who was sitting at the supervisor’s desk—her previous spot. A woman around her own age was there, speaking into a head mic and looking very harassed. Not surprising.

Her friend Dave was sitting with his back to her. No lights were flashing on his console, which meant he had no calls waiting. He was playing a game on his phone to pass the time. When Carrie touched him on his shoulder, he jumped and quickly shoved the mobile into his pocket.

“Oh, it’s you,” he said, relieved, when he saw who had disturbed him. He spoke quietly. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Huh? Why didn’t you call me? Don’t you know my extension number? Reception would have put you through.”

Carrie flushed a little. “I didn’t think of that.”

“Maybe we should go outside to talk,” said Dave.

“Good idea. Bring your umbrella though. It looks like rain.”

***

SMOKERS WERE HANGING around the back door of Carrie Hatchett Enterprises. They melted away when Carrie appeared with Dave. If she did want to secretly walk out, she would need a different escape route. Dave opened his large black umbrella as thick drops of rain began to fall.

“You know,” he said, “it might be better if you didn’t approach me like that when we’re at work. You’re the boss now and I’m just one of your call centre workers. People will think it’s weird.”

“Yeah, maybe you’re right. Yet another downside to my surprise ownership of this company. Dave, you’ve got to help me. I don’t know if I can do this. I don’t know the first thing about running a business.”

“I’m sure you can learn, if you put your mind to it. You can be really smart sometimes.”

Carrie put her hands on her hips. “What do you mean, sometimes?”

The rain began to pour down.

“I just mean...” Dave coughed. “I mean, that, sometimes, you...”

Carrie looked up at him from under frowning eyebrows.

“Oh stop it,” he said. He gave her a shove, pushing her out into the rain.

“Hey,” Carrie exclaimed as her untameable hair became instantly wet. Chuckling, she stepped under the umbrella again. “Seriously, I could do with some of that smartness right now. I don’t even feel like going back to my office. I mean, what am I supposed to do there? What do company owners do all day? I’ve never even thought about it. Never thought I’d have to.”

“Actually...I don’t know either.”

They both paused as they tried to figure out the answer to the problem.

“Maybe they have meetings?” Dave offered.

“Maybe. But if I call a meeting, I’ll have to speak to everyone as if I know what I’m doing. It won’t be long before they all figure out that isn’t true.” Carrie shivered. The rain was cold and she’d come out without her coat. “I’m worried that if I try to do anything, I’m going to mess up. Everyone’s relying on me for their livelihoods. I can’t take the risk. I might make a disaster of everything. I’m just going to have to sell the company.”

“Don’t do that,” Dave exclaimed. “That’s the worst thing you could do.”

“Why?”

“Carrie, every boss I’ve ever worked for has been bad. Just nasty and egotistical people who behaved terribly towards their staff. Now that you own the company, we have someone nice to work for. Someone who actually cares about us as people. Remember what it was like working here before we changed the time line?”

Carrie did remember, and her mind returned to the young woman now sitting where she used to sit. She would be fielding complaints and sending customers down a rabbit hole of never-ending frustration until they finally gave up. Maybe she could do something to make her job easier. Before going on her last Transgalactic Council assignment, she’d put together a list of suggestions to her former boss intended to increase customer satisfaction. She could recall most of them.

“Thanks, Dave. That’s really kind of you to say that. And it’s true. I do care about the people who work here. In my previous life, they were my friends, and as far as I’m concerned, they still are. Maybe there are some things I can do to make Carrie Hatchett Enterprises a great place to work.” Carrie sneezed.

“Bless you,” said Dave. “Maybe we should go inside? It sounds like you’ve got a cold, and my boots are getting ruined.”

“You and your boots. All right. Come on then.”

At the door, Dave shook out his umbrella and placed it in the corner to dry. They went in different directions down the corridor, Dave returning to the call centre and Carrie returning to her office. She felt calmer after her talk with her best friend. For the moment, she had something concrete to do. She would look up the complaints procedure and try to improve it. Customers were constantly complaining about the items of equipment that her company sold. It was a wonder how it survived. She had never understood exactly what they made or what the things did. Maybe finding out would be her next step.

Maybe she could learn to be the boss of a company after all. She remembered the tea Alice had made her and hoped that it wasn’t cold. Then she realised that if it was, all she had to do was ask Alice to make her another cup.

When she arrived at her outer office, however, Alice didn’t look as though she was in the mood for making tea. The woman looked frantic, in fact.

“Ms. Hatchett,” she exclaimed. “Thank goodness you’re back. Your phone’s been ringing off the hook. First it was customers, then shop owners, and then it was the police. They’re on their way.”

“The police? What’s happened?”

“All the tools and parts we sell have been going crazy and attacking people.”