Chapter 6
639 Words
Chapter 6
I quickly obeyed, even though my supervisor was the last person I wanted to see right now.
“I need to speak to you about your work,” he said.
“Yes, Mr Janga.” I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I knew what was coming. It was always the same lecture. And today there’d be extra because I’d messed up so badly.
He got straight down to business.
“The percentage of private conversations in each of your shifts is, on average, sixty four percent,” he told me. “This is unacceptable.”
“I’ve been through all this with Mr Sonrisa. Have you spoken to him? He looked at all the stats. The more we are allowed to talk freely, the higher the Amakio intake. It’s all there. Have a look for yourself.”
“Don’t get smart with me.”
“I’m not trying to be smart or whatever. I’m just sayin’. Check it out for yourself.”
Janga scowled at me. Maybe he hadn’t checked all of the stats. He changed tack.
“You seem to be getting too close to your Digger, which violates Employee Condition eight point one two, paragraph nine, which states—”
“I know what it states.”
“Do not interrupt me, Callista. It states that a Nav must not become emotionally attached to her Digger and under no circumstances at all, enter into a relationship with him.”
I resisted another strong urge to roll my eyes. Not him too. Had he been talking to Malvolio? How could he and Malvolio seriously think it was possible? Like we could ever meet and start a relationship together.
“Are you emotionally involved with your Digger?”
“He does have a name, you know. And no, we are friends and we enjoy conversing while we work, but it doesn’t go beyond that. It can’t. We’ll never meet each other. You know that. And it would not affect my judgement in an emergency situation.”
I added that bit on the end, knowing that that’s what this was leading up to.
“Well, that remains to be seen. We are watching you and I personally believe you should be assigned another Digger immediately, before the attachment is strengthened and lives are put at risk.”
“No, I—”
“I told you not to interrupt me! You are treading on thin ice, Callista. Don’t make me reassign you to desk work.”
I opened my mouth, but quickly shut it again. It didn’t matter I said. And the last thing I wanted was to be taken off my Nav Station away from Javolo.
“And then there is your performance today.” My stomach dropped. I prepared myself for the worst. “You were ten minutes late back from your lunch break. You let your emotions affect your work. What do you have to say for yourself?”
“It was nothing to do with work,” I said. “Nothing to do with Javolo at all.” Janga stared at me with narrowed eyes. “I have a personal crisis that I’m dealing with. That’s why I was late back from lunch. I won’t let it affect my work again. I called for a replacement because I’m feeling sick too.”
He didn’t look convinced. I wouldn’t have believed me either. “That’s not good enough. You have to be focused. Your Digger’s life depends on it. You need to sort this ‘crisis’ out and fast. Do not bring it to work tomorrow, or you will be suspended immediately. Do you understand?”
I cringed inwardly and looked down at my feet. “Yes. I understand.” I was definitely going to call in sick.
He glared at me. “This is an Official Warning, Callista. I am putting forth a formal recommendation to Sonrisa today for you to be assigned another Digger for the remainder of this Rotation, and for you to start sessions with the counsellor asap. We’re watching you, and listening.”
I sighed and tried not to react.
“And Callista?”
“Yes?”
“Lose the attitude. It will get you into big trouble one day.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Now get out of here.”
Janga was such a d**k.
- Writer
