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.* * * *Two hours later, he and Karl were in an elevator going up to the boardroom on the top floor.“Couldn’t you have worn something nicer, a little more professional?” Karl asked with a sneer.Jon looked down at his button-down shirt and khakis, the typical business casual outfit he wore to work.“If I’d known I’d be meeting all the department heads and the new CEO, I’d have put on a tux.”“Look, these are important people.If you don’t want to make a good impression, that’s your problem.”Jon gave Karl’s outfit an once-over.“You’re wearing almost the same thing I am except you have on a sports jacket.” With stains on the cuffs, he didn’t add.“The jacket makes the difference.It tells the world that I’m a professional person and I take my job seriously.”“Okay, Mr GQ,” Jon said under his breath as the elevator doors opened and they exited.“You going to do a PowerPoint?” Karl asked.“No.”“No?” Karl’s jaw dropped open so wide and his eyes bugged out to such an extent that Jon would have laughed if he hadn’t been so nervous.“My program is the presentation.PowerPoint would be redundant.”Karl made a tsk-tsk sound.“This is going to be a disaster.You’re going to make a fool of yourself, and since I’m your boss, I’m going to look like a fool too.”Jon breathed a sigh of relief that they’d reached the receptionist’s desk outside the boardroom before he could tell Karl that he already looked foolish.Once he’d given the receptionist his name, she directed them to some nearby chairs.“So, what’s your presentation going to be about?” Karl asked.“I’m going to show how my software program works.I’ll do a walkthrough of what a customer will see and do by using it.”“Is that all? Don’t you have some pamphlets or brochures to give out so they can follow along?”“I only learned I was going to be presenting two hours ago,” Jon said, unable to keep the tension out of his voice.“I didn’t have time to make up pamphlets or brochures.I barely had enough time to get my program in presentation shape.I think all the bugs have been worked out.”“They better be.This is the big time, not amateur hour.I hope you’re ready.”You and me both, Jon thought as the receptionist walked towards them.“The gentlemen will see you now.”Both Jon and Karl rose, but the receptionist held up a warning hand to Karl.“I’m sorry, Mr Turner, but for now, the request is only for Mr Pritchard’s presence.”Jon headed towards the boardroom, leaving Karl to argue with the receptionist.“Do you know who I am? I’m the supervisor of Team 3A in the data entry division of the Information and Technology Department.”That’ll show her, Jon laughed to himself.She’d met all the department heads and the new CEO, but the supervisor of Team 3A would have her quaking in her heels.He opened the door, and recognised Leonard, the IT department head, who shook his hand.“Jon, thank you for meeting us on such short notice.But I’m sure you probably know better than anyone how quickly plans can change around here.”“Yes, sir,” he said, looking around the spacious, modern room.While the view of the Philadelphia skyline, showcased by the floor to ceiling windows, dominated the room, Jon noticed the mahogany conference table, as well as the leather ergonomic chairs, were the latest offerings from the Cressen office furniture line.He congratulated himself on including the line in his program and hoped it was a sign that all would go well.Leonard showed him to the head of the conference table, where a laptop had already been set up.“I hope this is all you need,” he said under his breath.Jon nodded, and Leonard turned back to the rest of the room.“Gentlemen, this is Jon Pritchard, one of the hardest-working employees in my department.On his own initiative, he created a software program that will provide Cressen customers with a new interactive experience.I’m very impressed with this young man’s hard work, and I hope you will be too.”You’re just as full of shit as Karl, Jon wanted to say, knowing Leonard didn’t have the first clue about his software program.Instead, he focused on syncing his flash drive to the boardroom’s laptop.After he saw the welcome screen appear on the laptop, he clicked on the icon that would transfer the image to the screen behind him.A brief glance around the room revealed plenty of sceptical expressions, which caused Jon’s voice to quaver a little as he began to speak.“Okay, this first screen is the Cressen Furniture website, what the customer sees when they first sign on.I’ve created an icon they can click on that will allow them to take different pieces of furniture and pair it with other pieces from different areas of the site to see how well they go together.From there the customer can—”Jon stopped dead in his tracks as his eyes fell on the man at the opposite end of the table.From the way he sat apart from the other men, who were huddled together on either side of the table, it was clear this was the new CEO.However, what interrupted Jon’s train of thought was the recognition of the man as the sweaty stranger from the break room the day before.The man who had come to his defence was here, not more than twenty feet away.The man he’d almost picked up was his boss’s boss’s boss, with maybe another boss or two thrown in.A hint of recognition flickered in the man’s hazel eyes, but professional detachment quickly hooded over it, and Jon thought maybe he’d imagined seeing it.For a moment, he forgot where he was or what he was supposed to be doing.All of a sudden, he and the sweaty stranger were back in the break room and Jon had a second chance to ask him out.This time, probationary status be damned, he was going to go for it.But Leonard’s voice brought him back to the present.“The customer can what, Jon?”Snap out of it, your career is on the line here, he reminded himself.“The customer can post the pieces of furniture he or she has selected to Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, or Twitter to get opinions from friends and followers.This, in turn, will drive more traffic to the Cressen Furniture website and create more buzz.I’ve created an example of what a typical customer experience will be like.”The further along he went in his presentation, the less Jon focused on the new CEO and the more he concentrated on showcasing what his software program could do.It helped that the sceptical looks from the department heads had turned into approving nods, with some of the men even making their own suggestions
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