literature

Poor Business Attitude

Deviation Actions

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Literature Text

Marlee was busy in her office, finishing lengthy paperwork on a major business deal. She had spent the past few weeks working to secure it with another company, and despite her aggressive attitude and questionable business decisions, was ready to rest after being only a day away from the final negotiations with the other company. Her desk phone rang as she was filing the papers into orderly folders, Marlee hearing a loud crowd on the other end when she answered.
"Hey! Marlee! The party downstairs has already started, where are you?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming, just finishing something important. I'll be there soon." Marlee hung up, sighing at the mess on her desk. She quickly shuffled what remained on her desk into a separate folder and left her office. Marlee made her way through the empty office and towards an elevator, getting inside and starting to drop down to the floor containing the party. She wasn't enthused at having to waste her time at the party, disliking the forced social gathering her company was putting on. Worsening her mood was the fact that everyone attending had to wear costumes provided in a separate room. Marlee would have preferred ignoring the party and going straight home instead, but was obligated to attend due to several people involved in the deal with the separate company were going to be at the party and Marlee wanted to ensure she would stay on friendly relations with them.

Once she reached the basement level, Marlee very clearly heard the loud party ongoing in the convention room. She started walking over to the dressing room nearby to halfheartedly put on some costume. As she got close to the costume room, her soon-to-be former coworker Jake stepped out of the main room and stopped to quickly talk with her.
"Oh, it's good to see you actually came," he said, offering her a small glass of wine.
"What do want to bother me for?" Marlee snatched the glass and quickly drank it.
"I just wanted to quick ask, did you finish the work for that deal on your own yet?"
"Yeah, no thanks to how useless you were," she said in frustration. As soon as she did, a few blue sparks appeared in front of her face, and a moment later Marlee's nose grew an inch longer.
"Oh come on, I wasn't as useless as you think," he smirked, seeing the trick he pulled on Marlee start to work.
"Yes. You were. There's a good reason why you're being let go."
"About that...I was hoping we could discuss that further?"
"No! I am not keeping someone so inept at this business," Marlee angrily said, her nose slowly growing an inch further.
"Really? I was doing fine until--"
"You failed to do anything I asked of you, you were completely hopeless. Now refrain from talking to me again tonight." Marlee turned away and headed into the costume room, several more sparks spiraling around her nose as it increased two inches more in length.

Upon entering the costume room, Marlee realized she had no idea what she wanted to dress up as, but didn't care enough about the party to put much thought into it. She quickly scanned the tables and racks in the room for something that was quick and effortless to put on, and after a minute settled on putting on cat ears, paws, and a black dress. Despite the irritation of needing to wear a costume, she left the room and entered the main hall.
Once she was in the main room, she saw large groups of coworkers milling around the area, some in general conversation, dancing, or eating. Marlee wandered over to one of the food tables despite her lack of an appetite. While she was distracted, one of her coworkers tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention.
Marlee turned around to face who had tapped her. "Oh...hello, Jenna."
"Isn't this party great? I was the lead coordinator for most of it!"
"Yes, it's just...wonderful, absolutely," Marlee said, her words dripping in sarcasm. She went cross eyed for a second as she stared at her nose grow an additional two inches. She became worried at how it had grown, but remained visibly calm to not draw any attention to it. Her coworker seemed to not notice any change.
"Oh, that's so great to hear from you! I'm surprised it took you so long to get down here, really busy with something?"
"Yeah...yeah a lot of work needed doing," Marlee said, her frustration building.
"Really? What could have kept you so busy?"
"None of your business!" Marlee snapped at her, her nose quickly jutting out another two inches.
Jenna noticed the sudden increase in the length of Marlee's nose and stared intently for a few seconds. "You uh...you picked a good costume."
"Yeah, sure, thanks," Marlee responded, wanting to end the conversation quickly.
"Well alright, what else do you plan on doing here tonight?"
"I don't know!" Marlee angrily said, shoving her coworker out of the way. As she did so, she stared at larger blue sparks swirling around her nose as it extended three inches.

Marlee quickly left the main room before anyone noticed the size of her nose. She darted back into the costume room, thinking she needed to find anything that could cover up her nose. Looking around the large table, she spotted a plague doctor outfit that she thought would be perfect for concealment. She quickly put on the long beaked mask and was pleased to discover that there was plenty of room for her now hidden nose. After swapping out for a doctor's coat, Marlee felt confident in being able to outlast the evening.
With her new outfit she returned to the main hall, trying to idle alone in the corner of the room without drawing attention to herself. After several minutes she noticed a male and female coworker she didn't recognize start approaching her, and she sighed wishing everybody would leave her alone for the evening.
"Hey there, Marlee!" one of them said as the pair came up to her.
"What do the two of you want?" she grumbled, feeling her nose push forward three inches.
"Oh we overheard that you finished some big project, we just wanted to congratulate you on it!"
"Yeah! Everyone here appreciates the work you do," the woman said.
"Sure...thanks..." Marlee said, wishing for the pair to disappear.
"Any plans on what you'll work on next?" the man asked.
"Look, I don't know!" Marlee yelled, her nose growing three inches again afterwards. She felt the end of her nose reach the edge of the mask and, stuck in conversation, could only hope it wouldn't become any longer.
"Well, alright then. You know, for how important you are to this company, I'm surprised at how hard it was to find you here tonight," the man said.
"Is that a problem?" Marlee responded.
"No, it's just surprising you're standing in a corner instead of getting around more and talking to others."
"Oh please, I've done plenty of talking tonight," Marlee said. An even larger surge of sparks briefly appeared around her mask before her nose grew four inches longer, noticeably pushing the mask forward.
The odd sight did not go unnoticed by the pair. "That's a uh...interesting mask you've got on," the woman said.
"I don't care about it, I just picked whatever was there," Marlee said in desperation as her nose grew four inches more. She tried pulling the mask back onto her face, but there was no way for it to conceal her considerably longer nose.
"Really? Does the party bother you or something?"
"I'm just...busy tonight, that's all," Marlee said, making up an excuse for her attitude.
"Well it's a party, so just relax and h--" the man started to say before Marlee interrupted him and shoved the pair out of her way.
"I have other matters to attend to now, go converse with someone else." As Marlee walked away, her nose quickly jolted out four inches again.

The mask now hanging off the tip of her nose, Marlee quickly ran back into the costume room to find something else that could conceal her growing nose. Despite her desperation, she was unable to find anything remarkable that could hide it akin to the mask she used previously. After a minute she had the realization that the easiest way to hide her nose would be to not conceal it at all. Searching around for a bit, she found an outfit and cap that made her resemble Pinocchio. With an easy excuse as to why she had a long nose, Marlee returned to the main party hall, constantly checking the clock in hopes that the party would end sooner. She quickly went to another corner of the room and from a distance kept her eyes on the investors involved in her big deal who were mingling on the other end of the room. She knew she'd have to talk with them at some point in the evening, and decided to lay low and wait until the party mostly died down before talking to them.
"Hey, Marlee! Didn't even notice you came over here!" She looked to her side in surprise, realizing now she had unintentionally idled near another of her coworkers.
"Oh...hello Dan. Didn't...didn't notice you either..." Marlee muttered in agitation, tired of being trapped in endless conversations.
"Heh heh, you've got a good costume. Hey, make something up, I'm alright with you lying to me," he smirked.
Marlee stared at him with frustration. "What? Like how I'm not looking forward to working with you in our next big project?" Suddenly, a massive array of sparks spiraled around her nose before it extended half a foot longer.
"Wow! I didn't know we even had intricate costumes here!"
"Y-yeah, that's it uh, there's several in there that nobody seems to have noticed..." Marlee said, actually lying to him this time.
"Well damn, wish I had taken more time when I got here. I just put on some boring construction worker outfit so I could get in here faster. You enjoying the party?"
"Please, this party is dull and a waste of time," Marlee said, her nose quickly growing another half foot a moment later.
Dan checked his watch for a second. "If it weren't for the fact that I should probably head home soon, I'd actually consider finding one of those costumes."
"Then...then why did you bother coming to the party in the first place?" Marlee said.
"Oh come on, we don't have these kinds of events very often! It's fatiguing always working in a serious environment, so spending an evening with coworkers on this is simply relaxing."
Marlee gave him a stern look. "Serious environment? Of course we're serious here, we have major dealings every day!" Yet, despite her frustration, her nose grew half a foot more.
"Haha, well I guess I'll be headed off now. Enjoy the rest of the party, boss."

After a minute of waiting around, Marlee darted back to the costume room once more. The main room had been thinning out, and at this point she knew she had to talk to the investors in her deal before they left the party. While Dan may have been naive enough to believe a simple excuse as to why her nose was suddenly growing mid-conversation, the investors surely would not. After realizing that there was nothing simple for her to use to conceal it, she decided to try something more unique. Scavenging through costumes for several minutes, she put on a dark outfit that made her resemble an upside-down witch, making her nose appear as if it were a broomstick. Marlee figured it wasn't much, but it was the best she could do with what little she had to work with. After finishing her outfit, she walked back into the emptier main hall and went straight over to the small group of investors, who weren't busy talking with anybody else.
"Um, hello everyone, I'm Marlee. I just wanted to meet with all of you briefly tonight about our dealings."
"Hey Marlee! Good to see you stopped by, we were all thinking you hadn't even come to this party to begin with!" one of them said.
"I was just uh...just busy with coworkers, that's all."
"Mmm, yeah that's not too surprising, with your position and all," another man said. "Right, so about our deal, I'm surprised your team got it done so quickly."
"Well, actually I managed to get the entire thing done on my own," Marlee boasted. After a few seconds, massive sparks surrounded her nose as it glowed bright blue, and after they dissipated, her nose rapidly grew a foot longer.
The trio of men were distracted by what they saw for a few seconds. "Er, uh, by yourself? All of it?"
"Yes, of course. Is that a problem?"
"Well uh...surely that made it take longer to complete?" another of the investors said.
"Yeah, no, I don't think you understand some of the people I'm stuck with. Absolutely nobody else was competent enough to assist with it." Marlee's attitude only caused her nose to extend a foot more, further confusing the men she was talking to.
"You don't honestly think that way about everyone you work with, right?" the last man asked.
"Of course I do! Everybody here slows me down, it's easier for me to work alone!" Marlee said, continuing her rant against her coworkers, her nose trembling as it pushed another foot forward.
The three men glanced at each other with uncertainty, not sure if they should push forward with the deal. "Then what are the roles the rest of your coworkers have?"
"Them? They have their own...simpler tasks. So long as they stay out of my way," Marlee went on.
"Is...is there a reason why you don't have everyone acting more productive?" one of the men asked.
"Because everyone here is terrible at doing anything remotely useful, so I keep them busy doing tasks more...suitable to their talents." Marlee's nose quivered again before growing another foot longer.
The three men looked at each other for a moment before nodding at one another. "Well it's um, been great meeting you, Marlee. We'll...we'll be in touch." The three of them proceeded to take their leave out of the party.
Marlee blinked in confusion at what had happened, but mostly felt relieved that her night was finally over. Once there was nobody near her, she took a back exit out of the main hall and towards the parking lot so she could finally head home. As she was walking, her mind started to clear and she mulled over the things she had said tonight, particularly towards the investors. After struggling to get inside her car, she continued thinking about the way they acted during her drive home. Between the oddity of her nose and her offensive attitude in front of them, Marlee believed she had given the men a very poor impression of her business. Over the night, Marlee's nose gradually shortened back to its normal size, but it didn't inspire confidence that her business deal was still going to be successful.
During a party she's forced to attend, Marlee's nose starts to reflect her attitude and opinions of those she has to work with.
© 2014 - 2024 Jessica50
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You've done it once again. I dont' know how you're able to take such a tiny idea and turn it into a highly amusing story. Great Job.