Every time I thought something good was going to happen the opposite occurred. Just last week I thought I was going to land the Henderson account, everything was ready to go, when suddenly it all fell apart. I had no control. It all happened so quickly. Could it have been a big conspiracy against me? I often found myself wondering.

What was worse was, I had no idea how I was going to face the boss. He always had a way of making people feel like they were inadequate and useless and I always seemed to be on the receiving end of that treatment more than I cared to remember. I knocked on his door and took a deep breath to calm my nerves.

“Come in,” said the deep voice on the other side of the door.

Slowly I opened the door and stepped inside. He looked up at me and put his pen down. His look was more than one of disgust- it was the look of contempt.

“Ah Roberts, I was wondering when you were going to slither in here.” He wasted no time with niceties. “What the hell happened Roberts? I knew you were incompetent but to mess up when we had everything nearly wrapped up is beyond words. I honestly have no words to describe your uselessness.”

I stood there frozen and looked down to keep from having to stare at his ogre expression. Damn how I loathed this man, I thought to myself. He had no right talking to people the way he did. He was lucky I couldn’t afford to lose this job. I already worked two jobs as it was. To give him a piece of my mind like I wanted would have resulted in financial suicide.

“Well, don’t just stand there Roberts. What do you have to say for yourself?”

“Sir,” I started to say.

“For Christ sake, speak up. Do I have to add inaudible to your long list of faults?”

My blood was boiling. It took me a minute to calm myself down. I looked up at him. He stared back with this smug look on his face. He must have loved the fact that I couldn’t say anything back without getting fired. Bastard!

“Sir,” I said louder, “I can’t honestly say what happened with the Henderson account. It all happened so quickly it was beyond my control. Honestly I tried…”

“Don’t tell me you tried,” he interrupted. “I don’t want to hear about how you tried. Hell we all try. The only thing I want to hear is that you succeed. Look, Roberts, I’m not going to lie. I’m not thrilled with your performance lately. Here’s the deal: if your performance on this next project doesn’t improve you’re going to be “trying” at the unemployment line.”

My heart stopped. Never had I been fired from a job. I wasn’t about to give this little prick the satisfaction of being the first. I stood up tall and regained what was left of my dignity.

“You won’t be disappointed, Mr. Perry,” I said loud and clear.

“That’s more like it, Roberts. If I didn’t know you better I might have been convinced by that.” He laughed. “Now get out of my face.”

I wasted no time in getting out. Nothing good could have come out of that, I was certain of it. I was just glad he waited until the end of the day to bring me into his office. When I came out the office