Chapter 1

Chapter One

“ S hoot, I never win from these tickets.” Grabbing the disinfected wipes to clean the ticket dust from my desk, I noticed I hadn’t scratched the second chance clover to reveal the symbol. “Pot of gold, come on pot of gold. Shoot, nothing, again.” I don’t know why I keep buying them. They’re cute in design, with a cute leprechaun standing with a pot of gold. It’s typical marketing and women buy cute things, or in my case cute scratch off tickets. An email flashes across my computer screen as I finish cleaning my desk. The subject line has me out of my chair without verifying the details. As I round the corner of my office, I stop at the sight of my boss and whom I think is my replacement. Reversing my steps, I back away from my boss’s office, knowing that I will speak to him later on the email that was sent. I laugh as I pass my best friend’s desk. She is hiding her tickets in her drawer.

“Girl, I didn’t win a thing.”

“That’s what I just said.” My best friend Shontae says.

“Your luck is better than mine.”

“You claim everyone’s luck is better than yours Enya, you have no faith in yourself. ”

“Uhm, I do. I know this recent outage is going to be assigned to me, and I will resolve it,” I say, smiling in confidence.

“Did you read the email?”

“No, is there something I need to know?” I ask.

“I think you should read the email.”

“What does it say, Shontae?”

“Girl, go read the damn email.”

“I don’t know why. I’m going to be asked to fix the problem, anyway.” Being a certified- engineer in a dual degree, chances are likely that I will be assigned captain save a hoe once again. This company owes me nothing. However, I’m very much underpaid as an acting District Industrial Engineer. The acronym for the position didn’t sit well with my soul, so I finessed my boss into making the position managerial. The way my life is set up, I’m lucky if I live to see what an elderly life looks like. I will not go around stating that I’m D.I.E. for Divisions Innovated Centralization. There are things that I might do for dick, but dying will not be one of them.

“Fine, I will go read the dang email.”

“No, I’m not blocking my blessings,” I say, sashaying back to my office. Shontae Denise Woods is one of my oldest and closet friends. I’m her boss, and ironically, she informed me about this company. Only I didn’t want to be a cubicle chick for no more than two years. Shontae has been in the company for about five years. She strives not to advance in the company, Shontae live by this motto. Less is more is her only way. We laugh about it every time she’s asked to do something outside of the job description. Shontae is smart and talented at what she does, but add more workload it throws her off. However, she is monetarily driven. She calls herself The Cubicle Chick, because her skills go no further than her cubicle. If she has to leave her cubicle, you better believe the company paid for it.

Back in my office, I lean over my desk, accessing my computer to read the email regarding the outage. As I scan through the context of the email, it’s evident that the outage is affecting a small area of consumers. Their systems were migrated over ten days ago, and it seems that a patch installed by one of the local IT companies disregarded a step in the upload. The shortcut caused the servers to revert their systems back to the original application. “Not good.” As I scan more of the email, I’m taken aback by another fact stated. Not good at all. My boss has assigned my replacement as the lead engineer on this case. I will assist and shadow. In the email my boss states, “Julian Furey will be the captain and take the lead to save what’s left of the server and our dignity.” I read aloud. Looking up from the computer screen, I haphazardly fall into my chair. Not caring about the sound I make when my ass meets my leather chair, pleather chair… Okay, vinyl. Mr. Holt, my boss, is standing in the doorway with whom I presume is my replacement. Well, I’ll be damned I’m the hoe!