Bad Day

Murphy's law states that whatever can go wrong, will

Photo by LYCS Architecture on Unsplash

Ever have a day where it can’t get any worse, yet it somehow multiplies. This was one of those days. Sitting in the dull grey cubicle pushing papers for a tyrannical boss who kept unrealistic expectations, Ramos’ eyes locked on the flickering screen when his cell phone buzzed. Damn, I thought it was on silent. He fumbled through his pocket to whip out his phone; the screen read Darla, his sister. Not like her to call. A glance around—the coast was clear. He lowered his voice, not to draw any attention.

“Hello?”

“Ramos, it’s bad, you gotta get here. It’s mom, she’s…just get here.”

He checks his watch.

“I’m at work. I’m stuck here for another two hours.”

“She doesn’t have that long. The doctors said for me to call the family. Ramos—she’s dying.”

The phone went quiet between them.

An argument led them to grow apart, over the years neither could remember the source of the disagreement, they mended their relationship two weeks earlier.

“Okay, I’ll see if I can leave early, I’ll get there as quick as I can.”

Ramos hung the phone up and sat there in a daze. No, not now, she just came back into my life. She had been sick for a week; he thought there was plenty of time to see her; he thought she would get better soon, so many unspoken words between them and now time slipped away.

A thick folder slammed on the desk in front of him, shocking him out of his daze.

“I need these invoices transferred into a spreadsheet and printed out by three.”

His fingers flipped through the huge file.

“I’m sorry, but I need to leave early.”

A stubby hand landed on his shoulder and squeezed as his boss, Jim, leaned in and whispered.

“Remember, you’re still on your ninety-day probation, if you’re not willing to do the work I can find someone else. You should thank me for not firing you for your phone call.”

Ramos gulped.

“Yes sir, I’ll get it done.”

“Thought you might see it my way.”

Jim patted Ramos on the back and stepped away. After two years of unemployment, Ramos got lucky landing this job. He and his wife were under water with their mortgage, far behind on the credit cards and one vehicle already repossessed, simply drowning in debt. This job was just what they needed to get their life back on track. He said a silent prayer and hoped she would hold on a little longer. A glance at his watch, 1:15.

Ramos flipped through the file and pulled out the papers and bounced them on his desk and took a deep breath and got busy typing. An hour passed and his fingers typed at lightning speed, making it half-way through the file. His monitor flickered and went black. He sat there and waited, still a blank screen. He fidgeted with wires. Nothing. He jerked on the wires. The black screen stared back, his cheeks burned. He raised his hand—SMACK—the cheap plastic monitor flickered to life.

Ramos exhaled while checking around, Jim glared from the floor manager’s office like a cranky old sheepdog keeping watch over his flock, he flashed a nervous smile and nodded and got back to work. Numbers and words blended together as his eyes crossed. He gave his head a shake and slapped his cheeks. Caffeine, that’ll help. Leaving his gloomy cubicle, he found an empty coffee pot in the break room.

Ramos went through the motions, discarding the old stale coffee grounds and replaced the filter and added water and pressed the on/off switch. The coffee maker belched, and the light flipped off, a love tap, and the pot just sat there staring back. He flipped the switch on and off and the pot sat there. His cheeks burned for the second time today. Jill walked in and jerked the cord from the wall and plugged it back in and smiled.

“This pot is as old as the hills, when it acts up just unplug it and try again.”

The coffee maker popped and brewed, the aroma of coffee tickled his nose to bring him back to life while he watched the slow drip of coffee fall.

“Ya’ll won’t believe what I found out about hard ass Jim.”

Steve snuck in behind Ramos. Steve showed his phone and pointed at the screen, the three gathered around while the pot percolated. Although the picture was a younger man, it was indeed Jim, a Navy C.O. Ramos tilted the pot, not ready yet.

Jill made a sly comment.

“That explains the haircut and his attitude.”

“That’s not all, have a look at this article.”

Ramos kept his gaze on the antique coffee maker.

“C’mon, Steve, just tell me, I have too much work to do.”

“Well, it says here, he was court marshalled. His crew mutinied.”

Ramos chuckled.

“Not surprised. I could see them making him walk the plank.”

The three laughed at Ramos’ remark. Jim came through the door, glaring.

“You people don’t get paid to lollygag, get back to work.”

“Aye, aye.”

Steve smirked as he brushed past Jim. Jill held her mouth to stop her giggle and followed Steve. Ramos poured his cup and went back to his station. A sip of joe that burnt the tip of his tongue and stole the taste away. Ramos checked his watch, 2:20. Time was running low, and so he buried himself in his work. Fingers clicked the keys rapidly. The screen flickered. Ramos halted and clenched his jaw to dare the damn monitor to flake out one more time. The screen must have felt his evil eye and stayed on.

Ramos trudged on, stopping long enough to fuel his body with bitter caffeine. He finished at ten till three, enough time to print out the pages and turn them in. Pride filled his chest before his thoughts went back to his mother and his heart sank as he watched the printer go to work spitting out the pages as it hummed and clicked. He grabbed the papers and tapped them on the counter, an organized stack was a professional standard.

Ramos started the long walk back to his cubicle with three minutes left, Jim stood at his cubicle tapping his watch. The phone in his pocket buzzed. Damn, thought I turned the ringer off. He scrambled to silence the phone, the look on Jim’s face was obvious that he heard it. That man’s ears are like a cat and the eyes of a hawk. Ramos held out the stack of papers to hand them to Jim.

“Sir, I really need to get to the hospital. My mother's not got much longer.”

“Just one more file, then you can go.”

Ramos saw the papers bulge in the enormous file on his desk, his heart sank a second time.

“There’s no way I can get that done by four.”

“Stay late if you have to. I need it done today.”

Ramos flopped down in his chair as Jim left. The folder was twice as thick. He checked the time, 3:00. “I need this job,” he mumbled. He glanced over his shoulder, Jim was back in his office.

Ramos pulled out his phone—one voice mail. He pushed the button and put the phone to his ear, Darla must have called to find out where he was, he expected a tongue lashing through the message, instead the message played sobbing.

“She’s gone. Where are you?”

A lump formed in his throat, eyes welled up and a tear streamed down. She’s gone… Ramos didn’t hear the footsteps coming from behind him. He didn’t hear Jim’s first words either. He sat there staring off into space, tears dripping onto the desk. A nudge on his back.

“Are you listening?”

Ramos stared up at Jim with wet eyes.

“Huh?”

Jim held out his hand.

“The phone, give it here. Talk on your own time, we don’t pay you to goof off.”

“No!”

“Excuse me?”

“No, hard ass!”

“Don’t you talk to me like that. Who do you think you are?”

Ramos raised up, grinding his teeth. Jobs come and go, but this jerk deserved an ass kicking.

“You know what, you’re not worth it. I’m leaving now, my family needs me.”

Ramos stepped past Jim, a hand grabbed his shoulder and spun him around.

“Don’t you walk away from me when I’m talking to you, sit down and finish your work.”

With each word, Jim poked Ramos’ chest, spit flying towards the end. Technically, this was assault. Ramos balled his fist and swung, his knuckles socked Jim in the jaw, Jim lost his balance and fell back onto Ramos’ desk, the monitor sparked and flashed with a puff of smoke and an electrical burnt smell filled the room. Ramos smirked and headed towards the exit, Steve, Jill and other employees stood and applauded.