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What sort of security do you have in place?”
    “The building is fully equipped.
The only piece we’re currently using is the cameras. I don’t think it’s
important to control traffic. I’d just like there to be a presence.”
    He nodded. “Okay, no problem.” He
set the pamphlet on the desk and reached for the briefcase he carried,
withdrawing a small packet. “It gets dark around eight these days, light around
six. Would you like to start with two days? Three? The whole week?”
    “Let’s do a week, and make it six
to six. There’s a high level of activity in the evenings, and it would be good
for the guard to be noticed.”
    “Sure.” He was filling out the top form
quickly, with familiarity.
    Through the open doorway, I heard
another door open followed by two sets of footsteps: one purposeful, one
hurried. Paige’s office door. He’d been in another meeting when I’d returned to
the office. With two meetings, this was shaping up to be a busy day for him.
    “Let me take care of this,” Paige
pleaded. “It’s been a long time coming anyway, and now this. ”
    Mark White strode by, Paige on his
heels like a yapping lap dog.
    Paige shook the paperwork clutched
in his hand, but the CEO wasn’t looking at him or it.
    “I told you,” White said with a
ring of finality, “I’ll handle it. I’ll let you know when I’ve made a
decision.”
    White blew through the front door,
slamming it shut behind him, probably before Paige could follow.
    Pezzani looked at me, eyebrows
raised. “Someone’s not happy,” he said as he turned back to his writing.
    No, I thought, but Paige
doesn’t handle it well when he doesn’t get his way .
    “All right,” Pezzani said, sitting
forward. “I’ll set this up for three people to do twelve-hour shifts for seven
days, starting tonight. One will work three nights; the other two will do two
apiece. This will provide them some familiarity with the building and the
residents. If you’d like to extend the service, I’ll assign the same guys, for
that purpose. Sound about right?”
    “Sounds gr — ”
    Paige stomped down the hall and
into my office, oblivious to Pezzani. He shook the same documents he’d tried to
show White at me then threw them down on my desk. I wasn’t having a real great
day anyway, but fighting with Paige always makes for a shitty one.
    “Oh, come on,” I hissed as I pushed
away from the desk, paper raining from my lap to the floor.
    Where was the professionalism?
Professionalism seems to have died out with my mother’s generation. Personally,
I find this sad, and irritating.
    Paige is egotistical and pompous
and belligerent on his best days, and in such a hurry to climb the ladder he
doesn’t care who he steps on. He doesn’t care about doing good work or doing
the right thing; he cares about how everyone else’s work makes him look.
Naturally, we’d butted heads from the get-go. On top of it all, Paige is a
jerk. But I believe it’s possible to be all of that and professional.
    I looked at Paige. He was
practically vibrating he was so excited. That is always bad.
    “Know what that is?” he sang, as
happy as a kid on Christmas morning.
    “Why don’t you tell me?”
    A disgusting, satisfied smile split
Paige’s weasel-like face.
    Another bad sign.
    “I’ve been waiting for months for
some reason, any reason, but this is better than anything I could have
dreamed.” He smiled wider. “You’re fired.”
    Yep, bad.
    Probably this was a mess that could
be sorted out. But I pretty much thought this would officially flush my day
down the crapper. I could always count on Paige for that.
    “Excuse me?” I said.
    Pezzani slipped the documents he’d
been holding into his briefcase and stood. He watched both Paige and me
closely. I wondered what he saw.
    “You are a constant pain in my
ass,” Paige said. “You always argue with me and think you know better than me.
I know you’re after my job.”
    Pretty much everyone knows