The Presentation

I got dressed up a little bit shabby for my kind of person; a little “misdressing” was classified shabby to me. I didn’t put any makeup on, I wore my corporate gown, my cover shoes, a little eye pencil, lipstick, powder and I was done. I even forgot to have my breakfast; I was halfway through to school before I even remembered that I had skipped my meal. I drove faster so s to have ample time before my presentation, so I could finish preparing my slides and be well prepared before it was my turn to present. Thursdays have always been known to be presentation day, and we were supposed to expect it, but today, I was just not in it!
Finally, the time came for my presentation; I hurriedly wrote down my rehearsed timing and put on my stopwatch, which was set to be 2 minutes short, so I could make very ample use of my time. I then stepped up, and the only thing I heard was, “Mrs. Larape, I thought you were passed already. You didn’t need to present again. You did exceptionally well in your last presentation and you have been reserved for external presentations only”. Mr. Johnson then went further to say,” We cannot afford to stress our best presenters, ma”.
This experience was one of the few I would describe as something good that I wanted to speak against. I really wanted to let Mr. Johnson know that I had sacrificed a lot to be here today. I had stayed awake all night, tuck the children in too early with no bedtime reviews, taken hot coffee all through the night, and had not had one good sleep since the day before yesterday. Yes, he needed to know all these; maybe he would change his mind and let me present. AFTER ALL THE HARDWORK!? PLEASE, LET’S BE GUIDED. And why didn’t I receive a memo earlier to that effect? I had canceled three date nights with my husband! Was he really serious or just joking? Well, from previous experiences, Mr. Johnson had been playful with some employees and made jokes similar to this.
Mr. Todd prepared to come forward for his presentation as he was cut short by Mr. J (Also Mr. Johnson, preferably called that by Mr. Todd). “T-man”, he said. “How was your night? I am sure you will wow us with this presentation today”. “Presentation ‘ke’? I thought you said I would only have to give the introduction before the presenters start?” The atmosphere in the room got tense and all of a sudden quiet. Were these two kidding or are they really arguing? It felt really strange though, both of them had this kind of funny grin on their faces, which no one could quite understand except, of course, them. Anyways, I broke the silence by clearing my throat. Then, Mr. Johnson’s smile enlarged and he said, “Just kidding man! The presentation does not start itself, let’s get to that now!”