The Grind

Following the same pattern, as every other day I wove through the streets of Codlington, ducking down St. Haig Terrace and then criss crossing across Ellingham estate.
It was the same route I had taken every day for three years, and every day I cursed my employer, Zylmor inc for sending me to this dull boring lifeless soulless grey northern town. I had been with Zylmor for eleven years since leaving university and had risen through the ranks till I will next in line for an executive manager position. Up to that point everything I touched was shimmering and shiny, my clients were awestruck by the presentations I showed them, my team worked away with the lowest absenteeism record ever, zero, minimum sick leave, poor Mary, my p.a. had to have part of her bowel removed due to cancer but was back at work in two months, scheduling doctors appointments on her days off. They were a dedicated staff and I as their head glowed with the accolades bestowed upon us. Then come the day that I made a mistake, in hindsight a gargantuan error of traumatic proportion but at that time it didn’t even register on my list of thins never to do at work. I smiled back at a nice man across a busy room during a case conference with our newest and most lucrative client, I didn’t know the man and he had been keeping a low profile during the meeting. How was I to know the man was the clients husband. The room stopped buzzing as the client let forth a shrill banshee scream and leapt for me. I was caught in the moment and her arms flew at me so I floored her with my southpaw. Within days I was transferred to the northern wasteland. The staff come in late and go early, there is some serious pilferage going on but I can’t locate the source, possibly the entire office. My title, Assistant locum manager actually means I do everything including brew the coffee. The clients are dingy and grey with backwards looking ideas and no motivation in the world can lift the damp spirit that pervades every molecule of the dire situation. Three seconds changed my life and finally at the age of thirty-two I understand what my dad called the daily routine grind of life and I smile never passes my lips.