Remote work, part 3

 “It’s not redundancy,” said Dave.  He was pale and the background of his remote working space looked like an industrial building site.  “I didn’t technically lie.  It’s sacking.  I’m sorry, I’ve not had much say in all this.”

Ashley forced herself to keep smiling.  She kept wondering when Dave would ask her about her being visibly on a beach somewhere, but so far he seemed more interested in setting some distance between himself and what was going to happen.

“IT say you can’t see that directory, too,” he said, looking at something on his laptop screen.  “I still don’t understand how you found it.”

“I didn’t,” said Ashley.  “It was just there when I logged in.

“Well, IT say you’re locked out of it now,” said Dave. “That’ll have to do.  I’m sorry you found out like this but there’s really nothing I can do.  I was barely consulted about this.”

“I guess,” said Ashley.  “I suppose you get a promotion for taking all the blame, huh?”  Jenna’s new title was hanging before her eyes but she didn’t want to directly ask about it.

“No,” said Dave.  He looked suddenly forlorn.  “Ah, well, there’s… there’ll be a new Director.  I’m staying where I am.  For now.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” said Ashley.  She suddenly realised she meant it.  “When did all this get decided, anyway?”

“About three weeks ago,” said Dave.  “It was a complete surprise to me, actually.  I got called into a C-suite meeting and Je— the new Director was there and they told me about the changes then.”

“I thought this kind of thing took months of planning?”

“Normally.  Yes.”

The call ended after a few more desultory exchanges and Ashley sighed and closed her laptop.  What she needed, since she was sat on a sunny beach on a lovely day, was a walk to clear her mind and stretch her legs.

She left her shoes behind and let the hot sand warm her feet and shaded her eyes with her hand and walked to her left.  The beach seemed to stretch on into the distance; the sea met the horizon somewhere but the blue of the sky and the water made it hard to figure out where.  Behind her the grass waved gently on the dunes and obscured any details of where she might be.  It was, she decided, actually really relaxing to be here, even if it turned out to nowhere at all.

A few of the other parasoled tables were occupied, all by people with laptops and notebooks.  Some looked up as she passed, a couple smiled or nodded, but by and large they all acted like strangers to one another.  Well, they were, she thought.  She walked on.

A little further along she decided that she’d stretched her legs enough and would turn round and go back — and her hand dipped into her pocket as panic struck her: had she left the keycard behind?  The reassuring hardness of the plastic confirmed that she hadn’t.  Then she saw Iris walk past her, a little closer to the sea and moving a little bit faster.  She raised a hand to wave, but Iris was in front of her already.  She thought about trying to catch her up, and then wondered what she’d say if she did.  By that point Iris had vanished amongst the tables and was gone again so Ashley turned round and strolled slowly back to her table, thinking about the strange happenings at Interwork.

“I think I saw you while I was walking on the beach,” said Ashley.  Iris, who was again half-hidden behind the reception desk poked her head up.

“No,” she said.  She pursed her lips and appeared to be thinking.  “I’ve been here all day,” she said.  “Busy day; lots of remote workers coming in.  I definitely didn’t have time for a break.”

“Oh,” said Ashley.  She had been certain it was Iris who’d walked past her, but calling the woman a liar clearly wasn’t politic.  “I must have seen someone who looks like you then.”

“It’s possible,” said Iris, disappearing behind the desk again.  Her voice became a little muffled as though she was looking into something; a box or a hole, Ashley imagined.  “You’re in the mountains today, if that’s ok, dear?”

“Ye-es,” said Ashley, who’d been looking forward to sitting on the beach again.  “Same door?”

“How would that work, then?” Iris popped up properly and shook her head.  Her brilliant red hair momentarily haloed her head like an explosion.  “It’s the door after it.  I’d show you myself but I’ve lost the, the thingy.”  She looked vexed.  “Call me an idiot and I’d agree with you.”

“I’d never do that!” said Ashley.  She edged towards the door to the corridor and Iris didn’t stop her, so she stepped through and let the door close behind her.  The beach door was three along, so she went to the fourth and placed her hand on the handle, a little bit nervous.  The handle depressed easily and the door opened.

On the other side was a large room with a wooden floor scattered with woven rugs that looked Native American to Ashley.  The wall the door was in was made of mortared stones and the side walls were wooden, but the front wall was a large glass window that had a view onto a veranda immediately outside it and then an incredible view of mountains.  The room was clearly set high up on a mountain side and below and in front of her the lower peaks and the foothills fell away to a mist-shrouded plain below.  She gasped and went to the window, and then saw the door the veranda.  Outside it was cold and the wind was blowing strongly enough to tug at her jacket and she had to hold her hair back from her face but the fresh air made her feel alive and she could see the lightly forested slopes of another mountain off to her left.  To her right yet another mountain reared above her, casting its shadow to its right; she guessed it would shade this veranda during the afternoon.

Going back inside she was surprised to find she was the only person in the room.  There were doors though; she found a kitchen, two toilet/bathrooms and another large room that had long couches and hanging basket chairs and a huge flat-screen tv, but no more people.  Either the mountain was unpopular or there were fewer people remotely working today, she thought.  She half-wished she was back on the beach — and if there wasn’t space, then maybe that was more popular — but the view was amazing.  She went back to the first room, sat down, and opened up her laptop.  The keycard, however it did it, connected to the internet again and there were her emails and workfiles and the minor mystery of how Jenna had become Project Director at Interwork and usurped Dave.

She opened up her email and quickly found she needed to send replies.  However, when she tapped on reply-all to a team email she noticed that there was something off about the email window that opened up.  She frowned, looking at it, wondering what was bothering her, and finally, just as she was thinking it was her imagination, she saw that the very top line of the email window wasn’t the usual To: field but From:.  The To: field had been pushed down a line.

“Well, you’re new,” said Ashley.  She clicked on the field and a dropdown menu opened up.  Her own address was the default — that made sense — but to her surprise and minor alarm everyone else at Interwork was listed.  She scrolled through, checking carefully, but it looked to her as though she could send an email as though she were the Chief Finance Officer and no-one would be any the wiser.

She sat back and picked the keycard up, looking at it.

“It has to be you,” she said.  “You’re the only thing that’s different here.  You showed me those hidden files yesterday, and today you’re saying I can send emails as anyone.  But why?”