"Hungry for Success" by English Professionals. EPISODE 3 : A Dream Come True

The management team of LIghtning Systems react to James' news. Tim sees his opportunity.

Transcript

Hungry for success

3. A dream come true

TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO

The news of the possible sale of Lightning Systems didn’t, as James had put it, “blow their minds” but it is fair to say that the atmosphere had instantly changed. James scanned the room beaming. His smile was not returned.  In fact, rather than blowing their minds, to steal one of Steve’s favorite idioms, the news had gone down like a lead balloon.

Sue from HR managed to regain her composure first :

“How long have you known about this, James?” she asked suspiciously 

James looked sheepish.

“After all, it seems strange  that they should call just out of the blue like that”

All eyes turned to James who was looking increasingly like he would rather be somewhere else. 

“Well there was never anything concrete…” began James hesitantly.

“How long?” repeated Sue with obvious annoyance

“Well I’ve been talking to them on and off for a few months now I suppose” mumbled James uneasily

Without another word a stony-faced Sue stood up and left the room. The others, faced with such a display from HR, were unsure what to do. 

“Now that’s not something you see every day” thought Tim. 

Sue was certainly not known for such gestures. Steve, on the other hand, did have a flair for theatrics - in speech and in deed. But on this occasion Steve was frozen, unmoving, his eyes staring directly ahead. . 

The resultant silence was broken by James who, clearly hoping to hide the embarrassment of an HR walkout, muttered “well, back to work - I’ll be sending out an official announcement later this morning and so if you could keep it under your hats for now, that would be much appreciated”.

And with that he began to try very hard to give the impression that everything was perfectly normal, ignoring the fact that he could clearly see Sue out of the corner of his eye in the open plan office beyond,  talking animatedly on her mobile. .   

Everyone made their exits. Tim for some reason - he himself was not sure why, lingered after the others  had left. 

“We’re going to be part of something really big” said James 

“Macrosoft are going to let us continue to be 100% independent. Local management, local decisions, but with the backup of a major player in the IT world. It’s a dream come true”.

Tim studied his boss intently. He had worked with this man for the last four years. They had spent many evenings burning the midnight oil together. In some way perhaps they were ….. friends.

A feeling of realisation began to spread through Tim’s body. 

His moment was here. Despite what Rebecca his wife had said this morning, whilst they were arguing (he didn’t remember about what) he was no loser.  This was his moment -  his make or break moment - born ready, young,  hungry. .

Well he was ready, he was young, he was hungry.

“How can I help?” Tim saId

James visibly relaxed. 

“I knew I was right about you

Did I ever tell you that you remind me of a young me!

This afternoon I have a video conference with Macrosoft. The first of many I imagine. I want you with me. In the meantime we have a lot to do. We need to be ready to start answering some questions. Let’s reconvene in an hour’s time”

As Tim closed the door of James’ office behind him, he immediately had the feeling that  he was being watched. It wasn’t his imagination. Several members of the sales team were eying him with apparent distrust. Clearly Steve hadn’t kept very much under his hat. Steve appeared from nowhere directly in front of him. He leaned in to Tim and snarled “I imagine that you’ve been in on this from the start”.

“Believe me Steve - I was just as much in the dark as you” Tim protested.

Steve looked unconvinced but grunted as if he believed that the head of finance knew nothing about something so fundamental. Tim also found it difficult to believe. All these months he hadn’t had any inkling that something was going on. Obviously his ability to read James wasn’t as effective as he had thought.

Back in his cubicle Tim tried to run over in his mind what Macrosoft might want to talk about in the coming video conference. Unfortunately he was finding it difficult to focus. He kept hearing the voice of Rebecca, his wife

You’re a loser. My dad was right. I should never have married you”

Well she would change her tune very soon. This was when when things turned around. This was when he would prove her wrong. This was when he would prove them all wrong. 

And, Tim secretly hoped, this was when he would prove himself wrong.

COMMENTARY

The reaction to James’ news was not what he had hoped for. Clearly the leadership team is far from happy. The news was not received well and in fact went down like a lead balloon. A balloon made of lead is clearly not going to float but instead will come crashing to the ground very fast. We use the phrase to go down like a lead balloon when something we said or wrote is very unpopular or unsuccessful with those hearing or reading it.

Sue the HR manager expresses surprise that a call from Macrosoft should come out of the blue. This idiom is used when something happens completely unexpectedly and with no prior warning. It seems unlikely to her that an offer to buy the company could come out of the blue - surely, she suspects, there was some previous discussion. James protests that there was never anything concrete. This means that nothing had previously been certain or discussed in any real detail. He tries to imply that there were simply vague conversations - Sue disbelieves him and shocks everyone by abruptly leaving the meeting without another word. She is described as stony-faced which means that her facial expression was cold and emotionless. If someone is stony-faced, it is highly probable that they are very angry.

We already heard that Steve the sales director loves his idioms. He has a flair for them. This means that he is good at using them. If you have a flair for something it means you are good at doing it. A flair for theatrics in this context implies that Steve was also good at making grand exaggerated gestures - for instance dramatically walking out of a meeting when he is unhappy.  Theatrics being considered negative in this context. 

James instructs the attendees to keep it under their hats. In other words keep the news to themselves and therefore secret. Later we discover that Steve has not kept it under his hat.

Like many business people, Tim and James had often worked very late into the evening. Burning the midnight oil is an expression used to describe just that - working very late. So late you have to use extra oil to light the lamps - a reference to when lighting used oil rather than electricity.. Many will recognise the requirement to burn the midnight oil at work - particularly when an important deadline is approaching.

How many times in your life have you experienced a make or break moment. Your actions can either lead to success (make it) or absolute failure (break it). There is no compromise position. Tim senses that the possible takeover by Macrosoft could be such a make or break moment for him - his opportunity to finally prove to his wife, Rebecca, that he is not a loser. 

Steve the sales director is also clearly angry that he is only hearing about the potential sale now. He doesn’t believe that Tim wasn’t part of the process until now - you’ve been “in on it from the start” he accuses Tim. Tim protests that he didn’t know anything about it either. He says that he was also in the dark. If you are in the dark about something it means that you don’t know about it but there is also the implication that the reason you don’t know is that it was deliberately hidden from you by someone else. Tim finds it surprising that he didn’t have any idea or inkling about what James was doing. If you have no inkling of something, it means that you knew absolutely nothing - not even a small suspicion that something was happening. 

Tim  sees his opportunity to become successful although he can’t yet work out how he can use the news to his advantage. He is clearly keen to show his wife that he is not a loser. “She would change her tune” he says. This means that she will change her opinion and her attitude towards him. Whether in fact, she will change her tune, remains to be seen.

Perhaps we will find out  in the next episode : An American Dream