"Hungry for Success" by English Professionals. EPISODE 4 : An American Dream (part 1)

Lightning Systems is about to move into the fast lane with the first video conference call with Macrosoft

Transcript

Hungry for success

4. An American Dream - part 1

TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO

Tim returned to James’ office exactly one hour later as agreed. He stood in front of the floor to ceiling glass window which gave James an uninterrupted view of the open plan office. James saw him waiting and beckoned to come in.

Tim had spent the last hour doing some spring cleaning on his laptop. He wanted to be able to quickly pull up the necessary information as and when required. He had created a new folder on his hard drive and , after much deliberation,. named it project X. Not very original but originality was not one of his strong points. He had then created a plethora of sub-folders within folder Project X - Actual results, Budget, Forecasts, 5 year plan, financing and leases. He hesitated as to whether to rename all of the files with alternative security-concious names but decided, reluctantly,  that this could be a little complicated and time-consuming.  In any case nobody else but he used the laptop. Maybe he should encrypt all the files? He wasn’t entirely sure what that meant. It  was a phrase  that he had heard in movies when the hero is trying to find key information on the bad guy’s helpfully unattended computer.

“Oh no - the files are encrypted” - says the hero. 

In any case Tim didn’t have the faintest idea how to go about encrypting his files. Hopefully Tom Cruise would not break into his cubicle to try and steal the information. 

“Do you know who we’re meeting from Macrosoft?” he asked James, trying to sound nonchalant - as if this was the sort of thing he did every day.

“Probably some bigwigs  Libby Jones will be there. We spoke over the weekend. She’s responsible for customer engagement - whatever that is.” laughed James

It was clear that James had absolutely no idea what Macrosoft wanted to talk about but, despite this, he appeared unconcerned by his ignorance. Tim, however, after ten years in finance, felt distinctly uneasy. He liked to have facts at his fingertips. Normally this meant being well-prepared.  Lightning Systems finances were strong - healthy profits for the last three years, strong balance sheet, and , thanks to some skilful refinancing which Tim himself had negotiated last year, cashflows were now looking very positive. All in all, the company was in pretty good shape.  

James had little to add to what Tim had already prepared. He spent much of the time staring vacantly out of his office window - perhaps he was looking for Sue. Sue from HR had made herself scarce after storming out of the team meeting that morning. Perhaps he was thinking about how to spend his cut of the sale proceeds. This probably hadn’t escaped James’ notice, suspected Tim. James was the majority shareholder in Lightning Systems - holding  51% of the equity

When restructuring the offices, James had somehow neglected to include a conference room. So the video conference would have to take place in his office. The layout was not ideal. Thanks to the internal window, everyone and his dog would have a birds eye view of the two of them throughout the call. Tim wondered whether the office was sound proof.enough Normally you could only hear incoherent sounds when James was speaking on the phone. To make matters worse, Lightning Systems, despite being about to enter the fast lane (in James’ words), had to date not seen fit to invest in any dedicated video conferencing equipment (James’ dad had never been interested in such “gimmicks” - as he had described them) . 

“I’ll send you the link. We can use your laptop”, said James”.

Unfortunately Tim’s laptop only had  a built in webcam and microphone. The speakers were also pretty weak. Too late to worry about that now.

Tim received the link via email and clicked to open. The welcome screen asked him whether he would like to download and install the video conference software. Tim clicked YES. The download progress bar slowly made its way across the screen - 70%, 75% …….. 85%, 90% - it seemed to hover at 90% for an age.      

Finally a message flashed across the screen -

System installed - would you like to join the call

Tim clicked the YES button resolutely. He was ready, he was young, he was hungry, he was most certainly not a loser (stop thinking about that - he told himself).  

Slowly the small laptop screen filled with a less than clear image of he and James. The webcam was not the highest resolution and the lighting in James’ office was not ideal. Hollywood it was certainly not. Tim shifted his position to ensure that the camera caught him in all his glory.

Another message - the host of the meeting knows you’re waiting

Just like in a cheap B-movie, the clock on the wall ticked loudly. The message remained on screen - “the host of the meeting knows you’re waiting”

Tim began to feel nervous - had the connection worked correctly? 

And at that moment another message flashed across the screen -

“Joining conference now”

The image of Tim and James on screen was replaced by another..

James gasped. Tim visibly paled and began to sweat.

“What have we let ourselves in for?” mumbled James under his breath.

Tim suddenly felt less than ready.

 COMMENTARY

Tim tries hard to prepare himself for the video conference. He does spring cleaning on his laptop. In this context the expression means to reorganise the contents of your computer.  … … perhaps deleting some files and moving others, so that everything is filed logically and systematically. Tim does spring cleaning to make sure he can find everything he expects to need easily should he need to do so. He wants to be able to pull it up  - which means to display it on the screen. So if someone asks you to pull up the latest budget, for instance, it means find the relevant file and open it so that it can be viewed on your computer screen.  

Tim starts to think about the security implications of the possible takeover. Given their size and importance in the IT world, when Macrosoft buy another company it is likely to be big news. Therefore he thinks it is best to keep things as confidential as possible. He immediately remembers movies he has seen where the bad guys, meaning criminals, have hidden information. After much deliberation, which means after a lot of thought, he decides to call the project, Project X and names his folders accordingly. He opens a plethora of sub- folders which simply means a large number of sub-folders. Encryption, however, is beyond him. According to my IT colleagues, encrypting a file means changing it using some kind of mathematical technique so that it can only be accessed by using a password or key to decrypt it - which means to make the original information readable again. I guess the rest of us don’t have to understand that definition - we just have to click when told to do so.

James is not much help. Tim notices that he doesn’t have the faintest idea - which means he has absolutely no knowledge of what is going to happen. The video conference call will be with bigwigs from Macrosoft, James suggests. Bigwigs is an informal term to describe very important people from an organisation, those who have a lot of power and influence. Tim, for his part tries to act nonchalant - as if he talks to bigwigs every day, To behave in a nonchalant way means to act perfectly relaxed and calm showing that  you do not care or are not worried. Tim clearly is worried about the situation. He constantly thinks about his wife calling him a loser and wants to prove to everyone and even to himself (since he sometimes doubts it) that he is not a loser. 

As an accountant Tim likes to always have facts at his fingertips - having facts at your fingertips means that you have the relevant information readily available should you need to access it.

Unfortunately the situation at Lightning Systems is not so comfortable. Sue from HR has already stormed out of the team meeting. Storming out is when you leave somewhere abruptly and angrily. She is clearly upset that the management have not been told previously about the possible sale of the company.  She has now disappeared - she has made herself scarce. One of your colleagues might say to you - the boss is a little angry with you. If I was you, I would make yourself scarce. This means to ensure that your boss cannot find you - perhaps to hide somewhere out of his sight.

Tim worries that everyone and his dog will be able to see the video conference.  Everyone and his dog is an idiom meaning that anybody no matter who, will be able to see or, as Tim puts it, have a bird’s eye view - which is another idiom meaning to be able to see something really clearly. If you have a bird’s eye view or a bird’s eye seat it means that you have a really good view of an event. 

For some reason Tim  and James are shocked by what they see on the screen. James wonders what is going to happen to them and, in particular,  what he has allowed to happen. He says accordingly “what have we let ourselves in for?”

To find out what shocks the pair so much and why Tim’s confidence has suddenly evaporated - he suddenly doesn’t feel ready any more - listen to the second part of this episode 

“An American Dream - part 2”