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familiar with the operations of the corporation.
    “Is it someone who’s being promoted from the ranks?” I ask the logical question.
    “Negatory,” John says as he shakes his head vehemently. Of course, he would know, since he would be one of the top three contenders for the job.
    “I’ll start right away on your laundry list.” I am now in full professional mode and I head to my desk, situated right outside John’s office. One of the things I love about my work is the flexibility I’m afforded. My boss simply gives me a few directives and leaves it up to me how to best accomplish the objectives. John is laid-back in that way, and I do my best to step up and anticipate what needs to be done.
    Gallo’s has 18,000 locations in fifty countries. To come up with the required reports means accessing the data we receive on a weekly basis from each of these locations. We measure and compare almost anything one can think of. We know what the average order is in dollar amount, how long a customer stays in the store, how many buckets of bleach are used in one day, how many milligrams of sodium are in a slice of pie, which mug designs sell well during the holidays, how many nuts are in each butterscotch bar we sell…. The list goes on and on. But the new CFO is asking for data that has never been fully examined before. We have the data, I know, but we’ve never utilized it to increase our margins. Since John heads AP, we now need to do more intensive reports on our suppliers to get all of this together for the new hire.
    I’m actually getting excited as I start looking at the information. I briefly wonder if Cassie, Kayla, and the other Finance assistants are working on their respective reports. We all have lunch once in a while, and I know how fiercely protective most of us are of our bosses. Oh, the competition is on, for sure. I quietly chuckle as I picture them clickety-clacking on their own keyboards.
    Several hours pass and my tummy starts to rumble. I have completely forgotten lunch, and now it’s past four in the afternoon. The first report is a humongous one. It involves going back five years in time and analyzing the income statements, cash flow, and statements of retained earnings from our suppliers. We carefully screen our suppliers but, based on this new report, management probably wants to go one step further and retain only those who are liquid and financially in good shape. I’ll probably finish this report two days from now.
    “Livie, take a break. I know you won’t have the preliminary figures until Wednesday anyway. Have you had lunch?” John is about to leave to pick up Kent from his Karate class. He takes care of his little boy on Mondays and Wednesdays because Ana has decided to go back to school and complete her doctorate in Philosophy.
    “Relax, boss. I’m about to order pastrami from the coffee shop. What about you? Don’t let the little dude wait or you’ll be in trouble,” I jokingly warn him.
    “He can wait a couple of minutes,” he says, though he doesn’t sound too confident.
    “Sure he can,” I say mockingly, knowing how Kent’s going to berate his Dad for being late.
    “Fine, I’m gonna go. The minute you have the preliminaries, please put them on my desk.”
    “Aye, aye, captain. But, just so you know, don’t hold your breath. Wednesday at the earliest,” I promise him.
    “Adios!” John starts to walk in great strides towards the elevator and waves quickly without looking back.
    The sandwich arrives close to five, when I no longer feel the need to eat. I’ve detected a mistake in the formulas, and reconfigure the spreadsheet. At eight, I’m one of the last to leave, though I’m glad that at least a third of the report is done.
    The advantage of leaving at this time is, of course, the absence of gridlock on the streets. I’m out of the financial district in ten minutes and flying on the I-5 on my way home. I make a quick detour on Alameda to get a few things from