After mulling for a bit, I decide on a neutral response.
–Me: Thanks for reaching out, Marion. I understand. I look forward to the letter, and I hope your fiancée is feeling better.
That accomplished, I confirm a couple of Zoom interviews, one with a venture capital firm in Boston and the other with a private equity firm in New York. Just because I have an offer doesn’t mean I shouldn’t explore other options. I discover a headhunter’s email about an opportunity in London in the mountains of unread messages in my inbox, but I turn her down. I don’t want to be that far from Dad, even if it is a great chance to work overseas.
After I’m done with a couple of meetings, Sasha comes over.
“Hey, wanna grab some lunch? I actually have time to eat.”
“You sure you don’t want to grab a power nap instead?” I ask. She’s sporting dark circles not even concealer can hide. There are nap rooms at the firm, and she could doze off for an hour.
“I just had coffee to stay awake for a call. Let’s lunch. We haven’t talked in ages.”
“In that case, sure. Let’s go!”
We head to a sandwich shop nearby. The sandwiches are a little above average, but their coffee is to die for. Since an addiction to caffeine is an integral part of professional success in finance, the place does good business.
I order a turkey and avocado sandwich and an iced Americano, and Sasha grabs a BLT with extra bacon and an iced latte.
We find an empty booth and sit down. Sasha eyes her food like she’s in heaven.
“You almost done with the work Grant dumped on you?” I ask.
“Almost. What’s left isn’t super urgent. I’ll actually leave by midnight tonight.” She drinks her latte like an elixir.
“Yay,” I say.
She sighs. “Yeah, but I’d rather have a day or two off. I want to see my nephew.”
“Nephew?” Sasha’s never mentioned having a nephew.
“Yup. Fresh from the factory. My sister just had her first baby.”
Oooh. She did say something about her sister being pregnant a while back.
“Look.” Sasha pulls out her phone, taps it a few times and flips it around.
The photo shows an adorable little baby, a pale blue cap over his head. His eyes are closed, his tiny mouth slightly open. It looks like he’s about to yawn with all his might. “He’s an angel.”
Sasha takes the phone and places it on the table. “He is. I really want to knit something for him, but…” She sighs.
I wince with sympathy. Nobody has time for that sort of thing at GrantEm. If you do, you aren’t working hard enough. Or worse, nobody wants to give you anything to do because you’re incompetent.
Incompetence is a death sentence. It makes you undesirable, un-hirable, unwanted. People in our industry would rather hang out with a leper than an incompetent.
“I wanna go see him.” Sasha sighs. “I didn’t get to see him in person or hold him. It’s not fair.”
“Can you go this weekend? Your sister’s still in Orange County, right?”
“Yeah, but I doubt I’ll be able to stop by. I have to work.” Sasha sighs again, this time like the world is ending. “At least she’s sending me photos and videos. I’m probably going to do a video call, but it’s not the same. At least it’s not my own child I’m not there for.”
“Yeah.” There isn’t much I can say to cheer her up. “Don missed his kid’s birthday two years in a row. He said his daughter was inconsolable.”
“At least Peggy doesn’t seem to have it that bad,” Sasha says. “Her husband doesn’t cry when she misses their appointments.”
“Lucky her. Well, relatively. It’s kinda sad when you actually have to schedule meetings with your own spouse.”
“And they just got married last year! But like she said, at least it prolongs the honeymoon phase. Hard to get sick of your husband when you almost never see him.”