“ Mary Akpan, you'll handle the marketing of our new two in one strawberry juice” The MD said, using his deep masculine tone.
“Alright, Sir” Mary had responded with her queer smile that irritated the rest of us.
The entire boardroom was silent after the announcement. Embedded in that silence were a thousand words we would have wanted to say, but we dared not. Not with Mr Folarin on sight. Interrupting when he had just given an order was forbidden. No one wanted to know what the aftermath of that would be, though. Our silence screamed injustice. Only if we could give him a picture of all the times Mary got the deals that put her in the spotlight, leaving others to carry out insignificant tasks no one would ever give accolades, no matter the energy put into executing them.
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For the rest of the day at work, those in the marketing department wore long faces. The feeling of being regarded as invisible irked most of us . The only person who was seen was the beautiful Mary and eloquent Mary, who for reasons we didn't know, had the MD’s heart in her care.If we didn't know better, we would have speculated both of them had something going on. As much as we hated to admit it, Mary was good. She knew her ropes in the area of marketing. No matter how impossible it looked to penetrate the market with a particular product, Mary knew just how to strategize and get the product to sell.
The rumble from the office this morning was loud. It was a little unusual because no one dared to raise their voice while in the office, especially if the MD was around. Whoever it was that had lost his composure this morning, had thrown caution to the wind.
“ You know you are just envious and that means nothing to me” Mary threw the words at Tolu, looking very infuriated.
“ See you, don't worry, this your shine will soon end, trust me,” Tolu hadn't even finished his statement when Mary held her by the tip of her ponytail. Mary had always been in her elements, composed and prim. I couldn't tell what it was that had got her out of her element as I had arrived at the scene late. The HR tried to intervene in the clash, but none of them paid attention.
“ In my office, now!” The MD’s reverberating voice echoed. We all turned, startled, because his still footsteps didn't announce his arrival at the scene of the rancour. It was a long sermon that afternoon in the MD’s office. We all feared suspension for being at the scene of such misbehaviour. I didn't know when I borrowed a leaf of boldness when I raised my hand after the MD asked the root cause of the drama that had earlier erupted.
“ Sir, I think some of us feel sidelined. We wish an opportunity could also be given to us to prove our worth.” If I had given a microphone to others in the room after my speech, they would have cheered me on for speaking their mind.
Source
My words left the MD in silence for minutes. He looked at the faces of each of us, as he wrote on his notepad. I feared the worst with this silence. The silence lingered for about ten minutes. We all began to exchange glances at each other, just before he broke the silence. Mr Folarin reached for the top drawer beside him and pulled out a nylon.He stretched a number of straws which he held on his palm, and told us that whoever picks the shortest, would head the new marketing gig, instead of Mary.
Again, the tension in the room grew worse. We wished we could undo everything that happened that day. If the person who chooses the shortest straw didn't succeed at the marketing, he was bound to face suspension. Our hearts pumped really fast. We wanted to tell him we didn't seek the equal opportunity we had agitated for anymore, but it was too late.
“Congratulations, Tolu,” The MD said.
We could sense sarcasm in his tone. Tolu was a new employee, and this was going to be a lot for her to handle. Shortly after, we all left the office. The look on Mary's face was enough to communicate all she wasn't able to say to us. This would have been another opportunity for her to win staff of the year, but this new method of choosing the one to head the team had deprived her of an opportunity to bask in that honour.
No one left the office earlier than Tolu when all was normal, but now, it would take an entire village to convince her to leave and get some rest. She was always busy learning the ropes of marketing and strategising for the new product. We all threw our weight behind her and hoped it would be a success.