Burning Bridges

There she was, the infamous Lucy Tricker. She is sitting cross-legged on the couches sipping on what I expect is a chai latte. I’m in a rush but I cannot resist talking to her as we not spoken since she stormed out of Invest Co., and my life in the process.

As usual, she is dressed all in black, with her long dark hair in a ponytail showing off her striking blue eyes. Noticing her outfit leads me to think momentarily about what colour new suit I’ll buy later today. Maybe a nice charcoal or perhaps a navy pinstripe, I’ll maybe even buy some new cufflinks…I stop myself there and focus on the task in hand. Trying not to smile too broadly, I approach Lucy, who hasn’t spotted me as I edge closer towards her.

Lucy’s sharp dress sense is matched by her sharp wit and astuteness. She is so sharp that if your pencil was blunt all you would have to do it stick it up one of her nostrils. She is the epitome of the female rat racer - smart, sassy and sexy. When working at Invest Co., although in the same team, she and I would continuously compete with one another, a little like Jono and I now, expect Jono and I don’t occasionally sleep together, as Lucy and I did. She’s a completely different breed of girl to Juliet and as such I wouldn’t have considered any type of relationship with her, however we only ever spent time together during after-work drinks or at conferences, and of course the bedroom, and that suited us both fine.

The reason why Lucy is no longer at Invest Co., or even in my life, is because of an incident almost a year ago, during which she spectacularly burnt her bridges with myself and the company.

Burning bridges is a big no-no in the city, especially in a town the size of Sydney, and even Australia as a whole. Word travels fast when misdemeanours or embarrassing incidents occur. Just like how you knew at school when Sammy in class 4 called their teacher ‘mum’ or when Joan swore at Jessie for taking their pencil, the city grapevine will let you know about incompetence, bad behaviour and when someone has dowsed their bridges with a can of gasoline and lit a match.

If Kevin Bacon has taught us anything, it’s that we have a connection with almost everyone on the planet….and also that city boys can teach small towns how to dance. Because we are all connected, if you plan to tell your boss to shove his job, and his head, where the sun doesn’t shine and then expect to get another job in the same industry with no difficulty, you may be in for a shock. Everyone knows someone who knows someone, including the person interviewing you or your potential future manager. It’s not worth it; always leave a job on good terms and leave your bridges intact.

Lucy ignored these rules. She stormed out of Invest Co. after being bypassed for a promotion she had been promised by Brian. That promotion was instead given to someone far more deserving and competent, with whom the management saw huge ongoing and future potential - me. Lucy was not happy and treated myself, Brian and senior management to a showcase of verbal abuse, in front of the whole office. She threw in a little rock star style equipment smashing for good measure too. It’s still talked about round the water cooler and gossiped about by new recruits to the company.

“Hello Lucy”, I say trying to hide the smirk on my face. She slowly looks up from playing with her phone. Cool, calm and collected, her piercing blue eyes look me up and down. “Well well, I was hoping I would see you here.”