Team work pays

Ana Cortez pulled the covers up to her face, ignoring the alarm ringing on her mobile phone. Her day at the office yesterday had been another nightmare. She couldn't understand why, even though she paid her taxes and tithe, went to church every Sunday, was kind to animals and humans and obeyed her parents, God had decided to punish her by making Adrian DeLille her partner at work.

The man was a devil in human form sent to torment nice people like Ana and the entire advertising team. The thing was, Adrian wasn't a team player, he didn't believe in listening to other people's ideas and even when he did, he would steal those ideas and take all the credit. The HR department had gotten trailer loads of complaints, but did they take the necessary actions? The answer was NO, and she didn't blame them. Nobody wanted to be on the wrong side of the boss's only son.

The current boss was his mother, the real boss was his father, who had taken six months off due to health reasons. Mrs. DeLille never saw anything wrong with her son, to her, he was as perfect as the word perfect. Ana turned off the alarm and recited her daily mantra, once she was done, she smiled and nodded to herself. She was ready to start the day.

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“Good morning Ana” the receptionist greeted, flashing her a smile and offering her a doughnut.

“Morning, Sophie, yummy doughnuts, What's up?” Ana replied, taking a bite of the snack and closing her eyes in ecstasy.

“Boss Lady, said to tell you that there's an impromptu meeting this morning, so go straight to the conference room” Sophie replied, offering her another of the delicious snack.

The news was enough to make Ana open her eyes. Swallowing the remaining snack, she grabbed the one Sophie offered and blew her a kiss as she dashed off to the boardroom.

“Good morning everyone” she sang out as she walked into the boardroom

“Well if it isn't Ana the nice girl” a voice drawled lazily.

Ana didn't need to look at the direction the voice came from, it belonged to public enemy number one in DeLille Advertising agency, Adrian. Ignoring him, she sat down and waited for his mother to arrive, talking and laughing with her coworkers.

Ana was a 28-year-old lady who was the real definition of beauty with brains. After graduating from college, she had been excited to land the job as Head of marketing in DeLille Ad agency. It was a job she really loved until Adrian had decided to make use of his expensive degrees and had been placed as her partner. She was hardworking, competent and a sweet bubbly soul. She didn't have a mean bone in her body, but what she hated most in the world was bullying, wickedness, selfishness and a spoiled brat called Adrian.

“Good morning everyone” Mrs. DeLille said, waltzing into the office.

“Good morning Boss” everyone replied

“Right, I asked to meet the marketing team because we have to come up with a pitch for Globe worldwide. As you know they're one of the biggest conglomerates in town and this business would really be good for our company” She began.

Looking around, she continued, “Considering the fact that we've lost many bids these few months, we need this one in the bag”.

The comment caused plenty of murmurs and murderous stares directed towards Adrian, who just shrugged and smiled like the cat that got the cream.

“The other thing is that my husband will be present for the pitch, as he has fully recuperated. He will be taking over again soon” Mrs. DeLille said smiling happily, probably anticipating all the trips and shopping she would indulge in.

Everyone was happy about the news of the boss man coming back, but Adrian looked like he had been punched in the gut. They all knew that Father and son didn't get along on numerous things because, unlike his son, Mr. Adrian DeLille senior, was an honest, wonderful man who had built his empire through hard work and dedication.

“Okay everyone, off you go and good luck guys, you have two weeks!” Mrs. DeLille said, standing, signalling the end of the meeting.

They all stood and moved to their department, already throwing out ideas for the Globe worldwide campaign.

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“Hey Nana” Adrian said as he poked his head into Ana’s office

“Hey Lily” she responded, flashing him a fake smile

“Haha very funny. I am not a flower” he said, stepping into her office.

“And I am not a grandma” Anna retorted, “what do you want?”

“Just wanted to know if we’ve gotten any brilliant ideas yet?” He responded, fiddling with the pens on her desk. Ana shook her head sadly, and closed her laptop.

“We? So that you could steal the ideas and add it to yours! Then end up making a mess of the pitch?” she said through gritted teeth.

“I don't know what you're talking about” He mumbled.

“Adrian, do you love football?” she asked

He looked at her like she had lost her mind. “What does football have to do with what I asked” he said

“Think of this department like a football team, we need to work together. We have strikers, defenders…you know the rest” she tried explaining. “Look, you're good at bringing up fabulous ideas, but you're not superb at explaining. You get so excited and carried away that you rush through the whole thing, forgetting to make use of the slides and pictures needed to grab attention”.

Standing up, she moved to sit on her desk. “Why don't you be the coach? You help bring the best tactics and ideas, work with the brand manager art director etc. Then let the best players go into the match. At the end of the day, everybody wins”.

Adrian stared at her for a long time, then he slowly stood up and headed to the door, just as he was about to close it, Ana shouted, “It's called sportsmanship, you should try it sometime!”

Adrian banged the door as a reply.

"A week later…
Ana had just returned from lunch and was busy eating the doughnuts she had bought on her way back to the office when she heard a knock.

“Come right in” she said wiping her hands. She stared in shock as Adrian walked in. He never knocked before entering her office.

“You might want to close your mouth, before you start drooling” he said, laughing at her.

He had been scarce around the office since his father's return. She had assumed he was ill because she knew he would never miss a day of work in his life. Not when had people to terrorize.

“Good day to you too” Ana replied,taking another bite.

Adrian cleared his throat and laid his hands on her desk before talking, “So I've been thinking about what you said a few days ago, and I realized you were right. I've been a selfish and mean person, and I am sorry and if you guys would still have me I promise to work on myself”.

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Ana stood up to place a hand on his forehead. “Where have you been, are you sick?” she asked. She’d noticed that there was something different about him the moment he came in.

He chuckled and replied, “Well, HR got in touch with my dad the minute he returned, and we had a long talk. I was suspended for a week and coupled with more punishments like working at a construction site and others that I would rather not mention, I came to see the errors of my ways”.

“I love your dad” Ana said, laughing out loud “and you might be terrible, but you're fabulous with ideas and very creative”

He smiled, relieved that she had considered his offer, “I'll apologize to the others on my way out. From now, I promise to embrace the spirit of sportsmanship, with your help of course”.

“I'll gladly help you, but don't expect the others to forgive you instantly. You really traumatized them, and they might not believe your story” Ana said, stretching her hand for a handshake.

Adrian shook her outstretched hand smiling, “I will have to earn their trust then, and I am glad you believe me” he said

“What can I say? I'm a nice person” Ana said. Laughing, they walked out of her office to meet the rest of the department.

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Ana shuffled to a comfortable position on her sofa. It was the weekend and she was dressed in baggy clothes, eating pizza and talking to her parents. She looked at her calendar and smiled at the circles on the dates. It had been four months now and Adrian was still behaving nicely. People were beginning to trust him, especially after he had worked together to secure the Globe worldwide deal.

“Ana dear how's your bowel movement” her mother cackled on the phone “Hope you're eating enough fibre like I asked you too?”

After assuring her parents that she could take care of herself, she picked up the calendar and circled the date. It was getting to five months and if he continued this way they might just become friends she thought to herself grinning.