Chapter 10

By the time the next 1:1 rolled around, Risa already knew what was coming.

She had learned—painfully—that Rachel possessed a memory like an elephant. A vengeful elephant. Nothing was ever truly resolved; it was merely archived and brought back up every single meeting, like a recurring nightmare but in business casual.

So when Rachel joined the meeting, Risa braced herself.

Sure enough.

“You should be familiar with the basic terms at the company by now,” Rachel said, without preamble.

There it was.

Risa took a breath. “I tried to look it up,” she said carefully. “But there isn’t a term handbook or internal documentation, and I couldn’t find anything online either.”

Rachel nodded, like she was listening.

“I also don’t know everything,” Rachel said. “But you know what I use? ChatGPT.”

Risa smiled.

Inside her head, she was screaming.

DO YOU THINK I’M AN IDIOT? OF COURSE I USED CHATGPT.
I USED GOOGLE. I USED BING. I USED INTERNAL FILES. I USED PRAYER.

But how exactly were you supposed to ask an AI, “What does SC mean at a company where SC means whatever they feel like that day?”

Rachel, apparently satisfied with her own wisdom, had a sudden idea.

“I think you should create Power BI guides and a dictionary for the team.”

Risa froze.

A… dictionary.

“Yes,” Rachel continued. “A reference guide everyone can use.”

Risa nodded slowly, like her body was buffering.

“How,” she wondered silently, am I supposed to define words that no one has defined for me?

Rachel added, “You can ask me if you have questions.”

Risa nodded again.

Internally: Bullshit.

Because if she asked a question, Rachel would immediately respond with, “Why don’t you know this already?”—a snake eating its own tail, but corporate.

Then Rachel moved on.

“Second,” she said, “you’re not meeting deadlines.”

That startled Risa.

“I—sorry, which ones?” she asked.

“The Promo Summary and the Sales File,” Rachel replied.

Risa frowned slightly.

“You took over a month to complete the Promo Summary,” Rachel continued. “And you’ve had the Sales File for two weeks.”

Risa sat up straighter. “I finished the Promo Summary in two weeks,” she said calmly. “Then Brad requested additional features, which took more time to implement—especially alongside transcoding.”

Rachel nodded. “I understand.”

She did not understand.

“But regardless,” Rachel said, “it still took too long.”

Risa nodded. “Okay.”

“And the Sales File—”

“I only discussed that with Brad last week,” Risa said gently. “So it’s only been one week.”

Rachel paused. “Finish it by next week.”

Risa nodded again.

Inside her head: This file has thirty-five sheets. Fifteen people touch it. It’s held together by hope and broken formulas. But sure. One week.

The meeting ended.

Risa returned to her desk and stared at her screen.

She opened the Sales File.

Excel wheezed.

She sighed and got to work.

The days blurred together. Customer Service emails never stopped. Orders came in constantly. SAP took forever. Reports loaded like they were powered by hamsters.

She fixed formulas. They broke again.

She adjusted links. Someone overwrote them.

Meanwhile, the “dictionary” loomed in the background like a cursed side quest.

Every time she considered asking a question, she decided against it.

Better to guess and be wrong quietly than be wrong loudly.

At home, she was exhausted. Her parents noticed.

“You just have to push through,” they said. “Everyone works hard.”

Risa nodded.

She pushed.

She worked faster. Stayed later. Ate lunch at her desk. Checked emails on the subway.

She reminded herself: This is my first job. Maybe this is normal.

But a small voice inside her whispered: Is it?

By Friday, she had made significant progress on the Sales File. Not perfect, but better.

Brad stopped by.

“Looking good,” he said. “Once this is done, we can think about optimizing it further.”

Of course.

That night, Risa went to bed with Excel formulas swimming behind her eyelids.

On Monday, Rachel followed up.

“How’s the Sales File?” she asked.

“I’m close,” Risa said. “I should be done by the end of the week.”

Rachel frowned slightly. “Okay. Just remember—we need efficiency.”

Risa nodded.

Efficiency.

She thought about Evelyn and Sophia, still staying past seven. About Fred, working on god knows what. About Rachel, managing expectations with vibes instead of metrics.

She thought about the dictionary she hadn’t started.

She opened a blank document and titled it:

Shizz Company Terminology

Under it, she typed:

SC – Sales Consultant.

She stared at the cursor blinking beneath it.

Then she saved the file and went back to processing orders.

Because there were already five new emails waiting.