Thomas hunched dejectedly at his desk, nervously pinching a pencil between his fingers and waiting for the board meeting to adjourn. He knew now his boldness was not acceptable, and soon he would be fired from his job at the Colgate facility. His research would be forgotten. He would never see his coworkers again. His mouth went dry as the double doors swung open and 16 highly-paid, well-dressed executives exited the room, faces grim, muttering and shaking their heads. A younger board member approached him.<\/p>\n

“Mr. Selwick? Please follow me.”<\/p>\n

She spoke softly and calmly, and Thomas could see she was smiling slightly and looking directly at him. He stood and they made their way back into the room.<\/p>\n

“Thomas, thank you for seeing us. Again.” John Dorchester, the COO of Colgate and head of operations at the research facility stood and greeted Thomas with a handshake. He was a very large man, at least 7 inches taller, and he filled the room with his presence. Thomas gulped and nodded dumbly.<\/p>\n

“I do not hold your earlier outburst against you. We read through your documentation and are equally as concerned. Please have a seat.” John motioned to a chair opposite his own.<\/p>\n

Thomas realized that Margaret was already in the room, and would be sitting next to him the whole time. He glanced towards her face, and saw it twisted in rage and childish selfishness. He hated Margaret. Thomas sat and slightly inched his chair further away from her.<\/p>\n

“Mr. Selwick, how long have you been with us?”<\/p>\n

“Four years, sir. In April.” Thomas was beginning to sweat.<\/p>\n

“I see.” John scratched his head and shuffled the pile of papers carefully. “I’ll be honest, Mr. Selwick: If it was not for your well-documented research, we would have instantly dismissed you. Margaret has told me about your time here, and frankly, she has some concerns.” Thomas glanced towards her and caught a small smirk.<\/p>\n

John set the papers down. He looked straight at Thomas. “If you don’t mind me asking, what caused you to start working on this particular project?<\/p>\n

Thomas was silent. He knew the answer, but was unwilling to give the truth. He swallowed. “Margaret asked me to begin researching effects of silicone dental care devices on enameled surfaces. I started my project last September.” Margaret snorted loudly. John scowled at her.<\/p>\n

“Mr. Selwick. I’m\u2026I’m not entirely sure how to process this information.” The intimidating man began shrinking in his chair, shaking his head, shuffling papers. “Mr. Selwick, you’re right. And the fact that you caught it is both incredibly fortunate and horrifying at the same time. I’d like to offer you a position on the board.”<\/p>\n

Thomas was stunned, but Dorchester went on. “It will be the last position Colgate will fill for quite a long while. This company will drastically change. It will not be easy.” He stared at Thomas, who was now breathing rapidly, completely unaware of Margaret’s filthy looks and loud huffs. John was quiet for a moment. “We would like you to help us. Help us save this company.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thomas hunched dejectedly at his desk, nervously pinching a pencil between his fingers and waiting for the board meeting to adjourn. He knew now his boldness was not acceptable, and soon he would be fired from his job at the Colgate facility. His research would be forgotten. He would never see his coworkers again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[909,908],"tags":[1156,1157,1158],"class_list":["post-389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-creative","category-journal","tag-board-of-directors","tag-colgate","tag-dental-care"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n