Chapter 9
Veronika sat quietly in a chair in Damir's office, squirming, shaking, sobbing. Her hands twitched as her body shook uncontrollably. Tears streamed down her face.
Damir stood over Veronika menacingly, screaming at the top of his lungs. His hand and arms flailed wildly as he yelled, “You worthless BITCH! I gave you a simple job, and you FUCK IT UP! PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME HOW YOU CAN FUCK UP AN EASY JOB!”
Damir's face turned lava red as the volcano erupted at full power. As he screamed, spittle flew from his lips, and some of it landed on Veronika's hair.
His voice rose to a crescendo, “You are FIRED! GET YOUR SHIT AND GET THE HELL OUT OF MY UNIVERSITY! YOU HAVE UNTIL THE END OF THE DAY TO HAVE EVERYTHING GONE!”
Tears flowed heavily down Veronika's face. Then she bolted for the door and knocked over a chair in the process.
Damir watched Veronika flee while a satisfied smile crept across his face. He picked up the chair and returned it to its place. Then Damir sat behind his desk.
His smile deepened because he felt good. He just destroyed a person. Today, indeed, would be a great day.
He grabbed his glass of Cockta and gulped down the rest, quenching his parched throat, because all the screaming dried the insides of his mouth.
Once Damir felt refreshed, he opened a folder. He wrote in neat letters, Resumes-HR Manager, on the tab in beautiful penmanship.
Damir began leafing through the stack of resumes. Thirty good applicants were fighting for Veronika's position. He would fatten another calf under his guidance and then lead it to the slaughterhouse.
Just then, Damir's office door opened slowly, and Admir; the computer administrator, walked in.
Rage flared again, and Damir's face turned a deep lava red as the volcano erupted again.
Damir started shaking and trembling with rage.
Admir sat in the chair in front of Damir's desk. He saw the anger in his boss and began to apologize profusely, “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you. I apologize for my mistake. Please boss, I’m sorry. It’ll not happen again. Pleeaseee...”
Damir leaped to his feet as rage coursed through his veins. He felt alive, blinded with the raw energy of a volcano.
Damir sprang like a limber jungle cat and pounced on Admir. Fists flew in a barrage as Damir repeatedly punched Admir in the face, blackening his eyes and busting his lip open.
Admir tumbled to the ground while Damir latched on and continued to pummel Admir's face, hitting him with a right, left, right, again, and again.
After a minute, the rage weakened. Damir came to his senses, and he slowly lifted himself off Admir.
Admir didn’t fight back. He lay there and took his punishment like a man. He lay sprawled on his back, breathing slowly. He refused to get up just in case the attack was not over yet.
Damir sat down behind his desk again. He glanced at the man lying on his floor. Blood oozed from several cuts across his face. Then Damir felt pity for him because he treated his employee too harshly. The volcano began simmering down, becoming dormant.
Damir stated in a calm mood, “I’m sorry, Admir. I thought my day was going well. I already fired someone a little earlier, so I met my quota for the week. I only planned to talk to you. Well, I guess we did some talking, in a manly way. When I saw you sit down, the anger shot out of me. Are you okay, Admir? Do you want something to drink? I think I have another Cockta.”
Admir gargled in a weak voice, “Yeah.” He breathed in and out erratically.
Damir opened the small dormitory refrigerator behind his desk and grabbed his last Cockta. He opened it with a little pop while the soda began fizzling and bubbling a little. Then he went to Admir and helped him up with his free hand.
He handed the cold drink to Admir, who slowly regained his composure keeping his eyes on Damir to make sure he wouldn’t erupt again.
Damir sat behind his desk, smiling. All traces of angry vanished.
Admir inspected the bottle, ensuring Damir hadn’t spiked the drink with a poison, or hadn’t slid a syringe needle in it. Then he took a large swig, but kept watching Damir.
Damir stated in a calm, peaceful voice, “Good, I won’t fire you because I know mistakes can happen. I hope this little talk will straighten you out. Please, in the future, when you spell my last name Kovacev, make sure you write it K - O and not K - E. Do you understand? I cannot let a simple spelling mess up my name or my university's reputation. Do you understand, Admir?”
Admir mumbled again, “Yes sir.” Then he took another swig of that Cockta.
Damir went to Admir and gently took his hand and led him to the door. Once at the door, Damir patted Admir on the back as he walked out and added in a soft voice, “I’m glad we could have this conversation, Admir. I understand mistakes can happen. Some mistakes are correctable. Let’s hope we’ll not have another talk like this again.”