Since Samantha had left school, she had never faced a countdown like the one that had been in front of her. She hated making a rash decision but when forced into a quick decision, the truth often comes out. Samantha contemplated what kind of truths would come out of a person with a gun to their head. If they had to save one of their children, in the panic would they actually choose their favourite?

  She clicked ‘continue.’

  The screen on her phone changed and the white letters appeared again.

  ‘Congratulations you have made it this far. Now for the final puzzle.

  Question 3

  You are on a cruise to Iceland when the ship suddenly starts to sink. You manage to get to safety on a lifeboat. You are on board with ten other people. There are 4 men, 4 women and 2 children. The lifeboat hits some debris in the sea, which creates a slow puncture. If left untreated, the lifeboat will deflate after around a minute. All onboard the lifeboat will likely drown or die of hypothermia. If one member of the lifeboat goes into the water to try and fix the leak, they are likely to die of hypothermia. In the lifeboat, you have water, food, five lifejackets and a flare. What do you do?”

  Samantha looked at the dreaded counting clock, she had thirty seconds to answer. She knew that all the intellect in the world would not solve this problem. It needed to be answered using gut instinct. Samantha could see the puzzle for what it was, a test of character. Samantha shut her eyes and pretended that she was in the rubber dingy, she tried to imagine the panic amongst the other nine people as they argued amongst themselves while their time ran out.

  Samantha looked at the empty white box. It glared at her as if it was expecting to be typed into with great words of wisdom. She knew that she didn’t have long and proceeded to type words as they came into her head.

  ‘I would firstly light the flare. I would give two of the lifejackets to the two children. I would give the remaining two lifejackets to the two mothers of the children if they were on the boat. I would then ask the four men to take off their shirts and tie them in a line around where the leak is to try and stop it as much as possible. If this did not stop the leak or slow the sinking of the boat, then I would ask for volunteers to get out and try and plug the hole. If none were forthcoming, I would get the remaining adults to take lots using scraps of food as to who left the dingy first to elevate the pressure and who got the remaining life jacket.’

  She looked at her answer. She knew it wasn’t the best answer that would be given, she was sure of that, but it was an answer and the best one she could think of in the circumstances. She felt sure that other, more intellectual and philosophical people, would think of a way to save that dingy without the need to sacrifice others, but she couldn’t think of away. Before she had time to revisit her answer and amend it, she noticed that she had only eight seconds remaining. She clicked ‘submit.’

  She looked at the blank screen. She realised now the significance of the tests. One was to assess a person’s intellectual capability, the other to work under pressure to solve a complex problem and the final was a scenario-based test to assess how someone handles being put under pressure in a frantic scenario with various characters. The screen changed and she saw the now-familiar white letters appear:

  ‘Congratulations, you have passed the test. Now please take 2 minutes to complete a short profile about yourself and why you should be chosen. You have 2 minutes and your submission must be no longer than 200 words.’

  Samantha muttered “oh joy” sarcastically. That style of question reminded Samantha of all the group bonding away days she had to do with work. She hated mingling with other people who always judged her. The away days were meant to make staff feel on an equal footing to their peers and yet they always still saw her as just the receptionist whose opinion they could dismiss. Samantha had flashbacks of being in a hall with chairs set out in a round circle with the question, “we will go around the room and ask you to say something about yourself.” Samantha was always tempted to say “Hi, I’m Samantha, a thirty-something, who is the receptionist who you barely say hello to on a normal day. I’m having an affair with a married man so still, live at home on my own.” She always thought it was an impressive opening.

  She tried to summon all the self-motivation and enthusiasm she had and began to type.

  “My name is Samantha Harrington, I am 32 years old and single. I work at an Engineering Firm in South Yorkshire. I left school early but had aspirations of being part of something bigger than myself. I keep fit and I am an avid kickboxer and generally get on well with most people. I believe that I am a good candidate for the competition as I have: patience, good people skills and a drive to be the best I can be. I feel the competition would benefit to have someone with life experience of the real world. Someone who hasn’t had a job made for them the day they were born and has experienced how tough life can be. I see this opportunity as a last resort to do something with my life and I hope you will consider me for the role.”

  Samantha counted the words, there was just under one hundred and fifty but Samantha could not think of anything else to put. She thought that if she said anything else she would disclose her half-truths. There was nothing that made her stand out, nothing that made her special. She didn’t have the best grades, she didn’t have a degree, she wasn’t a larger than life personality. She was just ordinary and to some extent a true working-class cliche. Samantha sighed, all of that effort and she thought she would get turned away because quite frankly she was dull.

  All the enthusiasm seemed to drain from her and as she breathed out, she felt it physically go out of her and into the wind. Samantha felt that this moment summed up her life story, she had tried and yet fall away at the final hurdle because she was nothing special. Samantha thought that there was nothing else she could do now. She sighed and clicked ‘submit.’

  The screen then changed back to the starry background and new white text appeared.

  ‘Thank you for entering. Please tick the box to confirm that we can access your FriendFinder page to contact you further. Please also insert your mobile number and click submit.’

  She ticked the box, entered her number in and clicked ‘submit’. The screen changed

  “Thank you. We endeavour to contact you within 5 working days to confirm if your application has been successful. Thank you for entering.”

  She looked at the time on her phone, it was 12:45pm. “Shit!” she said out loud.

  Samantha frantically threw her phone in her rucksack bag, together with her lunch box and slung it on her back. She ran across the park and back to the office block. Samantha was at least thankful she had changed into her trainers before leaving the office but could feel the stares she was getting. The woman in her black work trousers, scruffy white trainers and smiley face rucksack bag running across the park. She was a running contradiction. She sprinted back to the office and could see the office in her sights. She checked her watch, it was 12:52pm. She should have been back seven minutes ago.

  As she was running into the office, she ran past people just outside the building in suits and shoved her way past them shouting “Excuse me!”

  They shouted in surprise as Samantha pushed them to access the doors which automatically opened to let her through. She quickly ran behind the desk and sat down on her swivel chair which almost spun her in full circle such was the force at which she sat down.

  Ruby looked at her and was tapping her watch. “Your late Sam, I was meant to be at a lunch date 10 minutes ago.”

  Samantha stuttered out of breath, “I know, I’m sorry Ruby, I lost track of time. You know me, I’ve never been late before.” She looked at Ruby who simply shook her head and looked away. Samantha couldn’t count on her hands the number of times Ruby had been late, yet thought it was typical that the one time she was, it was like she had committed a heinous crime. She leant down beneath the desk to take off her now sweat-soaked trainers and put her work shoes on. She could smell her sweaty feet and hoped the smell would stay confined to under the desk.

  Samantha knew she needed to think of a good excuse, otherwise, she knew that the first thing Ruby would do is tell good old Mr Turner. She said the first thing that came into her head.

  “Something happened in the park on the way back and I got waylaid.” It was a weak excuse and she hadn’t had the time or energy to imagine what event may have happened to cause her to be late. It would give her some time to think of something before she had to officially explain herself.

  She straightened her back after she had put on her shoes and sat up straight. As she slowly raised her head, she noticed one of the suits that she had accidentally pushed aside was entering the building. She looked his suit up and down. As if in slow motion, she realised it looked familiar. She felt her heart sink. She slowly looked up to see the familiar but now angry face of Andy Turner who was scowling at her.

  “Miss Harrington!” He shouted. “A word.” She swallowed hard, she was in big trouble.

  2.

  Samantha walked with her head bowed and looking at her shoes as she made her way across the building. The same depressing journey she had made only a few hours before. This time, however, she knew her fate. This was the walk of shame.

  As she walked into her boss’s office, she could feel the eyes of everyone staring as she passed their offices. If she listened hard enough, she could hear the murmurs of “oh dear, she’s in trouble!”

  Out of all the emotions she felt, the one she felt most was one of injustice. She had worked at the company for fifteen years. She was only seven minutes late back to work and was being made to feel like a criminal. She took a deep breath, turned the silver door handle and entered the office.

  Andy Turner was sat behind his desk facing his computer screen. He did not even look up as Samantha entered, leaving her standing awkwardly at the door. She wasn’t sure whether to sit or stand, just like a naughty schoolgirl. He had put his long rectangular glasses on for the occasion. Samantha didn’t believe he really needed to wear them. When he wore them, he always looked over the top of them to see, giving the impression he was looking down on those he spoke to. His gaze turned from his computer screen and he looked at her over his glasses.

  “Miss Harrington, Samantha, take a seat.”

  Samantha duly obliged and sat down in one of the small leather chairs opposite him, wondering if this was how small his clients felt. As if the small chairs symbolised their worth in this office.

  “I am quite surprised to be in this position having only spoken to you this morning. I like you, Samantha, you have been a key asset for this company for a number of years.”

  Samantha thought, “fifteen years actually, longer than you have been here, you smart ass.” She simply looked at her shoes and nodded.

  “I had hoped by speaking with you this morning, that it would have made you more aware that people are always observing Samantha. Had you just been late, with a good excuse, I may have simply allowed that to pass with a warning. Unfortunately, today was the day you decided to charge into the office pushing past myself and our CEO who was, quite frankly, appalled when I told him that you were a member of our staff. My hands are tied on this one Samantha. He has asked for you to be removed from the company.”

  Samantha had known this was coming and had prepared herself for it, but she still felt the lurch in her chest when she heard the words being spoken. She felt like she wanted to cry, but tried with all her will power to hold it back. “Please Mr Turner, something happened in the park and I was rushing back, I just stumbled on my way into the office in the rush. It was not intentional, I can assure you. I have been here for a long time and I hope that means something.”

  She watched as he leaned back in his chair and put his square glasses on his desk. He put his hands behind his head and surveyed her.

  “We had big hopes for you, Samantha. We had hoped that we could bring you on to progress through the company, but you have given us no signs that it was what you wanted.”

  Samantha was taken aback, she had not expected this and had always thought they had simply glossed over her. However, she thought that it was therefore somewhat ironic they were only mentioning it now as they were firing her. If it was said to make her feel worse, it definitely did that. “I had always hoped for that Mr Turner, I always had the ambition to progress here, but the opportunity was never given. Perhaps that is why I became a bit restless. I’m sorry about earlier, I can assure you it will not happen again.”

  She watched as Andy learnt on the desk, holding his head on top of his hands, like a pillar supporting a boulder at the top.

  “I’m sorry Samantha, there is nothing I can do. We will ensure you get a good reference if you leave quietly without a fuss. You will be paid your full notice pay but we ask that you leave now and quietly.” Samantha noticed he emphasised the last word.

  Samantha could see no point in arguing, they had already made up their mind when she ran into the office after lunch. She nodded, she wanted to cry but did not want them to see her like that, to always remember her as the little pig that cried all the way home. She got up folded down her clothes, turned and walked out of the office without another word. She was going to walk out with her head held high. She walked out with her eyes focused in front of her not saying a word to anyone she passed.

  As she approached the main entrance of the building, she walked behind the reception desk to get her scruffy trainers. Ruby had gone to lunch and one of the secretaries was manning the desk, she never looked or spoke to Samantha and Samantha didn’t want to start up a conversation. When her trainers were on, she gathered her small number of personal effects out of the desk drawer in front of her. Her whole career had been spent behind this desk and she only had a few sparkly cheap pens to show for it. She went to the cloakroom to get her coat and bag.

  As she returned, she glanced at the desk one more time. She could feel the eyes on her from inside the building. “Screw you,” she thought. “I hated it anyway.” She turned her back on the office and walked out of the main entrance. There was a black dustbin just outside the building. She made a show of dumping the black shoes in the bin, as a discreet act of defiance to them and their stupid rules. She turned left and made her way towards the train station.

  On her way, she passed the bus stop and considered doing her usual routine of getting the bus into the centre. Samantha then realised that she had all the time in the world, now that she didn’t have a job, and decided that the walk would clear her head.

  As Samantha was approaching Sheffield town centre, she walked past all the usual clothes shops and admired them. She wished she could afford to buy the yellow dress in the corner, it emulated sunshine and happiness. Samantha considered it probably wouldn’t suit her anyway. She went into the nearest coffee shop and considered sitting down. She looked around and noticed work people chatting on their lunch about the day's events, others furiously typing on their laptops as if they had something pressing and important to do. She wondered why it was so important they had to do it here when others wanted to relax without hearing the annoying constant tapping of keys.

  She decided to grab a sandwich and sit on the train and eat it. She grabbed a cheese and tomato sandwich, a packet of salt and vinegar crisps and a drink as part of a meal deal and shoved them in her bag for later. As she walked across the cobbled streets of Sheffield, walking in tandem with the tram lines, she looked around her. Everyone appeared to be like busy bees in a hive all with somewhere to be or something to do. She walked towards the interchange.

  As she was walking in the tunnel which connected to the train station, she passed a man sitting on the floor with his dog.

  “Spare change Miss?”

  Samantha didn’t really have any spare change at that moment in time as she would soon be completely broke, but she needed to feel good about something. She dug around in her coat pockets for the change she had received from buying her sandwich. She had the grand total of 50p and put it in the old man's cap.

  “Bless you, Miss.” She smiled and carried on walking to the station. It made her feel a bit better but not by much. It was as if she had hoped that the rule of karma would kick in, that by that one good deed, her luck would turn. That she was bribing the gods with her 50p. It seemed unlikely.

  As she entered the station, she looked up at the board with golden lettering showing all the trains coming and going. The time was 1:20pm and her next train wasn’t for another twenty minutes. She walked up the stairs, several people pushing past her who had somewhere to be and clearly were very late. She wondered if they would get fired like she did earlier that day for the same act. She doubted it. She hoped they missed their trains.

  On the platform, she sat in the one seat which had sunshine beaming down on it. She looked up to the sky and felt the sun on her face and neck. It warmed her whole body and she imagined she was on a sunny beach somewhere far away.

  Thinking of a beach, made a wave of emotion pass over her. Suddenly hitting her like a wave crashing against the shore. She yelled out, much to the dismay of all the people around her waiting for the train. One older lady with grey hair and glasses approached her slowly with her shopping trolley bag in tow.

 

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