Open Writing

Mandy was late for work again! Hurrying to her cubicle, she smiled and called “good morning” to her co-workers. Some greeted her in return, others nodded and continued working. Her supervisor waved and smiled at her from the other side of the room and Mandy returned the wave. Some of her co-workers exchanged knowing glances.

Midmorning, Mandy stayed at her desk while everyone else took a break. It did not go unnoticed when her supervisor brought Mandy a coffee from the lunchroom. While it was not unusual for someone to be late occasionally, Mandy was late at least twice each week. And the supervisor didn’t seem to mind. If it were one of them who was late so often, they were sure that something would be said about it. Playing favourites, they thought, resentment growing at the edges of their minds. It didn’t seem to matter to them that Mandy always worked through her coffee breaks to make up for any lost work time.

What her co-workers didn’t know was that Mandy was late because she helped an elderly neighbour. The woman, who lived in the same building as Mandy, needed to have physiotherapy twice a week for an injured leg. Her appointments were early in the morning and she had to take two buses. Using a walker, her progress was slow and often she had difficulty climbing the bus steps. As Mandy took the same buses as her neighbour, she was happy to be of assistance.

Sometimes though the woman’s progress across the busy intersection to the next bus stop took longer and they missed one bus. The few minutes wait for the next one made Mandy late for work. After the first couple of times, Mandy explained the situation to her supervisor and it was agreed that Mandy could make up the lost time at coffee break.

The supposedly knowing looks from Mandy’s co-workers were not lost on her, but Mandy had asked that her reason for being late not be mentioned to anyone else. Mandy was a shy person who didn’t like attention being drawn to herself so the supervisor agreed to keep the reason to herself.

The supervisor, however, noticed the looks that Mandy received when she came in late and she felt that perhaps the others were owed an explanation. After all, they were required to be at work on time. She had overheard Mandy being called the ‘supervisor’s pet”. She would think about how to handle the situation but keep quiet for now.

One day the next week, the supervisor approached Mandy just after she arrived late for work and asked her to come to her office. All eyes followed Mandy as she walked the length of the floor to the corner office. Perhaps now something would be done about the late arrival times. A few minutes later Mandy returned to her desk quietly and continued her work. What could it mean?

They found out what it meant a few days afterwards when a special notice went up on the bulletin board. Mandy’s neighbour would be riding to and from her physiotherapy appointments from now on by taxi. Mandy’s company, as part of its charitable donation for the year would be paying for the cost of the taxi. Included with the notice was a letter from Mandy’s neighbour, thanking both the company and Mandy for all of their help. Without Mandy’s assistance during the past few weeks she would have had considerably more trouble getting to her appointments and now with winter approaching, she wouldn’t have to be out in the cold weather and on the slippery streets. She thanked them with all her heart for making her life easier.

From then on Mandy was on time for work, more of her co-workers called out a morning greeting to her and Mandy gained more confidence. She soon got over her shyness at being the centre of attention and in fact rather enjoyed her small moment of glory. The supervisor was happy because Mandy’s good deed was out in the open and instead of thinking badly of her, her co-workers now had a high opinion of Mandy. She hoped that those who did think badly of her had learned that first impressions or perceived impressions were not always correct. There was a good lesson here for those who chose to learn it.