Reassignment (Patreon)

It had happened again. Ken had deployed code from the development branch into production instead of into the staging system. It had been such a series of unfortunate coincidences. He had typed "make" in the wrong folder so all the pre-checks worked out as they should, and then when he deployed the targets had been all mixed up in his environment that it had accidentally gone to the production system instead of staging. All technically his fault, but after last time he had insisted on changes in how access was managed to prevent something like this from happening again. That fell on deaf ears and here he was, standing outside of big boss McCallum's door.

The email had been uncharacteristically pleasant, without a single "fuck" or "sodding", but he couldn't help feeling that his boss saved up on his rage for their in person encounter. He knocked on the door and the low rumble of McCallum's voice calmly asked him to enter.

"Ah, Ken! There you are. Let's use the chat corner," he said and motioned to a pair of chairs at the far end of the room, with no desk or table in between then. "Good afternoon, sir," Ken answered, a bit confused about the situation. "Just put down your laptop, we're not going to review anything right now. Milk?" Ken sat down in the armchair furthest away and put his laptop on the floor. "Mi.. No, thanks."

"Here you are then," Mr. McCallum said and handed him a mug of tea. He then went back to the kettle to pour another cup for himself. Ken had a sip. It was bitter. Oversteeped probably. He tried his best to make no facial expressions and took another, larger sip.

"So, you must understand how disappointing it was to hear about the stray update you did earlier today." He gently lowered his big body into the opposing armchair. He was an imposing figure, but it was that strong voice and piercing eyes that really commanded respect. "Yes, sir. As I said the last time it would happen again if we don't..." McCallum waved his hand to stop him. Ken felt really uneasy. Like a pressure in his head that was going to blossom out into a headache at any moment. "No, no, no. I don't want to talk about that." It was more than the pressure. He was feeling hot as well. He'd kind of expected to feel that, because he always got sweaty when someone was yelling at him, but now it was like he got hot without the chewing out. He attempted to roll up the sleeve of his jumper, only to find he was only wearing a T-shirt. He took another sip of the tea instead. He didn't care about the taste anymore. He just wanted to be done with it.

"What I want to talk about is where we go from here," Mr. McCallum continued.
"Go from here?" Ken was confused. He'd just come here. No, that's of course not what he meant. Was he being fired? He felt so dizzy, like he was getting ill. He rested the cup against his thigh again, only to be surprised how hot it was against his naked leg. He could have sworn he had worn jeans when he... what had he been doing before coming here?
"Yes, as you may have heard we are in a bit of an understaffing situation."
"Under staffing?" Ken smiled at what he assumed must be a sexual innuendo. There wasn't any tea left. This armchair wasn't really comfortable at all. Made his legs squeeze his junk. He scooted forward a bit so he could spread out his legs. He'd like to do some staffing of his own he felt, but not now when Mr. Boss was looking. If only he could get to the point.
"We lack laborers is what that means. We need people to pack boxes. Carry them to the vans. Drive the vans to customers. That kind of work."

Ken was trying really hard to think of why he was sitting in the boss' room. He hit himself with an empty tea mug as he tried to scratch his head.
"I work for you," he said, hoping that would be the right thing to say.
"Yes! Yes, you do!"
"Pack and move shit is work, innit? You want me to?" It was a no-brainer. He knew where the stuff was after all, and he already had the hiviz vest on. Why sit here and waste time?
"I hoped you would say that. Leave the mug."