Honourable Paul as he loved to be addressed is a well known businessman and owner of PL Tech Communications. He is a rude and strict man dreaded by his workers. He deals with his employees ruthlessly and wouldn't waste even a minute to deduct from their salary when any little mistake is made.
Adriel has been working with the company for years now even though badly treated by her boss Mr Paulo. Now there's a problem, a family emergency that would require Adriel to travel to her home town, she needs some time off from work but she's scared and doesn't know how to table the matter to her boss.
Nk who works in the same section with Adriel and who was also close to her said
"Are you sure this is so important that you must go on this trip?" She continues "you are not a new staff here, infact I met you here 5 years ago when I joined this firm, and you yourself have told me countless times how our boss treats his workers badly without any remorse"
Adriel replies her friend "If it's not that important, I wouldn't even think about going for this trip, it's a life and death situation so it's paramount I travel and have you forgotten that I am the only surviving child of my parents"
Nk: I understand, I'm just scared for you that you might lose your job, I hope our boss would appreciate all the efforts you have put into the growth of his business and allow you go.
Adriel: Thanks friend, I appreciate your concerns. Tomorrow I will see the boss and explain things to him, hopefully he will understand and give me time off work to sort out my family.
Adriel got to work very early the next day and got settled into her unit. Her eyes were fixed on the door to know when her boss would come in.
Soon, other employees came to work and many expressed their surprise as to why Adriel came unusually early.
Few hours later, Mr Paul walked in gracefully. All rose up and greeted him with the title he loves so much.
"Good day Honourable Paul, we are happy to have you around" they said in a chorus.
Mr Paul's response to them is " sure, you should be always happy to see me because you are my employees and I pay your salary"
Nk muttered silently "why does he always have to rude and unapproachable?"
He went into his office, Adriel decided to give him some time to get settled in before going to his office.
An hour later, Adriel knocked on Mr Paul's office, there was silence, she knocked again and after a few minutes she heard a voice to come in, it sounded like he was sleepy and not so clear.
She opened the door and was shocked to see the Almighty Honourable Paul faced down on his table with a bottle of whiskey, he was obviously drunk and in a bad state.
She stood there and watched Mr Paul fighting so hard to compose himself but couldn't, he was too drunk and she noticed something surprising too, his eyes were teary.
Seeing those tears, Adriel knew this was just more than a drink, something deep has been going on in their bosses life and it has been the reason for his temperament.
Adriel left the office after taking the drink, cleaning up the boss office and gave instructions to the secretary not to allow anyone in to see the boss, that he was very busy and shouldn't be disturbed.
Adriel was left baffled with what she saw and it kept her thinking what could have happened to make her boss who was so elegant and well composed to be this chattered because of a few drinks.
Few days after the incident, Adriel went to the boss again and this time he was himself, straight face and expressionless.
She said to him "Sir I want to request time off from work to go visit my family, there's an emergency that requires my presence and it's important I go"
There was silence in the office and every second felt like an hour as Adriel waited for a response from her boss. He's response left her more shocked.
"Thank you, I appreciate what you did for me" was Mr Paul's response to Adriel.
Adriel was left dumbfounded, "is he alright"?
"Did he drink again"?
Mr Paul's next words brought her back to reality. "Take a sit, we need to talk".
Adriel sat quietly feeling unsettled, she listened as Mr Paul revealed a secret about his struggles with alcohol after he lost his wife and kids in an air crash years ago.
Mr Paul knew that alcohol was his kryptonite but he had completely given into it since the tragedy, it happens to be his only source of comfort.
He was happy that Adriel didn't behave differently towards him after seeing him in his weakest state. She also kept it to herself, thereby providing her respect and loyalty to her boss.
Adriel thanked her boss for noticing her hard work and she promised to continue to do her best.
The best part of it was that Mr Paul allowed her time off from work to go see her family. He gave her a salary raise and also promoted her to be the manager of his business.
All the employees were shocked at the new developments and wondered what transpired between Adriel and their boss.
Even Nk approached Adriel and asked how she did it and Adriel reply was "just keep doing good, your hard work would definitely be noticed in due time, that's what happened in my case".
