Firefly in Japan on the Your-Japan Blog Network

A short while later, we gathered at an all you can eat Western food buffet restaurant for my farewell party. Even Shane turned up, and quickly went to the bar to order a beer. The frequent action of raising the bottle and taking a swig gave him something to do, and minutely eased the awkwardness he exuded from every pore of his skin. Bill didn¡Çt even come, saying he was busy. I guessed it would just be too uncomfortable for him to show up after illegally docking my pay 50,000 yen and then failing to pay my small amount of overtime. I didn¡Çt miss him.

We sat down at a table, and started going back and forth to the buffet, scooping up Western food. It was a rare chance to stock up on plentiful, tasty, well cooked Western food, and we all took advantage of it. I registered on some level that this was my farewell party, and everyone else would pay for me. This somehow made the food taste even better, and I wolfed it down.

We all chatted, and laughed, and talked. Shane continued to drink his beer, gulp after gulp. We mostly ignored him, until he tapped his glass with his finger and cleared his throat. We all fell silent and looked to him.

His awkward vibe intensified as everyone¡Çs attention focused on him. His face seemed to take a fuller shade of red as the blood rushed to his head.

¡ÈSo err¡Ä.¡É He began. We waited patiently.

¡ÈThis is Firefly¡Çs farewall party. It¡Çs a shame he has to go, because he has done a lot of really great stuff for the team, but I¡Çm sure he¡Çs moving onto bigger and better things!¡É Shane awkwardly quipped to a table full of silent people.

Shane coughed.

¡ÈAnyway Firefly, you¡Çve been a good guy. I wish we could have spent a bit more time with you and training you up, but that¡Çs how things turned out, eh.¡É Shane attempted a friendly smile, but generated a half scowl instead.

I stared back at him, suppressing a shrug.

¡ÈAs a token of my uhh, appreciation, here is something I want you to have.¡É He opened his jacket pocket, took a swig of his beer, and retrieved a long, thin envelope.

I regarded it with disinterested. I looked over at Moeka. Her eyes had lit up, and she was following the path of the envelope as it arced over to my extended hand. Shane pushed it into my hand, and then tapped it twice with his finger.

¡ÈThat¡Çs just something I wanted you to have. Hope you appreciate it.¡É Shane¡Çs beer ran out, leaving him with no action or routine to hide his nervousness. He immediately stood up, and walked to the bar.

Once I confirmed his back was turned, I looked at Moeka. She was grinning like crazy. I angled the envelope up, and cracked open the top. The unmistakable woody aroma of 5 crisp 10,000 yen notes hit me. My eyes involuntarily opened wide in shock. I looked at Moeka who was bouncing up and down in her seat with her hands clasped together. Very cute.

¡ÈMoeka. How did you do this?¡É I asked.

¡ÈSecret dayo !¡É She responded half in English, half in Japanese.

¡ÈYou didn¡Çt do anything weird, did you?¡É I asked with half a smile on my face.

She clenched her fists in mock anger and irritation. ¡ÈNever!¡É She said indignantly, but with the hint of a mischievous smile played across her features.

I grinned, and dropped the matter. I¡Çd ask her later how she managed this minor miracle.

Shane came back with his Corona, sat down and resumed regular swigging. We resumed regular conversation, and were talking and drinking well into the night. Finally bill time came around. Everyone else chipped in, so I didn¡Çt have to pay. Moeka went around to 7 people collecting money. Shane arced an eyebrow, but reached into his wallet and pulled out his share.

¡ÈOh shit, I only have a credit card,¡É one guy said, holding up his credit card in resignation.

¡ÈNo problem!¡É Said Moeka suddenly. She makes a lunge for the card and grabs it. She sticks out her chest and slides the card between her breasts, like shes processing his credit card transaction. She looked up at everyone else and smiled. Everyone stared back in shock, but I started laughing. Goddess.

Everyone walked outside, feeling fat and happy – except for Shane, who felt 53,000 yen lighter. Everyone went their separate directions, but as it turned out, Moeka and I were going home on the same train line. We walked together to the station.

¡ÈI have no idea how you managed to do that. Shane is one of the stingiest people I know.¡É

Moeka said nothing, but smiled coyly as we walked down the stairs into the station.

¡ÈWhat a great night.¡É I said. ¡ÈThanks a lot for everything.¡É

Moeka shook her head, as if to say ¡Æit was nothing¡Ç.

We got on the train together, and laughed, and chatted and reminisced. I had mixed feelings about leaving Systech. I couldn¡Çt stand Bill and Shane, but I couldn¡Çt stand not seeing Moeka. I felt a knot in my stomach as we hugged goodbye. The hug lasted a split second longer than it should have, and we made eye contact for a moment. The train door alarm started ringing, signifying that the doors were closing. We quickly broke apart. I waved goodbye, and the train left. I walked up the stairs surrounded by 100 people, but I felt alone.

I was having lunch with the hot secretary. I guess it’s rude to call her that for a long time (although maybe she doesn’t think so). Her name is Moeka. Moeka was a goddess. Every time I was feeling down or upset, or shitty about “the management”, she would know exactly the right thing to say to make me feel brand new, and ready to battle unlimited tirades of bullshit from Bill and Shane.

She actually had a whole bunch of ridiculous experiences with Bill and Shane that really have to be heard to be believed. I’ve been talking with her about writing these experiences down, and she’s excited about the idea. Look out for these over the coming months.

Anyway, I was telling her in detail about what happened with my 50,000 yen pay cut, and about how I was ripped off for overtime. She sat and listened to the entire story patiently and sympathetically, nodding her head and making appropriate pained expressions.

“I’m really sorry to hear that you’re leaving. We’ve been working together for so long now…” She commented softly, brushing her hair out of her eyes.

I looked back at her, and bit my lip in regret. “I feel the same way. It’s really fun to work with you, and really easy to talk with you,” I said, looking into her eyes.

Her phone rang, and she answered it. She perked up, and said “Hello!” in English, with a big smile, and excused herself from the table. I idly wondered who was on the other end of the line. Boyfriend? It can’t be her husband. I vaguely remember her telling me she was separated. Hmmm, I mused, while watching her talk on the phone from a distance. She was smiling and obviously happy. Shame, I thought. “Whats a shame? Grow a sac and get freaky.” commanded devil Firefly.

Devil Firefly vanished in a puff of smoke as she returned to the table, and we resumed our conversation.

“So on your last paycheck, after working so hard for a year, and after doing all that unpaid overtime, you’re still going to be docked 50,000 yen?” She asked.

I frowned. “Well, I haven’t really thought about it, but I suppose that’s right. That is pretty shitty isn’t it.” I said, suddenly irritated again.

She became thoughtful, as though she was cooking up an idea. “You know… SysTech still doesn’t have a whole bunch of insurance for it’s employees.” She said in hushed tones.

“Oh yeah?” I said, not really interested. I was thinking about what I could have bought with my 50,000 yen.

“No no… they still don’t have insurance that the government requires them to have. They’re operating illegally, right now.” She continued.

My interested spiked. “Illegally…?” I repeated.

“Right. So, say for instance, if someone were to… anonymously call the Government, and mention this fact…. they’d be in pretty bad shape. Very bad, since they’ve been illegal for years.” She said.

“Alright,” I said, not really following her. “So how does this help me?”

“Given the choice, would you rather cause serious problems for the company, or would you rather have 50,000 yen?” She asked me seriously, staring into my eyes.

“That’s an odd choice. Of course, I don’t wish any harm on anyone. I wouldn’t want to cause other SysTech Employees to lose their jobs or something,” I said deliberately.

“So you choose the 50,000 yen?” She said, her eyes sparkling.

I laughed despite myself. “Sure,” I said with a big smile on my face. “I’d choose the 50,000 yen.”

“Alright.” Moeka leaned forward, locked eyes with me, and sipped her drink. “I’ll get it for you.”

I laughed. “Oh you’ll just get me 50,000 yen. And how will you do that?” I asked.

“That’s a secret. But it involves the insurance,” She said slyly.

“The insurance? The one that the government makes it mandatory to have?” I asked.

“Exactly. Of course, you can’t really mention the insurance stuff to Shane or Bill, without it looking like blackmail.” She said.

“Right…” I said neutrally.

“But I could.” She said with a wink.

“No, Moeka, come on you can’t do that. I don’t want anyone else to get involved. Especially not you.” I protested weakly.

She waved her hands dismissively. “Don’t worry about that.”

“What exactly are you going to do?” I asked suspiciously.

“Just. Don’t. Worry.” She grinned mischievously, as she slid her chair out and prepared to leave.

I couldn’t help but grin. Her mischievous conspiratorial manner was infectious. I stood up, and followed her to the cashier.

——-

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I was looking forward to opening my pay slip.

I was especially looking forward to claiming some money back for my weekend of hell. The pain in my legs had long since worn off, but the irritation and anger at being sucked into the weekend and Shane’s awkward rebuke still simmered beneath my peaceful exterior.

Wednesday rolled around, and I came back to the office in the late afternoon to find an envelope with my name on it. Hooray.

I sat down, and opened the envelope.

Base Salary : 350,000 yen
Tax : 12,330 yen
Regular Work : 160 Hours
Overtime : 0 hours
Extended Overtime : 0 hours

Total Pay : 337,670 yen.

I examined the pay check again. 337,670 yen? 0 hours overtime? I blinked.

I looked up at Shane and Bill. Their desks were at the far end of the office against the windows. They faced the worker desks, so we could see their faces and not their screens. They were working as normal, their faces impassive. I blinked again.

There must have been some kind of mistake. Right. A simple accounting error. Actually, maybe I screwed up my timesheets, and put in my time on a weekday instead of the weekend. Then the overtime wouldn¡Çt have been calculated. I slowly began nodding my head. Probably just my mistake. I better go check with Shane.

I stood up, and walked over to Shanes desk.

¡ÈSorry to disturb you, Shane,¡É I said, clutching my sickly paycheck. ¡ÈI noticed that all the weekend overtime I did wasn¡Çt actually written on my payslip here. See how it says 0 hours overtime? I did about 10 hours that weekend. Did I make a mistake or screw up my timesheets or something?¡É

Shane seemed to freeze for a moment. He looked at me, looked at my paycheck, and then stole a glace at Bill.

¡ÈRight¡Ä. The overtime,¡É Shane said slowly.

I looked at him in anticipation. He coughed lightly and uncomfortable, the phlegm from his cigarette habit rattling in his lungs. He looks guilty, I realised.

¡ÈYou should talk to Bill about that, I think.¡É Shane said, finally.

Bill, upon hearing his name, looked over at me and Shane. He looked down and saw my payslip. Almost imperceptibly, he scowled. My eyebrows furrowed. What is going on here?

I walked over to Bill¡Çs desk. ¡ÈHi Bill, sorry to disturb you, Shane said I should talk to you about my pay slip?¡É I said as politely as I possibly could.

¡ÈWhat overtime?¡É Bill asked.

¡ÈAll the overtime I did for the rack move 2 weeks ago. Remember?¡É I prompted Bill.

¡ÈThat¡Çs not overtime.¡É Bill said.

¡ÈUm, yes¡Ä the weekend overtime. It was a Saturday, and Sunday, and I worked. That¡Çs overtime.¡É I said.

¡ÈNo, we couldn¡Çt charge the client for your work. So you don¡Çt get paid for it. This is all in your contract, why don¡Çt you go and look it up. Anyway, I¡Çm busy now.¡É Bill said impatiently.

¡ÈUm, I don¡Çt quite understand. Bill can I speak to you outside for a moment?¡É I asked.

¡ÈI¡Çm busy now.¡É Bill said without hesitation.

¡ÈI won¡Çt take 5 minutes. I¡Çd really like to sort this out¡É I said.

Bill grunted, and pushed his chair away from his desk angrily. He stood up and quickly walked outside. I followed him.

¡ÈLet me try to explain whats going on right now. I worked really hard that weekend. I cancelled my plans, and I worked for you. Because you said you needed my help. I did my best to help you out, and now you¡Çre telling me that I¡Çm not even going to get paid for it?¡É I said.

¡ÈThis is all in your contract. Because we can¡Çt charge the client, you don¡Çt get paid.¡É Bill said. He looked past me to the door, but I had him cornered, since I stood in the doorway.

¡ÈBut you¡Çre going to sell those racks to customers for 200,000 yen each. All I¡Çm asking for is my legitimately worked overtime. It¡Çs like, 25,000 yen?¡É I enunciated.

¡ÈI¡Çm not going to stand here and discuss this with you. I¡Çve already told you. You¡Çre not getting paid.¡É Bill said with an air of finality.

¡ÈThat¡Çs ridiculous. You¡Çre not even going to pay me regular rates? I can¡Çt stand for that, it¡Çs crazy!¡É I shouted.

¡ÈI¡Çve had enough. Move out of my way.¡É Bill said, pushing past me. I tried to stand in the door, but Bill shoved past me and returned to his desk. I stood there, fuming.

Shane came outside, and lit up a cigarette and looked at me. I looked back at him. He coughed nervously.

¡ÈToo bad about that, huh.¡É He said, his eyes averted. Godammit, what a fucking puppet. He knows it¡Çs wrong, but he won¡Çt stand up to Bill.

¡ÈYeah, that¡Çs just too bad.¡É I said angrily, and walked back inside. I imagined myself shouting as loudly as I could in frustration to relieve some tension. It didn¡Çt work.

I walked back over to my desk, switched off my PC, gathered my things and walked over to the door. My work-mates looked up at me, sensing something was wrong. I shot Bill a dirty glance, but he wasn¡Çt even looking at me. I spun around and left the office.

I felt dizzy walking back to the train station. How is that possible? Is it even legal for him to not pay me for time I worked? That¡Çs bullshit. I got home, and pulled out my contract. I looked at the compensation clause.

¡ÈEmployee will not be paid in respect of work completed where Employer is unable to directly charge a customer.¡É

Oh. It is there. That¡Çs a bit rude.

I then went through all of my previous pay packets, and compared them to the actual hours of work I performed. I found multiple discrepancies – none in my favour of course. I realised this had been happening for about 10 months, and I had just trusted them to do the right thing by me, and pay me what I earned. I¡Çll never make that mistake again.

I¡Çve later found out this was an illegal contract. You can¡Çt make an employee work, and then make them agree to not be paid. It¡Çs like contracting someone to murder you – you still get charged for murder, and you would still get charged by the Labour Bureau for illegally treating workers.

Anyway, I went back to my shoebox apartment, and fell asleep. I woke up the next morning feeling cheated. I got ready for work, and left at 8:25. I picked up a coffee and my favourite egg, lettuce and tomato sandwich from Caf½æP de Crie, and headed into work. I stuffed the sandwich down my throat before I arrived to work, because Bill told me once that I shouldn¡Çt waste time eating breakfast at work, and I wasn¡Çt in the mood to argue.

I walked in at 9am, and sat down at my desk. Bill and Shane weren¡Çt there yet. I loaded up the Sydney Morning Herald website to check the local Sydney news. My mind wandered to the internet access logs, and I braced myself for a potential future complaint about visiting non-work related websites at work. I shrugged off those thoughts, and after spending a few minutes keeping up to date with the happenings in Australia, which allow me to better talk and relate to my Australian clients anyway, I began to prepare for my client trip to Kamiyacho.

Bill and Shane arrived at the same time – 9:40am. They walked past me, and didn¡Çt say good morning. I didn¡Çt feel particularly obliged to say good morning either. I returned to my work.

I glanced at the date on the PC clock. 13th of October, 2001. I mused on my time in Japan so far. I had arrived in August of 2000. My working holiday visa was going to expire after a year and a half. That means my visa will last until February 2002. Only 5 months left!

I paused for a moment to consider what would happen when my visa expired. I would have to l
eave Japan. What would happen? Would there be a way to stay in Japan? Would it even be possible? Doubtful, I thought, solemnly. Since I had no University degree, and I didn¡Çt have 10 years of commercial experience in my field, getting a working visa was pretty much impossible.

Bill and Shane – how much longer could I stand working for them? I would have to leave Japan in 5 months. No company would hire me for that period of time – not for the salary I was on anyway. Looks like you have to harden the fuck up, and see it through, I told myself. If you want to stay in this country, anyway. I nodded silently to my unspoken decision.

The calendar in my Outlook dinged. I had to leave to visit my client. I turned off my computer. I packed up my laptop (which I had purchased myself, since Bill and Shane wouldn¡Çt buy me one), and put all of my engineer tools into my bag. I stood up, and walked to the door. Just as I was about to walk through the door, Bill called out.

¡ÈWait up a minute – you¡Çre going to Kamiyacho right?¡É Bill asked.

¡ÈYeah.¡É I responded.

¡ÈI¡Çll give you a lift there. Hang on a minute¡Ä¡É Bill said.

¡ÈI¡Çm fine. I¡Çll just take the train. See you later.¡É I tried to leave.

¡ÈNo, I¡Çm going there anyway. Just wait there, will you?¡É Bill said, collecting some of his things from his desk.

I reluctantly stood there for a couple of minutes as he got ready to leave. I looked at my watch. He stood up.

¡ÈLets go.¡É

I followed him outside to the car. He opened it, and I sat down. Kamiyacho was only a 15 minute drive, but I would have preferred to take the train. Being around Bill made me fell ill. He pulled out of the small parking lot, and we were on the road.

¡ÈSo¡Ä You¡Çve been here for over a year now.¡É Bill said, while we were stopped at some lights. My ears perked up. Something was going on. Was I going to get a raise?

¡ÈThat sounds about right,¡É I said, noncommittally.

¡ÈRight. Well, I wanted to tell you, ¡È Bill cleared his throat. ¡ÈYou¡Çre doing a fine job. All of the clients speak very highly of you, and things are going really well.¡É

What the hell was that. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Somethings going on. Working in this company, you quickly learn to sense when something really messed up is going to happen, and my spidey sense was ringing off the hook.

¡ÈAlso, with the current economic climate, we¡Çre not able to continue with the previous rate of payment.¡É Bill swallowed. ¡ÈSo, from this month, your pay will be cut by 50,000 yen.¡É

¡È..W-w-what?¡É I stuttered, in shock.

¡ÈBut I don¡Çt want you to take this the wrong way.¡É Bill said, quickly. ¡ÈIt¡Çs just how things are. It¡Çs not because you¡Çve been doing a bad job, or anything. The work you¡Çre doing is really good actually. But we have to give you a 50,000 yen pay decrease.¡É

¡ÈBut, that¡Çs a big percentage of my salary! We¡Çre in the middle of a contract! You can¡Çt just drop my salary like that!¡É I said, tears of futility welled up in my eyes.

¡ÈWell, I already have. You¡Çre on 300,000 yen now. It¡Çs not negotiable.¡É Bill said, as he pulled over the car. ¡ÈHeres your stop.¡É

I sat in the car unwilling to get out. ¡ÈLook, Bill – you can¡Çt just do this. I was banking on that salary to be there. I¡Çve got bills to pay – I was planning on going home to Australia for Christmas! Come on, mate.¡É I pleaded, pathetically.

¡ÈHop out. I¡Çve got a meeting to go to. Hurry up.¡É Bill prodded me.

I sat there, speechless. I tried to will into existence the perfect sentence or phrase that would make Bill see some reason and not suddenly cut my salary. I came up blank, and I ended up sitting there in silence. I brusquely wiped away an angry tear that threatened to slide down my cheek and betray my helplessness.

¡ÈFind another job, if it bothers you that much.¡É Bill said. ¡ÈNow come on, hop out, I¡Çll be running late.¡É

I opened the car door, and stepped out. I pulled out my bag. I was silent. I had nothing to say. I closed the door, and the car drove off immediately. Zombie-like, I stumbled into the client site, scenarios and analysis pumping through my head.

¡ÈFind another job, if it bothers you that much.¡É Bills voice repeated in my head. ¡ÈFind another job,¡É his sneering tone cut through my mindless state. I suddenly realized what was happening. My visa was expiring in February. I had only 5 months left. I could only work for another 5 months, before I have to leave Japan for good. Bill knew that. Bill also knew that no other company would hire me for only 5 months. Bill thinks he has me over a barrel, I realised. He thinks he can treat me like SHIT, and drop my salary, because I¡Çll suck it up, and take it, since I have nowhere else to go.

Well, fuck that. And fuck Bill. I¡Çm not the kind of person to be taken advantage of. In fact, what a dirty bastard. My previous helpless state was instantly gone. In its place, stood a pissed off, defiant Firefly ready to take some major action. I could clearly see what was going on - Bill is trying to screw me. Again. And I won¡Çt let that happen.

I did the work I had to do at the clients, and left work on time at 6pm. I went home, and pulled out my laptop. I started typing.

¡ÈDear Bill, Shane.

Firstly, thank you very much for all of my experiences at your company. I very much enjoyed my time here, and I learned many things. However it is with regret that I inform you I will be terminating my employment contract, effective immediately. In compliance with the contract, I will provide 30 days of further work. My last day will be the 14th of November, 2001.¡É

I stopped typing, and re-read what I had typed so far. An unexpected wave of euphoria and ecstasy coursed through my body. I had no idea how freeing and exciting it was to quit a shit job. Inspired, I continued writing the rest of the resignation letter. It was very polite, and written in very polite English, that masked my underlying contempt for Bill and Shane. It was my masterpiece – a polite resignation letter that read well, but managed to pound the reader with a reverberating underhanded ¡ÈFUCK YOUUUUU¡É. I smiled and admired my work. I couldn¡Çt wait to give it to them.

Next morning came slowly. I arrived to the office at 9am. Bill and Shane weren¡Çt there. I took particular delight in printing out my resignation letter on the company printers. I signed 2 copies of the document, and returned to my desk. I sat there bubbling in delight and in anticipation of handing the resignation letters to Bill and Shane.

I told my colleagues what happened, and my planned response and subsequent resignation. They all responded with shock and disgust at my sudden drop in pay, and supported my resignation. None of them had the same speech, nor had their salaries docked money. He thought he had me, the bastard. Wait until I give him this. I glided my hand over the freshly laser printed paper. I waited for them to arrive.

While waiting, I realised the hot secretary was looking at me, and twirling a lock of her long black hair around her finger. Of course, I would never date a colleague because of the potential for problems. However, as soon as I handed those two sheets of paper over to Shane and Bill, we would no longer be colleagues. My mind went off on a tangent to resigning, and I looked back at her and smiled.

Our moment was ruined by Bill pushed through the way, and walking to his desk. He sat down, and started work. Shane followed suit. I inhaled deeply, and stood. I picked up the two identical, signed sheets of paper. I walked over to Bill. I looked him in the eye, and smiled. I placed the sheet in front
of him. I walked over to Shane and placed my letter in front of him as well. I walked back to my desk, filled with glee.

I looked at Bill. He was reading through the letter. His face was impassive, completely unreadable. A hint of disappointment bubbled it¡Çs way to the surface, and almost definitely played across my face. I was hoping for a much stronger reaction. He finally finished reading, nodded almost imperceptibly, and returned to his work. I felt cheated, but I also felt like I won the lottery. I sat back in my chair, as the 1 month countdown began.

Again, I began idly thinking about what would happen after 1 month. And what would happen after my visa ran out? Truth be told, I desperately wanted to stay in Japan. My entire life is in this country. All of my friends, my martial arts, my sports – my entire life. I had built an existence for myself in this strange foreign land, and I was loving it. I wasn¡Çt ready to leave. I decided I would stay.

Japanese Immigration probably has some different ideas about that, I thought sullenly. I don¡Çt fit into any of the work visa categories. I started to feel a bit down, but I quickly decided that I shouldn¡Çt be focusing on a few months down the track. Or even how I would survive after I leave the company. Now was the time to celebrate leaving this goddamned shit job. I beamed a large smile. The secretary noticed, and beamed it back. I kicked back in my chair. Life is good.

¡ÈFirefly. Where are those updated Excel spreadsheets.¡É Bill shouted out, his dull voice imploding my giddy happiness. Oh fuck, one month to go, I thought. I swore quietly and loaded up Excel.

I was working at a customer site doing a server build. It was a routine job, and I’d done it a number of times before. While the progress bar crawled across the screen, I looked around for people to chat with. Everyone seemed pretty busy. I sighed, and returned to watching the progress bar. It was just about due for a CD change, when the client manager walked past.

Tanaka : "Oh, hey Firefly. Hows it going?"
Firefly : "Pretty good thanks! How are you?"
Tanaka : "Fine, fine. So, I need costings for next month. What are we looking at?"
Firefly : "Uh, costings?"
Tanaka : "Right. I’m doing the budget."
Firefly : "Sorry, but I don’t know what you mean."
Tanaka : "The move. Are we looking at above 5 million yen? Below? Have you put together a proposal yet?"
Firefly : "Sorry, the move?"
Tanaka : "Right. Look I don’t have much time, whats a ballpark figure?"
Firefly : "I really don’t know, I didn’t know there was a move. What kind of move?"
Tanaka : "The OFFICE move, course!! We’re moving soon. You didn’t know about that?"
Firefly : "Oh, um, actually, I hadn’t been informed yet."
Tanaka : "Well you better get informed, I think you’re the main tech on the project."
Firefly : "I’m the main tech?!"
Tanaka : "Come on, get with the program. You’ve got a lot of work to do."

Tanaka briskly walked off, irritated I was unable to supply him with the answer he needed. I sat there feeling stupid for a moment, before I realised that I wasn’t supplied the information that I needed! Plus I looked like an idiot when I wasn’t aware of the biggest project involved with that client. My irritation grew into anger. I sat there, finishing the server build. Another worker walked past.

Matt : "Hey what do you think of the new office?"
Firefly : "Oh, I haven’t actually been there just yet."
Matt : "You haven’t seen it? Bill and Shane were there just last week. I saw them when I did my inspection."
Firefly : "Oh yeah? Great. Nice place?"
Matt : "Yeah it’s great. You should go and check it out."
Firefly : "So, er, where is it?"
Matt : "Behind Akasaka, next the TBS building."
Firefly : "Ok. Thanks."

I grimaced and returned to my server build. 30 minutes later, I finished. I walked around talking to users and fixing some various problems. I looked up, and noticed Bill and Shane walk in. They both walked into the conference room and sat down.
Odd, I thought. I didn’t know they were coming today.

I finished talking with the user, then I walked over into the conference room. Shane and Bill were engaged in conversation. They briefly paused when I walked in, and then resumed talking to each other. I stood there for a moment, waiting for them to finish. After a couple of minutes, it became clear that they weren’t going to stop talking on my accord. I cleared my throat. They looked at me impatiently.

Bill : "Do you need something?"
Firefly : "Actually, yeah. I wasn’t aware you guys were coming in today."
Bill : "….and?"
Firefly : "And I wasn’t aware that there was an office move either."
Bill : "Is this going somewhere?"
Firefly : "Yes, it’s going somewhere."
Bill : "Hurry up then. Our meeting starts soon."
Firefly : "Thats exactly the problem! You guys are keeping me in the dark. I don’t have enough information to do a good job for these guys, and I don’t feel good charging for the work I’m doing. I had no idea this company was moving. And the client told me I’m in charge!!"

Shane is silent. He looks to Bill. Bill eyes me with relaxed indifference.

Bill : "Right. I see what you’re saying."
Firefly : "You do? Thats great. So what I’m saying, is that I really want to be part of meetings. You’re having a meeting with the client now, right? I really want to take part, even if I’m just listening. That way, I can be a better resource to the client, I can learn more, and I can appear informed and in control."

Bill takes a deep breath, and slowly exhales. I look at him, waiting for a response. Suddenly, the client Manager Tanaka walks through the door.

Tanaka : "Sorry to keep you waiting gentlemen."
Bill : "No problem, we just finished our conversation anyway. So, thanks very much Firefly. I appreciate your work, it’s very helpful. I’ll see you later then."

I stand and stare at Bill. My lip curls up in disgust.

Bill : "Thats all for now. Thanks Firefly."

Bill grins and winks at Shane, like he has won some kind of battle. I stand there smouldering, and finally turn on the spot and walk outside.

I stormed back to the server, sat down, and continued working. How humiliating. I sat there until the meeting finished. Bill and Shane left the office, and didn’t even say goodbye. It was just like Dilbert, but painful and real. I realised I wasn’t respected or treated as a person, just a resource generating money. The thought left me lessened, like my ability and even existence was not respected, and therefore inconsequential and useless. I swallowed hard, grit my teeth, and inserted the next CD.

A couple of days later, I was sitting at my desk, trying to avoid doing work.

Bill : "Firefly. Come here."

My ebbing motivation for work had already been sucked dry. I slowly stood up, and grudgingly walked over to Bill’s desk.

Firefly : "Yes."
Bill : "I need you to work on the weekend."
Firefly : "This weekend? I have plans."
Bill : "It’s really important. You’re the only guy available, and I really need your help. Can you do it?"

I sighed.

Firefly : "How much work?"
Bill : "About 5 hours on Saturday, and 5 hours on Sunday."
Firefly : "Thats the whole weekend."
Bill : "Come on, Firefly, I’m counting on you for this. I really need your help. We’re moving some racks, and you’re the only guy around who can do the job."

I regarded Bill. He looked at me with pleading eyes.

Firefly : "Ugh, fine, alright. I’ll do it."
Bill : "Good man! Thanks a lot."
Firefly : "Ok."

I walked back to my desk and emailed my friends to cancel our plans. Oh well, I reasoned. At least I get some overtime pay, and a bit of exercise. I scoffed. My own justifications felt lame and weak. I wanted to relax on my weekends, and remove myself completely from my weekday cubicle hell.

The weekend crawled around slowly, since time moves slowly when you hate your job. I woke up at 8:30am, 3 hours earlier than my regular Saturday wake-up time. I fell out of bed and pulled some old clothes on. I walked to the station mindlessly, and took the train to the job.

When I arrived, Bill was already walking around, preparing everything. He had rented a truck, and it was parked downstairs.

Bill : "Alright. The equipments over there. Grab the UPS first - careful, it weighs about 60 kilos. Use a trolley."

I stopped for a moment to consider what he said. It almost seems like he’s looking after me. I felt oddly happy for a moment. Then I realised that if I snapped my back in half, he would need to do all the work. My happiness dissolved, and I returned to my previous dis-satisfied mood. I fetched the trolley and started loading.

We spent the entire weekend loading the racks onto the truck. They were heavy, and unwieldy. It took many trips ferrying equipment
back and forth, and we were lifting heavy objects all day in the thick of the sticky, ultra-hot Tokyo summer. I almost broke my spine when Bill dropped one end of the Rack too. Finally, after sweating through 2 painful and sweaty days, the weekend was over. Bill dropped me off home. It was on his way. I relaxed for a few hours, before going to bed and waking up at 7:30am the next day, my body wracked with muscle pain from all the heavy lifting. I slowly and deliberately went through the motions of getting ready for work.

I ended up missing my train, and I arrived at 9:05am. Shane saw me walk in, sit down, and slump at my desk. I flicked on my computer and sat there waiting for it to boot. I considered standing up to make myself a coffee, and decided against it after I stretched out my legs, and felt another stab of muscle pain.

Shane slowly pushed out of his chair, his chair wheels squeaking on the carpet. He stood up. He walked over, and stood over my desk. I craned my neck up to look at his awkward features.

"Do you know what the time is?" Shane asked with a hint of disapproval.

My computer had logged in by now. I looked at the PC clock.

"9:07am?" I asked.

"Thats correct." Shane confirmed.

There was an awkward pause. I looked at Shane expectantly.

"Do you know what time you’re supposed to come into work?" Shane pushed.

"Uhh, is that 9am?" I asked increduously.

"Yes. So, er, " Shane hesitated. "So make sure you come in from 9am."

I nodded my head, grimacing. A pain ran up my leg, and I shifted my position on my chair.

"Alright. So we understand each other." Shane said.

I stared at him, and he turned around, and walked off. I let out a long, deep sigh. Somethings gotta fucking give. I’ve had enough.

Fortunately, something gave. Next pay day.

I logged into the server. I bounced around the hundreds of directories, while simultaneously doing 3 different searches. These files must be somewhere on this damn server. It doesn’t make sense that only some of the files are missing. I absentmindedly shook my head, as search after search came up blank. No directories called Sales, or Finance, or Accounting - not a trace. The server was a dead-end.

I suddenly felt an ice cold shiver shoot up my spine. I turn around to see the Office Manager looking at me from across the office. I smiled weakly, and tilted my head, showing that I was aware of the problem, and working on it. She stood frozen to the spot, filling me with dread with her cold, accusing eyes. I mechanically swivelled my chair back to the desk. I fumbled for the phone, and dialed Bills mobile.

*ring ring*…..*ring ring*…..

It rang out.

I called Shane.

*ring ring*…..*ring ring*…..

Same.

I called the office.

"Hey listen, I’m having a bit of an emergency right now - where are Bill and Shane?" I asked quickly.

"Oh they’re in a meeting this morning I think. They won’t be out until 11:30am."

"Until 11:30am?! But it’s 9:20am!! I need to speak with Bill right now, I need to know what he did on the weekend to the server."

"Sorry, I can’t help."

I threw my arms up in frustration and hung up the call. I sat there for 10 seconds, and called Bill and Shane again. They both rang out.

I quietly rose to my feet. I grabbed my jacket, and mentally mapped the fastest path to the door. I scooped up my mobile phone, and began powerwalking to the door. Office workers noticed my dash, and called out to me for help.

"chotto…. itte kimasu (I’ll be back in a second)", I breathed as I walked past them.

Breathing heavily, I finally reached the elevator, and pressed down 10 times in succession. The elevator sang out it’s relaxed *diiiiing*. I stood, tapping my feet, staring at my phone. No calls. The elevator doors opened, and I walked in quickly and pressed closed doors, before another worker saw me and began asking me the same questions again. The elevator hit the ground floor and the doors slid open, and I burst out of the elevator**, rushing outside.

I began calling Bill again, but as my finger went to press "Dial", the phone sprang to life and began vibrating. Bills name popped up on the screen. I quickly answered the call.

"BILL! I’m having some trouble here, I’ve been trying to reach you all morning. Some really important folders are missing on the server, and everyone is coming down on me. I’ve searched through the whole server, but I can’t find them. Do you know where they are?"

"Hold on, slow down a second, bloody hell. I just have a 5 minute break from the meeting - you called me 10 times! My phone was going apeshit in my pocket. Don’t do that again. 10 bloody missed calls!"

"What? Uh, look I’m in a real rush right now, I really need your help. Everyone is coming to me, and I don’t have the answers."

Halfway through my sentence, I heard a muffling sound, like someone was putting their hand over the phone.

"Listen can you talk to him? He’s going crazy right now, I don’t want to deal with that shit." I heard Bill’s muffled voice say impatiently.

"Uhhhhhh, hello?" Shanes monotone voice.

"What the hell, I’m not going crazy, I’m completely rational. I have every user in this company chasing me, and I don’t have any answers for them. I need to speak to Bill, dammit. Put Bill on."

"Uhhhhh, hang on." Shane said. The muffled hand noise again.

"He’s having a problem at the client site. Something about missing files." Shanes voice said quietly through the tiny speaker on my mobile.

I imagined Bill throwing his arms up in the air in semi-mock frustration and annoyance.

"FINE." I heard Bill breathe. "Tell him I’ll go after lunch."

"AFTER LUNCH!" I almost shouted. "I need some answers in the next 5 minutes. It’s 9:40, I can’t wait another 3 hours!"

"Bill said he’ll go after lunch." Shane said.

"But wait, I really need.." I began.

"Cut him off, the client is coming back in a minute." I heard Bill hiss.

"Just tell me what Bill did on the server so I can start to troubleshoot!" I pleaded. The next thing I heard was a *pop*, as Shane cut the call.

I stood on the streets of Ginza, surrounded by expensive clothing shops, and quaked with furious indignation. I formed a fist so hard my fingerhands cut deep into my palms. I spun on my heels and walked back into the client site.

The next 3 hours, I sat at the desk, lamely trying to troubleshoot without the information I needed. People got more and more frustrated with my lack of ability to provide answers about their problem. The Office Manager shouted at me for 5 minutes straight. I took a long lunch to try to avoid dealing with people. Finally, nearly 4 hours later Bill turned up, visibly irritated.

"Alright then, wheres the friggin problem," he pushed past me, not even bothering to say hello. He sat down at the desk and began looking through the server.

"I don’t know where the problem is, because I don’t know what you did on Sunday. What did you do on Sunday?" I asked, angrily.

"I did what I said. I updated the permissions, rebuilt the server, and copied the files back." Bill mumbled flatly, putting almost no thought into his conversation with me.

Something suddenly struck me.

"You updated the permissions?" I said slowly.

Bill mumbled an affirmative, not bothering to open his mouth.

"With the old domain account?" I continued.

"Hmmph"

"Did you update permissions on all of the files?" I asked, slowly and deliberately.

"No, just the ones protected by security groups." Bill said distractedly.

"…… Like Sales, Finance, and Accounting…?" I said.

There was a sudden silence. Bill froze. The mouse dropped from his hand, as he looked up at me. Our eyes met, and I saw his mouth drop open as he figured out what happened about 10 seconds after I did. I could see the "Horrible IT Mistake Feeling" gripping his body, as he turned pale white, and his throat constricted.

"I tried to copy files onto the new server, but I didn’t have the permissions… they didn’t copy… then I formatted the server… I formated the Sales, Finance and Accounting folders…………………. HOLY FUCK," Bill gasped.

I oddly felt a bit better, since I had someone to share the Horrible IT Mistake Feeling with. I didn’t spare any sympathy for Bill however.

"I might be able to undelete it. It might be recoverable." Bill said.

"Alright… why don’t I run to the shop and buy some special undelete software, I know a good package." I offered.

Bill looked around the office, and saw about 15 people looking in the direction of the server room, waiting to pounce on him, demanding answers for their lost files and lost productivity.

"Uhhh, you know what? I’ll go and get the software package." Bill said.

"Are you sure? I don’t mind going for a run." I said, knowing he would turn me down.

"No, I’ll go. I’ll be back soon." Bill said over his shoulder as he grabbed his jacket and split the angry office worker crowd down the middle and headed to the escalator.

He rushed back in the door 40 min
utes late. I realise he must have taken a taxi both ways to get back from the local Big Camera so quickly.

He sat down at the computer and began installing the software.

"Go tell the users we’re looking into it now." Bill ordered.

I raised my eyebrow.

"I’ve been telling them that for 5 bloody hours." I said.

Bill paused and looked up at me, as if considering to blast me and tell me to go and "do it anyway". After a couple of seconds, a dialogue box popped up on the screen, and his attention again returned to the software installation.

Bill installed the software, and managed to recover about 70% of the deleted files. He updated the permissions, and tested them(this time), and copied them into the appropriate folders.

"Alright… go and tell them there was a server crash, but we’re lucky because we were able to recover 70% of the files." Bill told me.

"What? You want me to lie?"

"Just tell them that."

"I don’t feel comfortable lying."

"I don’t care, thats the story."

"No. I’ll tell them the files are unrecoverable." I said firmly.

Bill shook his head, grabbed his bag, and left the building, leaving me alone again with a bunch of angry office workers.

I deeply sighed, and began the long, painful and ardous task of information each user that 30% of their vital documents were missing and completely unrecoverable.

It was one of the longest days of my IT career.

The next thing that Bill did to me made me decide to quit, despite the fact I had only a few months left on my VISA, and had no prospects or places to go. Updates soon.

**I thought it appropriate to put this note down here, otherwise it interferes with the pace of the story. On an interesting side note, elevators in Japan don’t have a "Ground" floor. The floor at ground level is 1, the next level up is 2. In Australia (and I presume, English as well), the ground floor is labeled "G", and the next floor up is 1.