Assignment Declined

Yesterday, I spent eight hours on the phone with a girl who wanted to die. I talked her down, pinpointed her location, and saved her life.

The next day, my request for comp time was denied, and the 200 hours of overtime Id logged for the month were zeroed out. When I saw the internal memo that defined my workthe act of saving a human beingas ineffective and unauthorized overtime, I just had to laugh.

My supervisor chewed me out in front of the entire team. Were an emergency line, not a crisis hotline! Stop wasting public resources!

I lowered my head and took it.

Three days later, the citys biggest investor called in a panic. His daughter had locked herself in their corporate data center and was threatening to wipe the servers clean. He demanded to speak with one person: the dispatcher who saved my daughters life. The alternative? Hed pull every dollar of his investment out of the city.

The assignment popped up on my screen. I clicked Decline.

Sorry. The company doesn't approve that kind of overtime. I can't take the assignment.

1

The last words I said into my headset were, Dont be afraid. Our people are at the door now. Theyll protect you.

A faint sob came through the line from the other side, followed by the splintering crack of a door being forced open. The call, which had been my entire world for eight straight hours, was finally over.

I pulled off the headset and the world tilted, a dizzying spin cycle of fluorescent lights and gray cubicle walls. An oxygen-starved ache throbbed behind my eyes.

My name is Stella, and Im a dispatcher at the Metro 911 Dispatch center.

Eight hours ago, a girl named Millie Pierce had called, intent on ending her life. I had thrown every piece of training, every ounce of empathy I possessed, into that callsoothing, guiding, listening. Finally, in a moment when her emotional walls crumbled, I got the key piece of information, the address that allowed us to pinpoint her location.

When the green Rescue Successful flag lit up on my screen, I let out a breath I didn't realize Id been holding for half a day. I slumped forward onto my desk, too exhausted to even lift a finger.

At nine in the morning, after handing off my station, I dragged my lead-filled legs to my supervisors office and knocked on the door.

Report, I said, my voice a croak.

No answer.

But I could clearly hear her voice from inside. Brenda, my supervisor, was on the phone, her tone light and breezy.

Oh my God, I finally snagged that new shade of nail polish. We should celebrate at that new Italian place downtown tonight, what do you say?

I stood there, waiting.

A colleague walking by paused, shot me a look of pure pity, and then hurried away.

Ten minutes later, the call ended. The door swung open and Brendas face, on seeing me, immediately soured, her eyebrows pinching together.

What is it? Dont you know how busy I am? You need to make an appointment next time. Her eyes radiated impatience.

A tremor ran through my exhausted body. I placed a thick stack of overtime logs on her desk.

Brenda, Ive logged over 200 hours of overtime this month, I said, my voice flat. I was on a call all night for eight hours. Id like to request two comp days.

That stack of paper was a testament to a month of late nights and early mornings, a monument to my dedication.

Brenda picked up the stack with two perfectly manicured fingers, as if it were something foul. Her face was a mask of disgust.

Two hundred hours? Stella, youre supposed to be one of my top dispatchers. Is your efficiency really that low?

These are all system-logged effective call times, I said calmly. They meet the requirements for overtime.

She let out a short, sharp laugh and flipped open the first page. Lets see. This one from last night. Call duration: eight hours and twenty-three minutes. For one case?

Yes. A girl with active suicidal ideations. The situation was critical.

Brendas acrylic nails tapped a sharp rhythm on the desk, her expression dripping with disdain. Eight hours? Stella, were you saving a life, or catching up with your long-distance boyfriend? Were an emergency hotline, not a therapy clinic!

You occupy a line for eight hoursdo you have any idea how many real emergencies, people needing an ambulance or a fire truck, couldn't get through because of you?

I tried to explain. Brenda, saving a life, a person who is actively trying to die, is also our duty

Duty? she cut me off, her voice rising sharply. Your duty is to complete information gathering and dispatch assignment with maximum efficiency! Fifteen minutes per case, max! Thats your KPI!

She snatched a red pen and, right in front of me, began to scrawl across my logs.

Next to the eight-hour entry, she wrote in piercing red ink:
Serious violation. Ineffective communication. Creates risk of resource bottleneck.

She flipped through a few more pages.

Consoling the family of a lost child, call duration 45 minutes?
Exceeded scope of work. Not your job.

Handling a caller panicking about a gas leak, call duration 1 hour 10 minutes?
Induced panic. Lacks capability.

With every annotation, she would look up at me, the contempt in her eyes raw and undisguised.

Finally, holding the stack of papers now covered in insulting red ink, she stood up. I thought she was going to throw it in the trash.

No, she did something worse.

She walked to her office door, grabbed a stapler, and with a loud thwack, she pinned my 200 hours of heart and soul to the bulletin board outside her officethe one reserved for displaying disciplinary cases. The Notice Board of Shame, as we called it. A public testament to my supposed failures for every single person to see.

My heart sank with the percussive sound.

She returned to her desk and pulled up my monthly timesheet on her monitor. In the Overtime Hours column, she typed a single, clean number.

0.

The digit felt like a physical blow.

I clenched my fists, my nails digging so deep into my palms I thought I might draw blood. Brenda, you cant do this! This is real work I did!

Brenda crossed her arms, a smug, what-can-you-do-about-it smile spreading across her face.

On what grounds? On the grounds that Im your supervisor, and Im the one who signs off on your KPIs.

Stella, dont be so petty. Youre young. You need to have some dedication, stop thinking only about yourself! Surely you dont just come to work for the money, do you?

2

Before I could even process the humiliation of that 0, the intercom crackled to life.

Attention all staff, attention all staff. There will be an emergency team meeting in Conference Room One in ten minutes. Attendance is mandatory.

It was Brendas voice, sharp and absolute.

I walked into the conference room on heavy feet. It was already full. My colleagues eyes fell on me, a mixture of emotions I couldnt quite decipher: pity, curiosity, and a few glints of malicious glee. Tiffany, who was usually friendly with me, was now sitting as far away as possible, pointedly avoiding my gaze.

Brenda strode in on her high heels, her eyes like lasers as they scanned the room and locked onto me.

Ive called this meeting today for a very specific reason.

She paused for dramatic effect, her voice turning severe. We are an emergency response center. Every single second of our public resources is invaluable.

However, we have a member on our team whose priorities have become misguided.

Every head in the room swiveled towards me. I dropped my gaze to the worn toes of my shoes.

One of our dispatchers seems to think this is an emotional chat line. She can spend eight hours on a single call! Brendas tone was thick with sarcasm, drawing a few stifled snickers from the room.

Eight hours! Do you all understand what that means? she continued, her voice rising. It means a critical emergency line was rendered useless for eight hours! In that time, a heart attack victim, a child trapped in a fire, could have died because they couldnt get through!

In her version of the story, I hadnt saved a person who wanted to die; I had become a criminal who endangered countless others.

My chest heaved, and I fought the urge to leap to my feet and scream.

Just then, Tiffany raised her hand and stood up, an expression of earnest sincerity on her face.

Brenda, I think youre absolutely right. We have to prioritize the greater good. She turned to me, her face a mask of concern, but her words were daggers. Stella, I know you have a good heart, but were professional dispatchers, not neighborhood gossips. Your actions, objectively, caused a massive waste of resources. Thats irresponsible to the rest of the citys residents.

This big picture speech earned a nod of approval from Brenda. Well said, Tiffany! Thats the kind of perspective and strategic thinking we need from a top dispatcher!

Brendas attention snapped back to me. Stella, as a senior employee, for you to make such a rookie mistake is inexcusable. You should be severely disciplined.

But, considering you put in the effort, even if it was useless, Ill give you one chance to redeem yourself.

She looked down at me, her expression imperious.

Now, stand up, and give everyone here a thorough self-criticism. Promise it will never happen again.

All the blood in my body rushed to my head. A self-criticism? For doing my job, for meticulously saving a human life?

I clenched my jaw and said nothing.

The room was utterly silent. The tension was thick enough to choke on. Brendas face darkened.

What? Still defiant? Let me tell you something, Stella. Rules are rules!

She sneered. And to ensure this serves as a lesson for everyone, Im announcing a new regulation.

Starting today, any non-dispatch-oriented call exceeding 30 minutes will be directly tied to your monthly performance review. For every minute over the limit, ten dollars will be deducted from your pay. No upper limit.

Furthermore, any such call will be classified as an Invalid Call and will not count towards your logged work hours!

She finished, her eyes fixed on me in a clear challenge.

Stella. Did you understand this new rule?

3

The conference room door closed behind me, shutting out the storm of complicated stares. I walked back to my station feeling drained, my spirit hollowed out.

Just then, a call came in.

I took a deep breath, put on my headset, and forced myself back into work mode.

Metro 911, whats your emergency?

Help! My apartments on fire! The address is Maple Creek Condos, Building 3

As I started typing, Tiffany, at the next station, began talking loudly to another colleague. You have to see the new purse I bought! Its gorgeous! Ill show you a picture in a sec!

Her voice was shrill, deliberately distracting.

I frowned, pressing my hand over my free ear to block her out as I tried to confirm the details. Sir, stay calm. Is that Maple Creek Condos, Building 3, apartment 203?

What 203! Its 302! 302! the man on the other end screamed, frantic.

A jolt of alarm shot through me, but before I could apologize, Tiffany had snatched the headset right off my head and put it on her own.

Sir, this is Dispatcher Tiffany. Ive confirmed the address as Maple Creek Condos, Building 3, apartment 302. The fire department is on its way. Please remain calm.

She cooed a few more sweet, standard reassurances and then ended the call.

Taking off the headset, she looked at me with a sickeningly fake expression of concern. Stella, are you okay? You seem exhausted. Mishearing such crucial information you almost sent the trucks to the wrong address. What if I hadnt been listening? Could you handle that responsibility?

Without waiting for my response, she spun on her heel and marched straight toward Brendas office. I could hear her exaggerated voice loud and clear.

Brenda, I need to report something. Stellas really not in a good state. We almost had a major incident

That kind of backstabbing felt worse than if she had screamed a hundred insults at my face. I sat frozen at my desk, a cold dread washing over me.

I dont know how much time passed before I looked up to see a carton of warm milk and a small granola bar sitting on my desk.

I blinked, confused.

My eyes scanned the room and met the gaze of an older dispatcher from another team, a quiet man who rarely spoke. He gave me a silent, almost imperceptible nod before quickly looking away.

That small, unspoken gesture of solidarity, as faint as it was, was a flicker of warmth in the suffocating darkness.

I wasnt completely alone.

I couldnt let them break me.

I picked up the milk, and as I did, the name of the girl from last night flashed in my mind.

Millie Pierce.

I distinctly remembered a moment during our eight-hour marathon when she had screamed, sobbing hysterically.

My dads company is Veridian Dynamics! All he cares about is his stupid investments! Hes never cared if I live or die!

Veridian Dynamics Arthur Pierce

A name clicked into place.

I quickly grabbed my phone, opened the browser, and typed in the keywords.

The headline that popped onto the screen made my breath catch in my throat.

Billion-Dollar Investment Secured! Veridian Dynamics CEO Arthur Pierce Signs Strategic Partnership with City.

In the accompanying photo, the man beaming at the signing table was the citys biggest new investor. His project was tied to tens of thousands of jobs, a keystone for the entire regions economic future.

I had saved his daughter.

My fingertips slid across the cold glass of the screen. A plan began to take shape, cold and clear, in the back of my mind.

Brenda. Tiffany. You value KPIs and efficiency above all else, dont you? You think my work is ineffective?

Soon, youre going to find out just how valuable my ineffective work really is.

4

For the next three days, I became a machine. An unfeeling dispatch automaton.

Every call, I adhered strictly to the 15-minute principle. My call-time records became flawlessly, brutally efficient. My average handling time plummeted from my usual 25 minutes to just under 8.

Brenda praised me by name in the daily briefing, commending my rapid improvement and noting that I was teachable after all.

Tiffany chimed in with a saccharine, backhanded compliment: Looks like Stellas finally figured out the secret to success.

I accepted it all with a blank expression.

My heart grew harder and colder with every premature, impersonal disconnection.

And then it happened. A piercing, urgent alarm blared through the entire dispatch center.

Every monitor was instantly flooded with a flashing, blood-red pop-up.

PRIORITY ONE ALERT: A-LEVEL URBAN PARTNERSHIP CRISIS

My heart hammered against my ribs as I read the details.

Millie Pierce, daughter of Arthur Pierce, had locked herself inside the central server room at the Veridian Dynamics headquarters. The very server room that housed the digital infrastructure for the citys entire development plan for the second half of the year.

The alert included a direct quote from a frantic Arthur Pierce:

Right now! Get the dispatcher who saved my daughter three days ago on the line with her! Only her! If you dont, I will pull every dollar of my investment from this city and call a press conference to tell the world exactly why!

The entire hall fell into a dead, shocked silence.

Every single eye in the room was fixed on me.

A second later, a new window popped up on my personal terminal. It was bordered in gold, the color code for a non-negotiable, top-level directive.

ASSIGNMENT: Immediately establish communication with target individual Millie Pierce and provide emotional support.

Below the text, two large, flashing buttons pulsed.

ACCEPT

DECLINE

Slowly, deliberately, I moved my mouse cursor over the button on the right.

And I clicked.

On the screen, two words exploded in stark, crimson letters.

ASSIGNMENT DECLINED

In the exact same instant, my personal cell phone began to vibrate violently on my desk.

The caller ID displayed a name I knew all too well.

Brenda.

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