“…what you appreciate, appreciates.”

Story Art — the $100M man and his meagre employee.

The phone buzzed on the table, Bill could see it was his wife calling. And like instinct, he jammed his finger down on the red button and ended the call. The buzzing stopped. He slid the phone into his pocket.

“Come on man, deal already! I don’t have all fuckin’ day”, yelled Bill. “You don’t understand the tonne of work I’ve gotta get back to.”

He must have been the conductor of a choir at that moment. Because as soon as Bill uttered those words, all the other men at the table started to hum a similar melody. All mentioned something along the lines of how much work they also had, how busy their lives were, and how every wasted minute was a tragedy.

Each man at this table was worth in excess of $100 million. All business tycoons from various industries. Many household names.

“Every time I think of the deal, my blood boils”, Man#1 complained as he flicked a single card in the direction of each person on the table. An added jolt of the wrist out of frustration as he let go of each card. “I knew that son of a bitch would try to price me out. But the client. Man. I went the extra mile for ‘em. Fuck sake. I hope the job goes to shit and blows out.”

“I’m still praying our jump into the China market is going to work,” Man#2 added as he peeled back the card Man#1 had just dealt him. “I’ve got all the weight of my board sitting on my head. All waiting to see if we hit our revenue targets.”

“Yea I can bet. I just want to land the Silverman account. But that fuck face has stopped taking my calls now,” Man#3 added his two cents while he carefully eyed everyone sitting across the table, keeping his hand close to his chest and only peeking at his cards from under his nose. “With that account I could finally put my feet up. And also put my middle finger up at those new boys, and tell them to rotate on it for a while.”

One after the other, each shared his misery. Venting about what stood in each person’s way to some elusive goal.

The energy was similar to that of a funeral. No one seemed particularly happy. If people didn’t know who each of these men were, it would seem as if none of them had really achieved much in their lives.

“It’s tough man. This game. People don’t fuckin’ get it. They see the money, the pictures on magazines, and think our lives are all about sitting on yachts, living cruisy. And party fuckin’ party!” Bill announced as he played his hand.

“I wish I had more time to spend with my family.”

Just then his phone vibrated again in his pocket. Sliding it out and glancing at it from the corner of his eye. He saw it was his wife calling once more.

He ended the call again, and put the phone back in his pocket.

“You want me to top up your drink?”, Adrian winked as he pointed at Guy#1’s near-empty wine glass. His smile made it obvious he already had plenty more than he needed.

“Do you really need to ask?”, Guy#1 responded sarcastically. As he started shuffling the deck of cards for the next game.

In the background, an old jukebox played hits from yesteryear. A bubble hypnotically circled the front within a little tube that stretched the edges of the jukebox. Old records were hung all over the walls wherever there was any space. The room was an afterthought, an extension to the house years after it was built. So it was quite small. But because of this, it had a vintage cosy feel.

The group of them all sat on the floor crowded around a circular coffee table. They bantered, joked, and cheered every time a new song played. They played off each other’s energy and the vibe was uplifting.

They all worked at the same company. They had for years. And had become the best of friends. None of them earned all that much. They all brought home an average wage, and all lived an average life.

“I don’t have any words. It was just. Amazing,” Guy#2 remarked. “It literally went down to that last second. No joke. The absolute last play. One of the best games I’ve seen and one of the best days of my life. Being there live was. Mate!”

“Do you remember when we went to Chasers to watch last year’s final?”, Guy#3 asked with boyish excitement as he picked up the last card he was dealt. “We got insanely maggoted. Adrian sounded like he had been molested by Godzilla the next morning.”

They all broke into laughter. Adrian got up and mockingly jabbed Louis for the comment.

“Alright play. It’s your turn!” Adrian yelled at Guy#4 who was off in his own world, singing along with the Elvis track that was playing.

“Man there’s been some good times. When we’re all together, there isn’t really a night that isn’t fun,” Guy#4 still sat there obsessing over the cards in his hand as he reminisced all the fond memories they had shared over the years. “Honestly, put us in a toilet and I’m sure we’ll find something to amuse ourselves with for hours.”

“I know ey. We’re pretty lucky,” Guy#2 chimed in. Everyone nodded. He then raised his glass and announced, “Cheers to this epic night.”

Before everyone could raise their glasses in return, the sounds of Elvis started being remixed by an off-beat electronic dance song. It was Adrian’s ringtone. He put down his glass and saw that his wife was calling.

“Hey honey”, Adrian answered.

Putting two fingers in the air, he mouthed the words “two seconds” to the guys.

“Sure, no worries.
Yeah.
We’ll be home in a few hours.
Okay.
Yep.
Don’t worry. I’m not driving.
Yes, promise.
I won’t be driving, okay!
Okay goodnight now.
Love you.”

Bill sipped at his double shot espresso. The bags under his eyes now looked like a permanent crater. The expression on his face a foul one. As if he had woken up on the wrong side of the bed and was ready to take revenge.

The elevator beeped as it stopped after moving down just one floor. Bill sighed out of frustration having to now put up with someone on his journey down.

As the doors opened, the look on Adrian’s face was one of shock.

It wasn’t often you’d get to run into the big boss, the owner of the company. He barely came to visit their office, one of the smaller of his 140 around the world. And here he was in the elevator in front of him.

Adrian thought this could be a great opportunity for him to put forward his best self.

“Hello sir, great to see you at our office,” Adrian said as he extended his hand.

“I’m Adrian. I work in operations and have been with the company for 9 years.”

“Good to meet you”, Bill responded, shaking his hand.

The ground level button was already illuminated in red. But Adrian decided to press it again, out of nerves. He awkwardly shifted to the left of the elevator and pressed his back against the railing to half face the big boss.

It was a long journey down from where they were. So Adrian took the opportunity to strike up a conversation.

“Is this a short visit?”

“Yes. I am on my way back to the airport now. Catching a flight to the middle east to work on a new deal.”

“Wow. You must love the chance to travel ‘round the world and work on new ways to grow your business?”

Bill responded coldly, “it has its rewards.”

Adrian went quiet, he looked dead straight. Silence followed. But seconds later Bill felt bad for taking his work frustrations out on this innocent fellow. So he made an effort to continue the conversation.

“Where are you off to?”

“I’m actually supposed to be on leave for the week, I just came in to wrap up a loose end,” Adrian said with a smile, excited that the big boss was interested in his life. Like the moment when an attractive girl follows up with a question.

“I’m about to go on a long walking trek with my wife that we’ve planned for many months. So I’m just on my way out to pack and leave,” Adrian added.

“That sounds exciting,” said Bill, jealous of this employee’s simple life, “I wish I could spend more time with my wife.”

There was a pause as Adrian hesitated with his response. He knew what he wanted to say but he wanted to tread carefully.

“Don’t take offence sir, I’m just asking out of curiosity. You’ve got all the money in the world and freedom to do whatever. Why don’t you spend more time with her?”

Bill paused. He shook his head amazed by how these small minds thought. They just never understand.

“I don’t have time.”

Adrian didn’t understand. He had more money than anyone could spend in a lifetime, he didn’t need to work another minute if he didn’t want to. Yet he didn’t have time? Why couldn’t he create time?

He mustered a weak, fake, smile. Too afraid to ask a follow up question or verbalise his true thoughts. Just then the elevator beeped again. Indicating they had reached ground floor. He was saved by the bell.

“It was a pleasure to meet you sir,” Adrian again extended his hand towards the big boss.

“I want to thank you for what your company has done for me over the years. I am so grateful. I have achieved so much here and have more in my life than I could imagine.”

He took a deep breath, “I know they say what you appreciate, appreciates. And I truly appreciate the success I’ve had. Hope I can continue serving this company for many more years.”

And off they went on their separate paths, never to collide again.

Being successful and feeling successful are two different things.

Story Art is a new genre of art, one that brings the two most powerful ways of spreading a message for the past 5,000+ years — storytelling and art. The art is illustrations sourced from some of the greatest illustrators. The stories I write myself.

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