By the time I arrived home that evening, exhaustion was rapidly catching up with me, but my daughter Megan sprinted down the hallway to excitedly ask if I had brought her a present. I unpacked the remaining Barbie polish set and the plastic rings, which she adored until she noticed that some of the brightly colored bottles were already open. I sat beside her and recounted the entire airplane incident, summarizing the story of the incredibly rude man and describing the absurdly large rings I had placed on his toes. Megan nearly rolled across the floor with laughter at the idea of me giving a grown man a Barbie makeover, especially when I explained the lovely assortment of pink shades. She immediately began painting her own toenails with the brightest bottle, prompting me to remind her that we had an early morning schedule because I was nervous about an important meeting with new colleagues. The next morning, I dressed in my favorite navy blue pantsuit and drank my coffee while Megan tried to convince me to tell everyone at my new job about the airplane incident. I firmly explained that some stories are better left in the past and headed out the door.
After dropping Megan at school, I drove to my new office and arrived ten minutes early for my morning meeting. I paused near the partly open conference room door, where I heard a familiar voice loudly complaining about a crazy woman who had ruined his flight by painting his toenails while he slept. The man indignantly claimed he had done absolutely nothing to make me angry, conveniently omitting any mention of his bare foot resting entirely on my armrest. He confidently shifted the conversation to his expected promotion, boasting that he would have the new regional director eating out of his hand before lunch. My assistant Sophie arrived to escort me inside, and as she announced my presence as the new regional director, the bustling conversation in the room died away instantly. The confident man, whom I now recognized as Bradley, lost his smug smile immediately as I walked over to shake his hand and asked how his feet were doing. The room erupted in laughter as he realized who I was, and I took my seat at the head of the table, informing Bradley that his future promotion would depend entirely on how he treated his colleagues.