Jonas Karlsson - The Room

‘Well, when you stand there like that.’

The room was silent for a long while. It was as if everyone had suddenly realised how absurd the situation was. They were looking at me: I realised that I was supposed to say something. I stood there without speaking for a few more seconds, trying to look as many of them as possible in the eye. Then I lowered my gaze and sighed.

‘Didn’t we deal with this yesterday?’ I said, raising my head and looking from face to face. No one said anything.

‘Didn’t I tell you it was pointless trying to conduct psychological warfare against me? I don’t fall for that sort of thing. No matter how well you synchronise your stories.’

Karl cleared his throat.

‘What are you talking about, Björn?’

‘I’m talking about systematic bullying,’ I said in a fairly loud voice, so everyone could hear, while I pushed my way through towards Karl’s desk.

‘Bullying that has evidently been going on for several weeks.’

I twisted round so that the others could see me properly. I touched the collar of my jacket so that a little of the lining became visible. I thought it made a good impression.

‘To start with, I’ve noticed that some people in here have adopted an unnecessarily harsh tone, and have demonstrated a rather unpleasant attitude towards me and not made any great effort to make me feel welcome. This is probably because you’re unsettled by me. There’s nothing strange about that, creative people have always encountered resistance. It’s perfectly natural for more straightforward individuals to feel alarmed by someone of talent. I would imagine that this has its origins in the fact that one or more of you have observed that I have taken the liberty on two or three occasions to take myself aside and gather my strength alone. Having a short rest in that little room beside the lift. To some extent I can understand that this might strike some people as annoying. Obviously, we need to do our work and not take breaks whenever we feel like it, but I can assure you all that I have always taken care to make up for any concomitant loss of efficiency. And if it is the case that you have any secrets in there that for some reason you don’t want me to see, you’re welcome to tell me. Right here.’

‘As I understand it,’ Karl began, but now it was my turn to speak.

‘You haven’t understood anything,’ I said. ‘On the contrary, you’ve kept your distance. And in the meantime one or more individuals have taken it upon themselves to play some sort of psychological trick on me. Instead of coming straight out and having a normal discussion. A decision has been taken to test my limits.’

‘Who—’ Karl began.

‘Everyone,’ I interrupted. ‘Who knows, maybe you yourself are involved somehow?’

‘I don’t think so,’ Karl tried once more.

‘Would you mind waiting with your analysis until all the facts are on the table?’ I said, in a reasonably stern voice.

Karl fell silent again. It was obvious that he had nothing to offer in response. He stood there stiffly and listened as I went on.

‘I have reason to believe that my — shall I say closest? — colleague, Håkan here …’ I pointed at Håkan, who immediately looked down and began to scratch his sideburns. ‘… is one of the people behind this. At least he was the first person to raise it with me.’

I let the accusation sink in, then turned back to face Karl again. I fixed him with a steady gaze.

‘I have no great expectation that you will be able to resolve this situation, Karl. But I presume you can’t bury your head in the sand indefinitely, and that that’s why you’ve called this meeting? It can’t be any secret that you feel threatened by me, and would like to get rid of me, which is why I’m taking the liberty of uncovering this charade. This attempt to destroy me.’

There was absolute silence in Karl’s office. Everyone was standing completely still. The only thing disturbing the silence was the rustling from my blue shoe-covers as I turned to inspect the stunned workforce.

‘Try to see this as a learning experience,’ I went on in a somewhat gentler tone. ‘If we all go back to our respective duties and never mention this incident again, embarrassing as it is for everyone — if everyone can promise to be open and honest from now on, and never try to play similar tricks on me to unsettle me, then I am prepared to draw a line under the whole business. Simply because I am all too aware that intelligence and talent always upset people of more average abilities. For that reason alone, I am prepared to forgive you. Little people can’t always be held accountable for the fact that they sometimes feel drawn to ruin and undermine their betters.’

There was total silence for something like twenty seconds. It was as if no one in the room had properly understood what had happened. I looked at Karl, who just stared back. This time he had met his match. After a while I realised that I was going to have to take charge.

‘You can go now,’ I said.

One by one they went back to their desks. A breathless procession of subdued employees dispersed around the department.

Karl ran his hand over his thinning hair. He had tiny beads of sweat on his brow. Almost imperceptible. He craned his neck and loosened his tie slightly. I sat down on the comfy armchair opposite him, although it was a little lower than the office-chair he was sitting on. Karl slumped down in his chair. He sat there in silence for a long time, massaging his temples with two fingers on each side. Eventually he sighed.

‘How are you feeling, Björn?’

‘Fine thanks,’ I said.

He rolled his chair closer to his desk, leaned his elbows on it and rested his chin on his clasped hands.

‘You appreciate that you simply can’t behave like this?’

‘How so?’

‘This sort of performance. It’s unacceptable.’

And then once more, as if he thought I hadn’t heard him, or simply needed to repeat it to himself. ‘Unacceptable.’

‘The way I see it,’ I said, crossing one leg over the other, ‘they simply need a strong hand. This sort of collective bullying only arises when people feel lost and—’

‘Björn, Björn.’

Karl raised one hand in the air. He leaned towards me.

‘I’m in charge here. You do know that, don’t you?’

‘Yes,’ I replied.

I nodded.

‘Don’t worry about personnel matters, Björn. I can deal with those.’

He leaned back in his chair again. Rubbed his chin with his hand and looked at me.

‘Björn,’ he said, ‘you pulled down the Christmas decorations and damaged both the wall and ceiling.’

I nodded.

‘That was careless of me.’

‘And the fairy-lights themselves … well, they’re evidently broken now.’

‘I shall make good the damage,’ I said. ‘How much?’

‘Well, the wall and ceiling will be all right. It’s probably time for them to be redecorated anyway. But the Christmas lights were Jörgen’s personal property.’

We sat and looked at each other for a long while without speaking. Finally he leaned forward.

‘This … room,’ he began.

‘I’m glad you raised that,’ I said.

He looked out at the open-plan office.

‘Where do you say …?’

‘Right next to the lift, to the left of the recycling bin, next to the toilets.’

‘In the corridor?’

‘Correct.’

He sat in silence for a long time, and after a while I began to wonder if he had started to think about something else. In the end he spoke again.

‘What sort of room is it?’

‘As far I can tell, it’s not being used, and hasn’t been for some time. I haven’t made a mess or touched anything. If anything shady is going on in there, I don’t know anything about it. I’ve just gone there when …’