It Is Not the Same

It Is Not the Same

    John and Jasmine's relationship has significantly worsened recently; the last time Jasmine asked to speak to John, he ignored her, so Jasmine's feelings were really hurt, leading her to ignore him as much as she could. But soon she would have to contact him.

As John lowered the shop's blinds on Friday at 8 p.m. to go home, the phone vibrated in his pocket, warning him that the battery had run out, so the phone turned off. Later, at midnight, Jasmine texted him: "I'm scared of Peter; please call me; I have to explain; it's not about me; it's about our company." John didn't turn on his phone until the next day.

It is in downtown that John, Jasmine, and Peter are the owners of a modest confectionery with a focus on chocolate treats. Recently, their management of the business has not worked properly. Their issues stem from the fact that there is an unbalanced relationship between the effort that each one puts into the business and their share of its profits. It is understood that the company will need to be reformed in some way sooner rather than later. Furthermore, Jasmine and Jack have noticed that earnings and sales have diverged significantly over the last six months, causing the statistics for each week to not add up. It is Peter's responsibility to perform calculations to ensure that the figures are accurate, but whenever Jasmine and Jack inquire about this, he evades them by claiming that everything is in order and that soon he will make everything fit. It is unacceptable that their company's finances suddenly include thousands of pounds' worth of missing money because of Peter's negligence.

It was on Friday midnight that Jasmine went to the store warehouse to make sure everything was okay because it was summer and there were often a lot of people at night on the street where the warehouse was located. Suddenly, she saw Peter in front of their warehouse; it was an unexpected hour—midnight—for Peter to be there, which made her hurry to send John the message mentioned above. The reason of the Jasmine concerns was because a sizable shipment of expensive Swiss chocolates arrived just on this day. They invested a significant sum of money in this order in the hopes that the well-known chocolate that was popular at the time would help them win back customers. Their company would fail if they lost these new candies. Jasmine was terrified that Peter would do something with the delivery.

Jasmine struggled to sleep due to her anxiety, but later she took comfort when earlier in the morning she saw how the entire delivery was still there.

After lunch, John at last picked up his fully charged phone and read Jasmine's message.

John understood that, if Jasmine sent him this message, it meant there was a grave issue with Peter, so he quickly called Jasmine, who at first spoke to a worn-out John with a sluggish response. After all, Jasmine had already been convinced that her fears about Peter from last night may have been wrong. Jasmine told John how she spotted Peter last night in front of the warehouse, as soon as she told him that, anger erupted within of her. The growing wrath was a result of her frustration with John's treatment of her, which had left her feeling continually degraded; she used the opportunity to expose how bad the relationship between the three partners was and how this negatively impacted their business; she also highlighted her fears with Peter because of his bad accounting; she was extremely upset with both partners. At last, they decided to set up a meeting with Peter.

The discussion on the meeting assumed a stern tone as it was time to lay all their cards on the table. John didn't waste any time and began angrily:

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John: “Peter, despite your repeated promises to make the company's financial statements make sense, the data you gathered over the previous six months never revealed the proper ratio between goods sold and cash. We can only assume that you are profiting from the company because you ignored our requests for you to resolve your accounting-related concerns.”

Peter: “do you believe this?”

John: "Yeah! How about the previous midnight in front of the warehouse? What were your plans? It was fortunate that there were bystanders—possible witnesses—that deprived you of stealing yesterday's delivery."

Peter: "Jasmine, do you agree with what John is saying?"

Jasmine: “No, I’m not”

John: “WHAT?!

Jasmine: "I say no; I don't agree."

John: "You are a liar, why are you leaving me alone now? What have you told me before?"

Jasmine: "What I have previously told you is true, and I stand by everything. You are confused, and that is the issue. It is not the same."

John: "No, I'm not confused; we were both saying the same thing."

Jasmine: “You are assuming things, while I have always been open about my fears related to anxiety. It's crucial to understand that while fears are irrational emotions, assumptions are rational, so are intentional. I simply want to determine whether Peter's claims are plausible or not.”

Peter: “I'm grateful, Jasmine. John your assumptions are incorrect. Since the new tax increase adjustment wasn't applied properly, I had problems with it earlier this year. Even though I acknowledge to have neglected my work, I will soon solve the problem and demonstrate that all the figures are correct. Regarding my appearance in front of our warehouse late at night, I was doing exactly what Jasmine was doing too; there were many people around the warehouse, and I was simply double-checking that our goods were secure and safe.”

 Antoni Font 05/01/2023, Aberdeen.