194 Three surprises from chairman Lee

~ Seattle, Franciscan Medical Center ~

Monday

3:58 PM

Liz is on her way to chairman Lee's office.

She was about to go home, since her last patient had an appointment at 3:30 PM, but then she got a request from chairman Lee to come to his office at 4 PM.

Liz's great mood is enhanced by the fact that today was peaceful.

Between seeing her patients, Max sent her flowers and they exchanged a number of text messages. Liz also spoke with Dr. Snow, and she feels that they cleared the air between them. Liz hopes that after their chat, Dr. Snow will stop bothering her with his romantic advances because she is NOT interested.

Also, earlier that afternoon, Liz stopped by room 570 where Tyler was and saw that it's empty. She contacted Dr. Shaw who confirmed how that morning, Mr. and Mrs. Wilson checked out Tyler, and he is not in the hospital anymore. Liz assumes that by now Tyler is on his way to the army.

Back to the present…

Liz can guess that chairman Lee wants to talk about the flower incident, and maybe even apologize, but she will not hold her breath for the apology part. Even if he does it, Liz is confident that it will be insincere, because he showed more than once that he does not have much respect for Liz.

"Please, take a seat, Dr. Williams…", chairman Lee welcomed Liz to his office while gesturing toward the chair in front of his desk.

Chairman Lee's expression shifted to serious and he went straight to the pressing topic: "Dr. Williams, I hope that you can forgive me for assuming that it was your fault for the flowers which disrupted the hospital. I didn't investigate the incident, and that is completely my fault."

To say that Liz was surprised, is an understatement. She stared at him and it took her few seconds to respond. "Thank you, chairman Lee. I am glad that is clarified."

But chairman Lee still had things to say. "I feel bad because due to that incident I made incorrect assumptions and subconsciously thought about you as not dedicated to your work. I will do my best to show you a fair treatment going forward."

Liz blinked before nodding in approval. "I am glad to hear that. The only thing I hope for, are equal opportunities and fair treatment."

Chairman Lee sighed, visibly relieved that Liz accepted his apology. "Next, I want to express gratitude for your outstanding efforts during the fundraiser. We never had so many donation pledges and some of them already donated. One report waited for me this morning, and I received one at lunchtime as well. The most recent one shows that pledges are 134% of our donation goals, and 17% of funds are on our account."

"Thank you, chairman Lee. I am glad that we did well, it was a team effort."

"No. It is thanks to you. 89% of donation pledges mention the neurosurgery wing and almost all of them have your name as well. This brings me to my next point…", chairman Lee took a paper from the folder on his desk and handed it to Liz. "This is effective starting today, congratulations Dr. Elizabeth Williams on your promotion to a senior neurosurgeon."

Liz stared at the paper blankly until her sight focused on the top of the paper which had her new level at the Franciscan Medical Center in bold letters. "Senior? Didn't we agree for a performance review after three months?" No matter how Liz looks at this, they are about halfway there.

Chairman Lee smiled. "This morning, there was a board meeting. We went through the report from the fundraiser and after that, all the shareholders and directors wanted to know more about you. They read about your performance and achievements, and it was unanimous to promote you."

"Oh, I'm not sure what to say. Thank you. It's sudden. Honestly, I will need some time to process this. From junior straight to senior…", Liz could not believe that she skipped a few levels. Ha!

Chairman Lee smiled, pleased with Liz's reaction, and pushed the folder toward her. "In here you will find the details about what all is included with the title of a senior surgeon at the Franciscan Medical Center. Other than a higher salary, and quarterly bonuses which are tied up to our profits, you will become part of the team which is involved in hiring and mentoring staff, and you will have your budget for professional improvements so you can freely decide on seminars and workshops you wish to attend. If you exceed your budget, let me know and we will take care of it. Also, you will not have shifts at Urgent Care and there will be no on-call days. Those are for junior and regular employees and your time will be better used on more complex cases and mentoring."

Liz smiled. "Does that mean that I need to come to the hospital three days a week? Two days for seeing patients and one for surgeries?"

"Two days in total.", chairman Lee corrected her. "One day for appointments with patients and one for surgeries. Senior surgeons get this extra time for research, which you can do from home. Also, you will get two interns. You will be their mentor and they will take care of your patients exclusively while acting as your assistants in office and research. You will get to pick from existing ones, or if existing ones are not according to your needs, you can hire new ones. We have a great collaboration with the University of Washington School of Medicine…"

Liz was dazed. Well, most of these perks are known to her, but this is due to her effort, not because her dad gave it to her. Actually, the catalyst is the fundraiser so she should thank Max.

"There is one more thing.", chairman Lee added. "It will be announced in the weekly email to employees which goes on Thursday, but I want to give you a heads-up that Dr. Snow handed-in his resignation. His last day with us will be on Friday."

Liz paused while surprise showed on her face. They spoke a few hours ago and he didn't mention anything. Did she hear chairman Lee correctly, or did her ears malfunctioned? "Dr. Snow quit?"

Chairman Lee confirmed. "Yes. About one hour ago, he told me that he reflected on his career path, and he decided to take on a challenge in Portland General Hospital. I am telling you this in advance because due to your promotion, Fridays will be your days off, and we will be planning for a team lunch on Friday to wish him farewell. I hope that you can attend…"

Liz returned to her office and she was amazed by how many unexpected things happened during that half an hour in chairman Lee's office. She sat in her chair and stared at the folder with the information related to her promotion while reflecting on the meeting.

First, chairman Lee apologized for his assumption that it's her fault for all those flowers and Liz hopes that he will not bring that up again. He said that he will treat her fairly and that proves how so far she didn't have a fair treatment, but she will focus on what the future brings. And the future looks very bright.

Second, she got promoted which gives her less office time, she can (finally) perform surgeries again and there is more time for research. Two interns will be handy. At first, they will follow her around and help with scheduling, but as they learn and prove themselves, they will take over more tasks and assist her in the operating room as well.

Liz looks forward to when she gets to be a mentor. Liz took a mental note to talk to Dr. Kaviraj who is a great mentor herself, and to ask if there are any trainings or seminars she can take on that topic. Ha! She gets her 'professional improvement' budget so she can pick what she wants to learn and because it is hospital-sponsored she will get access to a larger variety of events.

With all these perks which come with seniority, Liz will get more time to focus on tasks that can set her apart from other surgeons, and that means visibility and hopefully an invitation to be a speaker at the Symposium of Neurosurgeons in Las Vegas.

She can't wait to hear from her father when she tells him the news about her promotion. She will make sure to break the news to him during a video call so that she can see his expression. And Liz is confident that Max will be happy as well. He is her biggest support, after all.

And the last surprise from that meeting is that Dr. Snow is leaving. Part of Liz wondered if he resigned due to their talk in her office or not, but in the end, that is none of her business. She didn't make Dr. Snow come to the Franciscan Medical Center and she didn't make him leave either. He has his reasons and honestly, without him around she will have less drama at work. He is moving all the way to the Oregon state, so the chances of bumping into each other randomly are close to zero. Liz will sincerely wish him all the best on Friday at the team lunch, and that will be the end of her story with Dr. Snow (or so she thought).

Liz smiled. On Friday would be her full day in the Urgent Care, and this Friday she will just come for lunch.

After this promotion, she will have only two days in office so she can do a lot of research and still have ample of free time and… she can add exercise into her routine and see Mia and Sabrina and maybe even pick up a hobby. The cooking class sounds good. Then she can surprise Max with a homemade scrumptious meal when he comes from work. He made her the most delicious French toast, and she will not be Elizabeth Williams if she allows him to outdo her in the kitchen.

Liz was imagining the dining table full of visually pleasing dishes when her phone lit up with a notification. It's a text message from Max.

[My handsome boyfriend]: "When are you coming back home?"

Liz smiled. Going back home to Max, sounds nice. She typed a response: "I'm done with work and leaving office now."

Liz picked up her things and left her office while imagining Max's expression when she tells him about the meeting with chairman Lee. She was trying to guess which one of the three will surprise Max the most…

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