Everyday Heroes - Oticon

genuinely meant what he said. ‘There’s just one problem,’ said
Frank. ‘We spoke about this earlier,’ he continued, leaning across
the table to catch Mr Didier’s attention.
A shrill sound from the other side of the wall drowned out the
rest of his sentence.
‘That’s Paul’s offi ce being made ready,’ said Mr Didier.
Due to the noise, the only word Mr Singh heard was “Paul”. But
he could already guess the rest. He had heard about Paul’s rapid
exit. It had all happened so fast, he had not even had the time to say
goodbye. Mr Singh nodded, looking at Frank, who was still talking,
using his hands to emphasise what he was saying. It looked
serious. Suddenly he stopped, clearly waiting for a reply. Mr Didier
and Mr Williams also looked expectant.
Mr Singh did not feel nervous. He remained silent, hoping that
the others would carry on where Frank had left off and give him
one or two clues to help him pick up the thread of the conversation.
But no one said a thing. He smiled at Juliette. She smiled back.
‘I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear for all the noise,’ said Mr Singh fi nally.
‘Would you mind repeating that?’ At least he had not said, “What?”
like he did at home, which often drove Eve to distraction. Frank
repeated himself, and the noise began again. Frank looked at the
others, who once more were awaiting his reply.
‘I get on well with most of the employees,’ said Mr Singh. ‘I don’t
know anything about the problems you just mentioned.’ He glanced
at Mr Didier.
‘Actually, that wasn’t the question,’ said Mr Didier, looking at
Frank with a surprised expression. ‘Are there any problems?’
The minutes dragged on. Sweating profusely now, Mr Singh
breathed a sigh of relief when the men stood up. ‘We’ll be in touch,’
said Mr Didier on his way out of the conference room. ‘You know
of course that Michael’s also been in for an interview.’
‘Yes I do,’ replied Mr Singh. He smiled at Mr Didier and said
goodbye to the others as they fi led past him out of the room. He
picked up his mobile phone. Normally he always left it on in vibration
mode in his inner pocket, so he would be sure to know when it
rang. Juliette came over and took his coffee cup. She continued to
stand in front of him. He looked up from his mobile phone screen.
‘Yes?’ he asked.
‘My boyfriend had diffi culty hearing you know,’ Juliette replied.
‘Until he got himself a new type of hearing aid. Perhaps you should
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