by J. S. Cooper
“Yeah, and now I know why they hire so many temps. It seems like they fire people for basically breathing.”
“Is that why you’re whispering on the phone?”
“Yes,” I said, laughing slightly. “I’m outside a block away, and I’m on my lunch break, and I’m still nervous that Gloria’s going to find me and tell me off.”
“Who’s Gloria?”
“She’s in charge of HR, or she’s in charge of the new hires for the HR department. I’m not exactly sure. All I know is that she reminds me of that mean old lady in Matilda, and she walks around with a clipboard like she thinks she’s a sergeant in the Army or something.”
“Oh, boy,” Susie said. “So I’m guessing that I don’t have a temp job there as well?”
“Yeah, sorry. You can still apply at ABC Temps, though—”
“I don’t think so. If you’re not liking it, then I don’t think I’ll like it either. Yeah, honestly, I would look for something else if I was you.”
“But there is some good news.”
“Ooh, what?”
“See if you can guess.”
“They’re paying you $50 an hour instead of $25?”
“I said good news. I didn’t say that I won the lottery.”
“Well, you won the lottery the other day.”
“Girl, I won $20.”
“I know, but it was better than nothing”
“Yeah, true. But no, I’m not getting paid more than I thought. I wish. If they do take me on full-time, though, I would get a raise.”
“Okay, so maybe you’ll get taken on full-time.”
“We’ll see. I’ll be lucky to make it throughout the rest of the week, to be honest.”
“Okay, so tell me your news.”
“There’s this gorgeous guy that works here.”
“You work at Winchester enterprises. I’m sure there are many gorgeous men that work there.”
“Yeah, but this one came into the room and he was really friendly, and he didn’t seem like a stuck-up asshole.”
“Was he really good-looking though?”
“Yeah, he was cute. Why?”
“Because we both know if he’s really good-looking, you’re not going to give him the time of day.”
“He was good-looking, but he also seemed nice. I just don’t like when they’re good-looking and cocky because—”
“I know, I know,” Susie cut me off. “So, you got a date with this guy or what?”
“No.” I laughed. “I wish. He came in, told us his name was Sebastian, and that some of us would be working on his team.”
“Ooh, so you technically might date your boss.”
“Well, I don’t know if he’s going to be my boss because I don’t know if I’ll be on his team, but I guess I wouldn’t mind going on a date with my boss.”
“Girl, do not mix business with pleasure. Trust me.”
“What? That was when you were in high school.”
“Yeah, and we both know what happened. ” She made a face.
“Who told you to make out with your manager during rush hour at Burger King?”
“What, how was I to know that the general manager was going to stop by and that we’d be caught in the back fridge and both be fired on the spot?”
“I mean, I guess you wouldn’t know unless you were psychic, but—”
“Oh,” Susie interrupted, “guess what?”
“What?”
“I actually think I might have a job.”
“What? No way! That’s amazing.”
“Well, it’s not that amazing because it’s telemarketing, but it does seem to pay well, and we really need the money.”
“Oh, what sort of telemarketing? I—” I looked at my watch. “Oh, girl, I’ve only got seven minutes left. I need to go. I’m so sorry. I want to hear all about your job, but I also don’t want to lose my job on the first day. Can we chat later?”
“Sure,” she said. “I can’t wait till you get home to hear more about Sebastian.”
“Well, hopefully, you’ll hear that I’m working for him.” I laughed. “Okay, got to go.” I hung up quickly and turned around. As I turned around, I bumped into someone.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so—” I looked up, my eyes widening as I recognized the guy from the bar.
He smiled at me. “Why, hello there, Marcia.”
“Oh, hi. And goodbye. Sorry.”
“Where are you rushing off to?”
“I have to get back to work.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot. You work at Winchester Enterprises, right?”
“Yes, I do.”
“And you are the head of marketing?”
“Yes, I am.” I chewed on my lower lip. Please, God, don’t let Gloria walk by right now.
“So what’s the rush? Don’t you set your own time? Surely no one’s going to get upset at the VP of marketing for being a minute late on her lunch hour.”
“I have a meeting right now, a very important meeting, actually, with the vice president of…” I looked and saw a guy selling hot dogs and sodas.
“The vice president of what?”
“The vice president of soda,” I said quickly. “Ha ha. Actually, I can’t really tell you because it’s a secret.”
“Your meeting is a secret.” He raised an eyebrow. “Do you work for Winchester Enterprises or the CIA?”
“Well, if I told you, I’d have to kill you.” I forced a light laugh. “But anyway, it was nice seeing you. Not. I have to go.”
“What’s the rush?”
“I told you.” I looked at my watch. I had four minutes left. “I’m really sorry to bump into you, but I have to go.”
“It seems like you just took an instant dislike to me, huh?”
“What? I said, staring into his bright green, laughing eyes. “No, I wouldn’t say that—”
“I think so. The first time at the bar, you didn’t want to chat.”
“I was with my friend.”
“And then when I came to give you your credit card back—”
“I said thank you.”
“Yeah, but you weren’t interested in—”
“And I’m not interested now. Have a good day, sir.
“You too, Marcia. You too. Perhaps we’ll see each other again,” he said with a little wave.
“I don’t think so.” I started running towards the building. I didn’t even care if he saw me. I was much more scared of Gloria than I was worried about him seeing me running away. He could think what he wanted.
I was surprised that I’d seen him, though. How often do you see the same person randomly in a mere couple of days in New York? But it didn’t matter.
He’d looked really handsome, though, and if I hadn’t sworn off really handsome, cocky guys, I might have given him a shot. But I wasn’t going to give him a shot. I might give Sebastian a shot if I had the chance, but not him.
I sighed with relief as I walked through the doors of Winchester Enterprises and waved to Shantal.
“Hey, Marcia.” She waved back. “Want to grab a drink after work?”
“Sure,” I said, “but I’ve got to get back now so that Gloria doesn’t fire me and I lose my job on the first day.”
“No worries,” she said. “She likes to scare people.”
“So she doesn’t fire people then?” I asked, hopeful.
“Oh, no. Trust me, she fires people.” Shantal rolled her eyes. “But when you’re done, come and meet me. I’ll be here.”
“Sounds good,” I said.
“And if you want to invite anyone else, let them know.”
“Will do.” I gave her a smile and then hurried back to the conference room. I was the last temp to get there, but fortunately, Gloria hadn’t arrived yet.
Lilian smiled at me. “Hey,” she said. “Where did you go for lunch?”
“I just actually took a walk and called my friend.” I shrugged. “I don’t really have lunch money. I’ll probably have to bring a sandwich t
omorrow if I still have my job.”
“Ah, yeah. Sounds about right.” She grinned. “I don’t really have money to be eating out either. But you do know they have a cafeteria here where we get to eat for free.”
“No way. We do?”
“You weren’t listening to Gloria?” Lilian laughed.
“I must have slept through that part,” I admitted, and we both laughed. “Hey, by the way, Shantal, the receptionist at the front, she said she’s going to go for a drink after work if you want to come.”
“I do.” Lilian nodded. “But how can you afford to go for a drink if you can’t afford lunch?”
“I can always find money for alcohol.” I laughed, and then pressed my lips together quickly as Gloria walked in, a stern expression on her face.
She swept the room with a stern glance. “I’m glad to see that everyone is back from lunch on time. Now we’re going to go through the handbook. This will take about two hours, so everyone, please make sure your phone is muted and put away.”
I muted my phone quickly and placed it back into my handbag, stifling a groan. How boring was it going to be to go through the handbook?
Gloria began to drone on about employee expectations, and my thoughts turned to the mysterious man I’d bumped into outside. I wondered if I would ever see him again. I didn’t know why I cared or why he’d popped into my mind, but there was something about the way that his twinkling green eyes had looked at me that made me think that maybe I wouldn’t be so upset if I were to see him just one more time.
Just so I could put him in his place, of course.
Six
“Congratulations everyone.” Gloria placed her clipboard on the table and clapped like she was at the opera. “You are officially a temporary employee of Winchester Enterprises. We will go to security to get your badges in a few minutes. First, I will let you know which departments you will be working in.”
“Oh, awesome…I hope I’m with the hottie,” Lilian said what we were all thinking.
“Sorry, what did you say?” Gloria frowned. “I didn’t hear you properly.”
“Nothing, Gloria.” Lilian grinned wickedly and caught my eye. I smiled back at her but made sure not to get too excited. I didn’t want Gloria changing her mind and getting rid of me. I hadn’t scored very high on the Excel test, and I knew she’d been disappointed. My resume said I was a pro at Excel.
“So, Sarah and Maggie, you will be working in the accounting department, Lilian, you will be in product management, Wen and Maria, you will be in acquisitions, and Becky and Lawanda, you will be in social media.”
“Uhm…” I cleared my throat, starting to feel nervous.
“Yes?” Gloria stared at me.
“I didn’t hear my name.”
“Oh, yes.” Gloria looked pained. “You will be working in the executive office. So you will have another day of training.”
“What?” I was shocked. “I thought you said the executive office doesn’t take temps?”
“Normally, they don’t.” She sighed. “But it seems as if there is an urgent need for another assistant, and your skills fit.”
“Oh?” What skills had the executive office seen on my resume that made them think I was a good fit? “Are they hoping to make a documentary of the company? Maybe a piece on the CEO?”
“I think not.” She shook her head. “Mr. Winchester is very private, and you will likely have no contact with him. We will go over more information tomorrow.” She picked up her clipboard. “Is everyone ready to go and get their photos?”
“Uhm, yes.” I looked at Lilian, who was staring at me. “What?” I asked her.
“You lucky bitch,” she mouthed.
“Huh?”
“Executive office? That’s big money,” she whispered as we stood up and headed towards the door.
“But I’m only a temp.”
“But if you get through the first ninety days probation…” She rubbed her thumbs and fingers together. “Cha-ching!”
“Oh wow, but at least you got Sebastian.” I sighed. “I wanted to be on his team.”
“Yeah, he’s a cutie.” She nodded. “But I’d rather work for Finn Winchester.” She licked her lips.
“Really? I saw his photo in the paper last year, and he looked like he was half bear, half Neanderthal.”
“Oh really?” She giggled. “I guess he’s into mountaineering, but girl, he’s rich, really rich, I could do a mountain man, on the frigging mountain, for the sort of money he has.”
I laughed. “I’m over the hotties anyway.”
“Oh?” Lilian raised an eyebrow. “Sounds like there’s a story there.”
“Isn’t there always?”
“Yup!” She nodded.
“Okay, everyone, fill out these papers.” Gloria held up a stack of papers. “Leave them on the desk in the room. You can all leave after you get your badge from security. Arrive tomorrow at eight a.m., and I will escort everyone to their departments. Your department will then show you around the building.”
“Yes, Gloria,” I chorused with the other girls, excited that the day was nearly done. I grabbed my phone to text Susie.
Want to grab a drink with me and some of my new coworkers?
Sure? When?
I’m thinking in about an hour?
Sounds good.
:)
I put my phone back in my handbag quickly and waited in line to get my photo taken. I pulled out my pocket mirror and stared at my reflection before grabbing my lipstick and reapplying it. I then grabbed my powder and touched up my face. I didn’t want my identity badge looking like crap.
“Hey, Shantal. Are we still on for a drink?” I asked my new friend as I approached her at the reception desk.
“Yeah.” She smiled at me as she got up. “I am definitely in need of one. So how was your first day?”
“It went as well as could be expected,” I giggled, “with Gloria on my ass.”
“Tell me about it,” Lilian said next to me.
“You’re in the new training class as well, right?” Shantal asked.
“Yeah. Hi, I’m Lilian.”
“Sorry, I completely forgot to introduce you guys,” I said quickly.
“Oh, no worries. I’m going to join you guys for a drink if that’s okay,” Lilian said with a smile.
“The more the merrier,” Shantal said. “I’m really glad that you guys are both down for it. So many people that work here just have a stick up their ass, you know?”
“Well, I sure don’t,” Lilian said. “I mean, I’ve had things up my ass before, but we’re not going to talk about that until we have a couple of drinks.” She grinned at both of us. “I hope that doesn’t offend you.”
“Doesn’t offend me,” Shantal said with a giggle.
“Not me either,” I laughed. “Oh, and my roommate and best friend, Susie, is going to join us as well.”
“Oh, of course,” Lilian said. “Is she the one that you were hoping to get a job for?”
“Yeah. I had kind of said that maybe I’d have an in now that I was a temp, but obviously, that’s not going to happen. And after I told her about Gloria, she’s not really interested in working at Winchester Enterprises anyway.”
“Why not? It’s such a great job,” Shantal said. “I mean, don’t get me wrong. It’s not the job I was hoping to get, but it pays the bills.”
“Yeah. That’s what I need right now. I have not paid the bills in let’s just say too long. And Susie has been going over our finances, and we’re in really bad shape.”
“Oh, no,” Lilian said. “How have you guys paid rent? And how long have you guys been in the city?”
“We’ve been in the city for six months. And let’s just say we no longer have any of our childhood savings left. Sorry, Grandma and Granddad!” I shrugged ruefully.
“Oh, I see how it is. So, you just moved from Florida?” Shantal said.
“Yep. I guess you could say I’m fresh off the boat. You know wh
at I mean. Off the plane.”
“Yeah, I get it,” Lilian said. “I guess a lot of us come to New York City with dreams and hopes of making it, and we end up at a place like Winchester Enterprises. Oh, and by the way, Shantal?”
“Yeah?”
“You will have to give me all the tea on Sebastian.”
“No, you’re not on Sebastian’s team, are you?”
“Yeah, yeah. Why?”
“He’s gorge,” Shantal said. “Everyone that gets on his team is super happy.”
“And has he dated any of them?”
“No. He doesn’t date anyone on his teams. He doesn’t want to get in trouble. There’s a no-fraternizing policy at Winchester. I’m surprised Gloria didn’t fill you in on it.” Shantal rolled her eyes. “She loves to go on about how you can’t date anyone else that works at the office. As if. It’s mostly women who work here.”
“I was wondering about that,” I said. “I mean, there were only women in our training class. And aside from Sebastian, I haven’t seen many other men.”
“Oh, there are men that work here,” Shantal said, “but I think that men have egos and most men don’t want to be assistants. I don’t know.”
“Yeah, men have egos all right,” Lilian said. “You know, that’s a huge problem if a man has a bigger ego than …”
“Than what?” I interrupted her.
“I was going to say than I do. What were you thinking, dirty?”
“What?” I laughed and gave her my most innocent expression. “I was thinking exactly that.”
“Uh-huh. You weren’t thinking I was going to say a big—”
Shantal put her hand up. “I’d be happy to show you the offices tomorrow.”
“Huh?” I tilted my head to the side. It was then that I saw Gloria walking past.
“Good evening, ladies,” Gloria said, giving us a stern look. “I take it you will get a restful evening and not stay up too late watching TV seeing as you have to be at work tomorrow.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Lilian said.
“Yes, Miss Gloria,” I said. She looked at me. “I mean, Gloria.”
“Yeah, Gloria. See you tomorrow,” Shantal said.
We waited until Gloria left the building and then we all burst into laughter.
