Chapter 4: In which she runs out of beginners luck
Monday morning I made sure to check the weather in the news, on the newspaper and on my phone before going out of my house. And although it said sunny during the day and partly cloudy in the afternoon, I took an umbrella with me just to be extra careful.
Beginners luck seemed to be on my side since I was able to catch the bus right on time and reached the office at exactly 8.30AM and rushed to the elevator, which too, surprisingly, was less crowded than usual. I hadn’t been able to admire the ten storied building the first time I came here and I wasn’t able to do so today either, but I was sure I’d get the chance this evening or probably tomorrow morning.
Reaching my floor, I headed straight for Tina, who kindly showed me my new cabin and gave me directions to the cafeteria. Apparently, she was the Ms. Moore that Nathan had been talking about and she wasn’t just a receptionist but his secretary as well. Since Nathan was doing quite well in expanding the family business, Tina had a huge workload and that’s why Nathan hired a PA to organize his meetings and reservations and stuff so Tina can get some of the work off her shoulders.
Placing my bag in the small cabin opposite Tina’s, I looked around and saw that it was equipped with a computer desk and revolving chair and a file cabinet. There were two doors, the first, through which I had entered, leading to the hallway, and the second, as Tina had pointed out, led to my "boss’s" office.
I wanted to get more info about my duties from Tina but I looked at the clock on the wall and gasped. 8.49am. "Shit!" I yelped, "Coffee!"
Rushing out the door, I jumped onto the elevator and went straight to the cafeteria. Again I was saved by my beginners luck as I found the coffee machine empty as I arrived. Grabbing a black coffee from the coffee machine, I again dashed to the elevator and went three floors up to Nathan's office.
Opening the door I ran to the table and placed the coffee on top of it, along with a napkin, breathing a sigh of relief just as the door opened to reveal Nathan in a black suit and grey silk shirt. He looked dashing with his hair gelled back from his face and a clean shave.
"Good morning, boss!" I said cheerfully, wiping my sweaty palms on my black dress pants. I was never comfortable in pencil skirts so I usually wore pants and a blouse with an occasional jacket.
"Morning, Savannah..." he gave me a skeptic look, which I returned with a bright smile...maybe a bit too bright.
"Ah. You got me coffee, " Nathan said amused. I grit my teeth, some people never change, do they?
"So...what is my first assignment...boss?" I said sweetly.
Nathan took his sweet time sitting in his own plush red chair and taking a slow drag of his coffee. "Hmm...you see that cabinet over there?" he asked pointing to an old metal cabinet in a corner of the room. I nodded yes. "I need you to shift all its belongings to the cabinet you have in your room. You have an hour. Your next task will be given after that."
My jaw drops to the ground. What. The. Hell? “You want me to remove ALL the files from that cabinet over to the one in my room...in an hour...all by myself?" I tried really, really hard not to yell at him, but my voice did come out shrill.
"Why Savannah, is there a problem?" I could hear the smirk in his voice.
"Of course not, boss!" I said through gritted teeth, still managing to keep a sickly sweet smile on my face.
'You need this job Sav,' I kept repeating to myself in my mind over and over. 'It's all part of the plan'.
So much for beginners luck. Nathan Synclair, you are going to die by my hands one day, mark my words, I swore in my mind.
Within the next hour, I had cursed Nathan to death a million times and in a million different ways. At first it was out of spite, but then I realized that it provided a perfect distraction from the heavy task at hand and it motivated me to work faster. Who would’ve thought that murderous thoughts could have their own advantages?
At the end of the hour, I was almost done putting the files in the last rack of my cabinet and Satan was just about to skin him alive, when my office phone started ringing. Startled, I dropped the files from my hand. Cussing a few colorful words and picking the files back up, I answered the call with a sweet tone, while in reality, I wanted to strangle whoever was on the other side.
"Mr. Synclair's PA speaking," I said while balancing the receiver on my shoulder and putting away the last of the files.
"In my office. Now." And the call ended. I groaned.
I unwillingly went in, only to be handed another pile of work. I didn't even have time for lunch. When Tina came to ask me if I would like to join her, I had to politely decline her offer because I was busy searching for a contract from three years ago that was lost in the cabinet. Apparently their contract was coming to an end and the other party was old-school enough to not have kept records. Seriously, why wasn’t any of this digitalized? It was the 21st century for crying out loud!
Too bad I had the audacity to point that out to Mr. Synclair because then I was given the order to digitalize all that shit into my computer. Thankfully, Tina came to the rescue by telling me that the files were indeed digitalized but due to her workload, she hadn’t been able to organize the contracts for the last two months and neither had she been able to organize the cabinet.
So, what I mostly understood from the situation was that I was no more than the muscle to do the heavy-lifting while Tina was his actual secretary. Honestly, I didn’t mind much because I needed this job for our plan to succeed and to feed myself. I’ve been alone for most of my life and doing heavy work wasn’t new to me. And when Tina confirmed that some of the applicant’s had actually been graduates from prestigious universities, I was more than happy that Nathan had given me the opportunity to work for him when he could’ve chosen someone much more qualified. But that didn’t mean I liked his attitude one bit. But alas, he was my boss after all.
By the time my work was over, I was drop dead tired and wanted nothing more than to get home and fall asleep for a year.
I had to also sort out files from the previous 3years according to their month. Then I had to plan the entire week for him, without any help from him. Once again, Tina provided me with her journal so I could update the planner I had been provided later on.
“It’s not his duty to remember dates or occasions, unfortunately.” Tina said with a laugh when she overheard me grumble. “It’s our job. That’s why we get paid the big bucks.”
That was one argument I couldn’t argue with.
"Is there anything else I can do for you...boss?" I was gritting my teeth so hard that I feared I would end up breaking them.
Nathan was looking at the planner I had made for him, making changes when necessary and informing me of any dinner reservations. My legs were hurting from being on my feet the whole day, and I was hungry enough to devour a whole cow, and it was already 8PM.
"Yes," he said as my heart dropped to my stomach. "I want you to have dinner with me".
Come again?