"Three companies done, and twelve more to go." Dominique found she was talking to herself. It was after 9:00pm and all of the support staff had gone home long ago. There were a few VP's in the office and a couple of the analysts, like Dominique, were still working.
An average day for Dominique ended close to nine o'clock, but tonight wasn't going to be an average day. Dominique worked on Wall Street for a small Investment Management firm. Earnings season was ending and she needed to report on each of the Pharmaceutical companies she was assigned. It was her job to analyze each of the firms and provide a recommendation to the Portfolio Managers of which firms were meeting their targets and therefore continued to be good investments and also to identify the companies which were not doing well.
The current stock market conditions were volatile. There was talk that one of her firm's competitors may go out of business. No one had said it outright, but there was an understanding that this was an important juncture for her firm and the stress around the office reflected this.
Dominique's boss, Gerald, was the Chief Investment Officer and it was his job to manage Dominique and the other analysts. The stress which Dominique felt was even higher for Gerald. He knew he had to provide the Traders with some good stocks to invest in so the firm could show profits and that it was outperforming its benchmark, the S&P 500. Currently, they were only basis points ahead of the S&P and the next few weeks were going to be crucial.
"Dominique, what do you have for me?"
"Well I've completed my analysis on the three Bio-Techs you gave me and uploaded the reports into the Investor Portal. And now I'm working on the big Pharmaceutical companies"
"Dominique, I need all of your reports, all 15 along with your analysis of the entire Pharmaceutical sector by Friday morning at the latest as I have the Investment Committee meeting and need to bring them some solid trading ideas. Now don't let me down! Do you understand?"
"Yes, Gerald, I understand. You'll have all of my work by Friday." Dominique said,with a slightly snarky tone.
"Dominique, there is no need for you to take that attitude with me. We pay you a very nice salary. I know you enjoy your designer suits and those red soled shoes. And if you want to keep your job here you will not only complete your work, but identify some good trades for me."
Dominique felt her face go flush. She was tempted to make a sarcastic comment, but she knew that she was paid well and that with that high salary came high stress. The fact Gerald spoke down to her and that she had to submit to his arrogance and his control, drove her mad. But she held her tongue.
"Yes, sir I will have everything you've asked for."
Gerald turned and walked away towards the Financial Sector analysts who was about to get the same talking down to.
Dominique went back to her work. She wouldn't be getting to the gym tonight for sure. It was going to be a long night, and an even longer week. She grabbed her phone and texted her roommate that she would be working late and not to wait for her at the gym.
It was a little past 2:00am when Dominique walked into her apartment. She expected that Anna, her roommate would be asleep, but the light from her room was still on.
Dominique put down her Birkin bag on the console table and walked towards Anna's room opening the door and letting herself in.
"Anna what's wrong?"
Anna was sitting on the top of her bed with a pillow in her lap and looked as if she had been crying.
"It's Simon. We had plans to meet at his apartment after he left work. I went there around 6:00 and waited for him. I waited and waited and then texted him to find out where he was. He never texted back so I called him and it went straight to voicemail. I wanted to leave, but I knew something wasn't right. Well around 10:30 he came walking in. Smelling of booze and perfume."
"I'm sorry Anna."
"Well I laid into him. My Latin blood was boiling. I asked him where he was and why he didn't meet me like we had planned."
"So what did he say?"
"He went all lawyer on me, saying he had to work late and then his boss made him go out for drinks."
"So why did he smell like perfume? How did he get out of that one?"
"You now Simon, he has all of the answers, he said his boss loves to go to Strip Joints, and he had no choice but to go with him, and that is why he smelled like perfume."
"So his excuse is that he got drunk with his boss and went out to a strip club and didn't respond to your text or calls."
"Oh yeah, he claimed his phone died."
"Oh Anna, why are you with him?"
"I'm not sure. He is good to me, but probably not good for me."
"You mean he spends money on you. He buys you off. He treats you like a mistress, not like a girlfriend."
Anna couldn't bear to hear it and broke down crying.
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