Alex the IT Guy - Ch. 01
Alex starts a new job.
Dear reader. What you are about to read has come from my furtive and over imaginative, dirty mind. Yes, it is all my own work. And please, if you are after realism or some sort of higher-level literature move on this is clearly beneath your expectations and good taste. Note that all characters in my stories are of a legal age and participate willingly. This is the first chapter in this series. Enjoy!
Copyright is asserted by the author. ©SBarak1
Note: This story contains Australian slang and vernacular. If you can't work it out drop a comment below and I will translate. Also beware I try and use Microsoft Word to correct my spelling and grammar.
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I found myself IT contracting in London after escaping a rather messy relationship breakup in Sydney. I thought a new environment, a different country, might help me get on with my life. Standing at around 6 foot 2, I considered myself fit and reasonably good looking. Short blond hair, blue/grey eyes, square jaw, I had been likened to the archetypical Aussie surfer. Which in the day I was, albeit with longer hair back then.
I had made contact with an Aussie mate who had a senior position in a UK IT consulting firm. After arriving in London and having a bit of a break, doing a bit of sightseeing and generally winding down, I went to see him and see what sort of jobs were going. He welcomed me with open arms and quickly got me through the recruitment process. According to him guys with my skillset were hard to find hence no hesitation in signing me up and putting me on what I thought was a generous remuneration package.
Over the next few weeks I went through the induction process and accompanied a few of the other consultants on site visits to get the lay of the land. Three week later, at 9 am sharp, I found myself on my first assignment at an office in central London, laptop in hand. My tasks included network maintenance, configuration and security.
After signing in at reception, I was issued with my visitor pass and escorted to the IT Department to meet the Network Manager for a briefing. He was very business-like and to the point ensuring I understood the parameters of the assignment before handing me over to one of the new IT grads for a quick tour around the office to orientate myself. As I left his office he reminded me I would need to complete the companies online basic induction package as soon as I could. Walking through the door I didn't quite catch the last part, something about the HR Director would be checking.
The grad guided me around the building showing where the various key facilities were along with a workstation tucked away in a corner of one of the floors. She apologised that I wasn't down in the IT area but desks were at a premium. I thanked her as I sat down and set up my laptop.
She was cute, mid-twenties, slim, long brown hair. As I was sorting myself out, I noticed she was still standing beside me. I looked up.
"So, err, you're from Australia aren't you Alex?" she asked.
"Sure am."
"Do you mind if I ask a personal question?"
"Ask away."
"Do you surf?"
The question had sort of taken me off guard. "Um, yeah. Well, I used to. Not so much these days."
"Wow, super. Now if you need anything just let me know."
She turned and was gone. I looked at the space she had occupied and shook my head and wondered what that was all about.
Returning my attention to my laptop I went through the procedure to connect to the wireless LAN and authenticate. It wasn't long before I was logged onto my new account and staring at an empty email in-box. That won't last long I thought.
Sure enough within minutes I received a handful of emails. A welcome to the company for contractors' email, several general notifications, something about a staff get together at a local pub on Friday and a reminder from the HR Director, one Cynthia McMahon, that I MUST complete the online induction package for contractors as soon as possible.
First things first I thought. Better get myself set up to get stuck into the assignment. It looked like it might take me a week, probably two. A couple of servers needed upgrading. A firewall needed some work, probably just configuration, maybe an upgrade and a string of minor tasks that were probably going to be time consuming.
I set about researching the server upgrades first as these were going to be the most complex.
I had lost track of time when I felt a presence beside me. I looked up. It was the grad again looking at me, clutching her hands.
"Jess isn't it," I said with a smile.
"That's right," she replied with an even bigger smile. "Just popping by to see how you were going?"
"Going well thanks. Everything seems to be working out."
"Good, err, that's good. Err, do you mind if I ask you another question?"
"No, go ahead."
"Do you work out? You know, go to the gym."
She had my attention. I looked at her carefully. What was she up to? Was this an interrogation in stages?
"As a matter of fact, I do."
"Wow, super."
Again she turned and was gone without any further questions. The rest of the day was uneventful. I packed up around 6PM and headed off. Back at my serviced apartment I changed out of my work clothes into shorts and tee-shirt and went out on to the balcony to enjoy a beer and listen to the sounds of the city.
Being an early riser, the next morning I was back at my workstation at 7AM. I checked the results of the jobs I ran overnight, checked my emails and launched a job to check the configuration of one of the servers I was working on. About an hour later I was standing in the staff kitchen attempting to extract a cup of coffee from an unco-operative coffee machine.
"We really should get a new one." I heard a woman's voice say beside me.
I turned to see an attractive, conservatively dressed, large woman standing beside me.
"Watch this," she said, as she gave the machine a thump on the side with her hand.
The machine whirred and dispensed my coffee.
"Thank you. I will have to remember that."
She held out her hand. "Cynthia McMahon, HR, you must be that new contractor, Alexander Green."
I took her offered hand and gently shook it.
"Nice to meet you Cynthia, please call me Alex."
"Hmm, nice big hands. Now, have you completed that induction package?"
"No I haven't," I replied slightly sheepishly
"Right, well make sure you do. You don't want to get into my bad books."
With that she quickly made herself a coffee involving the mandatory thump on the side of the machine. With her coffee in hand, she stepped back from the machine giving me a quick once over.
"Welcome to the company Alexander. I'll see you around," she said in a very business-like manner and left the staff room.
OK, I thought, making a mental note not to forget to do the induction package today, and headed back to my workstation.
It was only a matter of minutes later when a familiar presence materialised beside me. I looked up.
"Good morning Jess. How are you this morning?"
"Great, just great, thanks for asking."
Jess just kept standing there looking at me, hands clasped in front of her. Maybe I was imaging it but I thought she had a bit more makeup on today than yesterday.
"So Jess?"
"Err, yes. Err, Are... Are you going to be at the staff get together on Friday afterwork?" she blurted out and blushed.
"Hadn't really thought about it."
"Oh, err, it would be good if you could come along."
"I suppose I could."
"Yes, Yes, it's a great way to meet people Alex."
"OK."
"Wow, super. I will tell everyone you will be there."
She turned and left. I made a mental note for Friday night drinks, as I turned my attention to my laptop.
The rest of the day was uneventful. I did manage to get out of the office at lunchtime for a bit of a walk and to find a sandwich.
The following morning after a session at a local gym I was at my workstation by 7:30AM following up the results from overnight jobs, emails etc. I had identified a network anomaly amongst the list of minor tasks I was following up. It seemed a number of network users had reported connectivity issues on this floor over the past few weeks. Efforts to track down and fix the problem had failed. I pulled up a network schematic and after a few minutes thought I had a solution. I had to find the physical location of the network node and reset it. With a bit of luck this would resolve the problem.
I left my workstation and went for a walk around the floor. After looking around for about 30 minutes there was only one place I hadn't checked. It was an office with the name plate 'Cynthia McMahon, HR Director' on the door. I knocked.
"Yes, come."
I stepped in to see Cynthia sitting at her desk typing away at her laptop. She looked up. There was a pause then recognition.
"Ah Alexander."
"Hi Cynthia, I'm chasing down a network problem. Have you been experiencing network connectivity issues recently?"
"Have I what. Been complaining about it for weeks."
"Ah, that's it. Been trying to find a network node around her somewhere. Small thing flashing lights."
"About the only place it could be would be in the cupboard over there." She said indicating the cupboard behind me. "Help yourself."
I opened the cupboard and sure enough on the top shelf was the gadget I was after. I switched it off, waited 10 seconds, then switched it on again.
I turned to find Cynthia looking at me over the top of her glasses, her elbows on the edge of her desk and chin resting on her hands, a slight smile on her lips. She sat up and straightened her jacket.
"Hopefully that will do it. Need to run a test," I said.
"Good, let's hope so. But now while you are here. Please take a seat. We need to have a little chat about a certain induction package."
"Um, OK," I muttered l taking a seat.
"You haven't completed it have you?"
"Um no," I confessed.
"It's now your third day with us and this needs to be done. It doesn't take long and it's important for you to do so you understand our policies, particularly regarding workplace behaviour."
As she spoke, she stood up to move around and sit on the corner of her desk. Taking the dominant position to look down at me.
It wasn't until now that I had really had a chance to look at her. There was no doubt she was a large woman about 5 foot 7 maybe 8. Broad hips, large backside wrapped in a tailored skirt. There was no doubt she was packing some impressive boobs under her jacket and blouse. She had dirty blond shoulder length hair and blue eyes with full lips.
"Now I need you to go back to your desk and do this induction package right now otherwise I will be having a chat with your supervisor."
By now she was wagging her finger at me. If I didn't know better, I would have thought she was enjoying this powerplay.
