First off I would like to show my appreciation for sexnovella, who was my editor for this arc of the story.
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She has been by my side since I first started at the company, right out of college, in the past years we have been through everything. From staff turnovers, huge contract negotiations, betrayals and everything else in between. She is the only person in the whole world that I can honestly say I trust.
It all started back when I got hired at Apex International, right out if college as junior salesman. When my boss (who does not work here, anymore, but that's a whole other chapter) hired me, he said that every employee has a tradition here. They are allowed to hire their own personal assistant, to fit their own personal needs. But I could only do the interviewing after, or in between, my training orientation and that the position needed to be filled by the end of the week.
To be honest I didn't know what to look for when hiring something like this, I thought that it would have been handled by the in house Human Resources Department. So I took advantage of this situation and decided that I was going to hire somebody that would be extraordinary. This will be filled by Tuesday, I thought to myself, who the hell wouldn't want to work for a person like me, a considerate person who could handle anybody, but I was just starting out, and be willing to grow with me.
It didn't take a lot of time for me to learn my job, pretty self-explanatory really. I was done with the training by Wednesday afternoon. Through those three days I only managed to do a couple of interviews, and nobody that I interviewed stood out. It seemed like what I was looking for didn't exist. But I wasn't disappointed, like I said I only managed to interview a few people. And Thursday I would spend the whole day interviewing potential people, and I was ecstatic about that.
What the fuck happen? Did I send for the most incompetent people in the whole fucking world or something? I was getting frustrated. For a couple of reasons, first my office feels like a freaking shoe box, and the second after I'd interviewed close to 30 people, there was one person that I could say was decent. I wouldn't call her intelligent, but at least she knew her way around an office and more or less knew what Apex did. But the whole intelligence thing was bugging the hell at of me because I don't think I could stand dealing with a 'bimbo' every day. Most of the other people who I interviewed didn't even know what Apex International even did, (Apex International does a little bit of everything from Sales and Marketing to Business growth, what they mainly handle are the contracts and contract negotiations between companies we are the 'arbitrator', a middle ground, where people and/or companies can come to fix their issues) it's hard to explain what the job entails when you don't know what the company does. Anyway I was done for the day I so decided to get ready to leave, gathered up the resumes from the people who had already interviewed and filed them away properly (trash can was full that day I feel for the janitorial crew that night). Okay I have 'Miss Bimbo' already in my back pocket, so if I don't find what I'm looking for she'll do. Hopefully tomorrow will have better set of interviews.
Friday rolled around started going through the interviews nothing special or worth noting. Lunchtime was coming around shortly and I only had a few more before I anoint Miss Bimbo my assistant. So the way I thought, if I do one more before lunch, that means I won't have to do too many more. I picked up the next one on the stack opened up the resume and started reading, Katlyn Martinez, 18 years old, just graduated from high school, damn, great grades, hmm but no college or work experience, I stopped reading, why would she even apply? Why skip college? looking at the time, It's 1127, maybe if do this quick interview I'll be done at, let's say 1200 or 1215, and back to the 'shoe box' and then call 'Miss Bimbo' and tell her she's got the job. Then be done with this horrible and thoughtless idea.
I get up from behind desk and take, what feels like, 3 steps toward my door, open it and invited her in. She was a beautiful woman, and I do mean woman, she might only be 18 on paper (games are not played on paper, but inside television sets) but she looks like 22. Even though she tried to hide her beauty, from what she was wearing, she still couldn't pull it off. She tried so hard to hide her huge breast but she couldn't, and when you're 5'10" you can't exactly hide those legs either. She looked right at me with her sharp soul piercing green eyes, held at her right hand, and with her million dollar smile, she introduced herself.
After the introductions we sat down, made fun of the 'shoe box' to break the ice, then proceed with the interview:
"So, Katlyn," I say as look at the resume to make sure I'm talking to the right person (it's happen before get ready to start the interview and start looking at the wrong resume).
"Please call me, Kate or Katie," she corrected me.
"Okay, Kate or Katie," I say with a quick smile, which then she returned, but then my smile turned into a neutral expression, "I don't want to come off harsh or rash, but why should I hire you? You don't have, even attempted to apply to a college, or any work experience? I had other interviewees that had more experience in this field of work, than you have been alive."
The she says something to even this day surprises me, "Well you should."
"Hmm, what?" Not really paying attention, but that changed.
"Well you should hire one of them if you want somebody that can barely type, hopefully gets your name right when they answer the phone, and can maybe sort your mail correctly, and do you dictation incorrectly, but that's not why I'm here," She's, more or less right, thinking to myself, as she changes her posture to give a more confident position, "Just imagine this, a personal assistant, secretary, administrative assistant, or whatever you want to call it, that you could sculpt into what you want from the ground up, and still do a better job at the other things like, typing, answer your phone, sorting the mail correctly, and doing the dictation perfectly."
"What do you mean exactly?" I was curious.
"I know that you are a new hire low-level employee just starting out at Apex International, the problem fixer organization. And also that you are a recently graduated summa cum laude from UCLA with a 3.9. You have a major in business management and a minor in business development , which means that you are not going to be in this 'shoebox' for long, and you are looking for a person assistant that would be with you as you rise through the company and up the corporate ladder. Also you are looking for the person who is as hardworking as you and loyal to you, and just you."
I was floored by what she said; I didn't expect this from her. I lean back in my chair, which is squeaking by the way, and look at this charming woman from a different view. I was expecting 'airhead just out high school' girl, not this woman. "..." I sit there for about 30 seconds not saying anything just looking at her, "first off, do I know you, and if I don't how do you know so much about me?"
Kate, still confident, just smiles "Do you think, I would walk into this interview, and not be prepared, you don't know me but I know you. Aden Jones, the Heisman winning quarterback for the UCLA Bruins, and also the NCAA championship for the year, too, a sophomore at the time. Even though the pro scouts were begging for you to leave school and enter the draft, you decided to return to school for your junior year. But during your junior companion during the first game of the season versus, of all teams, SMU you blew out you knee and you almost lost that same leg because of severe neglect by the doctors during your recovery. Then you and your lawyer filed a malpractice lawsuit against the doctor who performed the operation. And while this was happening you put all of your time into school work and graduated Summa Cum Laude, as I said before, with a major in business management, and a minor in business development. I'm going to put it out there that you are planning to work as hard as you played on the football field, right? And also how's the leg?"
I just sitting there while she more or less recites my life story(all she said is right by the way), rubbing my leg, "...it's better..., so who are you my stalker personal assistant person, or something'?" I say in a serious but sarcastic tone.
"No, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn last night," we bust out in laughter at this, "No, but seriously I'm just a huge Bruin's fan.
She looks a little red; I say to myself, she's cracking me up, what's she going to say next? I just sit there still stunned trying to figure on what she'll say next, hell or even what I say.
