Chapter 1
"Well they better win the whole thing with a 100 million dollar payroll," Carl said with a laugh.
"Haha," Roger chuckled, "Sanderson, down the hall, went to see 'em face Boston."
"The Lakers are on their East coast swing," Carl replied, "that's gonna be a barn burner."
"Yeah, he's a huge Laker fan," said Roger. "Well, I'd love to sit here and talk about the Lakers with you all day, but I have to do these other interviews. So..."
"Yeah," interrupted Carl, "What do you think?"
"Look, you have a nice resume and God knows we could use another real basketball fan around here," Roger began. "But we don't really hire electrical engineers as traders."
"By 'don't really,' you mean 'never'," Carl replied.
"Here's the thing," Roger began, "I hire you with NO background in business or finance and you washout, it's on me. But hey, you come back with an MBA, and it's an entirely different story."
"So what would you do?" asked Carl.
"I'd be in business school next term, Carl," Roger answered, "and get A's."
"Alright man," Carl shook Roger's hand, "be easy."
"Have a good one," replied Roger.
Carl left Roger Conley's office and headed down the hall. The interview had gone well, except for the fact that he didn't come away with a job. Halfway through school, Carl realized that bankers were making obscene amounts of money without having to do a whole lot. Then, after they nearly destroyed the world's economy, taxpayer dollars were used to bail them out! He wanted in on the scam, unfortunately, he was pretty sure an engineering degree wouldn't get him there. Today's interview just confirmed a lot of what he already knew.
Carl glanced down at his watch, "Good, only 8:47," he thought. "Over two hours 'till my other interview." Carl looked up and realized he didn't recognize where he was, "I must've walked the wrong way," Carl thought. "My sense of direction is for shit." Just before he turned around to walk the other way, he noticed the name "Bill Sanderson" on the door in front of him. Carl looked down and saw that the door was only partially closed. He reached down and attempted to turn the knob, but it was locked. When he gave it a little push, however, the door swung open. He stepped into the office and closed the door behind him.
The office was very large. It had a couch, a mini-bar, all that stuff he'd seen in the offices of big shots on TV. What piqued Carl's interest; however, were the Laker jerseys on the wall. In frames on the wall were a Shaquille O'Neal home jersey and two Kobe Bryant jerseys - both home and away. "Cool," Carl said to himself, "they're both signed."
Carl left Sanderson's office and headed back the way he came. He finally reached the long hallway leading to the elevators and began contemplating what he'd like to eat for breakfast. As pancakes and bagels flew across his mind's eye a woman stepped off one of the elevators at the end of the hall. Carl froze dead in his tracks.
She was absolutely gorgeous. She was tall, maybe an inch or two taller than Carl. She had on a thin baby blue sweater over a white halter top and a long flowing skirt with blue and yellow flowers. Her glasses were the same shade of blue as her sweater. The outfit was conservative, yet just form-fitting enough to tell that she had a beautiful figure. "Hmm," thought Carl, "she looks like a young, sexy librarian."
Carl didn't have time to consider the fact that he'd never seen a sexy librarian. She was now turning away from his line of sight. Just when he thought he'd have to pick up his pace toward the lobby, he heard her speaking to the woman at the front desk. "Good morning, I'm Michelle Allen. I'm supposed to start today."
"Yes, I remember you, Michelle," replied the woman as she handed Michelle a clipboard with several forms attached to it. "Welcome aboard. You'll just be doing some light typing since Mr. Sanderson took the day off. Fill out these forms and I'll be right back to show you what you'll be doing today."
With that, the woman walked down the hall on the opposite side of the lobby. Carl knew this would be his only chance to talk to her, but he had no idea what to say. "Bothering a woman on her first day at work, that's a good way to get a number," Carl thought. He kept walking toward her and was just a few feet from Michelle as she was sitting down. When she looked up, Carl knew that he had to say something. "Ms. Allen, correct?" Carl asked.
"Yes," Michelle answered questioningly.
"I'm Bill Sanderson, you'll be working directly for me," said Carl.
"Oh... Mr. Anderson, I mean Sanderson, it's nice to finally meet you," Michelle replied. She was a little nervous and eager to make a first impression. She stood up and extended her hand.
Carl smiled as he shook her hand. "I can't believe I said that silly shit," thought Carl. "I also can't believe that she's never met her future boss." That's when Carl got an idea. He wasn't sure what Sanderson looked like and he sure as hell didn't expect this to work. "But hell," he thought, "it's worth a try."
"Come on down to my office," said Carl, "you can fill out those tax forms there."
Michelle stood and followed Carl to Sanderson's office. As they walked down the hall, Carl was nervous that they might be seen. When he saw a man coming toward them, he dropped his head and looked at the floor. Fortunately, the man was reading something and barely noticed them.
When they arrived at the office, Carl directed Michelle to sit on the couch. "Relax, take a load off," said Carl. "We have a few things to discuss." As she turned toward the couch, Carl noticed a picture frame on Sanderson's desk. He had no idea who was in the photograph, but he was sure that he shouldn't risk it. He snatched up the photo and dropped it in a desk drawer. He thought the noise would alarm Michelle. But she turned and sat down as though nothing was wrong. "Yeah," Carl thought, "I'm going through 'my' desk drawers. Why would she find that odd?" He gave the desk one more look, and Carl walked over and closed the door. As he strolled back toward the desk, he took the time to admire Michelle once more. She was sitting with her legs crossed and her hands folded on her knee. Her sensible, classy appearence made her that much more attractive. As he leaned back against the desk, he noticed how far away from her he was. It was at least fifteen feet. Just as he was about to speak, Michelle decided to break the silence.
"I'm really happy to be starting today," Michelle began. "The job market is terrible."
"Yes, I know," Carl replied. "Unemployment is way up... but that leads me to some things I wanted to discuss with you. We recently changed our interview process. Normally, I'd interview you but the board decided they wanted to do things differently and... well, I just want to make sure we're on the same page."
"Well I have two years experience as an administrative assistant," said Michelle. "I'm finishing school at night and I really feel like I'll be an asset here..."
"You don't have to sell yourself," Carl cut her off, "I've read your resume. I know you're qualified and I trust Roger's judgment. But there are things that need to be addressed that aren't brought up in a traditional corporate interview."
"Like what, Mr. Sanderson?" Michelle asked.
"Well, as you already stated this is a wonderful opportunity for you," began Carl. "If you work hard and play ball, you'll have a chance to make a lot of money and open doors that would otherwise be closed to you. Now, even though you'll be leaving at 4 most of the time, I usually don't leave until around 8. I spend more time here than I do at home. What that means is," Carl continued, "I don't have time to spend on certain activities that others do. That's where you come in."
"Oh, you want me to pick up dry cleaning and things like that?" asked Michelle. "I did that at my last job."
"No, we won't waste your time with things like that," said Carl. "It's like this, for the most part, we don't really need individual administrative assistants. We have an executive administrative assistant that runs the office. And I may send one letter a week. I type my own e-mails. There just isn't a lot of filing and busy work for you to do. But there are very important tasks that you'll be required to complete for me from time to time."
"What tasks?" Michelle asked with a big, eager smile.
Carl shrugged, "Tasks of a sexual nature. You know, every now and then."
"What... I can't do that," Michelle answered.
"And that's perfectly fine," assured Carl. "I don't want to have to hire someone else. But if you can't do the job, there's nothing wrong with that."
Michelle got up and walked toward the door. Carl sat down at "his" desk and picked up the phone as though he had work to do. Just because his plan hadn't worked didn't mean he had to let her know that it was a scam all along. As soon as she left, he could leave and take the stairs down a floor or two and hop on the elevator. She turned back toward Carl momentarily. Carl resisted the urge to look up at her. "Holy shit, she might come back..." thought Carl. But his hopes were dashed when she opened the door.
Michelle was halfway out the door when she froze in her tracks. She really wanted this job. The hours were better. The pay was better. This was just the opportunity she was waiting for. Now, she was about to walk away from it all in this economy. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. "At least he's nice looking," thought Michelle. She backed her way back through the doorway. Carl heard the lock click and looked up. Michelle just stood in front of the door with her back him. "Ok," uttered Michelle.