Workplace Opportunities

As Tessa Gomez rode the elevator up to her workplace she could feel her stomach flutter from nervousness. It was her first day at her new job and she really wanted to make a good first impression on Jennifer, her employer. While she had already met Jennifer through her video interview, this would be the first time she would be seeing her in person.

Tessa had dressed up to make sure she looked as professional as her wardrobe allowed her. She was wearing a smart black knee length pencil skirt with a crisp white blouse, a black blazer and black low heeled shoes. Her dark brown almost black hair was done up in a loose bun and she had spent an age on her make up to ensure she appeared as close to flawless as possible. She just hoped that her make-up hadn't been marred by her face mask.

Her new job involved her being the receptionist/ concierge for a company offering flexible workspaces and related business services. Apparently as a result of the lock down and the mass of people working from home a lot of companies were looking to downsize or completely get rid of their office space in the city. However, despite a lot of people working from home there would still be occasions when people would need to meet or work together in person. Rather than paying rent for offices that would only be used once in a while, it made sense to organise a meeting room or some working space when it was required. Jennifer's company also marketed to small start up companies and freelancers that might need an office in the city.

The role she had been employed in wasn't itself what had Tessa nervous, it was that she really needed this job. Her previous job as an office assistant had ended when the company closed its office due to the pandemic lockdown and they downsized rather than furlough all their employees. During the lockdown period Tessa had been forced to rely on what savings she had accumulated, at this point she was getting close to being broke and having to move back in with her parents. If she did move home that would put additional pressure on her housemate Phoebe who wouldn't be able to afford the rent on their place by herself.

The elevator arrived at her floor and as the doors opened Tessa took a calming breath, telling herself that she would be fine. The elevator opened to a wide open area and immediately in front of the elevators was a large reception desk. Behind the desk was the familiar face of Jennifer. She looked to be in her mid thirties but still had a somewhat youthful appearance. Jennifer had looked up at the opening of the elevator doors and upon seeing Tessa, had broken out into a smile and stood up to greet her. When Jennifer moved out from behind the reception desk Tessa saw that she was dressed in casual but still smart clothes. Jennifer was wearing a pastel pink blouse that was untucked over black capri pants and a pair of chuck taylor's. In comparison Tessa felt positively overdressed. As Jennifer wasn't wearing a face mask Tessa removed hers.

"Hi Tessa, it's good to see you in person."

Jennifer looked Tessa up and down and smiled at how she was done up.

"You look great, very smart. It's a pity it isn't necessary at the moment."

Tessa cringed a little inside but reassured herself that it was better that she had overdressed rather than be underdressed.

Jennifer's smile faded into a slightly chagrined expression. "Sorry. I probably should have let you know that you didn't need to be in office attire just yet."

Tessa's eyebrows rose with a querying look.

Jennifer nodded, "We're not up and running just yet. The first few weeks are going to be a little slow as we're finishing up the office setup and installing the computer systems. I've got to go to a couple of other locations that we are in the process of converting to similar use. So you will be taking care of this site."

Tessa felt her nervousness begin to turn into dread. Just what was she going to be expected to do?

Fortunately Jennifer must have realised that what she had said might be daunting to someone on their first day and immediately eased Tessa's concerns.

"Don't worry, your job will basically be to take some calls and accept some deliveries."

Tessa nodded, relieved that she would have the chance to ease into the job rather than get thrown in the deep end. She quickly looked around, the reception area looked immaculate. Behind the reception desk there were a couple of sofas and coffee tables and two sets of large double doors. Off to the side Tessa could see a kitchenette area with a few tables where people could eat lunch.

"It looks fairly well set up already. How much more is there to do?"

Jennifer smiled and gestured at Tessa's large handbag. "If you want, you can stash your handbag behind the reception desk and then I'll give you a tour of the offices and facilities."

Tessa was a little dubious about leaving her bag unattended. Jennifer noticed her reluctance and said, "No one comes up here unless they need to, but if you're worried you can keep your bag in the filing drawer in the desk and you can lock it."

Jennifer went over to a small set of drawers and opened the top drawer which held some pens and stationery and pulled out a small set of keys. She then pulled open the large bottom drawer which Tessa saw was empty. She put her bag into the drawer which Jennifer closed before locking the drawers and passing the keys to Tessa.

First off Jennifer took Tessa to some small rooms right by the reception area. Each of the rooms contained a small square table with four seats around it. Jennifer explained that these were small meeting rooms for the use of tenants if they needed them for visitors. Moving to behind the reception desk Jennifer went up to the double doors and opened them up to reveal a very spacious area with a large boardroom table surrounded by chairs. Jennifer pointed out the roll down projector screen and the projector protruding from the ceiling. "These are of course meeting rooms but they can also be hired for small presentations or seminars."

Tessa then got a quick showing of the kitchenette and eating area before Jennifer took her through an open doorway. There were a lot of rooms with glass walls facing the hallway that were completely empty.

Jennifer turned to Tessa, "Almost all the offices are vacant but we've got some tenant's that will be moving in sometime in the next few weeks and we are discussing space requirements with other potential tenants. A few of the tenants will be bringing their own furniture but for the rest of them, we will be providing office furniture for them to use. Some of the deliveries we're expecting are to deliver furniture, desks, filing cabinets, shelves and chairs."

The emptiness was kind of eerie, Tessa had never seen an office this empty before. She then picked up on what Jennifer had said. "You said that almost all the offices were vacant?"

Jennifer smiled, "Yes. I'll introduce you to Jasper, currently the only occupant on this floor. He's pretty self-sufficient so he isn't likely to bother you but it's possible that he may need something so he should know who to talk to."

They turned a corner and Tessa could see a long office that had the glass wall completely covered up on the inside and a smaller office with frosted glass. Jennifer approached the door to the office with the frosted glass and knocked. The door opened to reveal a tall slender man with unruly hair that was either a very light blonde or was fading to white. The man looked at Jennifer and Tessa and smiled. "Well this is certainly a pleasant interruption. Are we having a party?"

Jennifer grinned, "Settle down, I'm just here to introduce you to our new concierge assistant Tessa. I'm going to be going over to supervise the work at our other sites so if you need anything Tessa will be the one to help you."

Jasper nodded and turned his attention to Tessa, assessing her appearance. "If you don't mind me saying so you have quite a striking appearance. Would you like to do some modelling for me?"

Tessa was a little taken aback but Jasper had a bit of a roguish charm and she found his comment flattering rather than offputting. She was just about to politely refuse when Jennifer answered for her.

"When I said anything, I didn't mean that."

Jasper gave a mock sigh, "Can't hurt to try."

He looked toward Tessa again, "Well it was very nice to meet you Tessa. I'll be seeing you around." He then stood back and closed the door to his office.

Tessa was a little bemused and looked at Jennifer who chuckled at her expression. "He's a bit of a character. He has done a lot of work for us in the past for other ventures and when he heard that we were setting this place up he immediately asked to join us. "

"He asked me to be a model, what does he do?"

"Mostly freelance creative design which involves websites and marketing campaign material but he dabbles in photography." Jennifer looked toward the long office with the blocked out glass. "He set up a small studio where he takes photos for some online clothes stores."

Jennifer's tour then took Tessa around the other side of the floor which was pretty much just more empty offices. She also pointed out where the bathrooms were located and a service elevator that large deliveries would come through.

When they had looped back to the reception area Jennifer continued to the elevators. "Now let me show you our other floor. At the moment half of it is undergoing a fit out. We have a law firm that will be using the space exclusively for client meetings and workspaces for employees who need to be in the city."

Their elevator arrived and when they got inside Jennifer placed an access pass next to a reader and then pushed the button for the next floor. Seeing Tessa watching her, Jennifer provided an explanation.

"Due to the work being done on the floor access is restricted and will remain that way until Murphy & Schultz move in. Once we're done with the tour I'll get you your own access pass.

The remainder of the floor is where we are keeping our computer servers and the servers of any client who wants to keep their systems separate from ours. That's another reason that the floor is secured. The entrance to the server rooms has a secured door, so even when the floor becomes unrestricted you'll need the access pass. And then to access the individual server rooms you will need a key."

The elevator opened and Tessa could hear the sounds of construction going on. Jennifer led Tessa off to a door on the right that required Jennifer to use her access pass again. Inside, there were a number of rooms with glass walls like the floor below but without the frosting. Most of them were empty but the one Jennifer took Tessa to had racks of computer equipment with a mass of cables plugged in. The room also contained a young man who appeared to be in his twenties like Tessa.

He looked up from sorting through some cables as Jennifer and Tessa approached. He had short brown hair, warm brown eyes and a kind friendly face. However, the first thing that Tessa noticed was how well he filled out his polo shirt and how strong his arms looked. He certainly didn't look like a stereotypical IT person. The door to the room he was in was open so Jennifer and Tessa went to the doorway but didn't step inside. He stood up to greet them and he appeared to be a bit above average height.

"Hey Nolan, this is Tessa. She will be watching over the reception area and accepting deliveries."

Jennifer then gestured to Nolan. "Nolan is our onsite IT person. At the moment he has his hands full with getting the computer server set up and then he will be setting up the phone and video conferencing systems. Once this site is all up and running, Nolan will be taking care of tech support."

Nolan smiled and waved. "Hi Tessa, it's nice to meet you."

She returned his smile. "Nice to meet you as well Nolan."

Tessa thought he was pretty cute and gave him another smile when she and Jennifer left him to head back toward the elevators.

"It will take some time for Nolan to sort this all out, so I don't know how often you'll see him. If you have any issues with your computer you can call his phone, his contact details are in a notebook in the reception desk."

For the rest of the morning Jennifer walked Tessa through her job including showing her the computer system she would be using to manage bookings and the web site which had some training modules that she had to complete on company policies. Tessa was introduced to Andrew and Fiona over video chat, their jobs allowed them to continue working from home and they didn't need to be at any of the sites. Andrew was currently responsible for managing communications with the tenants who would be moving in and the building managers. Fiona was in charge of finances, managing cash inflows and expenses. Jennifer also showed Tessa how to use a wireless headset that could be connected to the phone so that she could answer calls away from the desk. There were a couple of interruptions as Jennifer had to take some calls about deliveries or about work being carried out at the other office sites.

Shortly before Midday Jennifer was apparently satisfied that Tessa had a handle on things and it would be okay to leave her to her own devices. Jennifer got up and announced that she would be going over to another site to supervise and then told Tessa that if she needed any urgent help to call her by phone. Tessa eagerly assured Jennifer that she would be okay by herself and if anything important did come up she would let Jennifer know as soon as possible. Jennifer gave her a smile and said that she would call later to see how Tessa was going before heading over to the elevators and waving goodbye when the elevator arrived.

When the elevator doors closed and Jennifer was out of sight Tessa felt a measure of relief. Jennifer was friendly and encouraging but it was still nerve wracking for Tessa to have her boss right next to her as she worked. Other than that, Tessa was happy with how things were going so far and was confident that she could do the job.

At half past twelve Tessa decided it was time for lunch, she set her desk phone to go to messaging and locked her computer. Feeling uncertain about being away from her desk for too long and potentially missing a delivery, her plan was to just duck out quickly to pick up a sandwich. With the current state of her finances she would have preferred to bring her own lunch but she hadn't been certain of whether there would be a refrigerator available for her to use.

Outside she could see that life in the city was beginning to get back to normal. There were a large number of people walking around, not as much as there had been before the pandemic but enough that it felt more lively. Tessa went to a corner shop and bought herself a sandwich before returning back to work.

Not wanting to eat at the reception desk, Tessa took her sandwich to the kitchenette. There she saw that Nolan was sitting at one of the tables eating his own lunch. Tessa sat across from him, thinking it would be really unfriendly to sit at another table. Also after so long without interacting with someone in person other than Phoebe, Tessa actually wanted to be social. Nolan looked up and seemed a little shocked that she would be sitting with him but he recovered quickly and smiled before asking how things were going.

He was somewhat awkward but in a kind of adorable way. Tessa wasn't put off by his awkwardness, her own social skills were feeling rusty after a long period of mainly talking to people over video chat. As they talked and ate their lunch Tessa found herself enjoying his company and so was a little disappointed when their break was over and he had to go back upstairs.

The afternoon was spent going through the online training modules and taking a few phone calls. Tessa was awkward at first but by the last call she felt that she was getting the hang of it. At around quarter past five Jasper walked into the reception area, seeing Tessa he went up to the desk.

"How did your first day go?"

Tessa smiled, "Pretty good, I've just been going through all of the company training and learning how to do things. There's a lot to take in but I think I've got it under control."

"That's good to hear. I'm guessing the lockdown affected your previous job?"

"Yeah, I was an office assistant and when the lockdown started they decided I was no longer needed."

"And since the lockdown ended they haven't been in contact to offer you your job back?"

"No, I've talked to some people I used to work with and apparently a lot of people are still working at home so they don't need many of the office staff."

Jasper nodded. "I understand why working from home would appeal to a lot of people. I could do my work from home myself but I prefer to get out of the house. It gives me more motivation and helps separate work from home."

"If I had the choice I'd probably work a few days at home but it's good to work in the office as well otherwise I might never leave the house." Tessa shrugged, "Of course my job isn't something that can be done from home."

"Well I'm glad that I get to see you in person. I'll see you tomorrow Tessa."

Tessa gave him a small wave goodbye, "See you tomorrow Jasper."

Not long after Jasper had left Tessa started to shut her computer down and pack up. With her first day completed without any problems Tessa felt better about herself and that her life was getting back on track.

The next day Tessa went to work wearing a pair of good black jeans and a light blue blouse. To go with her more relaxed appearance her hair was tied in a loose ponytail. It was a step down from what she had worn the previous day but it was still far from being casual. Tessa was uncertain about just how loose the dress code was at the moment and she didn't know if Jennifer might drop by for a visit.

Workwise there was a lot less for Tessa to do. There were a couple of deliveries that arrived during the morning but most of her time was spent reviewing the company manuals and finishing her training modules. Jennifer didn't drop by but she did call to check how Tessa was doing and whether she needed anything.

At lunchtime Tessa had brought her own lunch this time and so she just went straight to the kitchenette area and was sitting at one of the tables to eat while idly browsing the internet on her phone. She was there for around ten minutes when she heard the elevator chime followed shortly by Nolan appearing. He smiled when he saw her and said hello before heading to the refrigerator to grab his food. Nolan joined her at the table she was sitting at and asked her how her day was going. They ended up talking about their experiences during the lockdown and any hobbies or interests they picked up.

After sharing that she had tried her hand at baking and failed before falling back on expanding her cooking abilities, Tessa was amused to find out that Nolan had used his spare time to get into working out. She looked at him quizzically, he was in really good shape, more than she thought possible for someone who had only really begun during the lockdown. Sheepishly Nolan told her that he had got really motivated and his housemate who was a personal trainer pushed him like he was training to be in a superhero movie. Now that he was back at work he wasn't working out as much but was doing enough to stay in shape. Tessa couldn't help flirtatiously complimenting his hard work and was pleased when he blushed in response.

That afternoon there wasn't much for Tessa to do and her thoughts ended up going back to her lunch break with Nolan. It might have been because of her lack of a dating life caused by the lock down but Tessa found Nolan quite attractive and was flattered with the attention he had paid to her.