I slowly pulled into my parking space. Sometimes I hated this place. But it paid the bills, and for the most part, it wasn't. Especially lately, my boss had been gone for almost a whole year now, which left me in charge.
At first, I was glad she was gone, but now I wanted her back. There was so much paperwork involved. I gathered up all the paperwork I had to do for the day and then locked the car. Who knew running a distribution center was so irritating. Usually, all I did was look over the floor and make sure everybody got paid on time.
I noticed a new car in the employee parking space. Shrugging it off, I continued towards the door. "Maybe one of the cleaning personnel got a new car." I thought to myself. I pushed my key into the door and waited, usually the cleaning people would hear my keys and come running to be let out.
As usual, all four of them came running to the door. I let three of them out and walked the large warehouse floor with the lead. He explained everything they did as usual, and then I signed his form.
Just one of the many forms which I had to sign since she left. I went around turning on all the machines that made our product, then waited for the floor manager. He was always running late. I looked upstairs in the main office that looked down on the floor. The lights were on.
"Did I forget them on?" I asked myself. The cleaning crew did not have keys for the office. The last person to leave was me. Again I shrugged I must have. The door opened.
"Hey, sorry about that," Luis said. "Floor looks good," he said as he walked towards me. We got into our usual conversation as I pointed out a few forms and papers that showed some special orders that needed to be put in. Again I glanced up at the office window and saw that the blinds had moved.
"Ceiling fan on as well," I thought. After we sorted the day's events out, I began to walk up the grated metal stairs up to the office. Opening the door, I saw there was someone inside.
"Hello," she said.
Standing in the middle of the office was a short Hispanic woman. She had dark hair that hung just past her shoulders. She must have been around 5' 2 to 5' 4 at the most. She was wearing a tight gray one-piece dress that hugged every inch of her figure. The skirt stopped just below the knees with black dress shoes. She was very fit and slender, bright green/hazel eyes. But what stuck out the most was her huge breasts. They stood out from her body, almost daring gravity to take them. A long deep line of cleavage stood out so that any guy would have trouble not to stare at them.
"Hello?" I said as I put my folder down on my desk. There were two desks in this large office. Mine sat facing the door so that when anyone came in, they had to go to my desk first. The boss's desk was further back. It was in an L shape with two monitors on it.
"Name is Rachelle," she pronounced it as "Rackell" instead of how it was spelled on her name badge. Her accent wasn't too hard, but it was definitely there. "I will be taking over for Monica," she said, stepping forward as she gave me a hard handshake. Her boobs bounced as she shook. I kept my eyes on hers.
"Name is Ray," I said. I could see her give me the once over. I was dressed in my black dickey work pants, with a black polar shirt, my black steel-toed boots.
I didn't think I looked bad for my age. I was pushing thirty-two years. I stood a lot taller than her at 6' 4. I kept my face and hair well shaven, especially since I was in charge now. I was sure the company did not want a young black guy running one of the biggest distribution centers. But I was sure Monica would have come back.
"I know." She replied as she moved her hand to the seat in front of her desk. I sat down. "Monica will not be returning to the company," she said as she slid her hands down the back of her skirt as she sat. She flipped her hair to the other side as she crossed her legs. "Did you know the reasons she went on leave?" she asked if knowing the answer already.
"Yes," I replied. Monica had told me to tell the others that she had a family emergency. The truth was that she had come home and found her husband fucking the brains out of her best friend and her husband.
According to Monica, it was a horrific sight. She had taken the time to try and put her life together. I had seen her husband, and if the words flamer did not come into anyone's mind when they saw him, they weren't looking hard enough. So the three-way did not shock me at all.
"Well, she has left the state and returned home. And will not be returning." Rachelle said. I nodded. She clicked a few things on her computer. "But I see you have done well. Since her departure," she said as she scrolled through the years sales and invoices. "Looks like very well actually," she said. "I will inform corporate. That you have done very well," she said, returning her gaze to me.
"Thanks," I said, sitting back in my chair.
"Now that is done. I will be holding a meeting with everybody to let them know what is going on."
"I am sure they would like that," I said. I walked her downstairs to the floor; everybody was busy already as trucks pulled up to the bays, ready to be loaded and sent on their way. I shouted for everyone to meet at the bottom of the stairs for a short meeting.
There were just under ninety people already here. Most of which were men. They all locked their eyes on Rachelle. She introduced herself, and her accomplishments then told them that she was taking over. To which they welcomed her. She did not make the "There will be changes speech." Which I was hoping she wouldn't.
After the meeting, I told her there were papers I needed to catch up with and headed back up to the office. She said she was going to walk the floor.
It was almost an hour before, the door opened, and she came in. I had nearly forgotten that she was here. I expected one of the floor guys to come up and say there was a problem. She looked tired.
"Everything okay?" I asked.
"Yeah, just my feet are killing me," Rachelle said as she took off her shoes as she sat. As she bent over, I had a great view down her chest. I turned back around before she sat back up.
"Yeah, the cement floor is not forgiving," I said.
"I will have to remember that," she said as she turned to face her monitors. The rest of the day went well. It was a load off my mind to have someone there that knew more than I did about what papers corporate wanted as we locked up for the day. She looked over at me as we walked out. "Great job today. Thank you for making this an easy transition," she said with a smile.
"Thank you for showing me those papers I missed," I replied. I walked Rachelle out to her car and got in mine.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The next morning I arrived a bit early for no reason other than good timing with the traffic. I saw Rachelle was already there. Her car was parked in the same spot as the day before. I did the usual routine then walked upstairs. Rachelle was on the phone with someone.
"I told you I was coming in early," Rachelle said, highly annoyed. "You did not wake up!" she said again, annoyed.
I sat at my desk and pulled up the daily orders.
"I can't tell you everything I do, all the time," Rachelle took a deep sigh. "I will try to leave early. But..." she said.
I tried not to look back, but I could tell this was her husband. "Look, I have to go," she said.
There was silence. Rachelle stormed past me from what I could tell she was going to the floor. I sat there alone for a while until the phone buzzed. It was the internal phone.
"Can you come to the rear dock, please?" Rachelle said, hanging up before I could answer. I walked down the stairs and made my way to the rear dock. Luis made a gesture that looked like cat claws and growling, pointing to the back door. I sighed and walked over.
"How long has that been there!" Rachelle shouted. She pointed to the graffiti on the back wall of the building. It had been there for years, even before I was hired.
"About four years now," I said. "And I have called maintenance about it many times. Even offered to pay for the paint myself. But I keep getting told no," I said before she got a chance. She shook her head.
"Well, I will have to call them myself," she said, storming back inside. I followed behind, making sure to lock the door.
