Nice Job

'Steven, I found you someone, she will come by in half an hour to meet you.'

'O? That's fast,' he sounds surprised, Steven looks a bit displeased. The work pressure has almost come to a boiling point for a while now, but the "help" that his boss Herman Brouwer has arranged for him so far has actually only caused him more work, there were some stupid chicks among them! Or stubborn, or lazy. Often just out of school and looking for an easy administrative job, while they barely know how to hold a pen. And then that kid, with his piercings everywhere and nowhere, who was staring at his cell phone all day long, nothing really came out of his hands.

He had a hearty conversation with Herman about this earlier this week, it really can't go on like this anymore, he needs someone who has outgrown the adolescent stage and knows what working hard means, if necessary, without specific administrative knowledge, he'll teach him or her himself.

'And...?'

'No administrative experience unfortunately, but she is a hard worker, I am sure you will be satisfied with her. Renate her name is, Renate Brouwer. See you later Steven, I have to leave now!' Herman says, then the line's gone dead.

Steven is looking at the phone in amazement, Bróuwer? Renate Bróuwer?!

Three quarters of an hour later a whirlwind enters Steven's domain, all excuses that she is fifteen minutes late, oh good, he thinks wryly, at least she can tell the time, even if she seems not able to arrive on time. Everything went wrong, she explains, car refused to start, all traffic lights were red, bridge was open, rammed by a container freight ship, so she had to take a long detour.

Steven sighs internally, here we go again. Not even started yet and it's already all excuses, this promises disaster. And this time it's not going to be easy to get rid of her again, given her last name, she is either related to the boss, or even worse, he knows that Herman has a new fling going on, and given his eagerness to marry, there is a chance that he has now tied the knot. That would be number four, sigh, where does he get the courage from... Fortunately, Herman is smart enough to always marry on a prenuptial agreement, otherwise Steven would probably no longer have a job by now.

He looks at the new arrival, she looks absolutely nothing like Herman, fortunately for her, he always wonders what all those women see in Herman. She is tall and slim, blonde curls reaching halfway down her back, about twenty years old, he thinks displeased, hmm, that's young, too young to know what hard work is?

He holds out his hand and looks straight at her, 'Steven de Haan,' he says rather sternly, she looks back uninhibited and takes his hand.

'Renate Brouwer, pleased to meet you,' her voice is clear and cheerful.

'Please sit down, Renate,' he points to a round table in the corner of the large office garden, 'would you like some coffee?'

'Please,' she says, she takes off her scarf and coat, hangs them neatly on the coat rack next to the door and then walks to the coffee counter and sits down, her legs neatly together, a bit shyly pulling the hem of her skirt down.

The space is very big for a single employee, even for two people. Years ago, it was full of enthusiastic, driven colleagues, but the crisis had a major impact, and finally only Steven was left of the office staff. But lately business has picked up again, more and more orders are coming in, thank God, but it does mean that the burden for Steven is becoming a bit too much. Hence the attempts to get appropriate support, so far with very little success. And this lady certainly doesn't make Steven happy, especially when she tells him that she comes from healthcare, nursing staff no less.

'But I'm a quick learner,' she assures him, 'and I'll tackle anything.'

Yeah sure, he thinks cynically, we'll see. He starts to explain to her what will be expected from her and the amount of her salary, to which she responds unexpectedly enthusiastically, given the not exactly generous net amount that remains. The working hours are quite flexible, as long as she is there by nine o'clock at the latest and she makes her eight hours a day.

She promises to do her best, Steven freezes, he unfortunately misinterprets her roguish smile at this announcement, my god, he thinks, again someone who is going to cut corners and thinks she can get away with it because she has a pretty face...

Renate doesn't really know what to think of her new "boss", the second in command of the chief boss, so to speak, he must be about thirty years old, she thinks, and much too serious for someone that age. She sees fatigue lines around his eyes, typical of people who spend too much time staring at a computer screen, hopefully she can support him in such a way that he can take more distance from his work.

He's definitely attractive, black curly hair, dark brown eyes, impressive, masculine hooked nose and a wide mouth, which unfortunately she has not yet seen sporting a smile. There seems to be a permanent cynical streak surrounding it. Would he ever laugh, would he even have a sense of humor?

Well, let's wait and see, let's try to master the work first.

Renate declares that she can start right away, she will have to be trained anyway, so if he has time for that? Steven decides to accept the offer, the sooner he can return to his actual work the better, and answering the phone, which rings quite often these days, anyone must be able to do that, right?

'How would you like to be addressed, by the way,' she asks, half-jokingly.

'Eh, Mr. de Haan, or sir?' he suggests, apparently dead serious.

'Seriously?!' she asks mockingly, disbelief clearly visible on her face.

'Steven is ok too,' he responds timidly. That's more like it, Renate thinks grimly, heck, I'm not going to call a man who is at most four or five years older than me, sir, come on now! If it were a customer, of course, but a direct colleague, don't be ridiculous!

After he has installed her at her workplace and familiarized her with her computer and telephone system, he sits at his own desk to arrange her appointment and the like. She has handed him her passport so that he can make a copy for the ID registration. He is shocked, only now does he see that she is already twenty-five, and he thought she was barely twenty! Then he suddenly understands her reaction, the refusal to call him sir, and he feels like a bit of an asshole.

Steven decides to give her the benefit of the doubt, secretly hoping that she'll suck at it, so he can tell Herman that it won't work out. He deliberately gives her the simplest jobs and carefully keeps the more complicated work to himself. Still, she does her job well, she is meticulous and works quickly, Steven has to reluctantly admit.

She has been there for a week now, and Steven comes in after a visit to the dentist, Renate and Herman are standing together at the coffee counter. It sounds like they are having the most fun, Renate giggles, says something and Herman bursts out laughing.

Hm, Steven thinks, great buddies, those two, he doesn't like it at all. He thinks back to Herman's wife number two, or actually ex number two. As soon as she tricked Herman into marrying her, she had her eye on his job, which she would take over, under the guise of a "family business", which would save costs. While keeping Steven's salary for herself, of course, that seemed only fair to her. Steven had expressed his concerns to Herman. 'Won't happen, don't worry,' he had reassured him with a bold wink, 'she may have some very welcome talents, but a talent for numbers is certainly not one of them.' The marriage did not last long, however, wife number two turned out to be quite loose with the marriage promise, she turned out to be rather promiscuous.

Should he be worried about his job again?

Renate looks a lot like Steven's ex, she is the same type, at least in appearance, tall and slim, with blonde curls. And he doesn't exactly have pleasant memories of his ex. That makes it even worse to have to work with Renate, it keeps bringing up memories. Renate is of course not aware of this, and wonders why she regularly gets those sullen, angry looks, she isn't doing anything wrong, is she now, she still has to learn it all, right? Let him apply a pressure bandage or administer a painless injection and see how far he can get before his patients run away screaming!

During the first few weeks she feels like she does nothing but open envelopes, logging mail, answer simple emails and cross check outgoing invoices, it's boring work, and she also regularly finds herself twiddling her thumbs because Steven doesn't seem to want to delegate. Why did I agree to this job, she thinks frustratedly. What she enjoys most is answering the phone and welcoming visitors, interacting with customers, suppliers, architects and field service colleagues.

But although she has the feeling that she is starting to gain control over the fairly simple tasks, she only sees disapproval in Steven's eyes, he doesn't even like the way she answers the phone, she really can't do anything right. After she once again receives what she considers an undeserved reprimand from him because she did not end the phone conversation with a representative quickly enough, she blows up.

'What the hell is your problem,' she screams, 'I don't answer the phone properly, I write with the wrong color pen, I put the cups in the cupboard the wrong way up, I don't load the dishwasher properly and turn it on too quickly, how do you think that will come across to customers when they see that I first have to dig through the dishwasher, have to wash dirty cups by hand because there is nothing left in the cupboard, to be able to provide them with coffee? Do you think that makes such a professional impression?' Steven is silent for a moment. 'Well?!'

Steven opens his mouth in protest, a deep frown reveals that he is by now furious himself, but Renate is now so upset that her flood of words can no longer be stopped.

'It would help, dammit' she shouts, her voice cracking, 'if you would explain to me exactly what the hell you want from me!'

The frustration radiates from it, it makes Steven even angrier, and then in his anger he does something he should never have done: he accuses her of having landed her job the easy way because she is family, and even worse, the boss's sweetheart!

Renate is stunned for a moment, but then she bursts out again: 'How dare you say that! That's not true at all! That's- that's- Oh! You know what? I've had enough of this for now, I'll take a few hours off, you don't have any work for me anyway, and what I do is never right. See you tomorrow! Five past nine,' she shouts pissed off, she's also tired of all the whining about being late, she's doing her job, isn't she, she's working her eight hours, right? She gets up, but then Herman's head appears around the corner of the door, he looks pained.

'Renate, would you like to come with me for a moment?'

Oh, shit, she thinks, now you'll have it. She casts a withering look in Steven's direction and sees him cringe. Dammit, she thinks angrily, you bastard, now I'm losing my job because of your unreasonable attitude and ridiculous demands. And she absolutely needs that job.

Herman takes her to his office and gestures for her to sit down.

'What was that all about?' he asks in a neutral tone when he has taken a seat opposite her, leaning towards her with his elbows on the table.

'Sorry Uncle Herman, it was just too much for me. I really do my best, I work hard, I do everything that, erm,' she hesitates for a moment, 'Steven,' she then says with difficulty, 'assigns me, but it's so mind-numbingly simple, and I spends half the time doing nothing, because he keeps everything to himself. And I can't do a damn thing right!'

Herman nods understandingly. 'But that's probably not all, because I've never seen you like that.'

'No, that's right,' she mutters grimly, 'what did you actually tell him about our relationship? He accuses me of using our apparent family connection to get this job, and of being your favorite, or your sweetheart, I don't even remember exactly what he said, but...'

'Ease down, girl,' Herman laughs as he places a comforting hand on her arm. 'And he's not wrong, I love you to bits,' he chuckles, 'but of course not in that way. I'll talk to him, make sure he apologizes and at the same time make sure your work becomes a bit more interesting,' he adds with a wink. 'For his own good, I didn't arrange support for him for nothing.'

Renate is about to open her mouth again, but Herman beats her to it.

'And about that family connection, I would never have offered you this job if I hadn't been convinced that you could handle it excellently, so just remember that.'

Now Renate laughs, 'thank you,' she says softly, 'I needed to hear that.'

'Perfect. And now go home, to recover from all the anger and frustration, I'll talk to Steven, and tomorrow we'll make a fresh start.'

Without looking at Steven, Renate grabs her coat and bag and disappears through the door.

'So,' says Herman when the door has closed behind her with a click, 'now we have to have a talk, Steven, because this really isn't going to work.'

Steven looks at him, clearly still angry and frustrated, he nods, talk what you like, he thinks, but that girl will have to leave!

'I'm disappointed with you,' he begins, 'to give one of your relatives this job without-'

There Herman cuts him off and explains to him that the surname Brouwer means that he and Renate are indeed, very distantly, related, but that she is his goddaughter and that her parents and brother died years ago in a car accident and he has been looking after her a bit since then, he funded her nursing training and when he saw that she was struggling in that tough and demanding profession, he saw this opportunity. Two birds with one stone, or actually three: help for his overworked office manager, thus help for himself through less risk of losing his valued employee, and Renate a job that was less physically and emotionally taxing.

Steven has no way out, he has to accept that he won't get rid of Renate in the short term, he hesitantly agrees to the urgent request to apologize and give her more work, and also some more challenging jobs. Herman also makes him admit, albeit quite reluctantly, that there is actually nothing wrong with Renate's accomplishments.

***

There is a ceasefire, Renate has accepted Steven's apology, does her work quickly and accurately, but the atmosphere remains a bit uncomfortable.

Steven is tall. She's certainly not a short person herself, at six foot six, but Steven still towers over her, which can be quite intimidating, especially when he's angry. Or maybe not even really angry, but looking angry. And he often does that, still. She has learned to ignore it; she doesn't want to let it spoil her job satisfaction. Because the job gives her pleasure, she likes the work, the variety, the customer contact, the interaction with the field staff, but also working as efficiently as possible, making sure everything is in order, working systematically and quickly, being able to find things without problems. It's a pity that Steven still regularly gives her too little to do. Yesterday, out of sheer desperation, she tackled the archive. There was some overdue work, but there was also a lot that was not really logically stored. When she had finished, she showed her work to Steven with due pride, but he had yelled at her again. 'And thank you,' he had said, in that annoyingly condescending tone, 'now I won't be able to find anything anymore.'

'What?' she had shouted indignantly, 'everything is now in alphabetical order again, are you saying you don't know the alphabet?!'

Steven had to back down, blushing and with obvious reluctance, he apologized again, she was right, and thank you. Tsss. What is it with that guy...

Today the phone seems to keep ringing, Renate barely gets around to her other work. And then, around ten o'clock, to make matters worse, one of the field employees walks in with a question about his salary. Renate now has access to this; she must process the salary data every week for the wage payment that is carried out by an external company. A job that was handed over to her by Steven with some hesitation.

She already knows this guy from previous encounters, he's a sneaky guy, he always looks at her as if he's undressing her with his eyes, and always making those veiled sexual innuendos, yuck. Once again, he gives her eager looks, and while she looks up what he wants to know on her monitor, he leans over her and puts a hand on the back of her chair, intending to touch her. She casts a warning look over her shoulder, but the man perseveres, a wide grin on his face. The moment he actually puts his hand on her shoulder, Steven half stands up, he is about to intervene. But it is no longer necessary, he hears a surprised cry and a curse and sees the man's face contorted with pain, Renate has him in a tight hold and with a low voice tells him to keep his paws to himself in the future, otherwise he can say goodbye to his job ánd his balls. Her facial expression leaves nothing to the imagination, the man quickly scurries away, apparently no longer interested in the answer to his question.

'Well,' Renate sighs happily, 'I don't think that one will be bothering me anymore.' She looks at Steven cheerfully.

'Wow,' Steven responds, clearly impressed, 'that was impressive!'

'Well,' she says with a cheeky smile, 'in nursing you regularly have to deal with difficult patients, there you learn to stand up for yourself, you have to,' she chuckles.

Steven laughs, he breathes a sigh of relief, happy that she knows how to bite back when necessary, because of course he will not always be there when this creep comes along. It must indeed be difficult, he thinks, such a gorgeous, sexy blonde nurse at your bedside, who wouldn't want to... He is shocked at himself, where does that thought suddenly come from? A little embarrassed, he quickly straightens his face.

In the weeks that follow, he slowly starts to gain more and more respect for her, and he realizes that although she may look somewhat like his former wife, in terms of character and attitude she is a completely different person, he has to admit to himself that in his assessment of her he was largely influenced by his aversion to his adulterous, greedy ex with her sharp tongue.

Renate feels at home at the Brouwer construction company, the armed peace has turned into a relatively friendly atmosphere, but contact with Steven remains strictly business-like.

She finds the interaction between Herman and Steven fascinating, Herman is clearly the boss, but when they discuss figures and other matters, they are so visibly aligned that they look more like business partners than people with a hierarchical relationship. Then she also sees a different side of Steven, he is enthusiastic, driven, but also relaxed, he even laughs, and when he laughs out loud it sounds so terribly sexy, then she always has to pull herself together, she just wanted for him to also loosen up a bit in her presence, showing more of himself to her. But he keeps acting stiff, distant, she still hasn't figured out why...

She also clearly notices that Herman relies on him enormously. It would be a disaster, she now knows, if Steven were to drop out, the longer she works with him, the more she gains insight into all he accomplishes, he seems tireless. It's really a miracle that he hasn't already fell victim to a burnout.

She is still regularly late, but she always compensates by working during breaks or staying a little longer. And she really works hard, Steven has to admit. No matter what kind of jobs he throws her way, she starts everything with good courage, asks for help in time if she can't figure it out by herself and delivers excellent work.