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My office Angel shows me her devilish side.
Tx Quickies (TxQ) are short little one shot tales. Quick reads which I have no intent to continue.
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Linda had been working for us as a temp for a few months. She was doing a good job, had a nice attitude, and even though she dressed very casually, she looked good in what she wore. Nice addition to the office all around.
She was still in college, and had taken a semester off. She was a junior, but her funding had dried up when her parents split up. Linda was a referral from a friend, and it didn't take long to figure out she really needed the job, and would work hard for it. Her car was in the shop, she barely had enough money for gas. Her mother was working, but couldn't even pay their bills without help. The 20 hours of part-time work was like throwing a life-preserver to a drowning woman.
She was a good worker, and conscientious, but had no practical experience. I didn't mind, she was offloading my work on the cheap, and making progress every day. She was excellent at some things, in particular making sure that nothing slipped through the cracks.
She had quietly asked for more hours, and I'd upped them to 30. I definitely had enough work for her. I was giving her more responsibility, but watched over her to make sure that nothing too bad happened. She made a few mistakes here and there, but nothing critical. I was very happy with her work, and she really did brighten up the office. Her youthful exuberance was infectious. Her kindness and goodness was inspirational.
My boss wasn't crazy about her. She'd dropped the ball once on something he'd asked her to do, and he'd lost his confidence in her. I had to remind him she was only a temp and still in school. Not qualified to do half of what we asked of her, and quite the bargain.
When the group down the hall hired a girl for a similar position, she was making $1.50 more an hour than Linda. I raised her rate, thinking it only fair.
Simple enough, right? $45 extra a week wasn't going to break us. But it brought tears to her eyes and earned me a hug. Kind of sweet.
Some people live a charmed life. Linda had the proverbial black cloud over her head. Every time things were looking up, something would happen to slap her down again. On occasion she was self-destructive, other times it was just damned bad luck.
Her car breaking down, right when she started, she'd earned through lack of maintenance. I understand she had no money for maintenance but that was a different issue. She and her mother carpooled for nearly two weeks before she had her car back.
Getting a ticket for turning left illegally was a questionable one. The sign saying no left turn was hard to see, in a busy intersection. She couldn't afford the ticket, or the insurance bump, so she had to take online safety training. Like I said, kind of a wash, her fault and bad luck.
Having bees move into the walls of the tiny house she shared with her mother was just rotten luck.
Each time, it cost her more money she didn't have, and she struggled. The raise seemed to be what was needed, to balance out the equation.
With school starting up, we worked out a more flexible schedule so she could start classes again. She was paying her own way, with about 80% of her tuition coming out of scholarships and such. The last 20% came out of her paycheck.
Linda worked hard. Coming in early to make up hours, working late when needed. She was studying, taking classes, working and helping her mother out. A good girl, going to a nice little Baptist college, and doing her best to get by.
She was less than half my age, but I liked her. Sure, I occasionally lusted after her, especially when she wore her ultra low cut jeans, or her shirts which displayed her more than adequate cleavage. But I liked her more than I lusted after her. How often do you meet truly nice girls?
When a medical bill for allergies rolled in, threatening to obliterate her school savings, I pitched in. I was notorious for not turning in business receipts to get paid back.
I dumped a box of receipts on her. "If you have some time this week, you might do a little chore for me, off the clock."
She looked up at me curious. I'd never asked for anything like that. "Sure, what?"
"Deal with these expenses. Fill out the forms, make the copies, find the dates, you know, all that junk. Whatever I get back, I'll give you 20%."
She appeared dumbstruck. "That's crazy, Alex. That's your money."
"We're supposed to turn these in within 30 days. I've got some going back almost 12 months. I've already been told I'll lose any expenses over 12 months old. For me it's like found money. On my own, I'd probably never get around to it."
Linda worked late, two nights in a row. Less than two weeks later, I got an expense check for nearly $3,000. I had no idea it was going to be that much. I wrote her out a check for $600, and had her crying again. I hated to see her cry.
It wasn't one of those really messy cries. Her face would slowly redden, and I'd see her eyes well up. As the tears rolled down her face, she'd lose her breath, almost hiccoughing.
I walked over to her where she was seated and wrapped my arm around her shoulders. "Don't cry. I hate to see a pretty girl cry," I told her.
"You're too good to me."
"Nonsense. Things will be fine. It'll work out for the best."
She sniffled. "It never did before you."
"Now you're being silly. I'm getting out of here before you get me all weepy." As I pulled away, she pulled me close for a second, hugging me tightly. Unfortunately it was around the waist, her face pressed into the pocket of my pants. Fortunately, she didn't seem to notice when I responded to her impromptu display of affection. I didn't harden completely, but I was feeling pretty weighty down there, and after a few more seconds it would be impossible to hide it.
I somehow managed to escape her sweet clutches with (most of) my chivalry intact.
* * *
I got a call. It's complicated, and would be a real pain to go into, but we'd made a mistake. A big one. Probably about $20,000 big.
I was in hot water. Normally I was pretty untouchable. I did my job, did it well, and took on the tasks nobody else wanted. This had been one of those. A disguised time-bomb.
I called Linda into my office. She was looking cute as ever, with her stupidly tight low cut jeans, and one of the shirts I'm fairly certain she wore as a favor to me. Light, with a squared off drop neck that showed not only cleavage, but a fair amount of her upper boob. Sweet girl.
I explained the situation and we started our internal investigation. We worked until late, running through email trails, checking and rechecking documents. Calling vendors and grilling them. We were parked at her desk, while she worked the keyboard. I had chosen a strategically sound position standing over her shoulder, where I could look down her shirt on occasion without being too obvious.
Around 6:30 pm I found it.
I owned the problem. On a list of about 80 items, two of their names differed by only a couple of letters. I had chosen the wrong item.
I was devastated. I called my partner in crime on the west coast, figuring to catch him before he left for the day. We had discussed the choices in detail. I knew I'd narrowed the selection down to the right one. I was fairly certain of it. He confirmed all my choices to his recollection. We knew the right answer, and I'd written down the wrong one. I thanked him for his help and hung up.
I sighed, and ran my fingers through my regretfully thinning hair. "I fucked up, Linda. I don't know how, but I definitely ordered the wrong part. This might get ugly." I think it was the only time I'd ever used profanity in front of her. She was a darling innocent young girl going to a private religious college. I didn't like to curse in front of her.
Her face was screwed up, almost in tears.
I stroked her hair, mentally castigating myself for once again looking down her shirt. "Don't worry about it. It happens to all of us. Even me."
She started crying. "I...I think I did it. The form you gave me was an old one. I used the updated one, and copied your order over. I know I checked the wrong one. I'm so sorry." She was sobbing, trying to get it out.
I leaned over her, grabbing some tissues from the desk and passing them to her. "Don't cry. It happens. We all make mistakes. If this is the biggest one you ever make you'll be the luckiest girl in the world."
I put my arm around her shoulders, as I had before, and she hugged me, crying into my pocket. It was becoming a habit of hers. "No! $20,000 dollars is not a little mistake. It's going to ruin me!"
I hushed her. "I promise you it won't. It happens, Ok? Don't cry, Linda. Please."
I was wearing khaki's and it was obvious the waterworks were in full-flow. I had a huge wet spot near my hip. It was kind of embarrassing.
I leaned over and hit the speaker-phone button on her phone, before dialing my boss's extension. "Dan, Alex here. I found the error. It was me. I screwed up. I definitely placed the wrong order."
"Damn it, Alex! This is a fucking disaster! How could you do this?"
"I know. It's late now, but I'll do what I can to fix it. They owe me a few favors, I'll see what we can work out." Linda was still crying next to me, softer now. I was seated on the arm of her chair, holding her around the shoulders, while she soaked my side for a while.
Dan was still not pleased. "Do what you have to. But I'm still going to have to report in tomorrow. I can't take the fall for this one, Alex."
"No, I understand. Let Tom know I'll do what I can. I'll get it straightened out. I'm pretty sure I can resolve this."
"Fucking miracle if you do," Dan growled. "Call me tomorrow with an update."
I looked down at my sad little helper. It wasn't her fault. This was out of her pay grade. I should have double checked the order. Her face was lying across my thigh, while her back heaved in quiet sobs. I rubbed her back gently, and looked down to see her low cut jeans had shifted downward, exposing her lower back, and a plumber's share of her cute butt.