Emily could not have been more done with Vocen. Every couple of months since she started her job they seemed to come out with some new terrible decision. If they weren't trying to cut everyone's benefits, then they were trying to ban using the bathroom on shift. More recently, many of the changes had been markedly sexist. A few years ago all of the female floor associates had been required to wear skirts or dresses and heels as part of their uniform, and soon after the policy was extended to all women up to mid-management.
This new announcement though was definitely a new low. Apparently, the company would be hiring new "personal attendants" for all of the senior level managers. The email avoided saying outright what these attendants would be doing, but references to "strict appearance standards" and "individualized compatibility" made it pretty clear to Emily that the idea for these positions was taken straight from some executive's idiotic fantasy. She couldn't even get approval for enough hours for her own team, but now all of a sudden the budget had room for 15 new employees?
She knew she couldn't quit though, unfortunately, there just weren't that many places in town looking to hire architectural drafters. She'd be able to save a bit more money now that she's moving in with her girlfriend, but it'll still take a while to pay down her line of credit.
Emily sighed and closed the email. She glanced over towards Mark's office before turning back to her screen. Normally she'd walk straight into his office to tell him off, but today she just couldn't handle it. She reopened AutoCAD, and got back to work.
***************
She laid back in her bath. The sweet almond smell was amazing high, and she loved the subtle cool sensation of the razor on her skin. Emily had always loved taking long warm baths, but recently shaving, and exfoliating had turned into a daily ritual before bed. It took about an hour but it left her incredibly relaxed.
The move was officially happening this weekend. Most of her stuff was already over at Lisa's and she was selling most of her furniture. Even without much stuff left to do, Emily still wasn't sure how feel about it. Moving in felt like a big step, and she still couldn't help feeling off balance around Lisa sometimes. Being stoned was definitely helping with that particular piece of anxiety.
***************
When she came into work, Emily thought she'd stepped onto a porn set. Every single cubicle had an incredibly beautiful woman sitting in it, all wearing some parody of business casual.
*a-hem*
Emily turned quickly toward the noise. An unfamiliar woman at the reception desk wearing a white blouse unbuttoned down to her bra, was staring at her.
"You must be Emily"
Still disoriented, Emily stared blankly. The woman rolled her eyes.
"You must be, Rick wanted to see you whenever you got here. He should be in his office now"
"What?"
Emily couldn't make sense of what the woman was saying, and who was she??
"I said Rick wanted to talk to you."
The woman said impatiently; she almost looked annoyed. Emily couldn't believe it. She felt torn between a growing anger and a cold fear about speaking to Rick. If he wanted to talk to her personally, without going through Mark, then it wasn't anything good.
He couldn't be thinking of firing her, her team was the only one that ever hit deadlines. At the same time, it would be just like Mark to have blamed the LMS issues on her. Her team never even touched any external contracts, but that wouldn't stop him. Still, if she was talking to Rick she couldn't think of what else had happened recently.
His door was already open, and as she stepped inside she saw Mark was already sitting. Her guts turned upside down.
"Hello Emily, please sit down"
************
Emily closed the door. She still couldn't believe it.
She had gone in there ready to explode in Rick's face. Or, that's maybe a bit too generous. She'd gone into Rick's office a little too off balance to be ready for much of anything. But still, she hadn't expected this.
Her own office, manager of the whole drafting unit, a substantial pay raise. It was like a dream come true. Or, it would have been if she could have skipped Mark's self-important summary of how he'd been the real reason for her success. Still though, the pay raise would be life-changing. Even if they only saved a bit of the extra money, she'd be able to pay off her debts in half the time.
Weirder still, she had her own assistant now. Apparently, the woman at the reception desk would be directly reporting to her. Rick said her name was Laura, and apparently she'd been working for another unit at Vocen for a couple years now.
Emily put her bag down and flopped into her new chair.
********************
After re-reading the email for the fourth time, Emily still didn't have a firm understanding of what the personal attendants were. She hadn't really understood when they were first announced, but now because of her new position, she had one of the small blue call buttons embedded right into her desk. It seemed odd to have a direct line to her assistant when she was sitting just outside, and the email definitely made it sound like the attendants were a new position entirely.
Finally, Emily decided to just find out directly. She reached out and pressed the button.
********************
There was a short rap on her door. After a short pause, the door opened and a young man walked in wearing a suit. He smiled comfortably as his eyes wandered down Emily's body.
"Hello? -"
She started, but he cut her off.
"Hi, you rang?"
"Well, yes, I pressed the button if that's what you mean? I'm sorry, who are you?"
The man's smile widened and he pushed the door closed behind him.
"I'll be attending to you"
Before she realized what was happening he'd closed the distance to where she was sitting. His hand clamped tight over her mouth and nose, pushing her head back into the chair. She kicked up at him, but he didn't even seem to notice. She tried to scream, but with his hand where it was she couldn't force the sound out of her throat. She grabbed at his arm frantically. As the seconds passed her panic grew. She couldn't breathe, couldn't make a noise loud enough.
With his free hand, the man reached over to her desk. The motion caused him to loosen his hold just slightly. Emily jerked her head down, and bit hard into the flesh of his palm.
*SMACK*
There was no scream, only pain, and the ringing in her ears and the throbbing in her head.
He was wrapping duck tape around her face, covering her mouth and keeping her pressed tightly into the chair.
The whole left side of her face stung and she couldn't focus properly.
*Smack*
He hit her again, more softly this time, but still enough to make her eyes water up as she tried to keep from crying.
