Page 17 of It's Only Make Believe

Karl nods his head.

“Yes,” he says. “We have done all of the brainstorming, and we already know how we want it to look, what it will be able to do, how the interface is laid out for consumers. It’s just a matter of putting it all together.”

“Just,” I say, laughing at Karl’s nonchalance. “That’s like a three week job.”

“It’ll be closer to five weeks with Diane missing,” Karl says.

“That’s actually why I called you up here,” I say. “I have an intern who is wanting something more challenging to do and her speciality is web development. Do you think you could find a use for her, or will she just get under your feet? Be honest because I don’t want anything derailing this or slowing it down further.”

“I’m sure I could find work for her. And I’m not just saying that. Being short staffed is really making this too slow and at the minute, I don’t think we will meet the deadline,” Karl says. “An extra pair of hands might just turn things around for us.”

“In the interest of full disclosure, and this goes no further than between us two, the intern in question is Enrique Sanchez’s daughter. He’s on our board of directors and he asked me to take his daughter, Louisa, on as an intern as a favor to him as he finds her lazy and uncooperative. I have to say I haven’t seen that side of her. She has always been attentive and gets on with any work she is given. The task I gave her on Monday, realistically, I would have expected it to take a good few days and she had it finishedby Tuesday morning. But if it turns out she’s just putting on a show for me as her boss, I want you to know you have every right to give her an ass kicking, and if that doesn’t work and she’s not pulling her weight, feel free to let me know and I’ll pull her straight off the project,” I say.

“Got it,” Karl says. “So, I’ll be getting her on Monday then?”

I nod.

“Unless a different day is better for you?” I say.

“No, Monday is ideal because I can brief the whole team, her included, on what we’re going to be starting,” Karl says. “It means everyone knows the same information and I don’t have to go over it twice.”

“That’s great. Thank you, Karl. And don’t forget, if she becomes a problem, I want to know about it,” I reiterate.

Karl nods his agreement and then he leaves my office, and I pick up my phone again and call along to Mel. She answers the call.

“Mel, it’s Luke. Can you tell Louisa I want to see her please. It’s not urgent, her work is more of a priority. She can pop in any time before she leaves for the day and it will be fine,” I say.

“No problem,” Mel says and cuts me off.

I roll my eyes and smile to myself. It’s a good job Mel is the best personal assistant I’ve ever had and that she doesn’t do shit like that with potential advertisers, just with me. A few hours pass and then Louisa is back in my office and sitting down, having informed me that Mel said I wanted to see her.

“On Monday, the web development team is starting a new project. They will be working on a new app,” I say. “They are a team member down and it’s going to make things hard for them. I realize I could replace Diane who has left, but these posts require a special sort of person, and I hate to just take the first person who comes along because it often makes things harder for the rest of the team than just being short staffed would. Iwould like to be able to take the time to find someone for the role who will fit in with the team and be a good match.”

Louisa nods her head.

“That makes sense,” she says. “Do you want me to go on Monster and other sites like that and find potential candidates for you?”

“Would you consider that a more suitable role for someone with your degree than say, working the reception desk?” I ask.

“Not really,” Louisa admits. “But as you said, a good intern does whatever they are asked to do without moaning.”

I smile and she smiles back.

“God, I can be a right dick, can’t I?” I say.

She looks shocked for a moment and then she laughs and nods her head.

“A bit,” she says.

When the laughter has died down, I get to the point.

“I don’t want you messing around with resumes and that stuff. That’s what HR is for. Well amongst other things. No, I have spoken to Karl, the supervisor in that department, and we have decided to give you a chance on the team,” I say.

Louisa’s jaw drops and for a moment, she just sits there, frozen. She blinks and closes her mouth.

“Are you being serious?” she says.

“Deadly serious,” I tell her.

---