Page 15 of The Vegas Rerun
“These are the systems you’ll need. Mostly, you will be working on Word and Excel but it’s good to have all of these set up and ready,” she says. She points at the correct logins of the next few programs as she goes. “This is your email, and this is the calendar program we use.”
I take the list and put it carefully in my purse. That’s not something I want to lose, especially not on my first day. We leave the HR department and head back to the elevator where Linda takes me up to the seventh floor. We get out of the elevator and the first thing I see is another white and chrome decorated space with a receptionist sitting behind a desk.
“This is Lena,” Linda says.
Lena and I say hello to each other and then Linda whisks me off down a long white corridor. As we go, she points out the kitchen, the copy stations, the bathroom and the employee lounge.
“You’ll be working with the other secretaries down this hall,” Linda tells me. “They are a good group - Frieda, Patty, and Sarah – and they will help you settle in.”
As we walk, she gestures to a door at the end of the hallway. In front of it sits a young woman at a large desk.
“And that door right at the end there is Mr. Redfern’s office. He is our CEO. You may not see him much, but he keeps the company running smoothly. That’s Margo at the desk, his personal secretary.”
I nod, filing the information away as we reach an open door. Behind it is a large room with four desks. Three of them are taken and Linda tells me that the fourth one is to be my work area. On my desk – my desk! - is a computer, a phone, and a pile of neatly stacked files. From the other three desks, three womenlook up, all of them smiling at me. Linda points at them one by one.
“This is Patty,” she says, pointing to the youngest looking of the three women. She has long, dark brown hair with a subtle tinge of purple that only shows when it catches the light.
“You must be Molly,” Patty exclaims giving me a little wave which I return. “Welcome to the trenches.”
“And this is Frieda,” Linda says, pointing to the oldest woman who wears round glasses and wears her grey streaked hair in a bun. She looks quite fierce until she smiles, and then a dimple appears on each cheek turning her into someone much friendlier looking.
“Welcome,” Frieda says simply, and I nod my thanks to her.
“And finally, Sarah,” Linda says pointing to third and final woman. Sarah has blonde hair and ice blue eyes. She is pretty but I instantly get mean girl vibes from her. She looks up from her desk, looks me and up and down and seems to find me lacking, because all I get from her is a grunt in greeting before she turns her focus to Linda.
“Finally,” she says. “I hope she knows what she’s doing because I’m getting a bit sick of us having to absorb all of Roxanne’s work as well as our own.”
“I’m sure Molly knows what she’s doing, and if she does get stuck, I know you will be on hand to help her,” Linda says.
Sarah rolls her eyes and looks back down at her work.
“I’ll leave you to it then Molly,” Linda says. “Frieda is in charge, and she will show you the ropes, but if you need anything from me, you know where I am.”
“Yes,” I say. “Thank you.”
Linda leaves the room, and I go over to my desk and sit down. Frieda comes over on her wheeled chair and sits beside me.
“The first thing you need to know is to ignore Sarah when she’s being bitchy like that,” Frieda says. “We’re a great teamand it’s nothing personal. It’s just like she said, we’ve been picking up the slack after losing one of our team.”
“And not getting any extra wages for it,” Sarah adds. She looks at me and gives me a smile. It isn’t the friendliest of smiles, but it’s better than the daggers she gave me earlier. “I’m sorry Molly. I just wanted Linda to know how I felt, it wasn’t anything against you.”
“No worries,” I say.
“What did Linda tell you about the CEO?” Patty asks.
“Not much,” I say. “Just that his name is Mr Redfern and that I probably won’t see him that often.”
“That about sums it up,” Patty says. “Except for the obvious omission.”
“What’s that?” I ask.
Sarah takes over the conversation.
“That we have the best view in the house, because when he is here, we’re right near his office and out of everyone, we get the most glimpses of our very own hot CEO.”
Patty sighs dramatically.
“Mr. Redfern. The man, the myth, the legend,” she says.
