His empire
What???!!! I looked at him incredulously. CEO?!!! It is just too much. I can't really wrapped my head around it.
Ms. Maureen took us for the tour around the company after dropping that bomb. And what was most disturbing is that Ashton went with the tour. His announcement of joining the tour clearly took Ms Maureen by surprise but she just brushed it off and went ahead with the tour.
Who can stop him? He apparently owns this company. Right now, staying here is the last thing on my mind. Knowing that he owns this company is making me want to run far away to a place where we would never meet.
I found out that, though it is the largest language center in the city, the buildings are not tall. I wonder why that is.
His empire sits in a fifteen hectare property with twenty one buildings in total. The empire is divided into three major buildings, the headquarters, language centers and the outbacks.
The language center have twelve buildings which is divided into four: Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western languages. Each division has three two storey buildings that are clustered together. Each level has fifteen spacious classrooms. Each equipped with one teacher, a comfort room, learning materials and multi media allowing maximum learning. Ms. Maureen said that each room has a teacher that specializes in a certain language and that the teachers holds a one hour class and gets a one hour rest after each class. The maximum classes offered per day is five. The last class is from six pm to seven pm allowing those who have work to attend classes if they want to. At the ground level of the center building houses the Language consultant's office, teachers' office and lounge, clinic, pantry and business office. The ground level of the other two buildings are allotted for young students. A security guard is stationed at both ends of the ground floor corridor. One is manning the entrance to the building while the other one mans the exit. The are also strategically located near the classrooms of the youngsters. She also mentioned that each student is given an electronic identification card which is swiped at the entrance of the building. Ms. Maureen said that Ashton Wants to keep the young learners safe.
This statement brought a pang in my heart. Keep the young learners safe, I thought bitterly and sighed. I mentally shook my head as I felt myself being dragged down to memory lane. A walk down memory lane leading to a break down is the last thing that I need right now. I have to remain composed to not let anyone know the hell that I have been through. It took a lot for me to be where I am right now and I will do everything in my power to keep what I have right now. I forced myself to tune in to what Ms. Maureen is telling us about the company.
Behind the center building is the outback I heard her say. This building houses the maintenance, security team, pantry staff and the back up power system of the main buildings. Beside it is the dormitory of the employees especially those foreign teachers. The company also allows non teaching employees to stay in the dormitory for three months, that is the time the company allots for the employee to find an apartment of their own. In front of these clustered buildings is a manicured lawn boosting with delicate and beautiful flowers. There are scattered benches and tables around the garden. It also has enough space for privately owned cars to be parked and be maneuvered out of the premises with ease.
At the heart of Ashton's empire is the headquarters where we were at the moment. We did not leave the headquarters and toured the language centers since its quite a distance from the main building.
The headquarters has seven storeys. On the seventh floor is the rooftop for employees to use and a penthouse for the CEO. Ms. Maureen said that the six floor is where the CEO's and his secretary's office is found so as the conference room. This conference room where we are currently at is just for internal meetings with the CEO.
We went down to the fifth floor where the marketing department is. This department manages all the marketing strategies for both the publishing company and the language centers. It has three main division, fiction and novel, feature magazine and language center teams. Each teams deal with the advertising of the specific company operation. This department is headed by Mr. James Larson who met all of us with a broad smile. He also had a small talk with Ashton while we were busy looking around.
The fourth floor is the translator's department where I hoped to stay for good. This is the main reason why I applied in EasyLanguages. This company has a lot of venue for someone who is just starting their career. This department is divided into four, translators for the northern, southern, eastern and western languages and is headed by Ms. Jessica Owens.
Writer's department is on the third floor. This floor is quite strange in a pleasant way. It does not look like an office but like an extension of the writers' rooms. Each writer has their own cubicle and each cubicle is designed according to how the owner wants it. It is also divided into three main sections, fiction and novel, feature magazine and learning material editors. This department is headed by Mr. Hunter Garcia.
The second floor is the publishing house which surprised me since normally most companies would have a contracted one. But when you think about it, it smoothens the entire operations since there is no need to transport any manuscript or dummy book thus eliminating the chance of it being damaged or copied. This department is headed by Mr. Simon Harvey who first grunted when Ms. Maureen introduced us but immediately stood up upon hearing the "together with Mr. Kempt part of Ms. Maureen's introduction. This gesture almost made me laugh.
The ground floor is the business administration office where the HR, clinic, pantry, reception area, sun room, conference room and employee's lounge are found. It seems like Ashton really values the comfort of his employees.