Jane's New Job

CHAPTER ONE

Jane stood in front of the Gigantic building, deciding if to go in or not. When she got the mail yesterday requiring she comes to High Waters Interiors to be interviewed for the position of a personal assistant, she was elated. She has heard so much about the company and their reputation for making quality interior designs and decorations.

So when she saw the job opening for a personal assistant position she jumped at it even though she really didn't have the experience needed for the job. She told herself all she needed was to tweak her resume to match the requirements needed and convince whoever was going to interview her that she could deliver; after all she was a smart girl.

Standing before the building in reality, she is begining to doubt if coming here was a smart idea. The building and everything about it looks so intimidating and terrifying. But not as terrifying as the thought of packing up and going back to her home town in Enugu state where all her folks lived, folks who warned and tried everything possible to dissuade her from coming to the city.

She was running low on cash and needs stable source of income if not she might end up on the street begging for food, or go back home. The thought of that made her cringe and quicken her steps as she walked into the building.

The interior looked even better than she imagined, it was picturesque yet simple, it bustled with activity as workers were resuming for the day and getting started for the new week. She walked up to the receptionist a beautiful lady in her mid thirties, she was typing on the computer in front of her.

"Hi my name is Jane I'm here for an interview, for the position of the personal assistant to the manager".

The pretty lady smiled and replied "hello Jane, welcome to High Waters, Vivian will be with you shortly. Meanwhile she requested you wait in her office,The second door by your left".

Jane thanked her and went in the direction she was given. The office was spacious with a big mahogany table in the middle and two executive chairs on each opposite end of the table, two sofas by the side of the wall. The opposite end of the office had a glass wall which gave an ample view of the beach. Jane was beginning to look forward to working here. She has always loved going to the beach. she took a seat on one of the sofas.

She wasn't sitted for long when a beautiful middle aged woman walked into the office, putting on a gray jacket with a black jean trousers and a heel strapped sandals, she was carrying a Louis Vuitton handbag.Everything about her spoke class including the way she walked.

"Good morning, you must be Jane" she said as she walked towards the large mahogany desk and put down her handbag.

"Yes good morning, nice meeting you ma" Jane greeted as she stood up.

"Oh please call me Vivian, do have a sit. Sorry for keeping you waiting, the traffic on my route this morning was hectic. As you know you're required to start immediately my schedule these days is always choked up and I'm in dire need of an assistant. I hope you are competent like you stated in your resume?"

Jane didn't know she would be starting immediately, infact she thought she was coming for an interview.

"Yes ma, sorry Vivian, I'm equal to the task and if there is is anything I don't understand I'm a fast learner I will pick up"

Jane replied nervously trying her best to look confident even if this is actually her first real job after graduation from the University, aside her one year National Youth Service where she served as an English teacher in a secondary school and helping her elder sister manage the affairs of her tiny shop where she sold baby wears, if this even counts as a real job.

This would be her first real job and she wasn't about let her lack of experience make her lose the job. Vivian must have been convinced because the next thing she said made Jane leap for joy.

"Alright you got the job and that's because I don't have much time to interview other candidates but bear it in mind, the minute you fail to deliver I won't hesitate to fire your ass" She said meaning every word of it.

This scared Jane and almost made walk away from the job but then she remembered how broke she was and decided against the idea, she was determined more than ever to make it in this big city of Lagos and if doing her best to deliver at this job is one of the ways to achieve this goal, then she would. So she squared her shoulder, put on her confident look and said "what do you need to be done?"

This statement made Vivian smile and replied "let's start with you organizing my calendar, it's so clustered, I have different meetings and events scheduled for same day and time, so reorganize them and keep me abreast with the changes, I have a meeting with the board of directors in ten minutes you would have to come with me and take notes".

With that said, Vivian handed Jane a dairy containing all her schedule for the month. Jane delved into work with so much enthusiasm.

By midday Jane was worn-out from organizing calendar, taking down notes for meetings, going to get coffee and following Vivian's every move so she doesn't miss any important detail that needs being taken note of.

She never knew being a personal assistant could be so tasking, but the salary was worth every stress. Now she was on her way to get lunch for Vivian and herself, she took the elevator to the cafeteria which was on the first floor of the building. Vivian requested she get her jollof rice and plantain while she was getting spaghetti and grilled fish with a cup of smoothie for herself. One of the perks of working here is that she needn't worry about lunch, the company provides lunch for their staff.

On her way back to Vivian's office she was holding the bag containing their lunch in one hand, alongside her cup of smoothie, Jane was typing away on her phone, replying messages on her personal WhatsApp which she hadn't been able to reply since she began working. The door to the elevator opened, Jane stepped out, still engrossed in her phone.

She didn't notice when she bumped into something hard and before she could realize it she had spilled her smoothie contents. When she looked up to see the obstruction it was actually a human not a rock like she thought.

Not just any human but a good looking one, he was tall, slim, muscular and dark skinned. He had the type of eyes that stopped you dead in your tracks. His eyes made her weak at the knees.

He wore a black jean trouser, a designer plaid shirt with it's sleeves rolled up, which was now ruined with the contents of her smoothie.

"I am so so sorry, it wasn't intentional" Jane pleaded with a shaky voice. The stranger said nothing he looked at the damage she had caused on his shirt and looked back at her.

"Of course it wasn't intentional, this could have been avoided if you had just taken a minute to look away from your phone and watched your step"

Not until he mentioned her phone before she realized it was no longer in her hands, then she saw it on the floor. Quickly she picked it up, luckily for her it wasn't damaged. But his beautiful sneakers were not spared from the contents of her smoothie.

"Sir I'm truly sorry, please forgive me" she said this with tears in her eyes, what was she thinking? Walking and typing on her phone at the same time, 'what a way to make an impression on your first day at work Jane'. She reprimanded herself.

"How am I supposed to go for my meeting looking like this?" He asked drawing her attention back to his soiled shirt.

"Sir it's not that bad it can be fixed" she said thinking of ways she can fix this, honestly speaking the shirt does look really bad no scratch that, it actually looks horrible.

"Really, and just how do you intend to fix this?" He asked waiting for her response.

Jane has never felt so foolish and confused all her life, how on Earth is she going to fix this? Very soon Vivian would coming looking for her as she has been gone for too long.

"Sir please I'm sorry I.."

"you keep saying you are sorry like that is supposed to fix my shirt."

''I can….''

''What's your name and what department do you work?"

Oh no, should he know her department, he would report her to Vivian and this could get her fired, what if he was the boss? Then he would fire her himself. This made tears roll down her eyes.

"Sir please this is my first day at work, please don't get me fired, I promise I will replace your shirt but please don't get me fired I beg you".

Her pleas must have touched the stranger because he kept quiet and gave her a dead stare before storming off to the elevator, got in and didn't say another word to her.

Jane stood there, she was still in shock, when she heard a voice behind her.

"Hey are you ok?" She turned to see a girl who looked like she was in her twenties walking towards her.

"I'm fine thank you"

"Are you sure? You look like you have been crying"

"I'm ok thanks for asking, I have to be on my way" with that Jane hurried to Vivian's office to deliever her lunch. Luckily for her, Vivian was still on the phone with her husband, so her absence wasn't felt.

The rest of the day went in a blur, she couldn't seem to take her mind off the smoothie incidence and kept wondering if the stranger would come bursting through the door to have her fired.

By the end of the day, she wished nothing more than to go to her tiny apartment, have a cold shower and crawl under her blanket and have a good sound sleep.

As Jane went to bed that night, for the first time in a long while she really felt grateful to God, and thanked him for helping her get a job and not getting fired. At least not yet.