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"Right," she said.
"Um, I'm going to go find the kitchen now. He wants a refill of his coffee."
"Sure," she said and waited till I was at the door. "Don't go to the normal kitchen though," she said, and I screeched to a halt.
"Normal kitchen, what does that mean?" I asked.
"There are two types of kitchens here," she oh so graciously explained.
"Oh okay," I replied. "Two kinds. How come?"
"Come along, I'll show you," she says. "One is for the junior partners and associates and paralegals and secretaries and whatnot, and the other is for the management, aka the senior partners."
"Okay," I nodded. This made sense.
"They’re both on the same floor since we have both senior partners and a few other junior partners on this floor, but extreme ends. Your boss is management, so we’ll be going all the way to that end to get his coffee."
"Do you know what he likes?" she asked.
"No," I replied, my heart sinking as I stared into the empty cup. There were, of course, coffee stains all around, but I could not in my wildest dreams figure out what it was. The best thing to do, and in order to avoid any mistakes, was to ask the other girls, but I looked back sadly at my desk, realizing that I had left my phone.
"Do you know what he likes?" I asked Sandra. "Have you worked here long?"
"Four years this summer," she replied, and I nodded, impressed. With the humongous salary I was offered, I truly hoped that this would be me as well because I wasn’t willing to go somewhere else and take a pay cut.
I stopped then in my tracks, realizing that I had almost forgotten about his nasty behavior but for the instant forty percent increase in pay from what I had been paid at the marketing agency, I was forced to consider that maybe, just maybe, his temper wasn’t all bad.
"Here we are," she said as we arrived at the glass-doored kitchen. She held the door open for me, and immensely appreciative, I headed in.
Just like everything else in this firm, every nook and cranny smelled of unimaginable wealth. Sleek, clean, state-of-the-art contemporary. It was beyond gorgeous.
"Alright, his coffee should be here. Black for sure, because he’s that kind of guy."
"Um, do you have any-" I started to ask but was cut short because she was suddenly looking at her watch.
"I have to run now; my boss needs me."
"Of course," I jumped, immensely grateful for the help she had given me thus far. Even her company in this crowd and maze of a firm was a huge relief and had done wonders in deactivating my flight mode.
"Thank you," I said, and she sent me her beautiful smile.
"For nothing. Just let me know if you need any further help or directions. Find a paralegal to get close to so you can handle his requests promptly. I recommend Stacy. She’s the only one of the lot that's not a complete pain in the ass."
I knew very little of what she was talking about, but I noted the name Stacy and also noted the fact that I would most definitely be staying up all night to begin my emergency lessons on all that it took to be a secretary at a law firm. I also wished the other girls would help me out, so I couldn't wait to return to my desk, but given that I had already been away from it for the last twenty minutes at least, I had no doubt that I was going to get a loaded gun in my direction once again for being so slow. I looked through the shelves and was overwhelmed by the variety of coffees I saw and picked what seemed like the most expensive.
It was instant, thank God, even though beans were available to grind. So, I made it quickly and put them all up on a tray. And just in case he needed some cream or sugar, which I was sure would do his black personality some good, I added some and was soon on my way back to his office.
Chapter Nine
Guy
Phone calls with clients had to be one of my least favorite obligations. And phone calls, especially with aggravating clients, were what I tried my very best to avoid the most. But this one, given the huge billings his shenanigans brought in yearly for the firm, was special. I had even gone as far as giving him my personal cell phone number to badger me at any time he needed, even though I knew from then until this moment that I would forever regret it. Still, I had no regrets. Plus, there was the fact that I had a stake in the new construction project of skyscrapers he was involved in. Too bad he was also involved in abusing alcohol and, more times than not, calling me to get him out of some intoxicated-induced mess he was embroiled in.
This time around, he was being sued for agreeing a few weeks prior to an exorbitant price with the plumbing company that was due to handle the plumbing work for the entire building.
"What the fuck were you thinking, Gary?" I complained, already thinking about how I was going to solve this. Instantly, I needed my associate George, but of course, my secretary was still not answering her phone, and I couldn’t get off this call until I had all the details I needed in order for me to place the personal call for George to come over. So instead, I took notes and was so irritated that I couldn’t keep the frown off my face. This was her job, yet she was absolutely nowhere to be found.
This would have been more than enough to fire the other four, but of course, and as Gloria warned, I couldn’t be rash. Sighing, I continued scribbling down the information and just then, there was once again a knock at my door. I had no doubt that it was her, so I didn’t bother responding. She knocked again and again, and I stopped then, anticipating the next, and gearing up as well for how angrily I was going to yell at her. Hopefully, it would put some fucking sense into her brain that as my secretary, if after a knock, I didn’t tell her to come in, she was fucking allowed to do so. For fuck's sake, she already had access to my cards and bank accounts, so what was this fucking formality for?
