Sunday shoes. There was a woman typing at the desk and she
showed no sign of stopping what she was doing as Connie
approached.
“Excuse me?”
Connie tried politely. The woman continued typing but made a noise
that sounded very much like ‘hm?’
“I’m here for
an interview at eleven o’clock,” Connie went on. The woman held out
one hand and continued typing with the other. Connie put the
appointment card into the woman’s palm, which she glanced at
lazily.
“I see. Welcome
to Young Towers,” the woman said, her fingers a blur. “You are a
little early, so please take a seat…” she motioned with her eyes at
the closest sofa. Connie sat on the thick, sweet-smelling leather
and looked out of the floor-to-ceiling windows. The skyline was
breath-taking. Maybe she could stand to be a P.A if she had a view
like this every day.
“Constance
Green?” a voice next to her made her look up at a short man dressed
in a suit and wearing a pair of bookish glasses.
“That’s me,”
she said, standing and holding her hand out. The man shook it and
smiled.
“If you’ll
follow me, the interview is just next door,” he said, leading the
way. Connie smiled a little at the lady typing at the desk and she
was sure she saw the ghost of a smile back.
The
bespectacled man opened a large door and led Connie through it into
a wooden-panelled room complete with a huge table in the centre.
Connie privately thought it looked like a comic book villain’s
lair. She was shown to a seat and the man poured her a glass of
water before introducing himself as Julian – P.A. to the head of
H.R. Connie nodded and listened as he talked about the weather a
little, and then the second door in the room opened and Connie got
to her feet quickly in time to see an overweight woman, and a thin
man with red hair enter the room. They introduced themselves as
May, the Head of H.R., and Karl, the Head of Payroll. Connie
wondered which one of them she was going to be expected to work
for. She did not like the look of either of them, and decided that
the benefits of the position had better be pretty sweet – she could
always take her degree and vast experience elsewhere. When the
niceties were complete, the interview began in earnest.
“So, Miss
Green,” Karl started. “Can you explain why you have decided to come
to interview today?”
“I can,” Connie
replied. “I’m very interested in communications, as it’s my
academic background. When I was invited to apply for the position I
was aware that experience in the communications industry was vital
to becoming a P.A.”
“Have you ever
worked as a P.A. before?” May asked.
“No, but I have
many contacts in industry and am very willing to learn.”
“Would you have
any sort of salary in mind?”
“Your payroll
department lists the standard wage for a P.A. as £25k a year,”
Connie said, proving she had done her homework.
“Excellent,
well done,” Karl grinned. He loved it when people were interested
in his department. “Can you give an example of a time you have had
to co-ordinate many factors at once to the end of a successful
project?”
“Well, I have –
” Connie started to say as the door banged open again and a grey
haze swept from it into a third chair. As she focused on the
intrusion her eyes widened slightly and her lips parted at the
sight of this new interviewer.
“Miss Green,
this is whom you will be working for, should we select you for the
position,” Karl said, indicating the man on his left. “This is my
esteemed colleague and owner of the business, Mr. Antony Young,” he
smiled.
Connie stared.
Anthony Young was giving her a sideways smile that was delightfully
crooked and endearing. His greying black hair was tastefully swept
to the side and was a little longer than convention normally
allowed. He was wearing a light grey suit with a pale, baby pink
tie and had a look on his face that betrayed his relative youth and
amusement. Connie felt something