Temptation [ Min Yoongi | ENG ]

S I X T Y O N E

I decided to walk to work. I was a little tense and preferred to use my time to get there in a slower activity than cycling.

I arrived a little before eight, but I preferred to go in anyway. I was greeted once again by the friendly receptionist who received me the last time. We talked until Margriet arrived too. She was surprised when she came in and saw me already there and asked me to accompany her to her office before she took me to my workstation.

"Here is your table. It is clean like that, but you are free to decorate it as you like. We also have some ergonomic equipment in the deposit room, you can take whatever you need to be more comfortable."

She said pointing to the space in front of me where a simple desk and comfortable chair were. There was a closed laptop on the table.

"The computer is dedicated to you, if you need to, you can take it home, but we prefer it not to happen." She said and I stated with my head that I understood. "We have laboral gymnastics once a week and some of us get together twice a week to practice yoga, right here, at seven in the morning."

"Ah!" I exclaimed in surprise.

"If you are interested, you will be welcome." She said and started walking through space, I followed her.

"The floor is all ours, it's not very big, but it serves our needs. We have a full kitchen, since the space is adapted from a traditional house." She said, pointing to a door. "The room where you are is occupied by three more people, two proofreaders and our executive secretary. In the next room are our two editors and two illustrators. The smallest room is for administration, where our project manager is, and those responsible for the human resources and financial departments, but the room is too small, that's why the executive secretary works in your office. The third office, where you accompanied me just now and where we had your interview, is occupied by me and my partner, Nikkie, whom you will meet shortly. This is where our meetings take place. The main room is our reception and living area." She concluded as we returned to that space.

"Is this terrace accessible too?" I asked, pointing through the French glass doors in one corner of the room.

"Ah yes! And in hot weather it is used a lot. Those who smoke also use the space for that."

"Ah yes, that's why I asked." I smiled awkwardly.

I followed her back to her office and she sat with me on one of the sofas.

"Nikkie is the publisher's administrative manager while I take care of the editorial side of business." She started. "Our ideological line is the feminist approach to everyday life, but our works are not only about politics. The empowerment of women goes through different spheres of intimate life so that they feel empowered to show this strength in their public lives. For that reason, we have published works on women's health, reproductive health, maternity, finances and biographies in our catalog, in addition to the most obvious ones that are works by feminist authors who address social and philosophical issues, but we also have a niche of feminist erotic literature."

"Wow, it's quite a lot!" I exclaimed, a little alarmed by the information.

"Yes, that's why we have this proposal for slow production. Nobody in our team works on more than two projects at the same time. We have an average publication of only 4 books per year. Our idea is to work closely with the authors, giving all the necessary support and so far it has worked very well." She explained and reassured me. "I think that with your expertise you will not have any difficulties. In this first week I would like you to be close to our editors and other proofreaders. I will introduce you to them in a little while, and I hope you get used to our production flow and internal processes. For the next week, I scheduled a workshop for you to attend, it is online and you can do it right here. It will be three days about editing, proofreading and the type of language we use here."

I can't deny it, all that news sounded a little too much for me, even though Margriet was trying hard to reassure me.

We were still talking about hers and mine expectations when Nikkie arrived. We were introduced and talked briefly before Margriet guided me out of the room and introduced me to everyone at the publishing house.

All employees were women, some older, some younger, and most seemed to be around my age. After meeting them all, I started to relax and feel more comfortable there.

The other two proofreaders, Mirte and Lilli, received me warmly and promptly began to teach me what I needed to know in order to do a good job.

The day passed quickly and so did the week. Every day started with a general meeting where we discussed the works in progress and also our personal impressions about the project. After lunch, project team meetings took place, depending on the day of the week.

On Friday we had gymnastics at work and I ended that week feeling encouraged to participate in the yoga practices, despite all the physical activity that I practiced in life was only with my bicycle.

I walked home after work to get my bike and made my way to PH.