Full Frame Productions: Charlotte And Ashleigh

3. Vacation?

The elevator opened to allow Ashleigh and Charlotte to the hallways of the fifth floor. Charlotte quickly put the pen into her pocket as they stepped out of the elevator and Ashleigh led Charlotte through the maze of desks and file cabinets throughout the floor until they reached an office wrapped in a glass wall, curtains closed over three quarters of the walls. The door and wall facing the large desk inside was the only part that could be seen.
Charlotte looked inside as Ashleigh led her towards the office, "What are we doing now, Ms. Jackson?"
"Well of course we have to get all the paperwork finalized before we get to the office and I relinguish my claim to you for your desk setting up time. So here we are." Ashleigh paused as they walked though the door, "With the one and only Margaret Payne. Your friendly HR Dragon and Mangagement Queen."
A beautiful firey redhead with large hazel eyes looked up from her dual screen monitors, and stood. "Ah, I see we passed the test. Please, sit down Ms. Zimmerman. I have many things for you to read and sign." She picked up a large manilla envelope from her desk, "We're going to be here some time, Ashleigh, might want to take your lunch while we get through most of this."
Charlotte sat in one of the oversized brown sofa chairs as Margaret handed her the manilla envelope.
"I will take your word for it." Ashleigh sat down the box of office supplies next to the chair, "Then I will come back in a little bit, Marge."
"You know, you also have some paperwork to send me, Ash. I saw your message. I sent you the form you need to fill out. It's in your inbox." Marge stood, walking over to the long couch next to the chair Charlotte was sitting in.
"Thanks so much." Ashleigh replied. "Don't worry Ms. Zimmerman, I will return for you in a little bit." She said quickly and turned from the room, disappearing down towards the elevator.
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Ashleigh ran as quick as her heels would allow. Back up to the seventh floor, she dashed from the elevator and stopped short at Reese's office door. A quick knock and she flipped through the door. "What is this I hear of you taking the next week off suddenly?"
"You had to know if I found out about the tattoo competition, I'd be there."
"But now?" Reese ran his hand through his longer cherry blonde hair. "You just got the translator you wanted, she's literally downstairs working on the HR paperwork and NDA. And you're going to be gone for her first week?"
"Come on RM, you can take care of her for the week, teach her what your standards are." Ashleigh sat down in the chair Charlotte was previously in. "It'll be better for us in the end, she'll get a grasp of your standards quicker. Which is especially good with the quick timeline you have set up for Chapter Three."
"Chapter Three is exactly why you shouldn't go." RM walked over to his desk and pulled a large folder out of a drawer, "I need you to help manage everything before the deadlines. I can't trust anyone but my number ones."
Ashleigh sighed, "Reese, give Zimmerman a shot. If she sucks that bad, fire her and I'll fix it all before next week is over. You don't even have to worry about HR, she'll be on probation, so you don't need a reason to get rid of her."
"Ash, you know I hate probationary employees." He looked through the folder, leaning against his desk, "I will make you a deal though."
"Let's hear it." Ashleigh leaned forward towards Reese, elbows leaning on her thighs, her face resting in her hands.
"You can go, but only if JK is the tattoo artist."
Ashleigh's jaw dropped.
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Back in Margaret Payne's office, Charlotte had started reading through all the paperwork once Ashleigh left, and worked her way through it quickly. Marge cleared her throat as Charlotte began signing the paperwork after reading them, "Ms. Zimmerman, I hope you understand that we need to discuss a few things before we can proceed with the meat and potatoes of your paperwork." She cleared her throat.
"Oh of course, I figured as much." Charlotte looked up from the paper she was about to sign with that pink fountain pen. "I just wanted to get through to that point. I expected more papers to be honest. My mentor at uni forewarned me about all of the different documents I'd have to sign."
"Well that was wonderful of them. But all we need to start is the NDA and the basic background paperwork. Most things have already been completed during the application process." Marge stood, and continued as she walked around her desk to a file cabinet and rifled around, "It was something that Mr. Myung was quite adamit about when he started FFP." She chuckled as she pulled a bright red envelope out, setting it aside. "He wanted to make sure that every employee, or potential employee would be able to start working on their first day. None of that sitting around and waiting for access or anything. It really only takes me adding these few things into your file before your account and access is ready."
Charlotte's eyes widened, "Really? That is crazy."
"It's quite proactive, for sure, but why make you wait to start?" Margaret tapped her finger on the red file, "We just need those last two signatures and I can get your photo for your ID."
Charlotte quickly finished her signature on the last document with the pink pen and handed her small stack of papers back to Marge. "Not as painfully as I anticipated."
"Let me grab the camera and I can get you finished up before lunch, and just so you know we are given a weekly allowance at the FFP Cafe on the other side of the first floor and the food is amazing."
"Oh wow. That is amazing. This place just keeps getting better and better as I learn things." Charlotte smiled as she stood up, following Marge as she motioned for Charlotte to move to the photo area, a blank wall area in the far corner, with a ring light waiting.
Marge pulled a camera out from a drawer and led Charlotte to the corner. Marge made quick work of setting up the ring light and quickly took a few pictures of Charlotte.
And five minutes later Charlotte was walking out of the HR office with her box of office supplies and a shiny new employee lanyard with her name, department, and photo dangling around her neck as she made her way to her new desk.