Flirting with the HR Girl

Chapter 17

"Jenny!" Gary said appearing ready to drag her out of there by the hand if need be. "Cynthia has been shouting for you and Blanche is down talking to her granddaughter again so I figured I ought to come in here and get you myself."

"I gotta go," Jennifer said to Austin as she gathered her stuff. "You'll be great." She whispered the last part so Gary couldn't overhear. Although Gary could barely hear anything. Cynthia had to have been pretty loud if he could hear her. Jennifer must have been really caught up in helping Austin to have not noticed her boss shouting down the hall. Cynthia had never done that before, so Jennifer had every reason to be nervous as she made her way back to the HR office.

She found Cynthia on the phone, waving wildly to have her assistant grab something for her across the room. Jennifer turned around and picked up one of the sexual harassment packets. Cynthia gave her a thumbs up and started reading the pamphlet. Jennifer was relieved that Cynthia was too busy to jump on her for not hearing her. She took her time putting her stuff away thinking about that moment with Austin. She wondered what would have happened if Gary hadn't interrupted them.

"Jennifer!" Cynthia said as she slammed down the phone and handed her the notepad. "Here is what I have. I have issues going on in MidRivers that I might have to attend to tomorrow. I won't know until Valerie gets back to me."

Jennifer took the notepad and glanced down at the scratched mess, not saying 'what the hell is this' aloud. Cynthia grabbed her water bottle and took off. She did this when she was stressed. She'd go walk the mall and try to clear her head. Jennifer sometimes thought Cynthia was actually shopping but anything to get her boss out of the office was fine with her. She slid behind the desk and started on the sexual harassment training that would never end.

Half an hour later, Cynthia was back and pacing around the office and calling her other stores while Jennifer finished up the outline. When she told her boss it was finished, Cynthia came around the desk and went over it in detail. They had over five pages of outline that Jennifer knew would result in at least two hours of training.

"I think this looks wonderful, Jennifer," Cynthia said putting her hand on her assistant's shoulder. It was one of those rare moments that made Jennifer think that maybe she didn't hate working for Cynthia. If her boss was either consistently bitchy or consistently nice, she thought she could live with either, but she couldn't handle the back and forth. Although Jennifer did feel good having Cynthia compliment her on her work.

"Are you going to take it to Todd?" Jennifer asked trying not to sound too excited to get Cynthia back out of the office.

"No, I don't want him to have time to complain about it," her boss said taking a step back, removing her bifocals. "I think I will wait and do it tomorrow after I've had a chance for Valerie to approve it as well. Then I will have her give it to his boss and then he can have very minor changes if any."

"Excellent idea." Jennifer really meant it. She checked the clock as she let Cynthia have the computer. She had a new hire coming in half an hour. She quickly gathered her materials and went down to the managers' office and set the computer up for the new hire paperwork.

When her new hire arrived, she automatically went through the drill. Driver's license. Social Security card. Sign away any chance at having a merry Christmas. But the new hire had it together and quickly went through the process. When Jennifer returned to the office, Cynthia looked quite pleased. Her boss, Valerie, must have had the information she needed. Before Jennifer could ask what was happening another knock came at the door. She had left the door open and turned to see Selena standing in the doorway.

"Oh, Cynthia, I didn't realize that you were still here," Selena said giving Jennifer a why-didn't-you-warn-me look. Jennifer rolled her eyes. Of course, Selena would never think of the fact that Jennifer was actually doing her job and therefore unable to warn her. "I was just going to see if Jenny wanted to grab some dinner. Would you like to join us?"