The Boss & The Assistant - Rewritten Edition of "The Boss"

Chapter 3 - Emerson

 I started every Monday morning by going to the coffee shop I used to work at and grabbing a vanilla cold brew to go. I greeted my coworkers as I went up to the twenty-second floor. Marge was back at work that morning, so I was prepared to return to my old desk. However, Carla stopped me.

"Good morning, Emerson," she said, smiling sweetly. "You're being called to the twenty-fifth floor this morning."

"Oh, okay, thank you for letting me know," I said, already getting nervous. I was expecting a rejection. It had only been a weekend since I interviewed. Surely they interviewed more qualifiable people than me and quickly realized I was not in the running.

On the twenty-fifth floor, Sasha told me I didn't have to wait. She led me into the sitting area but we didn't stop there or in a conference room. We entered a different room that had three doors. The one on the right was Emilio's office. The one on the left was Michael's office. We went through the one in the center and emerged upon another reception area with Don's desk. There was a glass wall dividing this room and Mr. Jett's office. However, all of the curtains were pulled so I couldn't look into it. "Go ahead and wait here," Sasha said. "Don will be here shortly."

I tapped my foot as I waited, but Don came out within a minute. Mr. Jett was with him. They each sat in one of the armchairs across the coffee table from me. "How are you, Emerson?" Don asked.

"I'm fine, totally fine," I said. I technically was fine, but nervous.

"Nervous?" Don asked, smirking as he pulled a pipe from his pocket.

"A little," I said, chuckling.

"There's no need to be nervous," Mr. Jett said, in that soft tone he spoke in. He wasn't quiet and he didn't speak timidly. He was just...soft spoken, but his voice was still commanding in a way, like although he wasn't loud he was worth listening to. "We're just here to offer you the position of Don's replacement, if you so choose to take it."

I paused, then asked, "Are you serious?"

Don chuckled. "Yes, my boy, we are serious. Well, Lafayette is serious. It's his call, after all. He has decided he wants you to replace me."

"Not 'replace' you, just fill your position, Don," Mr. Jett said. "You can bring your belongings up to this desk today." He gestured towards Don's mostly empty desk. "Don will be working with you today and the next couple of days to get you situated."

"Welcome to the twenty-fifth floor, Emerson," Don said, puffing on his pipe.

"If you accept, of course," Mr. Jett said.

"I do. I-I do accept, of course," I said. "Thank you so much."

"Great." Mr. Jett stood up. "Don will go over some paperwork with you, discuss your pay increase, finalize everything and then train you." He glanced at Don and then said, "It's good to have you, Emerson."

"Right, thank you, Mr. Jett," I said, smiling nervously.

He nodded and then went back into his office. The curtain covered the entirety of the glass wall. I could only see a sliver of him through the door, which was also covered by a separate curtain. I had a sinking feeling that Mr. Jett didn't like me, but I shook the thought from my head. I couldn't worry about assumptions. I had to worry about doing a good job.

Don had me fill out some new paperwork. He discussed pay with me, and the pay was impressive. It was much higher than the average salary of a New Yorker and was definitely enough for me to have my own apartment. I only had until October 15th until my lease was up, though, so I figured I could stick it out for a couple of more months. After the new paperwork he went over the scheduling system, which was luckily the same one I had been familiar with. Don was very organized and I appreciated how he had everything color coded. He made it seem simple, but I was worried it would actually be overwhelming. Luckily for me it appeared he had some consistency in certain meetings. Financial meetings on Mondays, marketing ones on Tuesdays, executive meetings Wednesdays, so on and so forth. He also didn't actually seem to have as many meetings as I thought, but he did receive a lot of calls.