14 Years [GNR/Mötley Crüe]

103. No More Secrets

Nadia:

"You need to enter time for 8 hours a day, so for a week that's 40," I told my two interns.

They stared at me like I was speaking gibberish. Oh god. I looked down at the timesheet paper they've both filled in for the week and then showed it to them.

"Nate, look at this. Maya." I said their names, "You've both filled in for only about 22 hours for the week. It should be 40. So fill in the rest because only then you'd both hit a hundred percent utilization."

"Oh." Maya nodded.

"But we only worked for 22 hours," Nate said.

I stared at him, and Maya shot him a look. Is this kid dumb? Why would he tell me that?

"That's okay. Fill it." I said.

"No, Nadia. We didn't do any other work. I mean, this is all the work you gave us."

I forced myself to smile. I didn't want to make either of them cry once again.

"I know Nate. I know I didn't assign you a lot." I said. "You're interns. Your main job is to just learn right now. So why don't you go ahead and fill the rest of the 18 hours as Professional Development? And since I won't be here throughout next week, I want you both to reach out to the ONB team—that is, the onboarding team and go through the training material. We can discuss it once I'm back."

"Oh, okay. Will do." He nodded.

"Good job, you two." I forced myself to say. "Try to fill it daily. Don't keep it for Friday."

When they left with their timesheet papers, I looked at my own. I hadn't filled it yet, and it was already Friday evening. Now who's gonna fill mine?

It took about an hour, which will be included in non-billable hours on the timesheet. It's a little difficult to remember what I was doing on Tuesday afternoon on a Friday evening. I've been doing this job for nine years. I should at least get my shit together by now.

I decided to hand it over to David personally this time because... I need to have a chat with him. I was going to tell him, and when I went to his office, that's when I discovered another issue.

I'll leave for LA tomorrow, which is the 13th. I'll work from the LA office on the 15th, 16th, and 17th. I'll also squeeze in my talk with my friends and my dad. Go to Vegas on the 17th night and attend the morning meeting with Henderson, Greene, their in-house counsel, and the opposing counsel.

Now the problem occurs when a certain paralegal insists on coming with me. There's absolutely no reason to take Maria, but according to her own words, she wants to provide moral support and watch drama unfold in real time. I said no, so she went over my head and made the request to David.

"How about we look at this rationally? Huh?" I stared at David. "There's absolutely no reason to take Maria with me."

"I've never seen Vegas," Maria argued.

"She's got a point." David nodded.

"No, she doesn't." I shook my head, "She's a paralegal, and the paralegals don't follow the lawyers on every business trip. That's why she didn't stay with me in LA last time or come with me to London or Singapore."

"But this is your first big closing after becoming a partner." David said and jabbed a finger at his chest, "I'm not going. You'd need the moral support."

"I don't need it. I'll be fine by myself."

"Oh, isn't she a big bad alpha?" Maria chuckled only to earn a glare from me and, surprisingly, from David too. "Sorry. What I mean is... I know how you work, Nadia. I can help you take notes. Schedule your days. Prepare a checklist. Coordinate with the clients, banks, etc. Update the minute books and closing binder. All that."