Quiet Little French Girl. [h.s.]

Angry Bosses; Phonecalls From Home.

My first week as branch manager has been extremely demanding, but doable, I've been coping really well according to William; after the awful meeting on Monday morning I was convinced that I would've slipped up and been fired before the end of the week - but no, I've held myself together, ignored the threatening stares from Mr Miller and powered through.

It's been painfully terrifying.

I've been running around the office like a headless chicken, constantly checking-in on our different departments to see how everything's going and making sure it's all running smoothly - I've probably had at least fifty meetings this week alone and unsure workmates coming to me for advice; most of the time it's something minuscule and petty, but I'd rather them double check with me than do something they shouldn't.

So far everyone seems pleased that I'm the new branch manager, I've kept an exceedingly high moral since I started and all I seem to see are happy faces - which in turn means hard work; everyone is coping well with the small changes I have made and I've not had any complaints so far, they come to me confidently with queries and leave satisfied. I always make sure everything is positive, there's no need to shout at people who are just trying to do their best, mistakes happen, the only thing you can do is learn and move on from it. Fortunately we haven't had many mistakes this week, a slip up here and there but nothing major. It's been a successful week!

My phone has been ringing non-stop and I'm pretty sure that I can hear the incessant ringing whenever I close my eyes. People from all over the country coming to me with complaints or having phone interviews, the majority of my calls have been from other branch managers as we assess the current market; we talk about all the boring stuff really, like: what changes are possible for us to gain profit at this time of the year, or what sales opportunities we can embody into our company. I've also been working hard trying to manage our new sales targets and inform the branches employees on our annual targets, everyone's really excited about this new year and I have to say, I'm feeling optimistic myself.

I've been stared at multiple times today which is excruciatingly intimidating, I know they mean no harm but I find it so hard to concentrate. Everyone is well aware of Mr Miller's lack of enthusiasm towards me and are most likely worried about our meeting later, he's been hard on me all week, asking me to do things that aren't part of my job description - but I've done them anyway just to make him happier.

The hardest part however is yet to come I'm afraid; Mr James is away in London on crucial business due to a complaint made about one of the London branches - therefore, I will be delivering the statistics for this week directly to Mr Miller without any support from William, considering he is assisting his son in London.

My palms are sweating and my heart is racing as the numbing clock ticks down the precious minutes I have left until my final meeting of the week, Mr Miller has been brutal; his eyes have never left me this week and he has been keeping a careful watch on me during our meetings - he doesn't trust me at all and I have no idea why.

My legs bounce as I wait outside of the tenth floor meeting room, walls plastered with a familiar grey are failing to calm me down, I assess the environment and ruffle the file in my hands - perhaps it will miraculously make Mr Miller like me today...

"Mr Styles. Inside, now."

Or not.

His suit clad exterior stands on the other side of the table and I take a seat in the same place as last week, my actions are far from confident, as I'd hoped, but then again it seems I'd forgotten how intimidating this man can be. He sits opposite me and entwines his fingers on the deep mahogany table rather expectantly, I take the gesture as a sign to begin. "Here are the statistics for this week," I slide the folder over the table and continue, "I've had several meetings this last week with each department and written progress reports which are in this folder also. In addition to this, I've also completed a full financial assessment of the company and we are completely on budget which is excellent news." Mr Miller flicks through the paperwork and ignores my necessary rambling - he simply drowns me out.