Employee of the Year

Chapter 9 - Career Woman

Lenny didn’t waste any time making the most of his promotion. At Passion Financial, the position of director included many perks. One of them was the chance to hire an administrative assistant, someone who would help with scheduling and secretarial work.

When I came to work the week after Lenny’s promotion, a pretty, athletic-looking woman was sitting at a desk outside his office. I introduced myself as one of the agents on the floor, a member of the team. She was Jessica Rigby, a graduate student at Cal State Long Beach, who met Lenny at the gym in one of the cycling classes. She didn’t come out and say it, but I got the feeling that she didn’t want to be on any team that would have me as a member.

“I just need to talk with Lenny for a second,” I said, taking a step toward the office. I had an important issue to discuss with him. I was still unsure how he wanted to handle all the calling lists that had been assigned to Mauricio. I could take a shot at phoning the cardholders myself, but my Spanish wasn’t very fluent. Lenny might have something else in mind. He might have authorization to hire a replacement for Mauricio, especially now that he was a director.

“I’ll have to check Lenny’s calendar,” she said curtly, holding out a manicured hand to stop me from advancing further toward his office. “Is it on his calendar?”

I was puzzled. Lenny didn’t keep a calendar.

“It will just take a minute,” I pleaded.

“Doesn’t matter if it will just take a minute. It needs to be on his calendar. That means it needs to come through me.”

“Wait a minute. You’re saying every time I need to talk with Lenny from now on, I need to go through you?”

“Exactly,” she said with a mean-spirited smile. “I am here to help him get organized. He can’t just have anyone walking in off the floor to talk with him. After all, he’s a director. I’ll need to review meeting requesters and make sure the requester is bona fide. And the requester has to have a substantial agenda, a purpose for the meeting. Otherwise this place will be chaos.”

Now I was getting pissed off. “Do you know who I am?”

“You told me. You’re one of the phone people sitting out on the floor.” She shrugged as if that was all she needed to know. “Let me see,” she said, clicking her mouse to open the calendar in the computer. “Lenny is free around one thirty. Come back then.”

That afternoon I went to lunch with Gina for the first time since the Cultural Outreach fiasco. We tried something different, a grilled fish place on Artesia Boulevard. She ordered mesquite halibut with coleslaw and rice on the side. I had salmon tacos.

Gina asked about Suzy’s pregnancy. I explained that it was well into the second trimester and everything was going smoothly, fingers crossed. We were due for another checkup at the end of December, a few days before Christmas. It would be time for an ultrasound that could tell us whether it was a girl or a boy. We wanted to know.

“How are things going with you?” I asked, leaving it open ended so she could talk about her life professionally or personally, whichever she preferred.

“I still have nightmares about him,” she said. I felt a chill pass through me remembering my fight with her ex in the Executive Parking. “It’s so hard not knowing where he is. I feel like I always have to look over my shoulder.”

“I’m sorry, Gina.” I wanted to say something comforting, assure her that he had skipped town and moved on. But this would have sounded lame and disingenuous.

“Don’t be sorry,” she said. “You’ve done enough already. The police think he fled the state. And since I’ve moved to an unpublished listing, there’s no way he can find out where I live now. The only place he could find me is the company. Since what happened in the parking lot, guards are on duty until midnight. Charlie told me he checks the cameras and there’s no sign of him hanging around. I just need to get my mind off of him, forget about my marriage, and move on. Thank goodness work keeps me busy.”