Resist Me Not

1

"If you want to keep this job, never fuck your boss," Mrs. Turner warned me.

It was the start of my first real job after graduating college and this comment was what greeted me? 

I had interned with another architect firm, during my last semester. They didn't have a spot to hire me on full-time after I graduated, so they recommended me for the entry position at Herman & Sons: Real Estate and Construction Firm.

I was starting as the assistant to Mr. Herman's youngest son. He had just recently graduated from college as well. Of course, because he was the son of the owner, he had been ushered in as a partner at the firm. Nepotism at its finest.

Mrs. Turner was the assistant to the Mr. Herman and she was my direct supervisor. She had been Mr. Herman's assistant for close to thirty years and had seen it all. I was told that a string of previous assistants, to his other two sons, all ended up in some sort of hot, passionate, sexual relationship with them. Then when it ran its course they would be fired and replaced with new assistants, only to have it be repeated. She said the longest one assistant lasted was two years.

"I have a fiancé." Feeling slightly taken aback by Mrs. Turner's blunt comment, I flashed her my hand showing her my ring that sat gracefully on my fourth finger.

"That hasn't stopped any of them before." Mrs. Turner snorted. She proceeded to stand from the chair next to me and led the way out of the Human Resources waiting room. 

She gave me a tour, pointing things out as we made our way to where I was going to be working. First, we passed rows and rows of grey walled cubicles that had people stationed in every one of them. "This area is where you will find the employees dedicated to the real estate part of the company. They help manage all the properties, online postings, advertising, general marketing, and the like."

She then pointed beyond the cubicles to the far side of the vast space. She mentioned that was the employee break area. She mentioned each floor had its own similar to it. 

I couldn't see it clearly, but what I could make out was a few plain circular tables with a row of standard counters and a fridge. There were a few vending machines by the wall of windows that offered everything from premade sandwiches to gum. I was almost disappointed by how simple it was. I figured since I was working for an architect firm that they would have at least added a little something to the designs of their office. 

We reached the elevator and took it up to the next floor.  She wanted to show me around the construction and design part of the office. It was completely different. Instead of having a farm of cubicles, like there were on the floor below us, this floor had rows of back to back computer desks here and tall standing tables there. 

The people at the computers were working on designs for what looked like different commercial style buildings. The clusters of people that were at the tables, were hovering around small models of the construction plans, pointing at different parts. This area seemed like more of my scene.

"This is of course where you'll find all the designers and architects for the various projects we have going on around the country." Mrs. Turner gestured with an outstretched hand to space that I visually consumed with delight. "Chances are you'll be down here more than the Real Estate floor since you'll be working for Ryan."

"I can't wait!" I was so entranced with seeing everything, that I didn't realize that Mrs. Turner recalled the elevator. She cleared her throat lightly to grab my attention. I backed up into it once again, not wanting to leave the place I had only imagined in my dreams.

We went up one more level. I stepped out onto the marble floor, hearing my heels click and clack louder than I expected. It was eerily quiet, in comparison to the bustling levels that I had just visited.