The Perfect Date - romance / love story

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Breanne's day was a whirl of meetings. She started off with the team leaders who gave her a presentation and introduction to their company. She then ran individual interviews with each of the five leaders using a questionnaire that Zandro had handed her. Her lunch was ordered for her so she was able to mingle with the staff in the lunch room and the afternoon was divided up between each of the five teams. She managed to sit with one person from each team so she could double jack and listen to their calls whilst getting to know them.

The entire day she felt her eyes wandering around the centre looking for Zandro to make an appearance. He did say that he would be in meetings with senior management and the heads of each department. This did not stop her attention from wavering and expecting him to turn up. Really she needed to focus she berated herself. This was the biggest moment of her career and would be a highlight on her resume and here she was mooning over Zandro. Get a grip, she chastised herself. She continued to talk to Rona and listen to her calls. If she was perfectly honest with herself after just a few hours with this first company she already felt some of her prejudices melting. Breanne a natural people person already had some of the staff opening up to her and invariably the topic would drift to their own personal situation, why they started working for this company and what it meant to them and their family.

Rona had just finished explaining that she was the eldest in a family of three children. It was therefore her responsibility now that she was working to help put her younger two brothers through college. The money Rona was earning here was a mere pittance compared to wages available in Australia but compared to other occupations in the Philippines, call centre roles paid quite handsomely. Rona was not alone in this kind of situation with many of the staff working here to provide for their family members. Breanne felt a connection with these strong family values as it resonated with her own situation.

Despite the responsibilities that many of them were facing the staff seemed to be quite jovial and fun. They definitely enjoyed having an international visitor and were full of questions about Australia. As with all call centres it was difficult to answer all the questions with the constant interruptions of incoming phone calls. Breanne spoke to one of the team leaders and arranged to have some group meetings booked for the following day with the agents. It would be good to haves some free speaking time without any real agenda so she could continue to make her assessment of the staff.

She was looking at the staff roster with Marco when she felt him. The hairs stood out on the back of her neck, her senses felt heightened and she knew he was close. She forced herself to look at the computer screen. Marco paused. He obviously recognised Zandro as a man of power and she was fairly certain she just heard him sigh. "Now here comes a real man, mhmmmm," and he gave her a wink whilst nudging her attention over to Zandro who was striding in from the other end of the centre.

Marco was right. He was all man. He stood out amongst the generally shorter population of the centre. It wasn't just his height. He had presence. Suited up and walking proudly he caught the attention of every female in the room and by the looks of it most of the men.

"Hello, I'm Zandro," he reached a hand out to greet Marco. Breanne thought Marco might actually giggle and swoon but he managed to hold it together returning the handshake with enthusiasm.

"How did your day go? Are you ready to leave?"

Breanne glanced down at her watch. She had actually been enjoying her day and as is the case did not realise how quickly the hours had passed. "Wow I didn't realise it was so late. We had a good day here. I'll just go grab my bag, say goodbye to the staff and I'll be ready to leave."

Fifteen minutes later they were in the car and on their way. "I was thinking we could head straight to a local restaurant. I skipped lunch today and I'm feeling very hungry."