Company Ink [PUBLISHED]

f o u r

Carpet.

This office has carpeted flooring. Am I being punished? Did I do something to anger the gods? Is this karma for being rude to Ingrid?

Dear lord.

Walking on carpet in high heels makes me feel like a baby deer - wobbly and uncoordinated - two things that I most certainly am not.

According to Nadine, the Managing Partner just recently replaced the flooring; because apparently 'carpets reduce noise and thus heighten employee productivity'. I nearly quit right there and then. He sounds like a complete dud. But then I thought about Monique and our dreamy condo and decided to make a sacrifice. I suppose it's time to invest in a pair of...flats.

I'm surprised I'm even here right now. I guess Kai wasn't joking when he said they were desperate to hire someone. I sent Nadine an email Saturday morning and by dinner time I had a job. We went through all the motions of an interview but we did it through Zoom. She only asked me about half a dozen questions, most of them simply required a yes or no answer. Can you use a computer? Yes. Do you know how to use a scanner? Yes. Can you multitask? Yes. Can you start on Monday? Hell yes.

Nadine guides me through the barren and eerily white hallways of Pearson & Associates to her office. The firm is located in a tower in the center of downtown. The view from the fifteenth floor is spectacular but the lack of personality and aesthetic in the office itself leaves much to be desired. There are no paintings, decorative plants, or even a color scheme; everything is black, white, and grey. Those aren't colors, they're shades, and shades are bo-ring. Not to mention that every private office has glass walls which means no privacy at all. There are blinds on the inside but no one seems to be using them. We pass a row of cubicles set up in the middle of the office, I'm assuming that's where all the assistants sit.

Once we're in her office, Nadine hands me several stapled documents."This is your contract." She flips to the second page. "As discussed your salary is stipulated in paragraph 2 subsection B. All you need to do is sign at the bottom of each page and we're good to go."

If I knew personal assistants made this much money I would've swapped my Bachelor's degree for a Diploma in Administration and called it a day. Thanks to this salary, the Jimmy Choos can stay.

I initial every required section and hand the contract back to the firm's HR manager. The faster I sign these documents the sooner I can confirm whether Adrian Cavallero is as good looking in person as he is online. I'm still convinced that his picture is heavily edited. I perused the company website thoroughly on Sunday to ensure that I didn't walk in here today utterly clueless. I learned that in addition to mergers and acquisitions, this firm handles intellectual property, information technology, and cybersecurity. My eyes started to glaze over once I began Googling what the hell any of that meant. Needless to say, I pray that no one asks me to explain any of those terms.