“That’s what happens when you have a man do a woman’s job.” Denise snapped, folding her pad over as if to indicate the conversation was over.
“Denise, you were having your gallbladder removed. I had two choices. I either send all the applicants to the hospital while you were recuperating or I interview the candidates myself. I chose to do it myself.”
“To make it easy on me?”
“Exactly.”
“So, making it easy on me is hiring a bimbo with dollar signs in her eyes every time she looked at you who couldn’t spell Administrative Assistant, let alone be one. Thank you, Marty. Thank you for making it so easy on me that I almost went back to the hospital with a stroke.”
“It wasn’t that bad.” I said, laughing.
“I am still finding files that she mismanaged and she’s been gone for two months.”
“Now don’t just make up stories, Denise.”
“Believe me, I wish I just made up Bonnie.” Denise said standing up and smoothing out her skirt before she went back to her desk outside my office. It was now 8:12 and I could hear the secretaries chirping away getting caught up on the evening events before Denise made her rounds making sure they were all at their desks and working.
I looked at the only photo I had on my desk that was of my parents. My dad was about twenty-four years old wearing a suit and tie. My mom was two years younger and in a pretty dress that had polka dots and a wide skirt. They stood in front of a 1960 Lincoln Continental convertible. They had been married about a year when the old man bought that car. It was a gift for my mom.
The picture was faded and the clothes were terribly out of style but I liked how real they looked. It was hard to find that kind of authenticity today. Just like Carson as Denise had said.
She was right. My mother would not waste her
time on a guy like that. But he had the money I needed and for the backing of an overseas venture that could prove to set Reid Industries apart from the rest of the struggling and climbing competitors in the industry.
Sometimes good business meant making difficult choices and an unsavory partnership could end in a successful gamble. But was it worth it?
“Do you need me for anything else?” she asked seriously.
Looking around my desk I shook my head.
“Maybe while I’m at the chiropractor you could straighten up this desk.”
“I thought you’d never ask.” Denise said turning and marching back out of my office. “And one more thing. I’ll be training Bonnie’s replacement this time because, well, I want things done right. So you will have to share me with her. Nicole will be helping to pick up the slack but I’ll still be handling all the confidential transactions and monitoring your schedule.”
I nodded my head. As if a switch had been flipped I began to run through the other things that needed to be tended to before noon, today. There was a meeting on Wednesday with the board of Directors and that was like getting my gums scraped. They were worse than a group of coffee-clutching old ladies but a necessary evil in this business.
I had heard through the grapevine that some lobbyists were going to approach Senator Goodwin about new legislation that may impact some of my overseas acquisitions so I needed Tom Harris to pay the Senator a visit and find out what was going on.
In the quiet of my office, when things started to flow and I settled into the work of the day I was amazed at the number of things that needed to be accomplished and even more amazed how many of those things did.
I called Harris who was already on his way to the Senator’s office.
The secretary to Mitchell Sanders on the Board confirmed everyone would be attending and they hoped to have breakfast served like last time. Priorities, I thought to myself.
There would be some major rescheduling I’d have to discuss with Denise if she was going to be busy training Bonnie’s replacement.
Denise was right. How I could make million dollar decisions three times a day and come up a winner each time yet not be able to hire a secretary competent enough to file in alphabetical order was beyond my ability to understand.
I guess I was sort of like Einstein that way. He couldn’t handle the most basic math because it was to boring and easy to make careless mistakes. But give him calculus and theoretical physics and the guy was a genius.
Yes, it is sort of egotistical to compare myself to Albert Einstein, but in this case it fits. Except even the greatest mind of modern times was able to find a woman and make her his wife.
I looked at the picture of my parents again. Had I not been born into this good fortune would I have found her by now? Isn’t that just sinful that I would question my good luck because with all I have I still don’t have everything. And isn’t it selfish of me to expect even more? I’m not sure but what kind of woman wants to be with a man who works all the time?
The Bonnie’s of the world, that’s who. And that was not a comforting thought. She didn’t even try to hide her gold digging nature. She’d plant herself in my office as if we were pals and try and tell me about some guy stalking her or how she just hated to be alone. And then there was the whole braless incident that will go down in Reid Industries history as the most desperate act made by a woman ever. It made me embarrassed for her every time I thought of it. But she didn’t seem to be phased.
Where does a woman learn to act that way?