“I’m Tanner.”
“I know you’re Tanner,” she said.
“Right. Right. How long have you worked here?”
“Um, let’s see. Nearly two years.”
“Geez. I don’t think we’ve ever had a receptionist stay that long.”
“Yeah, well, I’m hoping to have the chance to work on some accounts at some point. You know, move up the ladder.”
Cool. She had some ambition.
“You know, I started in the mailroom,” I said.
“Yes, I know.”
“How do you know that?”
She smiled like she’d been busted. “I guess I’ve made it a point to learn how all the senior management got to be so successful.”
“Tanner?”
I whipped around to see Marilyn.
“Are you joining us in our next meeting? Or do you plan to stay out here and chat all day?”
God, she could be a bitch. She was good at what she did, but she kicked me in the balls every chance she got.
“Be right there, Marilyn,” I called over my shoulder.
I turned back to Jayma, who was trying to keep a smile off her face. I couldn’t blame her. I’d laugh, too.
“So, you coming to the work happy hour tonight?” I asked.
She frowned but then immediately brightened up. “Yeah. Yeah I am. Do you know where it is? I can’t remember.”
“Um. Belden’s. It’s at Belden’s. Well good, then. I gotta run.”
“See ya.”
I finally had a meeting where I was not the only man, this time for a client who made automobile air filters. Car parts were about as unsexy as you could get, but it was nice to work on a manly product after two hours of tampon talk. And the cool thing was, the filters were in every car and truck, and when they wore out, they needed replacing. Point being, the market for them was huge, and there was a ton of money to be made. And they’d just hired us to run their ad campaigns.
Smart move on the client’s part, if you asked me. Not to brag, but we were good at what we did.
“Tanner? Tanner, are you here with us? Hello?”
It was Marilyn again. Giving me shit. Kicking the old balls. I shifted in my chair, partly to make sure the boys were still there.
“Sorry, Marilyn. Was just thinking about the tampon client from earlier today.”
Big lie. But it sounded damn good.
“Anyway…yes, we need to run ads in all the automotive magazines and websites…”
When five o’clock hit, people starting popping their heads into my office.
“Tanner, you coming with?”